3 out of 3 people found this review helpful.
Nice TV!... But......
Date of Review: Oct 23, 2004
The Bottom Line: If you have a large space, and aren't worried about a little "background" noise, then I would highly recommend it. Great picture!
I had purchased a 42" plasma, but found that my eye always seemed to be trained on the pixels, rather than the picture. Especially during dark scenes of a picture.. Because of individual "pixel flicker". So, unhappy with that, I returned it, and decided to go with a different technology.
I had read many reviews on LCD, DLP, and LCOS, and decided to go with the LCOS. The HD-ILA, to be more precise. Because the pixels aren't on the front of the screen. And it doesn't use millions of moving mirrors like DLP. I won't criticize DLP, but I was worried that I may a have a problem with the "rainbow effect", because my eyes seemed so sensitive to pixilation with plasma. But I am sure that if I got the highest resolution possible, it probably wouldn't be a problem. But I can't afford $20,000 for a monitor right now.. Nor could I justify it to my wife.
Anyway, after receiving the JVC HD-61Z575, I hooked my components up to it, and fired it up.
The first thing that I noticed was the unusual delay from the time I pushed the "On" button, to the time it actually came on. This is due to the lamp "warming up". Yes, lamp. It is a projector.... The second thing that I noticed was that it has a cooling fan. For the lamp! And it is audible. I never noticed it at the store. Must have been all the background noise. Also, I never read about it in any of the reviews..
It was one of the first things that my wife noticed when she came home, though. And at night, with the volume low, it is very noticeable. :-(
My cable input signal is a bit weak, so this is also noticeable on the large screen. Even when passed through my ISCAN Ultra video processor. My 29" Phillips 100Hz CRT does a better job than the rear projector.
As for DVD's: Some of them look pretty good, others look great. All of the Star Wars DVD's look great! The "digital" movies, such as Shrek, Dinosaur, and Finding Nemo, look awesome! Beautiful, vibrant colors. And nice depth. Very nice.
Conclusion: Don't get me wrong. The fan noise isn't "that" bad. But it's there. If you are in an apartment, in a quiet setting and tend to have the volume low, or have any weak signals coming in, this set probably isn't for you. The set is very capable of showing a great picture, but you have to give it a good signal.
If you have a large family room, with plenty of other "audio distractions" or can have your home theater sound system at decent levels at all times of viewing, and have good input signals, or use it just for occasional viewing, then I would highly recommend it... It really can produce a beautiful picture.
So, I'm returning it on Monday.. The search continues!!!!
