JVC Launches NZ800 and NZ900 Projectors

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JVC has announced the launch of the NZ800 and NZ900 projectors, as the successors to NZ8 and NZ9. These new units seem to be minor upgrades.

JVC says that the launch timeline is still tentative but they are working towards a launch for the end of June 2024. Pricing remains the same across all regions with the NZ800 taking the place of the NZ8 and the NZ900 taking the place of the NZ9 with those models being discontinued.

• They still use blue-laser only, with the NZ800 getting a bump to 2700 lumens (from 2500) – an 8% increase – and the NZ900 bumped up to 3300 lumens (from 3000) – a 10% increase.
• JVC says that there is also a 25% contrast increase from 80,000 to 100,000 for the NZ800 and a 50% contrast increase from 100,000 to 150,000 for the NZ900 using their 3rd generation native 4K DILA panels.
• The new units use Gen3 4K DILA panels, which have improved pixel alignment that should result in less pixel bleed, better pixel delineation (resolving the pixel grid better) and better on/off contrast.
• In addition, JVC claims that the laser can be shut off completely. We don’t know if this is really the case with these new units, or a marketing hangover from the NZ8 and NZ9. It is possible JVC has addressed this issue with the previous units, as the laser doesn’t completely shut off on those, but gets close enough that it looks like it does. Maybe on these units, there is 100% laser shutoff.
• The panel resolution is still DCI 4K at 4096×2160 with 8K eShiftX, but with an updated second-generation 8K upscaling engine. As we saw with JVC’s original eShift improving over the years, it’s nice to see JVC doing the same with eShiftX.
• JVC says that the new scaling engine results in better sharpness across the board, not just for 8K content. This was one area we badly wanted them to improve to keep up with Sony so will be interesting to see how much they have closed the gap.
• HDMI ports still keep 48Gbps HDMI 2.3 inputs for 8K/60p and 4K/120p
• Gen2 Frame Adapt HDR is still on board just like with NZ8 and NZ9.
  • However, on the NZ800 and NZ900, the DML (Max Display Mastering Luminance) meta-data is also used to set the tone-map, as opposed to only MaxCLL, which JVC says improves the accuracy of Frame Adapt HDR.
  • There is a new “deep black” function for Frame Adapt HDR that allows darker shades to be better delineated. This is also a feature we have been asking for: near-blacks to be dynamically tone-mapped to get us perceptually closer to how HDR is displayed on a high-brightness display.
• There is a new Vivid picture mode which displays richer colours for animated content. It looks like colour luminance has been increased for this mode, very similar to Epson’s Dynamic picture mode but without the green and blue push?
• Everything else seems to stay the same

JVC also claims that they have better production processes which allows for better screen uniformity. As it happens, I just had a new optical block delivered yesterday off JVC’s Japanese production line and I can confirm that there is much better screen uniformity near black – that is no bright corners. I can’t comment on other aspects of performance at this time.

More information in the leaflet below:

https://nl.jvc.com/files/catalogs/eu/JVC-Projectors-2024/2/index.html

If you’re in the market for a JVC projector, and you’re in Australia, Richard at https://www.projectorscreens.com.au is a friend of ours. He usually gets the first round of units and is excellent at dealing with returns if needed. Tell him we sent you!