JVC DLA-X70R - The Pros and Cons

Posted on March 27, 2012 by Art Feierman

Pros

There sure are a lot of Pros!

Extremely good color post calibration
Best black level performance and dynamic range - no iris, none needed
Good CFI - while some CFI modes have some issues, plenty to choose from (3,4)
Above average brightness in "best" movie mode (748 lumens) for movie viewing
Very good dark shadow detail, expecially considering the dark blacks
2D->3D works - try it with some of your 2D videos from your camcorder or...
Lens Memory - allows movie fans to go with a widescreen - such as 2.35:1 cinemascope
Zoom, Focus, Lens shift, are all motorized
Supports anamorphic lens
Wide variety of color presets
Extensive gamma and custom gamma controls
Very good menu layout
Excellent remote control
Reasonably good documentation
Excellent placement flexibility
Reasonably quiet projector - fairly quiet at full power, essentially silent at low power
Physically fairly large, but atttractive (if the "wife" let's you hang a projector, this one should be OK)
Good warranty - 2 years parts and labor

Click Image to Enlarge

Cons

Documentation, though not bad, needs better feature explanations (MPC isn't even in the manual), nothing on e-Shift, either
Just below average in "brightest mode" (less than 1000 lumens)
More crosstalk (ghosting) in 3D than most competitors
No 3D adjustments relating to glasses/timing, to reduce the ghosting
Needs to be brighter for 3D - stick to smaller screens or high gain ones
A 3rd HDMI input would be nice (always)
Warranty 2 years parts and labor is average, but several competitors are offering 3 years
Lamp life - with 3000 hours claimed at low power, we estimate 2000 at full. That makes its lamp life one of the shorter durations
On the expensive side - $9995 MSRP, street of $7995
Only a good warranty, not a great one: Sony, Optoma, Epson (6010) offer a 3rd year warranty

The JVC DLA-X70 is one of the great projectors and projector values out there, assuming you purchase it for what it does best (2D movies). If you need a more well rounded projector, however, including 3D viewing, then the JVC drops down to being one of a number of very good expensive projectors, each with some real strengths, and a weakness or two. Still, 3D notwithstanding, hard to go wrong with this JVC projector. This X70R projector will be slugging it out for our Best In Class award in the over $3500 price Class, in our upcoming Home Theater Projector Report.