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JVC DLA-X70R Calibration and Settings

Posted on March 27, 2012 By Art Feierman

NOTE: We adjust the general controls and perform a grayscale calibration of the DLA-X70 projector. We do not do a full individual color CMS calibration. Note, this JVC X70 projector, unlike the lower cost JVCs, does have a full color management system. Still, we leave adjusting the individual colors for your calibrator. If you aren’t into calibrating your DLA-X70R – either yourself (hobbyist), or hiring, then we strongly recommend you try plugging in our settings, and seeing if you like them better than the defaults.

Color Temperature

Lumen Output and Color Temp at 100 IRE (mid zoom):
Cinema 674 @ 7972
Film 643 @ 6897
Natural 813 @ 7562
Stage 832, switching to color temp 7000 yields 855 @ 8096
Animation 796 @ 9201
3D 781 @ 9631
THX 820 @ 7623
User 1-5 820 @ 7634

Essentially the User modes, and most of the others, are the same, but for some variation in which color temp is used.

Color Temp over IRE Range, Best mode (Film – Pre calibration):
30 IRE 6869
50 IRE 6869
80 IRE 6858
100 IRE 6897

Basic Settings

Settings for measurements (default values are in parenthesis):
THX Cinema Film Natural Stage Animation 3D User 1-5
Contrast = (0) (0) (0) (0) (0) (0) (0) (0) (0)
Brightness = (0) (0) (0) (0) (0) (0) (0) (0) (0)
Color Sat. = (0) -6 (0) (0) (0) (0) (0) (0) -6
Tint = (0) (0) (0) (0) (0) (0) (0) (0) (0)
Color Temp = (6500) (Xenon2) (Xenon1) (7500) (7500) 7000 (8000) (8500) (6500)
Gamma = (Normal) (A) (Film) (Normal) (D) (C) (A 3D) (Normal)

In addition to calibrating Red, Green and Blue for a correct grayscale balance (6500K), there are a number of other settings that come into play. Typically Contrast and Brightness (white balance and black balance), need to be done first. Color saturation and gamma also need adjustment.

Settings for measurements (default values are in parenthesis):

All other settings at default. Color Profiles are not in parenthesis but are the defaults.

Color Profiles:    THX     Cinema1   Film1      Video      Stage      Anime1   3D      Video

Unlike the less expensive JVC projectors, the DLA-X70R has a THX mode. It also has a number of different Color Profiles that can be selected (in addition to the Modes), shown above.

Calibration and Settings:

Color Temp over IRE Range (Post calibration):
20 IRE 6662
30 IRE 6336
40 IRE 6403
50 IRE 6434
60 IRE 6502
70 IRE 6532
80 IRE 6586
90 IRE 6452
100 IRE 6528

Post Calibration Grayscale – User 1 “Best” mode

Average gamma= 2.19

Best Mode: Lumens at 100 IRE:    748 @ 6528K (mid zoom)

Brightest Mode: Lumens at 100 IRE:   855 (mid-zoom), 949 (wide angle)

RGB Settings

User 1, Custom Color Temp 1 w/ 5500 starting point
Gain (0) R =  0
G = -15
B = -19
Offset (0) R = -4
G = -5
B = 7

Calibration settings:

Calibration settings for User 1:

Gamma on Custom 1
Color Space on Standard
Color on –6
Color Temp @ 6500K

Lumens at 100 IRE:                   748

No “brightest mode” was “created” due to Stage (with Color Temp set for 7000), being only about 100 lumens brighter than a calibrated “Best”. Short translation. Use either the calibrated mode, or when you want a little brighter, Stage, with color temp to 7000.

Mike’s comments (same as on the Performance page): Grayscale calibrated very well, with an average Delta E of only 0.9 (same as the HD250).  As Stage (the brightest mode) is only 12 lumens more than THX mode, there’s no need for a quick cal of a “bright” mode.  Unfortunately, THX mode cannot be calibrated and has too much blue in the RGB balance.  I see that the projector has an ISF designation, so presumably it could be calibrated in a service menu.  Gamma was too low in any of the presets (Normal was the high with an average gamma of 1.96), so I used the custom gamma. 

JVC changed things again with a variety of color profiles (ie: gamut).  They all vary mostly by how much green is oversaturated.  The THX and Standard color gamut (see CIE charts) are the best.  One oddity which doesn’t really show up much in regular viewing is that if you put up a 100% blue screen in anything but THX color profile, it looks like a bluish magenta.  Something’s not right there.

Here is the CIE chart showing the Gamut, that Mike mentions.

Click Image to Enlarge
JVC DLA-X70R Performance 3
JVC DLA-X70R Warranty