JVC - DLA-RS1200 / DLA-NZ500

I just did. 77” to 140” with jvc nz500 At first, the roof wasn’t black, but the side walls were - I was tremendously disappointed (and my setup isn’t entry level…) After doing the roof in black it has come a lot closer to what I was expecting, but it’s still not quite as good. One thing that sticks out - I had a black wall that the Oled was against, I could not tell where the tv ended in the dark, and I found it very immersive. You WILL NOT achieve that with a projector, no matter how much you spend.

Just a generic 1.1 gain 140” The jvc had better blacks than the epsom by a big margin when viewed back to back in the showroom. Also, as mentioned, it is much better now that the roof is black too.

I asked GPT a similar question, considering the Sony and the JVC options. GPT said the JVC was a better choice for its excellent blacks. I ordered the NZ500 and am waiting for it to be installed.

JVC first, Epson second, Sony 3rd. Kind of the way I would lean. You can get a native 4K JVC NZ500 projector with laser light source for that money. It's a decent upgrade on the 5040UB and makes a lot of sense in a good room. [https://www.jvc.com/usa/projectors/procision/dla-nz500/](https://www.jvc.com/usa/projectors/procision/dla-nz500/)

If you haven't, I would watch this video... [https://youtu.be/B4\_MhHsZvkU?si=p-knlak2qFaXRIo\_](https://youtu.be/B4_MhHsZvkU?si=p-knlak2qFaXRIo_) I would personally make strives to get the NZ500 from JVC over the other models. Black levels are extremely good and JVC continually comes out on top when compared head to head with Sony. Sony would absolutely be my second choice.

If you are just talking projector budget, and you have a proper surround sound system already, then I would go out of my way to figure out the JVC NZ500. It's a bit over budget, but it will serve you well for 10+ years as a killer projector. Otherwise, the LS12000 is a solid option there, but a long way from the JVC. The Sony XW5100ES is also close, and is a better choice than the Epson, but all of those models look quite good overall.

NZ500 first, Sony second, Epson LS12000 third. Then the BenQ models which will struggle with black levels. I'd likely get a Valerion over the JVC models at that price point. No question, I would always go for a JVC in a good theater.

If black levels ate important to you, andyou ate in a light controlled room JVC NZ500 is definitely on the top of your list.

I just replaced my 2012 JVC X-30 with the NZ500, and I'm loving it so far! I wish the fans were a tad quieter at full power but I'm in love with everything else.

The JVC nz500 is the best on your list for contrast and tone mapping. What size screen are you running? Do you have easy access to the HT for a BIG tv? I ask because we switched to a 98" miniLED tv, and we are very impressed. But not everyone can wrangle a big tv into their HT. Good luck.

We switched from a 120" wide scope screen and jvc rs640 with Lumagen and hdfury LLDV support to a tcl 98" qm851g calibrated by ChadB, and we have no regrets. The 98" is mounted on a rolling stand with 24" of variable vertical shift. The jvc rs640 had native contrast only recently equaled by the nz900. The calibrated miniLED surpassed the jvc in every way, despite the rs640 having the benefit of excellent Lumagen DTM and DV support of hdfury LLDV. An emissive tv in your dark theme HT will offer an incredible experience. There have been excellent suggestions for improving the epson ls12000 tone mapping, but the poor native contrast will forever impact fade to black and deep black and shadow detail performance. If you must stay with projection, maybe a move to a nz500 would offer a significant upgrade and the lowest cost and least hassle. Good luck with your choice.

None of the above... Try to find a good deal on a jvc nz500. It will offer very good built-in DTM and better native contrast for better deep black performance. Your other thread regarding a 98" miniLED would be the best and cheapest option if you can live with the screen size.

