By Krissy Rushing Tomlin
From a design perspective, theater rooms in the home sometimes have negative connotations. Bulky, noisy projectors. Regimented theater seating. Popcorn machines collecting dust.
Home Theater 2.0 is entirely different. Manufacturers have pulled out all the stops in creating the modern residential cinematic experience, delivering incredible audio and video performances in design-friendly packages that provide more flexible installations. And components are now much smaller and unobtrusive compared to just a few years ago. JVC is one of those manufacturers, using their proprietary D-ILA (Direct-Drive Image Light Amplification) technology that was long ago adapted from flight simulation applications, and making it better than ever. Their latest projectors not only provide an experience that delivers a true cinematic experience at home with deeper blacks and higher contrast, but that land with applause from both systems integrators and designers for their room-friendly features. I chatted with JVC’s Jamie Pasley, General Manager of the Home Theater Custom Installation Division, Visual Systems to discuss what’s new with JVC for home cinema.
“The thing I love most about the industry is that it’s continuously evolving. There’s always something new to see, which makes it exciting. Plus, JVC is a wonderful company to work for and the people I work with every day make it fun. They are truly an extension of my family.”
Krissy: First, tell us about yourself and your role with JVC.
Jamie: I have been with JVC for over 20 years, which seems like a very long time, but it has gone by quickly. I’ve been in several roles throughout my career. I started on the inventory planning team, working with the factory to arrange production and make sure products were available for our sales team. Then I moved into sales for our headphone and audio products. In my current role as General Manager for the home theater projector division, I’m focused on the United States market and growing our residential home theater business with the support of our amazing sales team. We work directly with our distribution and direct retail partners to provide the best customer experience for our customers and end-users every day.
Krissy: How did you get involved in home technology in the first place?
Jamie: Honestly, Krissy, it was right after I graduated from Marquette University, and I was looking for my first job. I had recently moved to New Jersey where JVC corporate headquarters were at the time. Even as a kid, I remember seeing JVC camcorders in Back to the Future and knew that it was a cool brand. I started in the recording media division with VHS tapes. We were buying and selling container loads of VHS tape, and I was managing inventory all around the country.
Krissy: VHS! Wow, you have been with the company a long time. What keeps you in the home technology industry?
Jamie: The thing I love most about the industry is that it’s continuously evolving. There’s always something new to see, which makes it exciting. Plus, JVC is a wonderful company to work for and the people I work with every day make it fun. They are truly an extension of my family.
Krissy: That’s great. Tell us about the products you work with in the projector category. What makes them special?
Jamie: JVC is an iconic brand, offering products in almost every consumer electronic category. For nearly a century, JVC has been in the industry. We’ve been in the projector category for more than 25 years now and have been refining our D-ILA (Direct-Drive Image Light Amplification) technology to offer customers projectors that rival reality. This is JVC’s proprietary technology, which allows for incredible picture quality with high contrast, resolution and natural color reproduction. The D-ILA devices are the heart of our projectors and play an important role in projecting beautiful images. In addition to this technology being used in the JVC Home Theater projectors, our projectors are also used in business-to-business applications for flight simulation. JVC projectors are used every day to train our military and commercial pilots!
Krissy: Wow, I had no idea. That’s very cool!
Jamie: Yes, commercial airline pilots from many of the airlines you fly today use our technology for training applications. The D-ILA technology has a lot of research and development behind it and that’s how JVC home cinema theater projectors started. The projectors for flight simulation have the realism as though you are physically seeing the image with your own eyes. With JVC, you can have that same level of realism in the home.
Krissy: So, for Technology Designer readers who might not understand D-ILA, tell us what is interesting about this particular technology.
Jamie: The technology can offer a true cinematic experience in your own home. All D-ILA projectors offer a Blu-Escent Laser light source, native 4K image D-ILA Devices, HDR10+ Compatibility, Vivid Picture mode, and Gen2 Frame Adapt HDR. That’s a lot of specs to throw at you, but they translate to a spectacular image that draws you in. With Frame Adapt HDR, for example, the audience can expect images that are brighter, more colorful, and have a wider dynamic range. It uses JVC’s algorithm to instantaneously analyze the maximum brightness of the content per scene or frame allowing the projector to perform real-time tone mapping. This is important when watching content where scenes move quickly from bright to dark. The projector will automatically adjust to create the best picture for each scene.
Our top two projector models also offer 8K eShiftX technology, which simply doubles 4K resolution by shifting a pixel by 0.5 pixels in four directions – up, down, left, and right – creating over 35 million pixels on the screen for extremely sharp details.
With the Blu-Escent Laser light source, you won’t have to worry about replacing bulbs. With a laser light source users can expect peak brightness with a longevity of 20,000 hours, which is more than five times that of the average lamp.
Krissy: Okay, technical details aside, what are JVC projectors known for?
Jamie: For contrast and deep blacks. New this year, all D-ILA models have Deep Black Tone control to achieve even more realistic darkness. When watching dark scenes, contrast is so important. With this new feature, you can see gradations of the darkness and even see textures in the blacks.
We’re also known for our high contrast, which creates that depth perception on the screen. Images appear to be closer and farther away because of the high contrast JVC projectors can achieve. Color is also extremely important because you don’t see just simplified colors, you see many different gradations of color when you’re viewing.
Krissy: How big is the projector line and how much do JVC projectors cost?
Jamie: With JVC, we’re focused on the D-ILA technology and providing the best possible picture quality. As a result, we are laser-focused with a limited number of projector models ranging in retail price points from our most recent introduction model priced at $5,999 to our flagship model at $25,999. With this recent model we hope to extend our advanced technology to a larger market.
Krissy: Tell us about your latest D-ILA models.
Jamie: JVC knows design and flexibility are important when working with customers on their perfect home theater. An exciting highlight with the new models we recently introduced is their form factor. Their volume is 35 percent less than the previous models. We’ve also redesigned our airflow. Most projectors will have the intake airflow from the back and then the exhaust out the front. These are the exact opposite. Now, air intake is from the front with exhaust out the back, which allows for a tighter installation. If you have a specific spot where you might need to put the projector, it allows you to install it closer to the wall because the air is being pulled in from the front, open area of the room. These new models are the world’s smallest native 4K projectors available today.
Krissy: What else should those dealing with room design – like interior designers, architects or builders – know about JVC projectors?
Jamie: One of the most important aspects is our motorized lens shift, which is available on all JVC D-ILA projectors. In some cases, customers are upgrading an older projector, so they already have a mount installed or place allocated for the projector. Our motorized lenses make it very easy to line up the image on the screen and integrate our products. Systems integrators can use the remote and shift the picture across, up and down. This feature makes room design so much easier.
Also, JVC prides itself on its personal experienced service team and the ease of tools on our recently upgraded website, which is the place to go for things like throw distance calculators, reviews, FAQs and more.
