in this video we will be going over a new front projector from jvc the lx-nz3 jvc is mostly known
for their very high performance dedicated home theater projectors but this new model
brings great jvc picture quality to a new much lower price point we'll go over the new tech in
this new model and discuss the pros and cons so you can make an informed decision to know
if the lx-nz3 is the right projector for your home theater or media room for simplicity we
will call the new projector the nz3 throughout the rest of this video now let's get started
we have to say the nz3 sure has a lot going for it from a feature and technology standpoint
if you have followed the video world for very long you have probably heard a lot about the
latest picture technology hdr and particularly hdr10. hdr greatly improves color and contrast
the brighter parts of the picture become much brighter while the shadow details and blacks
get even closer to real life this all sounds great but there is a catch for front projectors
the hdr standard wants the display device to be able to output at least 1,000 nits which is
a measurement of brightness in other words the metadata in the video feed expects the display
to be able to get really bright for flat panel tvs this is no problem but most front projectors
can produce about a max of 200 nits far short of the 1,000 nit minimum when hdr first came out
the projector manufacturers had to really scramble to come up with a software solution that prevented
the darker scenes from being way too dark jvc developed a system they call auto tone mapping
which looks at the incoming signal and makes adjustments so the picture is best suited
for a front projector this is the same technology they use in all of their high-end front projectors
all the way up to their thirty thousand dollar model they also keep evolving this
tech by providing free software updates that take advantage of anything new they develop
the video world has given jvc tons of praise for their auto tone mapping and it's considered to be
one of the best systems out there to make hdr great on a front projector the wonderful news
about the nz3 is it has the same tech so you can enjoy hdr content like it was meant to be seen
when you look at the higher end jvc models you'll notice most of them are typical
lamp based projectors which is how almost all front projectors have been designed for years
however the very top of the line model uses a laser as the light source jvc calls it their bluescent
laser phosphor illumination system ever since we saw our first laser based front projector
a few years ago we have been in love with several things about it first the colors are just amazing
to our eyes they look closer to real life secondly unlike a lamp which lasts around one thousand to
fifteen hundred hours the laser light engine is good for up to twenty thousand hours that means
you'll never have to worry about the lamp dying on you right before the big game finally laser light
engines are capable of producing a very bright image which allows you to overcome light spilling
into a media room where you may not be able to get things pitch dark like a dedicated home theater
space as you might have guessed the nz3 uses jvc's bluescent laser phosphor illumination system
for a spectacularly beautiful and bright image this is pretty amazing for this price point
in a dedicated home theater space where you can control the lights this means your image will
have just a ton of picture pop or in a media room where you might not have the ability to make the
room totally dark you will still have a super bright image for you and your guests to enjoy
as far as screen sizes go you'll be able to go big with the nz3 it should light up a huge screen
with the right screen material choice our home theater experts can give you more advice on
screen size and screen materials so please feel free to reach out to us for any questions about
the perfect screen size for you you can also play with our free 3d home theater design tool
at audioadvice.com for those of you who are contemplating a do-it-yourself installation
of the nz3 you'll be happy to know it's also compact in size and fairly lightweight
it's just a shade over 13 pounds and it's about 16 inches wide by 13 inches long and almost
6 inches tall coming from a company that has installed thousands of front projectors we
like the fact the nz3 has a large amount of both horizontal and vertical lens shift you do not have
to worry about getting it precisely centered on your screen in less than an inch since you can
easily dial it in if you get pretty close since this projector is so easy to physically install we
expect many people will do a diy installation for those who purchase their nz3 from audio advice we
will send you our exclusive tips and tricks guide on how to get the best picture for your system
some early laser based front projectors were pretty noisy to keep the light engine cool
this is not the case with the nz3 at all in eco mode which for most rooms will give you
plenty of light output it is almost inaudible at 29 db even in full mode for maximum brightness
it's only 34 db which is pretty astounding the nz3 has two hdmi inputs but hdmi 1
is the one you'll want to use since this one is the one that supports hdcp 2.2 and all of
its wide range of colors up to 4k at 60p you can control the nz3 with its included remote and jvc
also gives you an rs232 input for home automation control systems so with all these pros for the jvc
nz3 what are the cons there are three first starting with the next model up the nz5
jvc offers lens memory this allows you to have different zoom settings which means you can have
one for full widescreen for a 2.35 or 2.4 screen to get the full movie theater experience we do
feel widescreen is the way to go with the nz3 you can only do a 16x9 hdtv image of course you will
still be able to enjoy widescreen movies on your 16x9 screen but just not in their full super wide
glory the second con is how you go about doing the initial setup the bigger jvc models and a
lot of the other home theater projectors offer electronic adjustments of the zoom and focus this
means you can be right in front of your screen to really nail the focus using your handheld remote
with the nz3 there are knobs on the projector you have to turn manually for zoom and focus now this
is only a one-time thing but you'll probably need someone to help you really dial into focus finally
jvc has a super cool system in their upper end projectors starting with the nz5 for calibration
that they call autocal if you want to really get into it get close to what a several hundred
dollar video calibration might cost you you can do it for under two hundred dollars with the
other models by purchasing a measurement device called a spyder x and using jvc's free software
the nz3 does not have this available however we felt if you want to get deeper into calibration
you can do a lot with a spears and munsil test disc with the nz3 basically the cons or things you
get if you spend almost twice the price of the nz3 but they are certainly in no way deal breakers for
this simply amazing laser projector if you have an older projector and you've been thinking about
getting a new 4k model or if you're considering moving to the fun of big screen home theaters you
should definitely have the jvc nz3 on your list it's just simply amazing that you can get a laser
light engine and jvc's great hdr auto tone mapping with the stunning image that the nz3 produces for
well under four thousand dollars we hope this review has given you a better idea on how this
jvc front projector might fit in with your home theater if you have any questions about the nz3
or any of the other upper end models in the jvc line give us a call chat with one of our
experts at audioadvice.com or stop into one of our raleigh or charlotte north carolina showrooms
and we'll be happy to help you select the right projector for your home theater or media room
in the meantime thanks for watching this if you've enjoyed watching this video please be
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on the latest home audio and home theater content and we'll see you next time