betty boop Posted February 5, 2016 Share Posted February 5, 2016 A bit of background, I have owned a few projectors, a couple of epson LCD projectors over the years and then the last few years been very happy with a JVC X-35 projector. So Ultra UHD is on our door step ... of course as I am very enthusiastic about these things what should I do ? The obvious would be one of the new Sony 4K projectors...but then have seen the flagship sony 1100ES that retails at over $25k being humbled by my few generations old base model jvc. and even the cheapest 4K sony is some $15k !!!! way more than what I would want to spend and then to top off I find all the sony models in some way or the other dont fully support the new UHD format with either lacking HDR (high dynamic range) or lacking support for the DCI p3 wider gamut that the new format will support. And then I find out JVC has a new range...something that has been 2 years in the making.... http://cdn.jvc.eu/dla-x9000/index.html And unlike the Sony's it built for UHD, utilising a new 4K E-shift 4, and is HDR and wider gamut p3 DCI capable. But hey is it true 4k? The shift for jvcs has always been a 1080p panel that they shift really fast diagonaly to essentially upscale. However according to the jvc info the new 4k e-shift 4 is an evolution of this that takes a 4k signal splits into two frames diagonally and utilises a half pixel diagonal shift with the 1080p panel to create a 4k frame. Something JVC gives a brief explanation of, http://cdn.jvc.eu/dla-x9000/feature01.html Now I am pretty skeptical, though apparently a technology co developed by JVC and japans NHK engineers, that had them develop a 8k projector http://www.pmaresearch.com/pma-blogs/jvc-announces-8k-resolution-projector-with-e-shift-technology/ so a trickle down for 4k consumer projector cant be too much of a stretch hey ? Anyways 4k is beyond Imax and I have no intention of putting in a setup of greater scale than imax so not really chasing 4k. My interest is the other aspects of UHD with HDR and wider gamut and if I get any gains in resolution than what we have ...i'll happily take it with local pricing placing the base model X5000 at $6,160, mid range model X7000 at $8,800 and top model X9000 on $10,450 (not including 3D glasses..but fortunately I already have them from my previous JVC) So as it happens...before I know it ...it turns out I am the first person in the country ordering one of these JVCs ! I go for the piggy in the middle. since the base model uses the previous generation light engine, doesnt quite cover the p3 wide gamut and also quite a bit down on contrast vs the previous years models. And the top model is really only the mid range model with some hand picked parts......so the x7000 model it is for me And I am then one of the first in the world to be receiving one of these black boxes ... on my birthday ! and posting an unboxing... 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
betty boop Posted February 5, 2016 Author Share Posted February 5, 2016 and what a beautiful thing it is .... And before commencement of birthday festivities had just about enough time to get up and going .... Though pretty blown away with seeing the projector in action over a while, unfortunately the fun is cut short with a couple of issues with it (excessive streaking and a noisy lens shutter). Fortunately a very helpful retailer and first class response from JVC locally has my unit replaced. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
betty boop Posted February 5, 2016 Author Share Posted February 5, 2016 So hence a double take with my JVC replaced with another unit which appears to be a much newer January build. Out of box these units are pretty good not needing a huge amount of tweaking at all. After some some basic adjustment to line up with the screen I checked light output. These things have some massive light output capability. Even in low lamp with iris wide open in THX colour mode I measured 32 fc at the middle of the screen ! cranking down the iris to -13 i.e. nearly shut (which is -15) got me to recommended 14 FL given my 1.1 screen gain. Following this I engaged the Auto iris (dynamic iris) on the jvc using the auto 2 setting which is the least aggressive. I also engaged the "clear black" setting to "low"as do thing it helps with shadow detail as well. Utilising the Wow disney setup disc I did a quick adjustment with their Pluge patterns for contrast which needed taking upto 6 and brightness brought back to -10 to avoid white clipping and black crush i.e. blown highlights and loss of shadow detail. I also used wow disney reference images to set colour for skin tones and using some natural scenery taking that setting back to -20. My first port of call to check how natural the projector setup after all this was The American on Blu-ray and I am very pleased ! lovely skin tone, heaps of detail and infact I am astounded the level of jump up infact it is from my JVC before. Not only in detail but also the punch to the picture and richness. Quite pleased wiht end results with tweaking of the THX setting as well. Happy enough to go with till get to about 150-300 hours and a full calibration 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
