DLA-RS35 Projector Highlights

Posted on February 2, 2013 by Art Feierman

While it may not be the best under $10,000 projector for everyone, it probably is for most people
Great color out of the box - THX, etc., even better, post calibration
Brightness in "best" mode, measured a little less than the RS25, but still brighter than most
Brightness is definitely below average in "brightest" mode, when you need extra lumens for ambient light, this JVC has little to spare, at least for those of us with fairly large screens
Best black level performance I have ever seen, that wasn't a CRT projector. Basically the same as the RS25, but a touch better
CFI - Creative frame interpolation for "smooth" sports (and for some, movies), added this year

Click to enlarge. SO close

Zoom lens has plenty of range - 2:1, suitable for ceiling or rear shelf mounting (my own JVC RS20 is rear shelf mounted)
Adjustable vertical and horizontal lens shift, very good range, but not quite as much range as some, but not bad at all!
Excellent black level performance achieved without having a dynamic iris, but manual iris is provided to adjust overall brightness
Very sharp image (rare for an LCoS or LCD projector)
Premium projector, premium price: Good value. If you want this level of picture quality, pricing is definitely reasonable. The picture is something to behold. Theoretically, this projector is an RS25 on steroids.

Click Image to Enlarge

JVC DLA-RS35 Special Features

THX Certification

The JVC DLA-RS35 (like the RS25) sports THX certification (the THX program for projectors is something THX launched just 2 years ago). They launched just two years ago when they certified the first projectors (a couple of Runco projectors costing at least four times the price of the JVC RS35). The certification indicates that this projector meets their recently defined standard for accurate reproduction. More important than the certification though is the pre-calibrated THX mode, in addition to the others such as Cinema 1 and 2, Stage, Dynamic, etc.

❮ ❯

The THX mode offers the best picture and color performance of the presets. You cannot, however tweak most of the THX mode's settings. Thus, to get the best color, we calibrated the Cinema 2 mode, and I found that a well calibrated projector can produce what I feel is an even better picture: THX mode has good skin tones and overall color, but, as with last year, I found the picture to be just a tiny bit flat, that is, a bit lackluster. If you aren't going to try our post calibration settings, then THX mode is the mode you want to leave your projector set for. It will do a great job, even if that can be improved upon slightly.