2019 - 2020 projector releases ?

[betty boop]

30 minutes ago, warroon said:

Hmmm ... but will the Australian Importer let us update our own units? In the past they have insisted on a return to base for update

Absolutely not case in the past we have all done our own updates. Jvc have provided the link and all instructions. No different to other regions.

 

I would only presume same in future

[betty boop]

8 minutes ago, oztheatre said:

Surely they have to allow us to do USB firmware updates. I understand with the old method with that strange cable you needed. In fact I just had an installer try to update firmware on an X7900 and it locked up and wont turn on anymore so it's back to the service centre.. The less these things are transported the better.

 

USB updates at home is the ONLY way forward. This is more than 10 years overdue.

Definitely not straight forward the old method needed right cable and following procedure and we managed to do it. USB will definitely be great step forward. Look forward to seeing how people go with this

[warroon]

26 minutes ago, betty boop said:

Absolutely not case in the past we have all done our own updates. Jvc have provided the link and all instructions. No different to other regions.

 

I would only presume same in future

Hmmm I’m referring to my own experiences years ago with 3D needing firmware updates and the unit having to be returned to them ... a massive PIA if you were hundreds of k’s away from a service center.

 

[warroon]

23 minutes ago, betty boop said:

Definitely not straight forward the old method needed right cable and following procedure and we managed to do it. USB will definitely be great step forward. Look forward to seeing how people go with this

Yes ... see the earlier quote from AVS ... 2/3 had problems it would seem ... patience and clear instructions are always the key.

[betty boop]

We have had ability to do updates for atleast last generation and over 3 releases for last 3 plus years.

 

”patience and clear instructions” always key with updates an sure we will have clear once few have had go already

[Davo1972]

6 minutes ago, warroon said:

Yes ... see the earlier quote from AVS ... 2/3 had problems it would seem ... patience and clear instructions are always the key.

Below was posted by shadeRF on AVS, one of the three people who initially had problems with the firmware update:

Quote

I'm happy to report however that after a call from JVC and a tip from Mike my projector is once again back in business and running v1.20

So, here's a rundown of events:

I initially ran the update from the projector menu and the projector ran through the update (lights move continuously and sequentially on the front of the projector until all lights and the projector turn off). I then turned on the projector and after 2-3 minutes the projector did not come on as described in the update manual and instead the orange and red warning lights began flashing alternately. The projector was not responsive and I eventually pulled the power. Now apparently what I should have done is just waited 5 more minutes because after reloading 1.20 (using a trick from the JVC rep for direct loading from USB on boot) I once again came to the alternating lights on boot. This time however, per a tip from Mike, I left it alone and after nearly 15 minutes (30 minutes from update start) on the nose the projector returned to life.

I don't know if this is the standard procedure now for these new units, but if so I would hope that JVC updates the firmware update documentation to make this second part of the update process more clear. 

Finally, I can't thank Mike enough for not only being responsive himself on a Saturday night but getting a JVC rep to reach out to me as well and getting this resolved. I'm a customer for life.

 So it looks like when doing a firmware update via USB on these new 4K native JVC projectors you have to wait for it "to do it's thing".

[Owen]

On 09/02/2019 at 10:34 AM, Javs said:

TBH my current 9500 needs one click of blue vertically, so long as the convergence error is uniform, as in, you dont need Zone, I think its not really an issue.

It isn't. Nothing wrong with doing full pixel adjustment, but that should have been done at the factory and set as the zero point in the service menu so the user would never be aware of it, poor form JVC.  This proves there is virtually no quality control and attention to detail.

Zone adjustment, which used multiple pixels to do the job of one is a totally different thing altogether and should NEVER be used if you value resolution.

 

We can only evaluate "convergence" AFTER the red, green and blue images have been aligned as best as possible with the full pixel adjustment which simply moves the entire picture on the imaging chips. If after doing that there is a misalignment of more than about half a pixel "convergence" is unacceptable and the projector is faulty because the ONLY way to fix this without trashing resolution is to physically realign the imaging chips in the light engine, and no why anyone is doing that outside the factory.

On 09/02/2019 at 10:34 AM, Javs said:

When you have 1/3rd amazing, and 1/3rd complete rubbish like I did on both my 9900's that's when you are up shits creek because you will have to do extensive zone corrections.

No you don't, and should never, your send the projector back because its defective. Thats what I thought you did.

