I would rate the JVC DLA-RS1100's color reproduction out-of-the-box as good. There is a total of five different preset SDR picture modes available. The color temperature of all of them averaged around 7500K. The main difference between the NATURAL and CINEMA picture modes is their Gamma targets. Most users, including myself, tend to prefer the NATURAL mode when viewing content in most environments.
There are also three USER modes that look very similar to the NATURAL picture mode in their default settings. These modes can be used to store picture settings after calibration. For example, modes for viewing SDR in a bright or dark room.
In addition, there are independent picture modes for HDR10, HLG, and HDR10+. There is even a dedicated picture mode optimized exclusively for Panasonic Blu-ray players like the DP-BP9000.
I did notice that all the preset HDR and SDR picture modes were a little greenish. It was not distracting but noticeable based on my experience with other JVC projectors like the NZ9, which I use daily. The good news is the RS1100 offers tons of adjustments to fine-tune the unit’s picture for SDR, HDR, and different viewing environments.
Like most home theater projectors that retail for over $1000, I took the time to calibrate the unit. Since your room and screen material greatly impact the overall picture, I don't recommend using someone else's calibration adjustments. If your room is brighter/darker or your walls are a different color, copying someone else's results can actually be detrimental to the picture quality rather than improving it.
As an example, I am including the before and after calibration results for my specific room and setup. To test the color accuracy of the RS1100, we use Portrait Displays Calman color calibration software.
Pre-Calibration Color Tracking and Grayscale
All the picture modes were too cool out of the box, with an average color temperature of around 7500K. The measured RGB balance showed that regardless of the preset picture mode, there was too much green and too little red.
While out of the box, we utilize the NATURAL picture mode, we choose to calibrate the USER-1 mode for SDR viewing in a room with low ambient light.
Before CMS adjustment, the projector’s color tracking was very good. This was probably because we measured it after we had adjusted the unit’s RGB balance (grayscale). Lastly, the Gamma measurement pre-calibration was 1.9, which is brighter than my target of 2.2 and resulted in elevated black levels.
Picture Mode: USER-1
Color Temperature: 7581K
Average Grayscale dE: 12.7
Average Color Tracking dE: 2.13
Gamma: 1.9
Post-Calibration Color Tracking and Grayscale
We set the COLOR TEMP to Custom with a CORRECTION VALUE of 5500K. To produce good grayscale (RGB Balance), I reduced the GREEN GAIN and BLUE GAIN. This resulted in a color temp much closer to my target of 6500K
Adjusting the projector grayscale, the average color tracking dE was just 2.13, so there isn’t a need to make any adjustments. Since the RS1100 offers CMS adjustments, we took the time to finetune the projector color tracking further.
To get closer to our Gamma target of 2.2, we switched the GAMMA SETTING to Custom 1 with a CORRECTION VALUE of 2.5.
Picture Mode: USER 1
Color Temperature: 6524K
Average Grayscale dE:1.7
Average Color Tracking dE:1.1
Gamma: 2.21
Delta E as a measure of grayscale/color accuracy of 3 and under is considered 'Excellent' and imperceptible by the human eye. After SDR calibration, the projector's average grayscale dE was just 1.7. Once the RGB balance grayscale was adjusted, the color tracking was good, but after some CMS adjustments, the average dE was 1.1, which is excellent as well.
HDR RGB Balance Before and After Adjustment
When viewing HDR content, the colors were greenish, and the color temperature was too cool, like SDR.
The HDR modes have dedicated color temperature, RGB Balance, and CMS adjustments. We used the RGB balance settings to reduce the GREEN GAIN and BLUE GAIN, which produced a much better RGB balance (Grayscale).
We did not need to use the CMS settings to make additional adjustments to the projector's HDR color tracking.
While the RS1100 is not equipped with a Cinema Filter, it could still reproduce 97% of the DCI-P3 color gamut. Using a color filter on a projector can achieve full DCI-P3 coverage, but you sacrifice brightness.
Colors look more vibrant when they are brighter, so when viewing HDR on a projector, I personally prefer the extra brightness over the wider color gamut.
The DLA-RS1100 is also compatible with JVC's Auto-Calibration software, which is free on the JVC support site. Using this software and a colorimeter (optical sensor) like a Datacolor Spyder X Elite ($269 SRP), you can quickly optimize the projector's picture quality, including color balance, gamma characteristics, color space, and color tracking.
BRIGHTNESS
The DLA-RS1100 has a rated brightness of 1,900 ANSI lumens which is 100 lumens brighter than the NX5 / RS1000 that it replaces. At wide-zoom, with the LAMP POWER set to High, the JVC DLA-RS1100 produced 1864 lumens. This is very close to the projector’s rated brightness of 1,900 lumens.
SDR Picture Mode
Brightness (lumens)
Color Temperature
NATURAL
1,864
7625K
CINEMA
1,857
7543K
USER 1-3
1,862
7581K
Switching the LAMP POWER to Low will extend the life of the bulb, but it reduces the brightness of each mode by about 30%.
Premium projector manufacturers like JVC tend to be more conservative when rating brightness. JVC owners are more interested in great black level and accurate color reproduction than absolute brightness.
While many 4K UHD DLP projectors can produce much higher max brightness, it is usually at the expense of accurate color reproduction. Once these projectors are calibrated, their brightness advantage quickly disappears. Those projectors often lose nearly half their brightness when they are adjusted to reproduce accurate colors.
The DLA-RS1100 can still deliver most of its rated brightness even after calibration. For example, after calibration, the RS1100 retained about 85% of its pre-calibrated brightness.
In addition, single-chip DLP projectors that have relatively low Color Light Output (compared to their white light output) don’t often produce bright rich colors, however, the DLA-RS1100 can deliver an equal amount of color and white lumens. This makes colors look brighter and more vibrant than a DLP projector with even a higher lumens rating.
