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J V C H D - 5 6 F H 9 6
looked better. Even black-and-white
movies looked superb with stunning
smoothness and (in T
HEATER
very little color tint due to grayscale
inaccuracies. Overall color balance
was excellent. Colors themselves
were mostly excellent with unusually
Color Accuracy
0.9
0.8
0.7
0.6
0.5
0.4
D65
0.3
0.2
0.1
0
0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
Note: Red a bit orangish, green and
blue slightly oversaturated.
Grayscale Tracking
0.387
0.375
0.362
0.350
0.337
0.325
0.312
0.300
0.287
0.275
0.300
0.325
0.350
0.262
0.287
0.312
0.337
Note: Measurements taken in
T
mode.
HEATER
Measurements
Peak white level
Full screen
100 IRE window
Black level
Contrast ratio
Peak
ANSI (checkerboard)
Horizontal resolution
HDMI/DVI
Component
Note: Measurements taken in T
mode, which produced the best picture;
Standard mode is much brighter, useful
in high ambient light. Horizontal
resolution exhibits slight HF rolloff.
The Perfect Vision ❘ MARCH / APRIL 2006
vibrant blues. Greens were good for
a modern display, meaning they were
mode)
less offensive than most.
HD with JVC's built-in digital tuner
was equally impressive. Blacks always
fell somewhat short of "inky black"
despite JVC's new iris, but they were
dark enough to make CSI and other
darker network HD programs look
excellent; in fact, the blacks were
80% lower than the JVC 720p set
KEY
reviewed earlier. They were also 67%
D65
lower than the 55-inch Hitachi
ATSC-specified
primaries
55HDX61 plasma but still significant-
Measured
primaries
ly higher than the Sony KDS-
R60XBR1 SXRD RPTV reviewed in
Issue 64. Of course, sports looked
spectacular, in part because of this
set's remarkably high light-output
capability and the fact that it doesn't
make playing fields either squirm with
video noise or scream with dreadful
lime greens.
With an interlaced component con-
0.6
0.7
0.8
nection, DVD showed just how good
the component inputs are and just
how well JVC's scaler performs. Star
Trek: Insurrection can look really bad
with
poor
enhancement, and 3:2 pulldown, but
it was clean and impressive on this set.
KEY
D65
Vanilla Sky was rendered with
absolutely no false contouring. Its
dark scenes had acceptable (but not
particularly exceptional) detail. Cruel
Intentions was displayed with an
unusually good mix of detail and
0.362
smoothness. Flesh tones were particu-
larly convincing. This DVD is not for-
giving of excess red, either in a set's
grayscale or color decoder.
Finally, the HD-56FH96 scored bet-
ter than most on regular old low-res
cable. This was due in part to good
77fL
84fL
scaling and excellent noise filters.
In T
HEATER
0.0036fL
sional shifts in color temperature from
nearly ideal to noticeably greenish.
2333:1
Measurements were made with the set
141:1
on its best behavior. This may have
been a problem with my review set.
1920 lines
1920 lines
Conclusion
HEATER
I wasn't completely enthusiastic about
the 720p set, but I am very enthusias-
tic about this one. Finally, JVC has
found black levels to complement the
deinterlacing,
edge
mode, I noticed occa-
excellent light output and great color
rendition of the earlier model. Vdeo
noise and artifacts have been reduced,
and the overall picture has detail with
a certain smoothness that's undeniably
beautiful and totally involving.
I wish I still had the Sony SXRD
set I raved about as "the best you'll
see this year" for a direct compari-
son. But even lacking such a compar-
ison, I feel confident that this JVC
can make a picture that's just as com-
pelling except on the darkest pro-
gram material (where it's still not
bad), and it can go a whole lot
brighter if you really want it to. Plus,
it doesn't have tacky speakers on the
sides making it larger than it needs to
be. So now I have to say, "these
sets—both the Sony and the JVC—
are probably the best RPTV pictures
you'll see this year." This one, except
for a few important operational
caveats, is mostly right up there.
Randy Tomlinson is an independent ISF-
certified calibrator in the Atlanta area and
can be contacted via his Web site at
www.advancedtechservice.com.
The Last Word
• Brightest 1080p picture available
• Very good color rendition
• Smooth, noise-free picture
• Some inputs must share user
video settings
• Selecting video sources via
remote is agonizingly slow
• Black level is somewhat short
of the best
Specifications
• Technology: HD-ILA (LCoS) rear-projection
• Screen Size: 56"
• Pixel Resolution: 1920x1080
• Contrast Ratio: 5000:1
• Max Light Outout: 900 cd/m
• Video Inputs: 2 HDMI, 2 component,
3 S-vdeo, 4 composite, VGA (DB15),
2 FireWire, 2 RF
• Dimensions: 52" x 38.1" x 17.1"
• Weight: 95 lbs.
• Warranty: 1 year (parts & labor) in-home
• Price: $4999.99
Manufacturer Information
JVC
(800) 252-5722
www.jvc.com
2
(265fL)
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