[oztheatre]

1 hour ago, betty boop said:

Definitely not straight forward the old method needed right cable and following procedure and we managed to do it. USB will definitely be great step forward. Look forward to seeing how people go with this

Yes I realise many on the forums did the firmware themselves with the right cable, but many many more didn't and didn't know how either and used the service centres. Looks like that will be a thing of the past now which is a step in the right direction.

[Owen]

On 09/02/2019 at 10:45 AM, wooferocau said:

Andrew was at Nigels today..... They looked at the X7900    N7  and NX9   .    Apparently he was shocked how much better the N7 and NX9 were than the X7900       

"Better" how exactly? 

[wooferocau]

3 hours ago, Davo1972 said:

Below was posted by shadeRF on AVS, one of the three people who initially had problems with the firmware update:

 So it looks like when doing a firmware update via USB on these new 4K native JVC projectors you have to wait for it "to do it's thing".

Done 3 updates over time with my Z1  usual time is 4-5min for the procedure.    Quick, simple, painless 

[Davo1972]

1 hour ago, wooferocau said:

Done 3 updates over time with my Z1  usual time is 4-5min for the procedure.    Quick, simple, painless 

I would normally expect a firmware update to be quick, but not sure if this update needed time to recalibrate the iris (noting it was allegedly focused on the iris function) hence the extended time for it to complete. Its all conjecture in the end and I figure we’ll never know.

Edited February 10, 2019 by Davo1972

[betty boop]

1 minute ago, Davo1972 said:

I would normally expect a firmware update to be quick, but not sure if this update needed time to recalibrate the iris (noting it was allegedly focused on the iris function) hence the extended time for it to complete. Its all conjecture in the end and I figure we’ll never know.

Don’t mind if takes a little while, player and av pre processor seem to take quite a while even with nbn here. As long as providing something useful

[betty boop]

4 hours ago, oztheatre said:

Yes I realise many on the forums did the firmware themselves with the right cable, but many many more didn't and didn't know how either and used the service centres. Looks like that will be a thing of the past now which is a step in the right direction.

Indeed oz ! I know in past we’re not straight forward, I did with some trepidation ! And sigh of relief once done

 

i remember someone senior in jvc saying they brought the USB updates out to make things much easier and listen to a customer gripe  can only get better with the pretty ordinary system had before

[betty boop]

looks like chadb, very respected calibrator has posted an extensive  review on avs of the jvc rs3000 / n9 

 

concluding,.....

 

"Conclusion:

The RS3000 is a significant advancement in many ways over JVC’s previous models, which is saying a lot. Native 4K resolution and excellent focus give fantastic detail. The improvements in the Dynamic Iris are significant, and make it a very useful enhancement that can be used without reservation. Even though the measured contrast numbers were not as strong as other recent lamp based JVCs, the DI improvement minimized or made up for any visible contrast difference in my situation. The RS3000’s image reminded me of JVC’s much more expensive RS4500, and it’s time in my home theater was amazingly satisfying."

[Davo1972]

59 minutes ago, betty boop said:

looks like chadb, very respected calibrator has posted an extensive  review on avs of the jvc rs3000 / n9 

 

concluding,.....

 

"Conclusion:

The RS3000 is a significant advancement in many ways over JVC’s previous models, which is saying a lot. Native 4K resolution and excellent focus give fantastic detail. The improvements in the Dynamic Iris are significant, and make it a very useful enhancement that can be used without reservation. Even though the measured contrast numbers were not as strong as other recent lamp based JVCs, the DI improvement minimized or made up for any visible contrast difference in my situation. The RS3000’s image reminded me of JVC’s much more expensive RS4500, and it’s time in my home theater was amazingly satisfying."

Yeah, I saw his post, and it was very complimentary. Overall is the general gist is that although on paper the contrast is lower than the outgoing e-shift models, the sharpness from the native 4K, the auto tone mapping, and better implementation of the dynamic iris more than makes up for it. I await the comparison reviews with the eshift models with 'bated breath.   

Edited February 10, 2019 by Davo1972

[Michael391]

Well got to sit down on the weekend and watch a couple of movies. Watched Spider-Man homecoming and affinity wars and game a bit more on assassins odyssey.
Boy I’m amazed with the colors and pop of the display. Keep smiling every time I turn it on.
Still haven’t done any setting up yet so basically out of the box settings, but I’m very pleased. Money well spent. Just got to hang it up hopefully next weekend.

