Trying an old JVC projector, any advise?

bdht said:

I picked up a used JVC RS45 to see what they're like. I've been using a W1070 for a few years and wanted to see JVC contrast before I get into 4k hdr.

Any advise for using JVC projectors? Maintenance, setup, etc.

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Might be better asking this question over on the Over $3000 section as there will be much more JVC owners over there that might not frequent this section.

bdht said:

I picked up a used JVC RS45 to see what they're like. I've been using a W1070 for a few years and wanted to see JVC contrast before I get into 4k hdr.

Any advise for using JVC projectors? Maintenance, setup, etc.

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I think the RS45 was before JVC implemented a dynamic iris so it's not going to be all that impressive contrast wise. Maybe about 1/10th what the RS49u offers.

Luminated67 said:

Might be better asking this question over on the Over $3000 section as there will be much more JVC owners over there that might not frequent this section.

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gotcha

markmon1 said:

I think the RS45 was before JVC implemented a dynamic iris so it's not going to be all that impressive contrast wise. Maybe about 1/10th what the RS49u offers.

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Still got the high native contrast of ~20kish vs my w1070s ~1kish though and for under $300 with less than 2000 hours on the bulb. Ive been keeping an eye out for a sony hw50/55, Ill keep an eye out for the rs49 too, thx, I have no experience with the dynamic iris' either.

All I know is from what I have read but I do have a RS49u. The lamps are a big problem and often don't last longer then 1000 hrs so expect to replace it soon. A bare lamp is at least fairly inexpensive. They fixed the lamp issue in the RS46 and up. For a JVC to really show the great contrast a very dark painted room is required so if your using it a white room you may be disappointed as it will be dimmer and washout easily compared to your w1070.

The RS45 FLOORS the w1070 and current era DLP models. Absolutely slams it to the ground. JVC has long had a native contrast which is simply much better than the competition and when I installed the RS45 (I did several) I was always completely blown away by how much better LCoS technology is than the competing LCD and DLP products out there. Yes, Epson comes close with their top of the line LCD stuff, but that's about it.

I expect the price to be very reasonable and that you will get a good idea of why the JVC crowd is so insane about the product.

I would check the air filter, as it should have one, and clean it completely. Otherwise, just go through the old RS45 thread and pick up whatever tips are already there.

Not sure if it was the RS40 or 45 that had all the lamp issues.. thinking it was the 40.. But check the owners thread in the > $3000 forum.

airscapes said:

Not sure if it was the RS40 or 45 that had all the lamp issues.. thinking it was the 40.. But check the owners thread in the > $3000 forum.

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rekbones said:

All I know is from what I have read but I do have a RS49u. The lamps are a big problem and often don't last longer then 1000 hrs so expect to replace it soon. A bare lamp is at least fairly inexpensive. They fixed the lamp issue in the RS46 and up. For a JVC to really show the great contrast a very dark painted room is required so if your using it a white room you may be disappointed as it will be dimmer and washout easily compared to your w1070.

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Rooms fairly well treated, .8 gain dark grey screen, black fabric on the ceiling and to the sides of the screen, dark walls, dark furniture. Thanks for the heads up on the lamp, ill ask the seller what he usually gets on the bulbs. I put about 4000 hours a year on my w1070 so that would be an issue xD

AV_Integrated said:

I would check the air filter, as it should have one, and clean it completely. Otherwise, just go through the old RS45 thread and pick up whatever tips are already there.

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Will do, thanks!

The RS45 was the first JVC I saw when I was looking at replacing my 1080 DLP. I looked at the Sony 55ES, the Epson 1080UB and this. I ended up with a JVC RS46 as the RS45 was the clear winner in picture quality (I got the RS46 because it was the current model). The contrast is outstanding and they do have a manual iris you can adjust to maximize it. The revised RS45 lamps held up fine once they figured out the issue. The only thing you may want to consider is that this era of JVCs was not incredibly bright, so that .8 grey screen may be a liability. You'd likely be much better off with a 1.0 white screen as you won't need the grey to enhance contrast.

jeahrens said:

The revised RS45 lamps held up fine once they figured out the issue.

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Oh good!

jeahrens said:

The only thing you may want to consider is that this era of JVCs was not incredibly bright, so that .8 grey screen may be a liability. You'd likely be much better off with a 1.0 white screen as you won't need the grey to enhance contrast.

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I have a 1.1 white screen as well but ive done all the light math and it should be great even in normal lamp mode and calibrated setting. Its a 92" screen at minimum throw distance so that helps. With the lens memory I may setup both screens so I can go back and forth, and use the w1070 and white screen for 3d.

bdht said:

Oh good!


