JVC DLA-RS20 – Competitors2

JVC DLA-RS20 vs. Mitsubishi HC7000

I haven’t had an HC7000 here while working with the RS20. The Mitsubishi, however stacks up this way. It is quieter. It has a slightly sharper image. It’s not anywhere near as bright in best mode, and, for that matter, it’s not as bright in brightest mode either. The HC7000 is a great projector for small screens (best for 100″ diagonal or less). It’s black levels are similar, but not quite as good as the Epson 6500UB discussed above, so the JVC has the advantage there, but, like the Epson, the Mitsubishi does offer excellent black level performance.

Shadow detail is about comparable.

When it comes to out of the box image quality, the Mitsubishi is “respectable” but a calibration is needed for best results. Calibrating the HC7000 is easy compared to the RS20. While we also strongly urge a calibraton of the RS20, it should be noted that the RS20’s out of the box THX mode is definitely superior to the best mode the Mitsubishi can muster out of the box.

The Mitsubishi HC7000 like the RS20 does not do creative frame interpolation. I do believe the HC7000 takes a 24fps source up to 48, while the JVC goes to 96. I don’t consider this to be a significant advantage, except to some sensitive to one type of motion blur.

The JVC has a slight advantage in placement flexibility.

Price is the biggest single difference. The Mitsubishi most likely is being sold by local dealers for a bit more than half the JVC’s price, making it more a competitor of the RS10, than the RS20. Also in Mitsubishi’s favor is longer overall lamp life. Actually both are rated 2000 hours at full power, but the Mitsubishi claims 5000 hours in low lamp. Better ask yourself, though, considering the lower brightness of the Mitsubishi, if you will have the room/screen setup that really allows you to run in economy mode, due to the low lumens.

Bottom Line: While not direct competitors, both are good values at their price points. The Mitsubishi will appeal to those on tighter budgets, with smaller screens and who prefer a virtually silent projector with a very sharp image!

JVC DLA-RS20 vs. BenQ W20000

This comparison is giving me the most headaches, because ithe W20000 is an extremely good DLP projector, but one I haven’t had here in a long time. It’s sharp, it’s one of the few DLP’s with lens shift, and a lens though limited in zoom range, has a long enough throw to allow many folks to shelf mount. Still the JVC has far more zoom range, and more lens shift, but if you prefer to shelf mount, and the W20000 works in your room, the extra range of the JVC isn’t relevant.

I’m historically a big BenQ fan, having owned successive BenQ projectors for about 4 years, before buying a JVC about two years ago. They really do a good implementation.

The JVC is a touch quieter in terms of image noise. Completely separate, the JVC is also noticeably quieter in terms of audible noise.

The BenQ image, however is very sharp – definitely a crisper, sharper look than the JVC, and like the IN83 from InFocus, the BenQ W20000 sharpness really adds something when watching HDTV, especially sports and those travelogue, science, interest, and other HDTV content, that provide spectacular imagery. The W20000 is a little more like looking through a window (at the Grand Canyon, or a tropical island, or the international space station).

Black levels are the achilles heel of the W20000, but only by comparison to the RS20. The BenQ’s black level performance is very good for a Darkchip3 DLP projector, and more so if you can stop the manual iris down.

The two projectors are roughly the same in brightness, with the JVC having an advantage in “best” mode. In brightest modes, the BenQ should have the slight advantage with Brilliant Color turned on, which is exactly how we would recommend using it when ambient light is present.