JVC Projector Comparison & Review | DLA-NX5, DLA-NX7, DLA-NX9

It’s been over 20 years since the D-ILA or “Digital Direct Drive Image Light Amplifier” that JVC developed was introduced. D-ILA has evolved over the years and now JVC produces D-ILA chips that are 4K-capable. Their unique liquid-crystal-layer packs almost 9 million pixels into a panel that is .69” square. The NX9, NX7, and NX5 all use this same liquid-crystal on a silicon display with 3 chips — one red, one blue, and one green — to produce the full-color spectrum. D-ILA technology offers great contrast, high brightness, and very natural colors. All three of the models also use the same high-output lamp to drive the display. All of them are true 4K-capable with HDCP 2.2 tech to handle the highest bandwidth 4K signals.

At Audio Advice, most of our home-theater customers opt for the wider-screen these days. To enjoy widescreen, you obviously need a 2.35 or 2.40 screen, but you also need a projector capable of lens-memories, so you can set up the projector to fill the screen left to right when you watch a widescreen movie. Every one of these three models has this feature, which we really love for enjoying widescreen. JVC actually takes the lens memories to the extreme. There are multiple presets you can use, which means you can also have one for all the ones we’re seeing on Netflix, which is the ratio of 2.1 — not quite as wide as 2.35, but this is wider than 16:9. Should you want to get into the best of widescreen, all three models are designed to work with the aftermarket Panamorph lens for an even better widescreen picture.

If you follow home-theater and are one of those people like us who are always looking for the very best picture-quality, you have probably run across the term HDR or “high dynamic range.” This technology was developed to allow for more color-variations, brighter brights, and deeper blacks to give us an image that is even closer to real-life. There is metadata in the video-feed that tells the display-device how to handle this new, higher-resolution signal. You would think this would all be great news for home-theater enthusiasts like us — but when HDR first came out, it had the opposite effect. You see, HDR is designed for displays that can deliver a ton of light output, in the range of 1000 to 4000 Nits. In case you were wondering, a “Nit” is the light-output of one candle. Almost all of the better flat-panel TVs can easily reproduce this level of brightness, but unfortunately, most home-theater projectors can only deliver around 100-200 Nits. When we saw our first HDR image on a front-projector, it just looked super dark. This immediately led the projector manufacturers to come up with software that talked to the projector to better handle the HDR-feed and also give us a much better image. JVC has developed what they call “Auto Tone Mapping.” This system does an outstanding job of delivering HDR content the way it was intended — and JVC has been providing free updates as they improve it. One of the keys to getting the best HDR experience is knowing how much light-output is coming off your screen. For the average person, this is not easy to measure — so in JVC’s latest update, they allow you to input your screen-size and screen-gain. You can even do this for each memory so you can set it up differently for 16 by 9 and widescreen modes. The system even accounts for lamp-life and how much the image is zoomed.

Build quality on these is also top-notch. With their all-glass lens and professional construction, I have to say they are not lightweight at all. The NX5 and NX7 are over 43-pounds and the NX9 is even heavier. If you are doing a “Do It Yourself” installation, be sure, and have someone available to help! And for those of you who’ll be installing one of these yourself, you’ll appreciate the fact that all three have a wide-range of lens-shift, which means you don’t have to worry about getting it centered on your screen down to a half-inch. All of the adjustments on these models are electronic, which allows you to do the fine-tuning much easier than a manually adjusted projector. Finally, like most projection companies, JVC has tech to reduce motion-artifacts and there is a special low-latency mode you can use for gaming.

[melcuemba]

Great video! I am a Sony guy but I am leaning towards the NX7. Best review I have seen on Youtube. Please come to Chicago. You guys seem awesome to work with.

[davidwilcox]

I love my RS420 but I'm drooling for a native 4k.

[gameroomtheater]

great video and very informative, thanks!

[teokotaimaui]

Nice projector wish had one for watching my favorite movie's and sports

[teokotaimaui]

Wouldn't mind having one so can watch nrl and my favorite movies on the big screen

[shaolin]

The problem is the previous gen rs640 etc offer way more native contrast

[Survivor]

@Audio Device At present, I have a 200 inch white screen in a dark room. I have used Benq 1080P W3000 for 3 years and loved the results. Now I'm looking to upgrade to 4K. I'm confused should I choose Epson 6050 UB or JVC NX7. The only point of concern stopping me from buying JVC is 1800-2000 lumens where Epson 6050 has 2600 lumens. I've heard for screens as large as 200 inches, a brighter projector is much better. Please help what should I choose?

[Gordoon]

i am happy with my JVC N7. My Girlfriend after the first Movie to :)

[Ryu_Kage.]

Hellb I have a 120 inch fixed frame Elite white screen. I am wondering what projector will help me get deep black levels. Is this possible? If I play a Disney movie like Toy Story or Frozen the image looks very good. But if I play something serious like Jurassic Park the movie is way too dark even though I'm streaming it onto my fixed white screen. Do you know if it's possible to get dark blacks even on a white screen? Or do I HAVE to buy those ALR Grey screens? Thanks in advance.

[jaxonve]

Hi
Is it realy worth the money to go up to the nx7 over the nx5..?
I have a 108" White screen 1.0 gain in a dark movieroom. Around 16ft between screen and projector.
What would i win going with the nx7..?

[crow-bl]

IMO, JVC projectors tend to be way overrated, especially by Dealers and Home Theater enthusiasts on YouTube. I can understand why Dealers give faint praise given the outrageous amounts that JVC charges for their projectors. For dealers to sell at those ridiculous high prices they have to be Snake Oil Salesmen by stating that JVC projectors are on another level compared to other projector manufactures. That is clearly not the case. Unfortunately, a lot of Home Theater enthusiasts fall for the hype.

[nicholastoo]

How is JVC vs the new Sony projectors?

[MAFion]

Upgrading the firmware in the old jvcs a few years ago was a mess. I never succeeded.

[mfkhometheater]

I'm looking at the NX7, can't afford the NX9. Thing is, my room is 21' wide so I can probably put in a bigger screen than the NX7 can properly illuminate. I want acoustically transparent and based on the materials I've seen this may limit me to about a 1.0 gain. For 2.4:1 aspect, how much should I limit the screen size? 180"? Even less?

Thanks,
Monte

[HopeNewDay]

This guy looks like a Fallout character using a high resolution texture pack. Gives off Todd Howard vibes

[cptairwolf]

Absolutely ridiculous that JVC hasn't switched from lamp to laser for these units at the price point.

[jimcameron]

2021 two years later still no newer models

[nick-votx]

hello sweetie ...pansonic oled is available australia lol

[googoo-gjoob]

1:52 *AUDI ADVICE* one enunciates all 5 syllables

[danielmravljov]

Would love to someday upgrade to one of these.