JVC RS1 and Sharp XV-Z20000 1080p Projector Comparison Review - General Performance-4

JVC RS1 and Sharp Z20000 Measurements and Calibration

excellent.  I don’t normally measure grayscale for settings not intended for movies, so I can’t quote the IRE color temperature numbers for TV.   I would put the two about tie, on HDTV sources that I viewed.  Jay Leno’s skin tones (HDTV) never looked 100% perfect on either, but both were very close, and I couldn’t pick a winner.  Of course, in the searching for ultimate perfection for HDTV watching, the Sharp has the control advantage with more ability to fine tune the many aspects of color handling.

Having just said that, the JVC still should provide a more even color temperature across the grayscale (remember that 70K shift), but, If the Sharp holds to its 250K, no one will be complaining, and it can probably be improved slightly.

The big win goes to Sharp for providing the tools to fine tune color and gamma, but, in all fairness, the JVC seems to not need those controls, it is just that good out of the box.

So, all of you who’s dream projector is one that is virtually flawless out of the box, and never want to fuss, are going to love the JVC.  Conversely, those who love the technology as much as the movies, and would be frustrated without a million controls to play with, will favor the Sharp.

Editor's note: As frequent visitors to our reviews have learned, our reviews and comparisons are not written for the really hard core "purist" who will do anything and everything, to get the most perfect picture possible. There are other reviews, and better still, advanced user forums, for those demanding the last ounce of perfection out of their projector. In fact, we do not run a full set of measurements of everything that affects the picture quality, concentrating instead on brightness, grayscale balance, and black levels/shadow detail. If you get into more advanced discussions, you'll find talk of overdriven color saturation (the JVC, for example has been accused of slightly overdriven - oversaturated greens), and other such things. We choose to leave that to others to measure, report on, and debate.

We write for what we see as our target readership. Those who simply want a great projected image, and are not going to do all the things required to get that last 2%-3% out of their projector. Plan B, of course, for our readers who do want the maximum performance, but really aren't into the technology, nore want to be, is to hire a professional calibrator, to maximize the projector's performance, overall, and more specifically, in the room it will be used in. We know from feedback that even the most hardcore folks do find useful information in our reviews (although we are regularly scolded for only going so far), so we are pleased to have even the fanatics read our content. Still, let's say, we focus more on the home theater projector "mainstream" buyers and enthusiasts. I say enthusiast here, because the real masses (non enthusiasts) tend to stick to their much smaller plasmas and LCDTV's.

Time to move on, next is the warranty page - it takes a minute to read, and this time, there is something really important, worth noting!