CurtPalme.com Home Theater Forum

virusc · Joined: 11 Apr 2007 Posts: 322 Location: Massachusetts

Guys, I know from time to time someone asks this but I really need feedback from people that have CRT or have had CRT recently. I have been waiting for my basement to be done for 10 years. In 2012 I had a Barco Cine7(still have it) and it looked great. It was dialed in perfect and I was happy with the output. It was 110" screen and 100% light controlled mainly dark walled room.
I have a Epson 3xxx 1080p LCD projector in my current dining room and it is OK. The ceiling is white and most of the walls so I can't fault it entirely as the room is not meant for HT. I don't like the contrast but it is a 7 year old model or so, it was calibrated by a ISF tech. It does not pop like a CRT and I think it is due to ANSI contrast being low. It is bright though.

In this situation what is a 5-10k JVC going to probably look like vs a decent CRT projector? I was considering getting one of those Barco 909's that Curt had for sale but I am not sure that 250 pounds on the ceiling was a good idea in the end.

**kal**

garyfritz · Joined: 08 Apr 2006 Posts: 12026 Location: Fort Collins, CO

**kal** · Posted: Mon Feb 07, 2022 6:09 pm Post subject:

In the $5-10K range consider:

JVC NX7: $9000 USD, lamp based, 2019 model
JVC NX5: $6000 USD, lamp based, 2019 model

Or their newest laser based one that fits in the range:

JVC NZ7: $10,000 USD MSRP (just out)

All native 4K.
All MSRP, so street price will be lower.
Lots of used options of course like Gary mentioned.

Still happy with my JVC RS56 from 2013 (1080p "only"). On my fourth bulb. Just over 9000 hours total. No plans on changing it out at this time.

Kal

jbltecnicspro · Joined: 23 Apr 2016 Posts: 512

Zolzar · Joined: 26 Jun 2009 Posts: 252

I bought an RS40 about 4 years ago. I’ve been through a few ECPs an 8500 and the last CRT I had was the mighty PG10. I’m very happy with my RS40 paired with a Lumagen Radiance XE3D. Fully calibrated the RS40 is excellent. However I would not recommend this projector. These have ballast issues. I replaced the ballast after about a year of use and it’s been fine since. You can definitely find a newer JVC at a very reasonable cost and you will be delighted with the performance.

Dancrt · Joined: 16 Sep 2017 Posts: 69

Hi I just be werid ahahha
I’ve tried
lcd nec gt6000
Jvc x55re 4K
Sony sxrd older modle probably 2011 ish
Sony d50 crt
Barco 909

The nec lcd is great for half lit up rooms 6000 lumans
Worked ok bad screen door effect terrible with lights turned off

Sony sxrd bad motion resolution bad blacks (maybe panel degradation)

Sony d50 bad blues soft picture but not too bad with moome card 1080i

Jvc x55re very good blacks ok motion over all not too bad better than the Sony d50

Barco 909 first setup the jvc was better fully readjusting pushing tubes
To the max and max in tube gain
Best blacks
Best colour
Goood sharpness
Looks like the best picture ever

The jvc to me looks over sharp the 909 crt is say is approx 30% better
If I had to give a score of 100
Nec 30/100
Sony sxrd 30/100
Sony d50 50/100
X55re 70/100
909 100% best I’ve ever seen

I’ve seen a $60,000 sony probably laser projector at local home cinema shop
That was was better than my barco probably 30% better agin
But price

What you end up doing ?
My plan was jvc everyday use barco every now and then
But I end up useing barco 100% because there is just something I don’t like in the jvc
In comparison I think it’s the motion is so much better on the crt

virusc · Joined: 11 Apr 2007 Posts: 322 Location: Massachusetts

Thanks everyone. Also I am looking at the new epson 12000 I think it is called for $5k that has a laser light source. I think I will still mount my Barco CRT to the ceiling and get a new projector and run both. I also have a electohome 8500 non ultra I think it is in a crate in my garage I have not tested yet. I got it for $100 locally and was told it was not used much and was installed by a home theater company. It is not LC though.

redfox001 · Joined: 16 Mar 2009 Posts: 2251 Location: The Netherlands

I am still projecting with my Barco 909 although the whole HT is in a makeover so in the meantime I use my 60" plasma Smile

My assumption for many years now is that 4k is nothing more than a way of HiDPI anti alias filtering. You have to understand some digital mathematics to appreciate how oversampling shifts the aliases away in the frequency spectrum. In normal language, the pixel edges are rounded in the picture.