It’s your life and your money. Do whatever you want. But you’re asking the void for free advice. So IMO any TV screen would be a huge downgrade in immersiveness and audio quality in that room. If you want better image quality, get a better projector (and screen, if necessary). You’re apparently in the UK so options and prices may vary. But a JVC DLA-NZ500/ RS1200 is $7k. A Sony VPL-XW5000ES is $6k. I’d choose either one of them over the Epson. A $30 EZCOO SP12H2 HDMI splitter with custom firmware can unlock Dolby Vision capability, and with an AppleTV set to always output Dolby Vision, you would see a big improvement with a lot of streaming content. A custom gamma curve and other calibration tweaks will take it even further. I’m not familiar with BenQ projector and whether you can manually force that projector into an HDR compatible picture mode in BT.2020 color space. But maybe do your research and give it a shot if feasible. That might give you the ROI you’re looking for. https://www.avsforum.com/threads/alternative-devices-for-enabling-lldv-please-read-posts-1-2.3254266/#replies The next step up in price would be an HDFury device that might allow you to add the HDR info frame to automatically switch your BenQ into a HDR compatible picture mode to make the LLDV EDID trick work. https://www.avsforum.com/threads/dolby-vision-including-hdr10-conversion-w-dtm-on-projectors.3097934/#replies If the price of a new decent quality (albeit still entry level) 4K laser long throw projector is giving you heartburn, there’s always the used market. You could score a deal on a used Sony laser or JVC laser or JVC w/ bulb that will serve many people well at relatively low cost. https://www.avforums.com/forums/projector-projection-screen-classifieds.90/ https://www.avforums.com/threads/sony-xw5000es-laser-projector.2541005/ A used Lumagen Radiance Pro 4240 or 4242 could be found for a few grand that will give you excellent picture quality with 4K upscaling capability and DTM for all source devices and all content no matter whether SDR, HDR10, DV or HDR10+. There are still some caveats and limitations. But picture quality is generally not an issue unless you happen to be a 0.001% videophile type person for which only OLED will suffice and you’ll gladly sacrifice audio quality for it. https://www.avsforum.com/threads/new-lumagen-radiance-pro-series.2172017/#replies

People pay professionals good money to help them with answers to your questions. Equipment choice alone is barely half the equation. Good design and good integration are critical to achieving high performance. This isn’t something you should just freestyle, as there are many tradeoffs to manage based on your subjective preferences. Design informs equipment choice. It’s an iterative process as you converge on design and equipment choice simultaneously. Long throw projectors generally offer better image quality than UST at the same price point. UST are nice if you’re worried about people casting shadows or if this is a general entertainment space hosting karaoke night and dance parties. If it’s just for watching motion pictures while seated then get a long throw projector. For $5k I’d try to score a deal on a B-stock Sony VPL-XW5000ES or a lightly used JVC D-ILA projector, preferably with laser light source but if you’d rather spend less then a bulb is fine. You can find some screaming deals if you don’t mind bulbs and fake 4K pixel-shifting. If your viewing distance is >10ft then it shouldn’t matter. https://www.avsforum.com/forums/front-projector.252/ Fixed screens are cheaper than motorized screens. Acoustically transparent screens are nice because you can place the LCR speakers behind the screen, which not only looks better but sounds better. But this is also where you need to be careful as there is interaction between viewing angles/ screen size and speaker positions and seating distance. All have to be in harmony. Woven screens usually look and sound better than perforated screens, but this depends on the exact screen material, budget, viewing distance and preference. Like I said, there’s lots of tradeoffs to manage. I’d recommend minimum 7.1.4 speaker configuration, even if you have to built it in stages as funds allow. My preference in that size room is 9.1.6 but that’s going to break your budget in terms of AV processor capability, speaker count and amplification requirements. You’ll want a minimum of two subwoofers. What exactly do you mean by “sound conditioning is already taken care of?”

I say JVC (as an ls12000 owner!) you will get better black levels - if that’s important to you. I think from owning both the colours are slightly better on Epson. If you’re a gamer then the Epson does 120hz and the latency is below 20ms - no low latency on the JVC. But only you can judge which in the end. I got a very good deal on the Epson (£2k off) so it was a no brainier. Had that not been on, I’d have got JVC in a heartbeat. [NZ500 review](https://www.projectorcentral.com/JVC-NZ500-Projector-Review.htm) [LS12000 review](https://www.projectorcentral.com/Epson-Pro-Cinema-LS12000-Laser-Projector-Review.htm)

You can easily get into the NZ range for JVC for 8 grand. NZ500 is something like 6 grand and the NZ700 with its 80000:1 contrast claim is $9-something.

Oh no! Not the JVC! Oh the humanity! ... it's a great unit and nicely priced especially compared to that insanity of charging $8k for the Epson QB1000. Just pair it with a good screen. A nice retroreflective perhaps, Screen Innovations Slate? But not cheap.

I just ceiling mounted my nz500. It's the first projector I've owned so I have nothing to compare it to. But I really love it. Feel good man.