JVC DLA-HD250 - Screen Recommendations

Posted on August 3, 2010 by Art Feierman

JVC HD250 Projector Screen Recommendations

This section on projector screens for your JVC DLA-HD250, is a variation on the pages for the RS25 and RS60 projectors, due to their similarity. In reality, even the HD250 here, who's blacks aren't as good as the RS25/RS60 is close enough that the same "arguments" hold for all these projectors.

Great projectors tend to look great on any good screen. The trick with the HD250 is to match the screen to your room, and your viewing requirements.

For example, the HD250 doesn't have the best black levels around, but is so close to the best that you really don't need to consider a high contrast gray screen, (like the Firehawk G3 I use in my main theater), unless it is to deal with some (side) ambient light. For those with a fully light controlled room, for example, the StudioTek 130 G3 that I currently use, works really well with the HD250, in my theater with its dark surfaces. For those on a tighter budget, other moderate gain white surfaces should also be an excellent match.

Mind you, some of you with smaller screen sizes may want to lower overall black levels so might choose a high contrast gray surfaced projector screen. I had only minor issues with the black levels when switching to my new Carada Brilliant White (1.4 gain) 110" screen 2.35:1 in Carada's Masquerade masking system, in terms of black levels, which works out to an under 90" diagonal size for 16:9 viewing. At that roughly 90 inch size, the "blacks" are lighter than I like. So, for someone really into black blacks like me, I might very well go back to a HC gray, if that was my normal viewing size for 16:9.

The HD250 projector fills my 124" 2.35:1 beautifully (that's just under 100" diagonal when I'm watching 16:9. I basically zoom a larger image when watching Cinemascope movies, so they aren't as bright, and I find the HD250 is just fine on black levels when watching movies. While at the 98" size (16:9), blacks may not be quite as black, but most of the 16:9 content I watch is not movie, so I don't really care very much, as blacks become secondary.

Thanks to the HD250's brightness in "best" mode, the HD250 has plenty of horsepower to handle the full 124" diagonal size of my Studiotek 130 G3, without difficulty in my room. Almost effortlessly, thanks to all the very dark surfaces.

For those of us who also like to watch sports, or typical TV/HDTV programming in an environment with some intentional ambient light, the Stage and Dynamic modes are slightly brighter. There really isn't a huge amount of there's not a lot of spare lumens to deal with ambient light, especially if your walls and other surfaces are fairly light. In a room like my current setup, a white screen with modest gain would typically make the most sense, but, your room may dictate a different solution.

Bottom line, get a good screen that meets your lighting and room requirements, factoring in what type of content you mostly watch. Preferably it should be a fine surface, designed for 1080p projectors (older screen designs were a bit more coarse). The truth is, though, room notwithstanding, this projector will look great on most screens.