JVC DLA-RS10 Projector Calibration and Settings

February 2009:

We calibrate each home theater that is reviewed. Normally we just do a basic grayscale calibration, along with the usual brightness, contrast, saturation, and other basic adjustments. That is the case for the DLA-RS10 as well, and I should note, different, than what you will find in the recent RS20 review. That projector has an advanced color management system, and, that projector needs it. The RS10 is setup differently and does very nicely with the "basics".

The JVC DLA-RS10 is one of the more expensive home theater projectors out there (without considering those five figure 3 chip DLP projectors). If you are spending "the big bucks" for an RS10, you will certainly want it to perform at its best.

We recommend a good professional calibration (several hundred dollars, sometimes more). Failing that, you can do most of the important adjustments with the use of a good end user calibration disc. I call them "end user" because they are very step by step. Allow a good hour to do your first calibration. There's a review on the site for the DVE-HD disc. If you don't like Plan A, or Plan B, try Plan C. That would be to plug in all of our post-calibration settings. They should definitely provide better results than just "out of the box" performance. There is variation, though from unit to unit, due to the lamp variation. Still, our settings will get you close!

C o n t e n t s

JVC DLA-RS10 Color Temperature

First, here are the color temperature measurements for the Cinema 1 "best" mode.

These are the measurements, taken "right out of the box":

30 IRE (dark gray): 6387K
50 IRE (medium gray): 6357K
80 IRE (light gray): 6293K
100 IRE (white): 6181K

Those numbers are not too far below the ideal 6500K, however, a quick adjust of the color offset setting for red, to -2, and blue, to -1 improves that notably, our post calibration settings much further improve the image.

With Red offset at -2, Blue offset at -1

30 IRE (dark gray): 6476K
50 IRE (medium gray): 6493K
80 IRE (light gray): 6372K
100 IRE (white): 6196K

For those interested, here are the color temperature measurement for white (100 IRE), for each of the five preset modes

Cinema 1 : 6181K
Cinema 2 (for B/W movies): 5176K
Natural: 6209K
Stage: 7288K
Dynamic: 8179K

Ok, time to see what we can do with the projector to perfect the image.

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JVC DLA-RS10 Basic Settings

In addition to calibrating Red Green and Blue for a correct grayscale balance (6500K), there are a number of other settings that come into play. Typically Contrast and Brightness (white balance and black balance), need to be done first. Color saturation and gamma also need adjustment.

Our final settings (the default settings for Brightness, Contrast, Saturation and Tint are all 0, in all modes). Mike made adjustments to these, and the Color Temp settings for each of the seven modes:

                       Cinema1     Cinema2      Natural        Stage      Dynamic
Contrast = (0)            -2               -4               0              -2               -3
Brightness = (0)          1                2                2               4                1
Color Sat. = (0)          -3               -3                0               0            10
Tint = (0)                   -3               -3              0             0                0
Color Temp =         6500          5800         6500          7500    High Bright
Gamma =          Normal                A       Normal               C                C
Lamp Mode=High (unless noted otherwise)
Iris fully open: 3
All other settings at default (untouched)

Zoom set at mid-point for all measurements

Note, the JVC does not have User savable settings (you can customize all modes).

You can put in the settings you want, but there is no "Save function" that can be recalled, after changed. Thus, if you have customized, Cinema 1, for example, then decide to change it's color temp, it will remember the new setting but it will forget the old settings you had put in. Be sure to jot down all of your settings as you customize a mode, or use a User mode. Otherwise, you might try adjusting something, not like the result, and not be able to remember what the old setting was.

You can also use the 3 User modes to keep settings in, so you could, for example "duplicate" the settings you end up with for Cinema 1, in User 1. Then you can tweak all you want in Cinema 1, knowing that you can recall your initial adjustments when needed.

JVC DLA-RS10 Post Calibration Grayscale

Here's what we ended up with in measuring the grayscale. All the Color Temp and CMS settings are listed further down. Since then I have made minor changes to the color temp settings. I have not remeasured, but these should be close to our most recent best settings.

20 IRE: 6553K (very dark gray)
30 IRE: 6489K (dark gray)
40 IRE: 6538K
50 IRE: 6695K (medium gray)
60 IRE: 6595K
70 IRE: 6582K
80 IRE: 6544K (light gray)
90 IRE: 6470K
100 IRE: 6472K (white)

Now that's pretty impressive, with a range of only 225K from 20 to 100 IRE! It is, by the way, even slightly better than we were able to get out of the RS20

Gamma settings:

The gamma controls on the RS10 allow for detailed customization, including different gamma curves for each primary color! So far I've only tinkered there. I have found the provided gamma presets B and C to do a very good job, although I definitely prefer B for most content, C seems to work well for the rest. B provides a little extra pop to the image in most scenes, and looks great, doing it, while still maintaining a very film-like image.

Overall, Mike reports that the B gamma is very close to the ideal 2.2 over most of the IRE range. In fact, it averaged 2.19 in his measurements.

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JVC DLA-RS10 RGB Settings

These are the adjustments we made to Red, Green and Blue for the grayscale balance of Cinema 1 mode. This is accomplished by placing these adjustments into one of the three Custom settings (1, 2, or 3)

Color Temp settings:

Gain:
Red: 0
Green: -9
Blue: -50

Offset:
Red: 0
Green: 0
Blue: -1

Adjustments for Dynamic Mode

Dynamic offers a bit less control, with only Offsets. Mike's results recommend these:

Offset:
Red: 0
Green: -2
Blue: -5

Post calibration brightness is not much different than before. In Cinema 1, we measured 740 lumens, up slightly from 710 lumens. In Dynamic mode, brightness dropped, also insignificantly, from 814 lumens to 799 lumens.

Dynamic mode above shows color saturation at +10. That assumes you are fighting ambient light. Dial down as needed. With no ambient light issues, you might find yourself back at 0.

If these combined settings work as well in your JVC DLA-RS10, as they do in this one, you are going to love your RS10! As much as I've enjoyed my RS1 (with even less color control), this RS10, now adjusted, definitely looks better (not drastically, but better, none-the-less! Once again, please consider that with a projector in this price range, the cost of a good calibration is not a significant additional expense. More to the point, proper calibration will deliver improved performance!

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