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UPDATE: Our final hands-on review of the NZ700 is here.
JVC has announced the NZ700 and NZ500 projectors, just months after the new Z800 and NZ900 models.
The new projectors have a more compact chassis (35% smaller in fact compared to the bigger NZ models), more along the lines of the previous X-series models. They both use the same 3rd generation native 4K DILA chips as the NZ800 and NZ900. However, they lack eShift completely and have less brightness and contrast compared to the higher-end models.
in addition, the new models adopt a larger 80mm lens even compared to the NZ800’s 65mm lens. This means that JVC is likely to shift away from the 65mm and 100mm lenses in favour of a lens that’s in the middle of the two in terms of size, for the whole line-up in the next round. Although, this is conjecture on our parts.
The NZ700 has 2300 lumens, and 80,000:1 contrast ratio – similar brightness as the NZ7 (2,200 lumens) and the same contrast as the NZ8 had in the previous line-up. It has a P3 cinema filter.
The NZ500 has a 2000-lumens laser engine, with a 40,000:1 contrast ratio – this is similar to the previous NP5 brightness (1,900 lumens) and the same contrast as both the NP5 and NZ7. It lacks a P3 cinema filter as it’s customary for the lowest-end model in JVC’s line-ups.
The NZ700 will come in only black, while the NZ500 will come with both a black and white chassis. They retain all the software features of their larger siblings including Frame Adapt HDR Gen 2, Deep Black and even the new super-resolution algorithms to scale HD to 4K, but not to 8K.
Pricing for the new models will be as follows:
- DLA-NZ700 $8,999.95 USD
- DLA-NZ500 $5,999.95 USD
This will make it more affordable to own an entry-level laser projector from JVC. However, the price is still a little on the high side. However, consider that you are getting NZ8-level performance from the NZ700, with likely a sharper image due to the new lens and upscaler – even if not necessarily more detailed, as the NZ8’s 8K eShift is still excellent in that regard.
The launch for both models will be in late November, ready for the holiday season.
Additional features include:
- Brand new design of the all the parts from the ground up
- Brand new lens design – the first since 2017’s 100mm lens.
- Brand new GUI to help access most often used functions quickly
All the features are listed below for the current line-up.
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The nz700 appears to lack the newest generation chip set according to the specs. Let’s hope the uniformity is good anyway.
Any word on whether they will stop using full field patterns for autocal, which tends to produce sub par results due to light recycling?
Thx for reading.
Nope. It does have the new chipset. The performance drop in contrast is due to the lens.
Unlikely re patterns. Light recycling is less with the new chips and JVC’s algorithms target full-field calibration.
Thanks for the reply.
That’s good to hear about the chipset, because all the promotional materials explicitly list “Signals input via the 32Gbps 4K/60p HDMI ter- minal go through the third-generation 0.69- inch native 4K D-ILA device” and “3rd Generation 0.69-inch Native 4K D-ILA Device (4,096 x 2,160) x3” for the NZ700.
But the same lines in the spec sheet descriptions of the chips in the NZ500 omit the mention of “3rd generation” in every place the chipset is mentioned.
Spec sheets in question: PJF-24019GG and PJF-24020GG from the US JVC web site.
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Interesting to hear there is less light recycling in the new projectors. That’s good news. Have you been allowed to test the discrepancy, if any?
I ask because in the last generation, the light recycling meant that white was different full field versus 10% window, so one had to choose which version to get right. (In viewing real world content, the 10% sized window of a white patch seemed the smart choice for setting the white point, because using the 100% sized window — aka full field — meant that the 10% sized window was a little yellow…. and most real world content it more likely to have an amount of white similar to a 10% window, not a 100% window/full field.)
No dramas. 🙂
To be clear, I don’t know about the NZ500… haven’t done a full analysis on that and probably won’t. I was talking about the NZ700.
If you read my NZ800 review, you’ll see the light recycling test. It’s much less and much more stable under 10% so easier to account for in software.
Or this diagram from JVC which clearly differentiates that the 500 does not have the Get 3 chips but the others do: https://www.avsforum.com/cdn-cgi/image/format=auto,onerror=redirect,width=1920,height=1920,fit=scale-down/https://www.avsforum.com/attachments/1000009537-jpg.3661992/
There you have it. As I said, not concerned with the NZ500 at this point, but good to know. Thx for sharing! 🙂