JVC DLA-NZ7

JVC's 'entry-level' native 4K laser PJ lacks serious competition - Steve Withers wonders if it might be in a class of its own

- Steve Withers

JVC'S NATIVE 4K projectors have wowed with laser-powered lighting, class-leading blacks, and dynamic HDR tone mapping, but the cost of admission ain't cheap. Tested here is the DLA-NZ7, the entry-point into the laser line-up with a price tag of £11,499.

On paper the NZ7 appears very similar to the DLA-NZ8 (see HCC #329), with exactly the same chassis, three-chip 4K (4,096 x 2,160) D-ILA device, BLU-Escent laser light source, and 17-element, 15-group all-glass 65mm lens. Both also have twin HDMI 2.1 inputs (accepting 8K/60p and 4K/120p, plus HDR10+) and a trio of HDR tricks: Auto Tone Mapping reads HDR metadata and adjusts the static tone mapping accordingly; Frame Adapt HDR analyses the HDR signal and dynamically changes the tone mapping, and Theatre Optimiser matches HDR delivery to your screen's size and gain.

So, what's different? Most importantly, the NZ8 is slightly brighter with a claimed 2,500 Lumens output, compared to the NZ7's 2,200, and the former has a superior contrast rating of 80,000:1, double that of the NZ7. The NZ8 also has a lens coating to improve contrast, and uses a wide colour gamut filter.

The only other difference is that the NZ8 employs a four-directional 8K/e-shiftX device, as opposed to the NZ7's bi-directional 8K/e-shift unit, first introduced on the previous generation's DLA-NX9. This only shifts pixels by half-a-pixel diagonally, whereas the 'X' variant shifts them in all four axes, which allows the NZ8 and NZ9 to display a full 8K (8,192 x 4,320) image.