The venerable CRT — a fixture of TV since its first days — is now being edged out by brighter, lighter, thinner technologies like plasma and LCD panels. There are also front- and rear-projection TVs with light engines that magnify images from LCD and DLP microdisplays.
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But there's yet another technology vying for your video dollar: LCoS, or liquid crystal on silicon. LCoS is a relative newcomer, and it's had a few growing pains. As in Digital Light Processing (DLP) TVs, light is reflected from the surface of the LCoS microdisplay, through magnifying optics, and onto the screen. LCoS has advantages like high brightness and a seamless image because of closer spacing between pixels.
LCoS-based light engines are tough to manufacture, though. Several companies that tried making them — including Philips, RCA, Toshiba, and Intel — have thrown in the towel. Still, JVC is convinced that LCoS (which it calls D-ILA, for Direct-drive Image Light Amplifier) is the future. (When we noticed color problems on the first set we received, we were ready to pin them on an unperfected technology. But we swapped that set for a second sample, which worked fine. We later learned that our early-production model had a technical problem, since resolved, unrelated to LCoS.)
JVC's 52-inch HD-52Z575 rear-projection HDTV monitor uses three imaging chips, each with a native resolution of 1,280 x 720 pixels — the same as competing DLPs but slightly less than competing LCDs. On paper, this TV seems as capable as any in its class.
SETUP Looking at the JVC, you might think it's a rear-projection DLP or LCD set. Its high-tech accents include a distinctive chrome semicircle directly below the screen that turns out to be the power button — the only control on the sleek front panel. An A/V input with S-video and all other controls are on the side, out of sight. Although the set has a base, it really needs to be put on a tabletop or TV stand so it's at eye level. (JVC sells a matching stand for $499.) Since it weighs only 84 pounds, setting it up can be a one-man job, though I'd imagine it would be much easier with two.
After you hit the power button, it takes about 20 seconds for a dim picture to appear and another 45 seconds for it to come up to full brightness. A fan runs while the set is on to cool the projection lamp, and it continues to run for about 1 1/2 minutes after the set is turned off. The fan is louder than many I've heard on other TVs, but not distracting. JVC rates lamp life as 6,000 hours, and a user-replaceable lamp costs $250.
When you power up the TV for the first time, an Interactive Plug In Menu appears that lets you select channel-scan options and set things like menu language and the clock. Setup was easy once I got used to the low-tech menu design.
The JVC has an HDMI input, which carries both digital audio and video on a single connector. To hook up DVI sources like my Bravo D1 DVD player, I used a DVI-to-HDMI converter cable. For the A/V 1 input, I had to choose either component-video or composite/S-video, which limits the set's total number of usable inputs. There's no integrated HDTV tuner or CableCARD slot, so if you want to watch high-definition TV, you'll need a separate high-def-capable satellite, cable, or over-the-air tuner box.
I liked the remote even though its buttons are small and sometimes strangely placed (the Closed Caption button is more prominent than it needs to be). But it has a couple of great features, including a separate button for each input, which makes switching between sources a snap. I also appreciated the blue backlighting, which you turn on by tapping the glow-in-the-dark Light button. The Multi Screen controls at the top of the remote let me watch two channels or sources simultaneously on split screens — except for two component-video sources or any video connected to the HDMI input.
During my initial picture adjustments, I was able to set up each input individually, choosing from a set of four presets: Standard, Dynamic, Theater, and Game. I appreciated the JVC's ability to switch between three different aspect ratios with high-def sources, including Normal, HD Panorama (which preserves the center and stretches the sides), and Cinema Zoom (which stretches the entire picture and crops the height). Standard-def sources allowed me five choices.
PICTURE QUALITY After a thorough calibration for DVD sources (see "in the lab"), I slipped the Starsky & Hutch disc into my DVD player to see how the JVC performs in the real world . . . of 1970s buddy-cop TV-comedy remakes. One of the set's strengths revealed itself quickly in the rich colors of the cheerleaders' practice scene. As the two “stud” cops watched (or drooled) from the sidelines, the sunlit blue, yellow, and orange pastels of the cheerleaders' skimpy outfits were vibrant, and the girls' faces (from pinkish pale to deeply tanned) looked natural.
After I adjusted the brightness control, the deepest blacks — like the corners inside Huggy Bear's club — didn't look as dark as they would in real life. Still, dimly lit scenes looked clean, with no obvious gradations.
Next up was HDTV. Using an over-the-air tuner, I watched the New York Giants vs. the Minnesota Vikings at the Metrodome. The colors really popped, and the synthetic FieldTurf looked amazingly grasslike — its claim to fame.
Watching a nature show on cable's Discovery HD Theater, I could make out individual whiskers on the black African leopards, and blades of grass in the field where they roamed looked so real that I wanted to reach out and pluck them.
BOTTOM LINE The biggest weakness of the JVC is that, like its DLP-based cousins, it can't produce absolute deep blacks. On the other hand, you can make the set bright enough to watch in a fully sunlit room. Its three-chip design means you never have to worry about the “rainbow effect” sometimes seen in single-chip displays using color wheels. The design must also contribute to more accurate color — the set performed superbly in that respect. While some other manufacturers have been unable to make the new LCoS technology work, JVC seems to have gotten it right.
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