betty boop Posted February 5, 2016 Author Share Posted February 5, 2016 Time for some 3D... I popped in the everest 3D disc and the JVC engages THX3D automatically also jumping into high lamp and with iris wide open there is a stupendous amount to light coming off the screen. The first thing I did was drop to low lamp and dropped the iris back to about -7. Also cranked back the colour and adjusted the brightness and contrast. Initially there was slight evidence of ghosting especially in the bright white scenes. But this was soon gone in 4-6 minutes. 3D seems to suit some movies and everest probably a good example...the sense of depth 3D can bring in this for instance with shots looking down the mountain or up or across the scenery sure adds to the scale and realism. And watching on the JVC I really must say I am super impressed. This is hands down the best 3D I have seen on a projector. Clear sharp, lovely detail and contrast. A huge step up overall of any of the projectors have owned prior. 3D has been a bit of an Achilles heel prior for JVC and they have somehow not only made some huge gains here but now got something pretty awesome ! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
betty boop Posted February 5, 2016 Author Share Posted February 5, 2016 next up is Sicario on Blu-ray, the pace of the film and the realism it creates had me edge of seat and literally before knew it the movie was over. The JVC did a splendid job with depth, detail and realism. from bright daylight scenes to indoors and in the tunnels for instance. Took some quick screen shots below on a few scenes to capture how it looked. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
betty boop Posted February 5, 2016 Author Share Posted February 5, 2016 I also decided to check out Lucy on Blu-ray. This film is reference material which looks pristine in image throughout. I grabbed some screens shots, the opening for instance is lush and rich in look and with amazing amount of detail popping off the screen. To the point I realy dont think even trying to take a picture of what can see does justice it just looks so gorgeous even in fast action scenes with a lot of movement e.g. in the car chase scenes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
betty boop Posted February 5, 2016 Author Share Posted February 5, 2016 one thing quite apparent is just what a good job JVCs e shift-4 does with this scene from lucy below for instance, I walked right upto the screen and this is a shot with the camera from about 300mm or a foot away... truly amazing that the pixels are not apparent at all and how good it looks even so close up. most projectors so close upto the screen can look pretty average. stunning ! 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
betty boop Posted February 6, 2016 Author Share Posted February 6, 2016 Worth me posting some context, I run a non dedicated room thats adapted with quite a lot of work and attention to detail to make as conducive for a home theatre and projection setup as possible in a homely lounge room setting. Giving it the best chance with relatively long throw but using a relatively small screen positioned for comfortable eye level and setup with seating distance to fully resolve 1080p and to THX spec for full immersion. I have to sum up here to say with the previous JVC in the X35 I have many a time sat there looking at the picture thinking ...gee how good is this ...can it get any better ?.... though with a fly in the ointment with the 3D ability that wasnt quite upto the 3D capable Epson I owned before. I have to honestly say when I headed down this path, I would have been quite happy if 2D performance stayed as good as my last JVC. Maybe there might be some improvement with 3D but mainly I was doing this to open the door to see what UHD was all about. On that premise I have to say I have been quite caught by surprise ! blown away even with step up in detail, sharpness, richness and pure picture quality with the X7000. It hits you in the face it is so obvious and then to top that off...the huge improvement I discovered jvc has made on the 3D front ... and not only improved upon but surpasses that it is the best 3D I have seen ! it is a real rabbit out of the hat that JVC has pulled out here. So this is a real Redux of sorts. Not only on my double take but for JVC themselves ....I suspect this new range will bring back, revive the brand and put it to the forefront. its been 2 years in the making and they have come up with something pretty special. ...and I still havent even checked out UHD as yet ...more on that to follow in due course 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pieface Posted February 6, 2016 Share Posted February 6, 2016 Looks fantastic mr boop 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
