It's almost hard to imagine that JVC has been producing LCoS-driven D-ILA projectors for 25 years, but that's exactly what the company is celebrating—and they're commemorating the creation of the first D-ILA imaging device with the release of the DLA-25LTD projector. There will be only 25 of the DLA-25LTD available in North America starting mid-December for an MSRP of $29,999.

The DLA-25LTD will have an exclusive exterior with a silver chrome-finished center plate engraved with a 25th anniversary logo and projector serial number. The lens ring will also be anodized silver, and when the projector is turned on it will display the 25th anniversary commemorative logo. Along with the projector, anyone purchasing one of the 25 limited editions will get a commemorative jacket embellished with the 25th anniversary D-ILA logo (delivered separately) and a plaque engraved with the serial number and containing a D-ILA element will be presented separately.

JVC DLA 25LTD NPA plaque

Of course, these cosmetic changes would mean nothing in the absence of a performance boost. JVC has assembled the limited editions by selecting the best performing D-ILA chip and optical devices to create a projector with a light output of 3,000 ANSI lumens and a native contrast ratio of 150,000:1, vs the 3,000-lumen/100,000:1 contrast ratio specs on the flagship DLA-NZ9/DLA-RS4100. Each projector sold will also first be shipped to respected calibrator Kris Deering of Deep Dive AV for a custom calibration. The DLA-25LTD comes with a 5-year parts and labor warranty.

A much larger group of consumers will be affected in mid-November when JVC will release V.2.XX firmware with improvements for the DLA-NZ9/DLA-RS4100, DLA-NZ8/DLA-RS3100, DLA-NZ7/DLA-RS2100, and DLA-NP5/DLA-RS1100. It will be a free update for those projectors, available at https://www.jvc.com/global/support, and intended for users whose current firmware is Ver.1.24 or earlier.

Changes will include enhancement to the company's Frame Adapt HDR scheme, which gets a new Auto (Wide) mode added to the existing Auto mode in the HDR Quantizer setting that will put more emphasis on brightness. Two additional picture modes will also be added to Frame Adapt HDR to allow for multiple memory settings for different room and ambient light conditions.

Supported laser light engine projectors (so, not the lamp-based DLA-NP5/DLA-RS1100) are getting a new dynamic laser control. Previously, the control was based on average luminance of an entire scene, but now the adjustment is based on peak luminance, which will result in increased dynamic range. This improved contrast will be seen no matter the overall scene brightness.

JVC DLA NZ9 FrontRight
All the DLA-NZ series laser projectors, such as the DLA-NZ9 shown here, and the DLA-NP5 lamp projector, will benefit from the new free firmware update.

The firmware will also add Filmmaker Mode—a picture mode developed by the UHD Alliance in collaboration with movie and TV studios, directors, content distributors, consumer electronics manufacturers, and device manufacturers that aims to deliver an image as the creators intended it to be seen. It does this by automatically turning off picture adjustments like frame interpolation and noise reduction (which many of us do anyway) and setting the color temperature to the neutral, industry-standard D65 gray.

A final firmware improvement is the addition of the latest screens to the Screen Adjustment Mode, including those from domestic and international manufacturers.

 

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