JVC DLA-HD250 Physical Tour2

Posted on August 3, 2010 by Art Feierman

Input/Output

Click to enlarge. so close. There seem to be no changes this year, in terms of I/O - inputs and outputs. Located on the side, from front to back, first there are two HDMI 1.3b compatible inputs. Next comes an analog PC input (standard HD15 connector), which the original RS1, and also the RS10 did not offer. I should note that the RS25 and HD250 both have the computer input, but the HD250 does not. (There are work arounds of course.)

Next up, are three RCA connectors for the component video input, followed by another RCA connector for basic composite video. Next is the S-Video input, followed by the RS-232 connector for controlling the projector directly from a computer or room controller.

Add all of them up, and you have a fairly standard complement of inputs and outputs, with no surprises. As with all home theater projectors, I'd still like to see three HDMI ports, but I've only seen that on a couple of 1080p projectors so far.

Click Image to Enlarge

JVC DLA-HD250 Menus

JVC has a very well designed menu structure. The HD250's menus are essentially identical to the ones I'm used to from years of watching my JVCs. The more expensive current JVC's offer CFI, creative frame interpolation, so have an extra menu item. Neither my old RS20, nor the HD250 and HD250Pro offer CFI, which is too bad, as many like CFI, especially for sports.

The HD250's menus are not quite identical to the more expensive JVC projectors. The differences center around two areas.

First, the DLA-HD250 projector lacks the pre-calibrated THX mode found on the RS25 and RS35.

Secondly, it lacks a full CMS to calibrate primary and secondary colors. One of the incentives JVC gives you to move up to the more expensive models, is the more sophisticated controls that allow to further perfect an already impressive color handling ability.

Most of the image goodies are found on the Picture menu, which is the first main menu in the top right when the main menu is open.

Besides the usual Brightness, Contrast, Color Saturation, etc., the Picture menu has a Gamma sub menu, and Advanced sub-menu which has sharpness and detail enhancement (keep them low).

The Pixel Adjust menu allows the JVC to digitally shift the red, green, or blue, data by one pixel up/down/left/right. This means that if a JVC projector has any pixel misalignment greater than 1/2 pixel diameter (it can be corrected to less than that).

This menu is the Color Temp menu for doing the basic grayscale adjustments. It's the same standard set of controls found on the more expensive JVC projectors. Note, you can save up to three custom color temp settings.

Our final menu is the gamma control menu, which is extremely flexible.

Not only can you adjust the gamma of white, but also you can do each primary color separately. Further, the JVC HD250 comes with Normal, and 3 additional gamma presets, plus it allows you to save three of your own custom settings. Note also, that when doing so you can adjust each IRE point separately, and separate gamma controls for the primary colors as well as white.

I also like the grayscale provided on the screen, which gives you a good idea if you are crushing blacks or whites too much, or expanding them the way you want. A great Gamma control.