betty boop Posted February 6, 2016 Author Share Posted February 6, 2016 Looks fantastic mr boop thnkyou mr pie face am very pleased Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maxspl Posted February 7, 2016 Share Posted February 7, 2016 Very nice Al...... JVC's really are wonderful projectors......no surprise that the second from top of the range current jvcX7000 would outperform the bottom of the range jvc x35 from 2012 though. When you get a pro calibration to get accurate greyscale , gamma tracking and colour etc , it will take things up to another level again , as I discovered after having my jvc X500 professionally calibrated recently.........really didn't think it could get much better than it already was but wow.....the improvement to clarity , sharpness and shadow detail is significant. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
betty boop Posted February 7, 2016 Author Share Posted February 7, 2016 Very nice Al...... JVC's really are wonderful projectors......no surprise that the second from top of the range current jvcX7000 would outperform the bottom of the range jvc x35 from 2012 though. When you get a pro calibration to get accurate greyscale , gamma tracking and colour etc , it will take things up to another level again , as I discovered after having my jvc X500 professionally calibrated recently.........really didn't think it could get much better than it already was but wow.....the improvement to clarity , sharpness and shadow detail is significant. thanks mark, until this last model I had good advice from likes of zombie over on avs that the x35 was about as good as it gets...susprising isn't it ? the guys has owned just about everything can lay hands on. so yeah was much to my surprise to see the gains with the new model here very much looking forward to clocking up the hours to calibration...bit of a while to go. have no doubt calibration will bring further gains. and also looking forward to what UHD might bring as well Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maxspl Posted February 7, 2016 Share Posted February 7, 2016 Yes , out of the box sharpness and clarity is apparently better with this new range. I did ask Andrew Poole the calibrator , as to how much better the new range are over the last models and is it worth upgrading as he has calibrated several of the new x5000 and x7000 already . His response was that once accurately calibrated for gamma , greyscale and colour there is virtually no difference. Accurate calibration being the key. The new ones are capable of being much brighter ,which may be useful if you have a very large 140 inch screen with a long throw distance. Or you don't have a light controlled room or you like to watch a projector with the lights on . Not much use to me as my x500 is already brighter than I need ,to get the recommended 14FL it is in low lamp mode with the iris clamped down to -9. The wider colour gamut and e shift 4 will be useful on the new range though when 4k discs and players are available shortly. I appreciated his honest advice especially as he also sells home theatre gear, if he had told me they were a big step up in picture quality I may have been tempted to upgrade but will hold off for a year or two longer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
betty boop Posted February 7, 2016 Author Share Posted February 7, 2016 hi mark, we are fortunate us x7000 owners are a very small community...only since we all are from the same forum and we pre ordered through the same retailer the entire first lot of jvc x7000 delivered into australia !. there has only been one x7000 calibrated so far to my knowledge (using andrew poole of ht engineering) and I have the owners feed back first hand. if you want to sum it up... this one liner from him probably says it all .... I also had the x500 and the x7000 is a big step up. I would stick with the 7000. I can get you in touch with him first hand if you like. and as has been his experience I have no doubt a calibration will bring gains and only for the better, ps re the x5000 base model a lot more were imported according to our retailer. Have no doubt probably not much in it between it and previous range jvc. makes sense after all it shares the same light engine as the older model in a lot of ways though I would infact suggest the older model jvc e.g. the 500, 700, 900 would probably be a better buy than the 5000. after all likely on run out pricing making for sharp buying....unless needing full compatibility for uhd if that is a priority. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jliang70 Posted February 7, 2016 Share Posted February 7, 2016 I think you will be surprise how much video processing and calibration contribute to the final picture. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maxspl Posted February 7, 2016 Share Posted February 7, 2016 Yeah....he did the calibration on Steffans x7000. He said he had worked on "them" so presume he has calibrated more than one of the new models. I recall on the dtv forum Steffan saying that it was the first time he had a pro cal done and being amazed by the results. His previous X500 was uncalibrated. The X7000 is also one model up in the range , the X700 was the equivalent previous model, which has better contrast specs than the X500. So climbing the jvc model ladder from bottom of the range to mid range is also part of the reason he is seeing a step up. When I upgrade in a year or two it will be to their mid level projector......better sell some turntables off to fund it.😃 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