Now from mathematics back to this world. I was having problems with Apple when they stopped anti aliasing OSX. On a 1080p monitor all characters looked awful. The only solution was to buy a 4k monitor. But I do not want 4k monitors because they have bad frequency spectra and the pixels are to small burning retina cells away especially in the blue and the spectrum is too narrow to make the pupils protect the eye. So in short it is giving me headaches and my eyesight is going bad with possible macular degeneration, painful to my eyes.

Ok so what did I try? I connected my new Apple OSX (everything after High Sierra) to my kuro plasma tv and there was no more aliasing problem. Because the plasma dot is like a mathematic Gaussian high frequency filter it does perfect anti aliasing and characters looked sharp again, no pixel edges. I even tried a lower than 1080p HiDPI setting (960x540) on my 60" 1080p plasma and that looks the best I have seen. When I compare with 4k television I see some small details less perhaps (old eyes Smile

) but the same smooth filtered 4k picture overall. But with much better contrast and no pain in my head. So I am sticking to it for now. (Edit: now trying 720p 150%HiDPI wow Smile

With a gamma of 2.3 on my Mac that matches the kuro it is perfect!)

So what I am saying is 4k solves a pixel problem that only led/lcd equipment have. This is just a perspective to this pixel war from my side. Try it yourself Smile

On the computer side I switched to Windows with a 1440p (on 150% zoom setting) monitor with edge lid lcd. Works nice Wink

Dancrt · Joined: 16 Sep 2017 Posts: 69

Redfox you have reminded me I tried a hd fury diva for HdR
Conversation it didn’t work (Panasonic ub9000 does great job too sdr)
The diva Did however take 4K and downscales to 1080p
But on crt 909 barco anyway looks over sharp with pixel edges
I tried lots of different settings and it was just not pleasant
So the whole mathematician stuff I see your point.
Pixel edges Appearing everywhere !
Panasonic ub9000 4K-1080sdr looks perfect

redfox001 · Joined: 16 Mar 2009 Posts: 2251 Location: The Netherlands

What I wanted to address is that even on a 1080p screen presenting it with source material at halve the resolution and letting it upscale by multiplying with 2 makes a better way of anti aliasing and that is what we witness in retina screens from Apple. But it is not the number of pixels that makes retina, it is the anti aliasing that causes this smooth window like view. I do not miss any details on my 60 inch on a few meters away compared to 4k.

For my Barco I might try 1440p and presenting it 1080p material at a 150% ratio that Windows nails perfectly. Windows uses more advanced anti aliasing than Apple. Apple forces you to buy retina like screens. Another way to look at this is that first you draw a 4k virtual picture in memory from the 1080p material HiDPI and than I think they delete random pixels introducing non disturbing noise. Your brain will filter it.

To add to my story, that is why a Macbook with 13 inch does not need 4k but 3200×1800 to be retina or HiDPI. So depending on your eyes you might settle for something less than 4k and not miss anything Wink

Found this side as some explanation.
https://medium.com/elementaryos/hidpi-is-more-important-than-4k-b1b9bb110b43

Audio_Geek_00 · Joined: 07 Aug 2014 Posts: 82 Location: SF Bay Area

**kal** · Posted: Tue May 03, 2022 10:21 pm Post subject:

Congrats on the JVC NX7 Audio_Geek! It's what I'd probably be buying if for some reason I needed to replace my JVC today.

Kal

Audio_Geek_00 · Joined: 07 Aug 2014 Posts: 82 Location: SF Bay Area

**kal** · Posted: Wed May 04, 2022 9:06 pm Post subject:

That's the #1 rule with any tech purchases! Once you buy, stop looking, otherwise you'll never be happy.

Kal

Audio_Geek_00 · Joined: 07 Aug 2014 Posts: 82 Location: SF Bay Area