Home Theatre/TV: JVC DLA-HD1 D-ILA Projector – 65
JVC DLA-HD1 D-ILA Projector $10,995
After taking the high-end projector market by storm overseas, JVC has finally unleashed its statement DLA-HD1 on an anxiously awaiting Kiwi public.
Here is the very projector the outstanding DreamVision DreamBee and Barco’s Cineversum Blackwing 2 are based on, although both are heavily tweaked by technicians to produce their own unique video performance.
It’s an interesting conundrum I guess; with R&D on these kinds of technology products probably well into the tens of million of dollars, it would be a brave investor indeed that would back a smaller business into producing these products from the design board. Luckily for us JVC has made it possible for manufacturers like DreamVision and, to a lesser extent, Barco the chance to enter the high-end projector arms race without horrendous financial pain.
So let’s discuss JVC’s DLA-HD1 and see what makes it tick.
The carton it came in was of the size usually reserved for a monster amplifier, although there was some relief when I picked it up, as generous amounts of 
polystyrene shrouded the HD1 from harm. Once out of its packaging I was pleasantly surprised: the HD1 is quite a looker in its silver/black gloss casework, and would make quite a statement on a ceiling.
It’s a pretty large unit, however, and at 11.5kg will require a bit of thought about placement, particularly if you’re mounting it on the ceiling. Once there, though, the job of producing a great image is made easy, with nice features such as lens shift and an extremely functional menu for adjusting the image to the lighting conditions in your home theatre. A full 1080p device, the HD1 can project 1080p 60/50/24 video, so it is virtually future-proofed should we ever receive 1080p broadcasts here in the shaky isles. Two HDMI outputs are supplied, along with a single component input (it can also be configured as a computer RGB input). S-Video and composite are there of course, as is the obligatory RS-232 input for intelligent control purposes.
Setting up was a breeze, although I found the lens shift adjustment very touch sensitive. Luckily, being a full-blooded metrosexual I had the HD1 adjusted and ready to go within minutes.
With both Blu-ray and DVD as source material it was time to get serious and check this handsome beast out.
First into the Pioneer DV-989 was Sunshine, a cracking yarn about the restarting of our dying sun with a giant fusion reactor. The picture quality here was very good from DVD, with excellent skin tones and shadow detail (when the sun wasn’t shining, of course). Pixels were nonexistent and the black space scenes were jet black. I liked what I was seeing!
After this thrill ride came another in the shape of Casino Royale and I was really impressed here. Brilliant resolution was mated with a most filmic quality to produce the best large screen images I have seen in my home by a projector thus far. There was no dot crawl or digital artefacting whatsoever, and fast-moving scenes were natural and fluid, as they should be. Any dark scenes were inky black and reminiscent of the good old days of CRT projectors, which is quite some feat, I can tell you.
JVC’s HD1 is a wee bit dearer than the LCD competitors I have reviewed lately, but it really is worth the extra coin because of the superb black performance and generally excellent image quality. I think I want one…
Gary Pearce
CONTACT
www.jvc.co.nz
SPECIFICATIONS
Native Resolution:1920 x 1080
Contrast ratio: 15,000:1
Brightness: 700 Lumens
Throw Ratio: 1.4:1 – 2.8:1
Input / Output Connections: Video: HDMI v1.3 (x 2), component x 1, S-Video x 1, composite video x 1, Control I/O: RS-232c x 1
Fan Noise: 25dB
Weight: 11.6kg
- 10 bit VXP by Gennum video processing
- Horizontal and vertical lens shift
PROS
- Fantastic image quality
- Easy to use and get the best out of
CONS
- I’ll have to do the paper round for a few more years
VERDICT
JVC’s DLA-HD1 represents the ultimate high-quality bang for buck projector available. It’s gorgeous mate!
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