JVC DLA-RS10 Projector Review1

Posted on October 10, 2013 By Art Feierman

Detail Enhancement

The RS10, like the RS20 has a Detail Enhancement feature in its sharpness menu, and that works very nicely. It takes a significant adjustment (ie. from default 0, to about 30 to 40, for it to make a noticeable difference, but using it, in addition to some sharpness adjustement, does provide a crisper looking image. Even with that, the very sharpest projectors (such as the InFocus IN83) are still visibly a touch sharper when viewed side by side, but, it does make a visible improvement over the default settings, without the type of oversharpening ghosts around dark object edges when next to other areas much brighter, and vice versa. Be sure not to oversharpen to the point where that ghosting is visible, because that is the sign of false sharpness, and loss of fine detail. Please note, for our photo sessions, the sharpness was left at the default settings.

Motorized Lens System - and use with Cinemascope wide screens

While a number of projectors have motorized focus and zoom, the JVC also has motorized veritical and horizontal lens shift. The reason for pointing this out is that it allows one capabiliity some of you might take advantage of. Let’s say you are putting on a typical Cinemascope movie – 2.35:1 aspect ratio – you’ll have the usual letterboxing at the top and bottom. You can take advantage of the motorized lens shift to drop the active part of the image (the movie) down so that the bottom of the picture is even with the bottom of your screen. If you have dark walls you won’t see the dim lower letterbox on your walls. You’ll still have one at the top, plus some empty screen up there as well, but dropping the movie down will probably place it better for viewing. In most rooms you won’t be looking up as much.

The combination also means you can use the JVC with a 2.35:1 screen (if you have the right distance range for your screen), and zoom out when you want to watch standard HDTV or 16:9 movie content, as well as 4:3. Panasonic pitches this feature heavily on the PT-AE3000. The difference is that Panasonic let’s you save the lens positioning, so you can switch back and forth with a single button. With the JVC, you’ll be zooming in and out, each time you switch from the 2.35:1 aspect ratio, to the others. For those watching mostly movies, this is viable, as it would only take maybe 15 seconds to do the adjustment from the remote. The RS10 (like the Panasonic) also has internal support for an anamorphic lens, but for those wanting to go 2.35:1 Cinemascope on their screens, but tight on the cash to spring for a full anamorphic lens, this can allow them to start with the wider screen, use this feature, and later, if desired, get an anamorphic lens and sled.