JVC DLA-RS20 Physical Tour

Posted on January 26, 2009 by Art Feierman

JVC DLA-RS20 Physical Appearance

Clean lines, black piano finish and a little gold trim make for a physically very attractive projector. The motorized lens is recessed, and mounted slightly offset to the left of center. An infra-red sensor is just to the left of the lens. The control panel is on the top toward the rear (toward the right side if looking from the front), and the inputs are located low on the right side (looking from the front). Watch out! The IR sensors on the front and back are covered by some almost clear plastic. It's almost impossible to notice the plastic. If you don't remember to remove it, it definitely harms the range of the remote control.

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The projector can be shelf or ceiling mounted.

The total depth is just under nineteen inches and it is about fourteen and a half wide. Its height is just over six and a half inches. A motorized door keeps dust off the lens, by closing when the JVC RS20 is powered off. There are adjustable front and rear feet.

The inputs are located on the right side (viewing from the front), just above the bottom. This is a plus for many who shelf mount as they don't need a few extra inches for connectors and cabling coming out of the back. For those ceiling mounting, well, I guess it depends which side of the projector faces people with the lights on.

The lamp gets replaced from a removable panel in the center of the back of the projector. So there is no need to unmount the RS20, if is is ceiling mounted (unlike a number of projectors who have their lamp doors on the bottom, which would be covered by a ceiling mount).

Control Panel

Click to enlarge, So close. The RS20's control panel is located on the top. In the image on the right, you are viewing the panel from the back of the projector. The three indicator lamps are closest to the front of the projector. They are: Warning, Lamp, and Standby/On.

Further back is the first button, the Power switch. It's the usual press once for on, press twice for off. Next is the Input button, followed by a Hide button to black out the image.

Then comes the four arrow buttons in a diamond shaped arrangement, with a larger Enter button in the center.

Lastly, side by side, are the Menu, and (menu) Back button. Pretty standard stuff. Of course, we all primarily rely on the remote control, and probably only use the control panel during initial setup, if at all.

Click Image to Enlarge

Input/Output

Click to enlarge. So close. Located on the side, from front to back, first there are two HDMI 1.3b compatible inputs. Next comes an analog PC input (standard HD15 connector), which, I must note was sorely missing from the RS1 and RS2.

Next up, are three RCA connectors for the component video input, followed by another RCA connector for basic composite video. Next is the S-Video input, followed by the RS-232 connector for controlling the projector directly from a computer or room controller. Finally, there is a 12 volt screen trigger for controlling a motorized screen or masking system.

All considered, that's a fairly standard complement of inputs and outputs, no surprises.

Click Image to Enlarge

JVC DLA-RS20 Menus

While I really like the menu layout, using it drove me a bit crazy. As you can imagine, I am constantly making adjustments and comparisons, and the remote control is the culprit, not the menus.

Most of the image goodies are found on the Picture menu, which is the first main menu in the top right when the main menu is open. Besides the usual Brightness, Contrast, Color Saturation, etc., the Picture menu has a Gamma sub menu, and and Advanced sub-menu (which has sharpness, and the all important CMS (color management system). More to follow. I've got images to add, and with them some descriptions. Stay tuned.