Results From Our April 2019 Sony and JVC 4K Projector Expo / Shootout Event!

PROJECTOR EXPO REPORT

Here it is - the final report on The Screening Room's big Projector Expo event, comparing four of the top 4K UHD projectors from JVC and Sony. Many thanks to those who came out, especially those who traveled great distances to join us!

Despite being exhausted after three weeks of prep, zero days off, and thousands of dollars spent putting on the show, we all had a great time hosting everyone and getting to see these projectors put through their paces. This report is based on my subjective observations and input from both the attendees and our special guests Kris Deering (Sound and Vision magazine, Deep Dive AV), Craig Rounds (CIR Engineering), Chris Deutsch (JVC), and Russell Warnhoff (Kaleidescape).

NOTE: Taking the time to do controlled product comparisons on a level playing field is a huge part of what The Screening Room is about. By eliminating variables that come into play when comparing a/v products at various different locations means we are able to offer much more reliable and accurate data to help you make informed decisions. Such tests are not easy or cheap to set up, however. If you are in the market for a new projection system and you find this shootout to be of value, we hope you will at least give us the opportunity to earn your projection business by contacting us for questions, system design input and price quotes. We don't think you'll find a more knowledgeable and helpful projection system design crew anywhere.

Projectors compared:

JVC DLA-RS2000 / DLA-NX7 (MSRP $8999)

Sony VPL-VW695ES (MSRP $9999)

JVC DLA-RS3000 / DLA-NX9 (MSRP $17999)

Sony VPL-VW995ES (MSRP $34999)

Top to bottom - Sony VPL-VW695ES, JVC DLA-RS2000, Sony VPL-VW995ES

All projectors were calibrated by our special guest Kris Deering. Kris is currently a writer/technical editor for Sound and Vision magazine and a calibrator and consultant through his own company, Deep Dive AV. He has also been a writer and editor for various other publications, both in print and online, including Home Theater magazine and Secrets of Home Theater and High Fidelity. Kris has done work for some of the biggest names in the AV industry, offering a wide range of services including calibration, product development, product testing and training. I have interspersed his comments and measurements in italics.

Kris Deering Calibrates the Projectors

First off, here are some quick notes on the comparisons, updated with the actual measurements. Screen used was a Stewart 120" 16:9 StudioTek130, located in our downtown Colorado Springs showroom - a totally light controlled room with dark walls and ceiling.

The JVC DLA-RS2000 / NX7 and the DLA-RS3000 / NX9 had the best native contrast, and measured almost identically. Both had approximately 2 - 3X the native contrast of the Sonys in their respective best modes. Here are the actual contrast measurements taken by Kris, ranked highest to lowest:

JVC DLA-RS3000 / DLA-RS2000 (tie): 22,000:1 native contrast ratio, high lamp, iris wide open; calibrated contrast 37,000:1 with the manual iris stopped down to hit 22 footlamberts (24 FL on the RS2000)

Sony VPL-VW995ES: 15,000:1 native contrast ratio at peak light output, calibrated contrast 8,800:1 with laser light output reduced to hit 22 footlamberts

Sony VPL-VW695ES: 8800:1 native contrast ratio, high lamp iris wide open, calibrated contrast 10,100:1 with the aperture closed down to hit 22 footlamberts

The Sony VW995ES by a tiny margin had the best lens of all the projectors at the event, with the JVC RS3000 coming in an extremely close second. Pixel definition was outstanding (as it was with the 3000), but keep in mind the difference between these two projectors was only noticeable with a single pixel test pattern right up literally inches away from the screen. A note about this lens – the improvement this lens brings over what can be found in Sony's VW295, VW695 and VW885 is pretty substantial at any seating distance. Sharpness, depth and apparent contrast are considerably improved. Projectors ranked in brightness: VPL-VW995ES, DLA-RS2000, DLA-RS3000, and VPL-VW695ES. One should not be too surprised by the slightly lower brightness of the RS3000 vs. the 2000 – these are often sample variances. Here are the numbers:

Sony VPL-VW995ES: Peak output 49 footlamberts

JVC DLA-RS2000: Peak output 46 footlamberts (high lamp)

JVC DLA-RS3000: Peak output 41 footlamberts (high lamp)

Sony VPL-VW695ES: Peak output 31 footlamberts (high lamp) The JVCs had the best color reproduction / saturation, with subtle shadings that were missing from the two Sonys. Both JVCs looked almost identical in this regard, which is not surprising when you look at the numbers:

JVC DLA-RS3000 and DLA-RS2000 (tie): measured at 99.8% of the P3 / DCI color gamut, color filter in place.

The Sony VPL-VW995ES: measured at 90% of the P3 / DCI color gamut.

The VPL-VW695ES: measured slightly lower at 89% of the P3 / DCI color gamut.

The Sony VW995ES had an extremely pleasing “pop” and clarity, most likely due to its high brightness output and outstanding lens.

Both JVC projectors also had excellent HDR "pop," with the 3000 essentially equaling the VPL-VW995ES from a clarity standpoint The Sony was still capable of higher brightness, however, which could be a benefit if paired with particularly large screens. Where the JVCs stood out in the HDR department, though, was in their auto tone-mapping ability (more on this in a moment).

JVC DLA-RS3000 hanging in our reference showroom

JVC RS2000 vs RS3000 – with generic picture content, often the two projectors looked almost identical. However, when there were areas of fine detail in an image, the superiority of the RS3000’s lens became clear (no pun intended). Fine details were easier to make out, and to re-coin a phrase I used from last year’s shootout, the overall image had a greater “purity” than the 2000. The 2000 had an ever so slight “haze” to the picture when compared to the RS3000 when watching motion video. TO BE CLEAR, this was not a night and day difference and I do not mean to imply that the RS2000 had a hazy image in any way, just that when comparing A/B with the 3000 that’s the best word I can think of to quantify the difference. The 3000 just had a slight boost in depth and clarity overall, which is what I mean by "purity." The Sony VPL-VW695ES seemed to struggle with the HDMI signal splitter we were using, and sometimes showed a large amount of banding with certain footage. As this is NOT typical of the performance of the 695, we removed it from the comparisons Sunday afternoon. NOTE: picture parameters other than banding could be fairly judged against the other projectors, however we felt the banding issue was distracting enough that it prevented the VW695ES from getting a fair shake (which is why we took it out of the comparisons for most of Sunday).

Kris Deering explains tone-mapping to the crowd

The higher native contrast of the JVC projectors was pretty obvious during dark scenes, much less so during bright video footage where the JVCs and Sonys looked very similar. In bright footage, the most obvious differences were seen in fine details with the projectors sporting high-end len