[Davo1972]

2 hours ago, Michael391 said:

Well got to sit down on the weekend and watch a couple of movies. Watched Spider-Man homecoming and affinity wars and game a bit more on assassins odyssey.
Boy I’m amazed with the colors and pop of the display. Keep smiling every time I turn it on.
Still haven’t done any setting up yet so basically out of the box settings, but I’m very pleased. Money well spent. Just got to hang it up hopefully next weekend.

Nice one Michael! I can't wait until this time tomorrow  

[betty boop]

2 minutes ago, Davo1972 said:

Nice one Michael! I can't wait until this time tomorrow  

do kick off an owners thread when you do Davo, I cant wait for you to get it either  

[Davo1972]

1 minute ago, betty boop said:

do kick off an owners thread when you do Davo, I cant wait for you to get it either  

Roger that Al, more than happy to.

[oztheatre]

Ok folks, I got my N7 up and running about 4hrs ago, was about 5 mins in and power outage for a couple more hours. 

 

Not sure what the fire up times are like but my software is version 1.19. Took about 25 seconds for the D-ILA logo to get on screen which was a bit long, but early days. The power outage may have e added to the problem, not sure. 

 

Once I'd done the usual, zoom, shift and focus I was very surprised by how clean the picture is. The lens is very very nice and would make this the sharpest and cleanest projector I've seen to date, which is good be honest as I was quite worried what surprises I might see given the QA problems from abroad. Seems like I dodged a bullet with this one. There's a bit of CA on the outer edges, I expected more so was pleasantly surprised. (Cannot imagine how good woofers Z1 would be!)

 

The lcos panels are impressive with their very fine fill factor. If you thought the pixels were hard to make out on the X series, you cannot see them on the N7 at all. 

 

The remote is awkward with the buttons sitting flush to the remote body, not sticking out.. seems flimsy.. Will take a bit of getting used to. But everything is there, the menu is well laid out like the previous x series machines. They should have kept the old remote though. Buttons were better, seemed better built, but this one has larger buttons, they're just harder to find and press correctly. A few times I'd try to press the circular arrow ring around the OK button and I'd hit OK by mistake which would take me out of what I was doing. Not a deal breaker by any stretch though.

 

The lens shift is improved too, must be a whole new design as it moves more incrementally and doesn't wobble around. Will test out the lens memory stuff later tonight. 

 

Basically I've only watched the 2K and 4K versions of Oblivion, the opening 2 or 3 scenes up to the 2017 world series stadium where he repairs the ungrateful drone. The 2K version I much prefer but with the 4K version, I was quite surprised as there was less noise than I'd seen before. One thing I noticed more of was flaws in skin and closeup facial features seem to yield more detail. I would put this down to the new glass optics, such an important part of what makes a good image. 

 

Using Bt2020 in cinema mode and playing around with some hdr and gamma settings. So far so good. really happy so far! Next I'll play around with the detail, smoothing and noise reduction settings to find a happy medium. 

 

 

[dandlj]

Ok folks, I got my N7 up and running about 4hrs ago, was about 5 mins in and power outage for a couple more hours. 
 
Not sure what the fire up times are like but my software is version 1.19. Took about 25 seconds for the D-ILA logo to get on screen which was a bit long, but early days. The power outage may have e added to the problem, not sure. 
 
Once I'd done the usual, zoom, shift and focus I was very surprised by how clean the picture is. The lens is very very nice and would make this the sharpest and cleanest projector I've seen to date, which is good be honest as I was quite worried what surprises I might see given the QA problems from abroad. Seems like I dodged a bullet with this one. There's a bit of CA on the outer edges, I expected more so was pleasantly surprised. (Cannot imagine how good woofers Z1 would be!)
 
The lcos panels are impressive with their very fine fill factor. If you thought the pixels were hard to make out on the X series, you cannot see them on the N7 at all. 
 
The remote is awkward with the buttons sitting flush to the remote body, not sticking out.. seems flimsy.. Will take a bit of getting used to. But everything is there, the menu is well laid out like the previous x series machines. They should have kept the old remote though. Buttons were better, seemed better built, but this one has larger buttons, they're just harder to find and press correctly. A few times I'd try to press the circular arrow ring around the OK button and I'd hit OK by mistake which would take me out of what I was doing. Not a deal breaker by any stretch though.
 
The lens shift is improved too, must be a whole new design as it moves more incrementally and doesn't wobble around. Will test out the lens memory stuff later tonight. 
 