I have a 1.1 white screen as well but ive done all the light math and it should be great even in normal lamp mode and calibrated setting. Its a 92" screen at minimum throw distance so that helps. With the lens memory I may setup both screens so I can go back and forth, and use the w1070 and white screen for 3d.

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I only ever had an RS1, but those JVC lamps aged rapidly. Brightness fell off within a few hundred hours and $400 JVC lamp costs were annoying. Replacing lamps at 2000 hours, even with cheap Philips bare lamp knockoffs, was always a huge increase in brightness. When my RS1 failed, I replaced it with a W1070 and the brightness increase was HUGE even compared to a new JVC-branded lamp in the RS1. The point is, you should not be surprised or disappointed if the brightness is much less than your W1070. Focus on the deepness of the blacks and the shadow details you were missing on the W1070 and you will be happy. It sounds like you have the room treatments to appreciate it.

dreamer said:

I only ever had an RS1, but those JVC lamps aged rapidly. Brightness fell off within a few hundred hours and $400 JVC lamp costs were annoying. Replacing lamps at 2000 hours, even with cheap Philips bare lamp knockoffs, was always a huge increase in brightness. When my RS1 failed, I replaced it with a W1070 and the brightness increase was HUGE even compared to a new JVC-branded lamp in the RS1. The point is, you should not be surprised or disappointed if the brightness is much less than your W1070.

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With the w1070 i have to use a nd2 filter for comfortable light output too, so I may be able to stretch the life running the lamp on high for a few hundred hours. The seller reported 2.5k hours on average, perhaps Ill get more due to more use time per lamp strike, I usually hit 7-8k on the w1070 before the lamps too dim due to it running for ~12 hours a day. The rs45 bulbs with housing are $200 on pureland supply so not bad at this point.

Very much looking forward to the blacks and contrast, comes tomorrow so ill get to mess with it a little bit for the hurricane Dx

rekbones said:

All I know is from what I have read but I do have a RS49u. The lamps are a big problem and often don't last longer then 1000 hrs so expect to replace it soon. A bare lamp is at least fairly inexpensive. They fixed the lamp issue in the RS46 and up. For a JVC to really show the great contrast a very dark painted room is required so if your using it a white room you may be disappointed as it will be dimmer and washout easily compared to your w1070.

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Sorry but this really isn't the case. If you have white walls and a non-painted room this will hurt your ansi contrast on your bright scenes because the bright light from the projector will reflect off those walls and back onto the screen. But the brighter the content, the less important / noticeable contrast is anyway. It still matters, but it won't wash out the blacks really.

However, even with white walls, you achieve about the same on/off contrast. Your very dark scenes won't be impacted by light reflecting back onto the screen from white walls because black scenes don't have any light. The darker the scene, the less that white walls will matter. Those star fields will look very close to the same white or black walls. If the scene is mostly black, there's just no light floating about the room to shine onto the screen and wash it out.

What will matter is whether or not you have full light control. Any lights in the room will kill the blacks.

dreamer said:

I only ever had an RS1, but those JVC lamps aged rapidly. Brightness fell off within a few hundred hours and $400 JVC lamp costs were annoying. Replacing lamps at 2000 hours, even with cheap Philips bare lamp knockoffs, was always a huge increase in brightness. When my RS1 failed, I replaced it with a W1070 and the brightness increase was HUGE even compared to a new JVC-branded lamp in the RS1. The point is, you should not be surprised or disappointed if the brightness is much less than your W1070. Focus on the deepness of the blacks and the shadow details you were missing on the W1070 and you will be happy. It sounds like you have the room treatments to appreciate it.

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This won't really be the same. The RS1 was a 700 lumen projector. The RS45 is 1300 lumens almost double. The Sony is ~1700 lumens but Sony's low lamp is way under charged compared to jvc's low lamp. I bet the RS45 and W1070 are about equal brightness on low lamp. Edit: nevermind my mistake, I see the w1070 is BenQ I have no info on how they run their low lamps vs high lamps.

markmon1 said:

This won't really be the same. The RS1 was a 700 lumen projector. The RS45 is 1300 lumens almost double. The Sony is ~1700 lumens but Sony's low lamp is way under charged compared to jvc's low lamp. I bet the RS45 and W1070 are about equal brightness on low lamp. Edit: nevermind my mistake, I see the w1070 is BenQ I have no info on how they run their low lamps vs high lamps.

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The w1070 in cinema or user 1 is about 1200 lumens in normal and 900 in eco. I use an nd2 filter so im getting about 600 or 450. The rs45 is 800 in high and 550 in normal. But the uniformity and equal color/white brightness of the jvc should make it appear brighter in comparison to the w1070? Not actually brighter, but seem brighter than the w1070 at the same light output is what I mean.