What is a JVC D-ILA projector?
D-ILA is JVC's own imaging chip technology, and the NZ500, NZ800 and NZ900 each use three of them. The chips are native 4K (4,096 by 2,160), and JVC's headline strength is how much light they can hold back: JVC quotes a native contrast ratio of 150,000:1 for the flagship DLA-NZ900, 100,000:1 for the DLA-NZ800 and 40,000:1 for the compact DLA-NZ500.
The UK range has four models. The DLA-NZ500 and NZ700 are compact native 4K laser projectors, and JVC describes the NZ500 as the smallest native 4K projector in the world. The DLA-NZ800 and flagship NZ900 add 8K/e-shiftX, which shifts each pixel by half a pixel in four directions to display an 8,192 by 4,320 image from the native 4K chips, and both accept 8K signals at 60 frames per second. The NZ500, NZ800 and NZ900 use JVC's BLU-Escent laser at 2,000, 2,700 and 3,300 lumens respectively, and JVC rates the NZ800 and NZ900 lasers for 20,000 hours.
Why does contrast matter so much in a dark room?
In a properly blacked-out cinema the screen is the only light source, so the darkest thing the projector can show sets the tone for everything else. A projector with weak native contrast turns the black bars above and below a widescreen film into dark grey, flattens night scenes, and leaves space films looking misty. Strong native contrast keeps those blacks genuinely black while bright highlights still stand out.
JVC adds processing on top of the hardware. Its Frame Adapt HDR analyses HDR content scene by scene and adjusts the picture in real time, and the latest version includes Deep Black Tone Control to hold dark areas down without losing detail. The NZ800 also supports HDR10+ and FILMMAKER MODE, which aim to keep the picture close to how it was graded. The result is a projector that rewards a room built to be dark, and a basement is often the easiest place to build one.
Planning a light-controlled room for a JVC projector
A JVC can only show the contrast the room allows it to. Light that leaves the screen bounces off pale walls, ceilings and even white seat fabric, comes back onto the screen and lifts the blacks. Planning a room for a JVC therefore starts with light, not with the projector:
- Surfaces near the screen. Darker, matt finishes on the front third of the room, especially the ceiling and side walls closest to the screen, stop reflections washing over the image.
- Lighting design. Step lights and low-level guide lights placed out of the screen's line, with Lutron scenes that can take every circuit to off.
- Screen size and gain. Gain changes how bright the image looks from each seat. JVC's Theater Optimizer on the NZ800 uses the screen size and gain you enter to tune its HDR tone mapping, so we size the screen and the projector together. Our guide to screen size and viewing distance sets out the starting numbers.
- Ventilation and noise. A dark basement cinema is also a quiet one, so the projector position and its airflow are planned to keep fan noise away from the seats.