Basically I've only watched the 2K and 4K versions of Oblivion, the opening 2 or 3 scenes up to the 2017 world series stadium where he repairs the ungrateful drone. The 2K version I much prefer but with the 4K version, I was quite surprised as there was less noise than I'd seen before. One thing I noticed more of was flaws in skin and closeup facial features seem to yield more detail. I would put this down to the new glass optics, such an important part of what makes a good image. 
 
Using Bt2020 in cinema mode and playing around with some hdr and gamma settings. So far so good. really happy so far! Next I'll play around with the detail, smoothing and noise reduction settings to find a happy medium. 
 
 

Sounds excellent. What screen are you projecting on?

[oztheatre]

2 hours ago, dandlj said:

 

 

Sounds excellent. What screen are you projecting on?

 

 

165 scope screen. Evo4K Majestic screen, the ones I build of course 

 

Here's a point and shoot photo using a galaxy s6. 

[Davo1972]

Well I finally had my DLA-N7 installed this morning

 

First impressions are - it's bright, has awesome contrast, really nicely saturated colour, great shadow detail, and is quiet in operation even in high lamp (my MLP is a bit over a metre away from the projector). The projector has 1.19 firmware installed (so I'll need to source the 1.20 firmware soon). The convergence looked perfect to me with no need to adjust. I checked sharpness with the QBF pattern and it looked pretty good at the top of the image, but a little softer at the bottom, possibly because we needed to lens shift vertically down to get the image onto my screen (minimal horizontal shift was required). I couldn't hear the DI in operation, and didn't notice any pumping artefacts that have been described as being present in the e-shift JVCs when using DI. I set CMD in Low mode and motion was great with no judder but also no SOE. The detail of 4K material was noticeably better than my old 1080p DLP projector and I could tell the difference between 4K and 1080p (but I'll admit after I had LASIK refractive surgery my visual acuity is around 6/4!). 

 

I got a light meter from Jaycar this afternoon, and found when projecting from around 4m throw onto my 100" diag 16:9 Stewart FireHawk G3 1.25 gain screen in SDR (low lamp, Iris -7, Auto 2) I get around 20 foot-lamberts peak brightness (at Iris -8 it goes down to 17 foot-lamberts), and for HDR (high lamp, Iris 0, Auto 2) I get 43 foot-lamberts.

 

With HDR material it really does look like a big OLED TV with great contrast and really bright highlights, giving the picture a three dimensional feel and really powerful visual punch. I watched Thor Ragnarok 4K Blu-ray earlier this afternoon, which doesn't have any Max CLL, Max FALL metadata on the disc, but all I needed to do was adjust the picture tone manual setting to +7 and the picture looked great. After that I watched the first part in Pacific Rim 4K Blu-ray (which does have Max CLL, Max FALL metadata - approx 2500nits and 800 nits respectively) where Gipsy Danger fights Knifehead and all it needed was the auto tone mapping slider set to +5. I think because my screen is a silver grey screen I'm having to set my tone mapping controls to increase the scene brightness. I think people with white screens won't have to set the tone mapping controls as aggressively as I have needed to.

 

The only SDR material I tried was Interstellar - mainly to look at the scene at 53:30 to check contrast and black levels (it looked awesome), but flicked through other scenes which also had great contrast and good colour. My Oppo UDP-203 is set to upscale 1080p to 4K SDR so I didn't get a chance to check out how the DLA-N7 upscales 1080p.

 

Overall I'm blown away by this projector and my dealer and installer were too. My installer previously wanted to get a large OLED TV for his theatre, but after seeing the DLA-N7 in operation he has changed his mind. It's just absolutely incredible. Although I have also seen a DLA-N5 in action, I'm loathe to compare the DLA-N5 (which I saw projected onto a 2.35:1 130" Stewart StudioTek 130 screen from a longer throw and zoomed in to fill the screen rather than using an anamorphic lens) to my DLA-N7 (which is being projected onto my screen as described above), but my gut tells me the contrast on the DLA-N7 is better overall (might be some bias creeping in there though ).

 

Now I need to get a 2.35:1 120" Stewart StudioTek 130 screen 

  

 

[Davo1972]

Also forgot to mention. No rainbow effect, thank God! RBE was possibly one of the biggest things I hated about my DLP projector!!!!

[oztheatre]

20 minutes ago, Davo1972 said:

Also forgot to mention. No rainbow effect, thank God! RBE was possibly one of the biggest things I hated about my DLP projector!!!!

Good going Dave, that's 2 happy N7 owners so far!

 

 

I think I'm more impressed by the optics than anything else, the clarity is nothing short of stunning. What a 4K projector should be like!