The first inkling that JVC’s DLA-HD1 might be a top performer comes to me as I load the batteries into the remote control. The remote features discrete on and off buttons, which are de rigueur for upscale automated control systems, yet aren’t provided with many front projectors. The remote’s backlighting feature isn’t innovative, but the designer wisely chose amber backlight coloring, so you can read the lettering without squinting even in a dark home theater. That the remote also features direct access to all the desired picture control adjustments shows intelligent design.

The projector itself is surprisingly compact, given that the optical system is quite complex. The DLA-HD1 sports deluxe optics from studio camera lensmaker Fujinon, with the lens system providing both horizontal and vertical lens shift to aid in installation flexibility.

The input panel around back is both generous and stingy. Two HDMI digital video inputs are provided instead of the usual one, but the lack of a VGA-style port for computer graphics is puzzling—not only might it come in handy for computer users, it would allow me to get true 1080p out of my Microsoft Xbox 360 HD DVD setup.

During a demonstration at the recent CES show that pitted the DLA-HD1 head-to-head against Sony’s VPL-W50 (another LCoS design), JVC focused on the improvements made in deep black contrast performance due to its new 1080p imaging panel technology, which combines a micro-mesh wire grid with a smoother reflective backplane. The JVC certainly outperformed the Sony in that department at the trade-show demo, providing deep blacks and dark grays that rival those produced by the better DLP projectors.

That certainly proves to be the case when I evaluate the JVC’s deinterlacing—the process of converting interlaced 1080i and 480i video into the progressive-scan video that the 1080p LCoS chips demand. I use a test DVD that features a scene with a businessman in a pinstripe suit drinking coffee and reading a newspaper in a diner, only to be interrupted by a hobo who mooches the newspaper away from him. The businessman’s slate gray pinstripe suit contrasts subtly with the hobo’s black hat, black coat, and black gloves—each slightly different in tone but all of which the JVC presents with no murkiness or loss of detail. I also notice no flicker or moiré artifacts, no doubt due to JVC’s selection of a Gennum VXP video processor chip. The detection and correction of 2:3 film-based cadences is beyond merely quick—it’s instantaneous, so you see no artifacts when you jump from video-based material to film-based material and back again.

The projector’s colorimetry is as good as it gets. Quite often, even if the display presents the red, green, and blue primary colors at the proper values (which itself is somewhat uncommon), the values of one or more of the secondary colors (cyan, yellow, and magenta) are almost always off by some amount. With the JVC, all six color points measured just about right on the money, which is an extremely rare feat. Any particular color in an image presented by the DLA-HD1 is most certainly the color that was intended to be seen.

That same excellent colorimetry no doubt contributes to what is the smoothest and most accurate gray scale I’ve ever encountered from a display right out of the box. (Our sample is factory-fresh with no evidence of pre-review calibration.) From the deepest dark grays all the way through to the brightest whites, the DLA-HD1 pretty much aces the test, with the color analyzer reporting results at or oh-so-very-near the ideal D6500 target color temperature over pretty much the entire luminance range, varying only by a couple of percent in the lower registers (i.e., dark grays and blacks).

With the animated movie Open Season on Blu-ray disc, the JVC presents an eye-popping color clarity and richness that confirmed the projector’s technical prowess. Visually stunning and packed with fine detail, this auspicious debut from Sony Pictures’ animation division is a great test disc for nighttime scenes, which the JVC handles beautifully. A darkly lit scene in a rustic cabin’s basement is full of shadowy detail that’s always easy to see, and the inky black nighttime sky in outdoor scenes is devoid of the bluish or purplish tinge I often notice.I did notice two fairly minor feature omissions: The projector doesn’t support vertical stretch scaling (for use with an outboard anamorphic lens to obtain true widescreen 2.35:1 presentation), and the component video input does not support 1080p, which will disappoint Xbox 360 gamers.

From a picture quality standpoint, the JVC DLA-HD1 delivers where it counts. It has plenty of light output, it’s easily able to support screen sizes up to 10 feet wide, it runs quietly, and the color quality and deinterlacing proficiency are both superb. I highly recommend this projector.

DESCRIPTION
LCoS front projector; can be mounted on a tabletop, shelf, or ceiling. Requires separate screen

DISPLAY CAPABILITIES
Widescreen LCoS panels operate in 4:3 and 16:9 modes. Accepts 720-line and 1080-line progressive HDTV, 1080-line interlaced HDTV, 480-line progressive and 480-line interlaced signals

RESOLUTION
1920 x 1080 pixels

CONNECTIONS
Two HDMI digital video inputs, component video input, S-video input, composite video input, RS-232 serial port for external control

DIMENSIONS
6.9 x 16.5 x 17.9 inches (hwd)

PRICE/CONTACT
PRICE: $6,299.95
CONTACT: 800.252.5722, jvc.com