betty boop Posted February 7, 2016 Author Share Posted February 7, 2016 Yeah....he did the calibration on Steffans x7000. He said he had worked on "them" so presume he has calibrated more than one of the new models. I recall on the dtv forum Steffan saying that it was the first time he had a pro cal done and being amazed by the results. His previous X500 was uncalibrated. The X7000 is also one model up in the range , the X700 was the equivalent previous model, which has better contrast specs than the X500. So climbing the jvc model ladder from bottom of the range to mid range is also part of the reason he is seeing a step up. When I upgrade in a year or two it will be to their mid level projector......better sell some turntables off to fund it. good stuff mark ...leaves something to save up for. in the jvcs typically the base model has in previous years been pretty much where its at. however this series changes things I do believe. was probably the main reason every single one of the 7000 were pre sold well here. am yet to see the 9000 in action and yet to be convinced the extra price mark up for "hand picked parts" worth the benefit. certainly the us experience hasnt necessarily shown that so far Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maxspl Posted February 7, 2016 Share Posted February 7, 2016 Yeah I've heard that....a $2k premium for hand picked parts is a bit rich. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
betty boop Posted February 8, 2016 Author Share Posted February 8, 2016 oooooh the martian 2D/3D disc combo just came in the post from the states....which should I watch...2D or 3D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pieface Posted February 8, 2016 Share Posted February 8, 2016 2D...then 3D 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
betty boop Posted February 9, 2016 Author Share Posted February 9, 2016 Did just that in the end Pie.... popping in the 2D blu-ray very much enjoyed the movie, some lovely scenery and cinematography. A lot of dark scenes too....loved the blacks in those and noticed a few fade to blacks too...wow just grabbed a few screen shots, beautiful ! and of course popped the 3D disc in for a peep watched about 15 min wow things like the sand storm etc. goodness...even the opening actually is pretty spectacular in 3D...will now have to watch the movie in 3D again 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
betty boop Posted February 9, 2016 Author Share Posted February 9, 2016 I am very much looking forward to how it is in UHD blu-ray aswell....fortunately kind of movie can watch again one thing was interesting in martian the way it handled the very dark scenes vs the very bright. I do wonder with HDR on UHD how this will be different. this was an interesting frame with a bit of dark and brights and a bit of grain too...though that is likely film source. this one quite a dark scene with her image floating there, and then the contrast of the white top in the background, plus these with the black of space and very bright image mostly, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
betty boop Posted February 25, 2016 Author Share Posted February 25, 2016 now back at work have only clocked up about 24 hours on the x7000. Been mainly the odd movie or something or mini series on netflix. I must say never bothered watching WW2 in HD on the projector most of it very average B&W colourised source from 70? years ago...was better to just watch that on the kuro. but I thought I'd watch "Occupied" which is a norwegian mini series on netflix that I'd give a go on the jvc and was quite pleased... its quite dimly shot and with muted colours and overcasty look most of the time. but still faired quite well. not to grainy and what most pleased about is that even wiht the source material thts typically bit starved as tends to be for streamed material...it held up pretty well not falling to bits and the projector not making a mess of it projecting over a large screen making faults even more obvious. if anything just touch soft looking and lacking detail of true HD material of disc source. but quite watchable and the projector treating it well plan to check out some FTA TV via the projector too...we mostly watch that via the kuro as FTA TV leaves a lot to be desired PQ wise with even worse bit starved feeds. but most of the channels are slowly switching over to HD channels so will check out some "HD" FTA on the JVC next time notice something worth watching Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
betty boop Posted March 3, 2016 Author Share Posted March 3, 2016 hehe I find one of these waiting for me, kind of ironic the first uhd-blu-ray I get is the martian....now if only I had a player to play it on would love to see what it looks like on the jvc ! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
betty boop Posted March 4, 2016 Author Share Posted March 4, 2016 we watched book thief on blu-ray, not the most detailed and a touch grainy with its film source but it looked absolutely gorgeous ! a beautifully filmed movie. come up a treat on the JVC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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