JVC RS2 B Stock Blowout Special While They Last...

[jostenmeat]

I just saw this. I bought my own RS1 as open box, from a sticky just like this, and they sold out in a day. However, at the time of my purchase the RS10 was not yet released, so the circumstances made it more desirable at the time. This has been up for about 48 hours at the time of this posting.

Still, without knowing what the price is, when I got my own unit, I saved $1,500 from the very best price I found after doing quite a bit of shopping. It's worth calling 'em! My own unit had only 3 hours on it when I received it, fully warrantied by JVC still, which I added another Mack special on top of.

rmk has one I'm pretty sure, and he could let you know what he thinks, as he's had more than one PJ, unlike myself.

Cheers!

JVC RS2 B Stock Blowout Special

If anyone does call 'em, would you be so kind to PM with price? And that means you too, stube.

 

[jostenmeat]

bumpity wumpity

 

[strube]

I just saw this. I bought my own RS1 as open box, from a sticky just like this, and they sold out in a day. However, at the time of my purchase the RS10 was not yet released, so the circumstances made it more desirable at the time. This has been up for about 48 hours at the time of this posting.

Still, without knowing what the price is, when I got my own unit, I saved $1,500 from the very best price I found after doing quite a bit of shopping. It's worth calling 'em! My own unit had only 3 hours on it when I received it, fully warrantied by JVC still, which I added another Mack special on top of.

rmk has one I'm pretty sure, and he could let you know what he thinks, as he's had more than one PJ, unlike myself.

Cheers!

JVC RS2 B Stock Blowout Special

If anyone does call 'em, would you be so kind to PM with price? And that means you too, stube.

Thanks for the info Jostenmeat!

I am going to pull the trigger on this in the morning as soon as I find out what kind of B-stockness there is to them.

Did they tell you the condition of yours before you bought it, i.e. hours on the bulb and an open box, no cosmetic damage to the unit, etc., or was it kind of a mystery until you received it?


Thanks!
Strube

 

[jostenmeat]

From what I can remember: We were told that they looked/worked as brand new, but that there was no specific number of hours on the PJ, nor could we know what that number might be before we fired it up. Only that it was "very low hours". From the bit of chatter on the boards, the very high end was maybe at a hundred hours, max. So I was pretty happy to see only three.

There was some funny issue, and I really can't recall what it exactly was, but some people feared not having the mftr warranty. AVS even might have made might a new sticky addressing it- basically we had nothing at all to worry about. IIRC, we were assured that 2 yr was intact, and on top of that, they were pretty adamant about taking care of us.

The package actually took a while to arrive. Even if they sold em out in that one day, they didn't have them on hand yet, awaiting shipment directly from JVC. JVC chose AVS to unload their stuff. A couple of members suspected that these were demo units from the holiday season for shows, and what not, and therefore they were hoping these might be cherry picked for particularly good performance. I'd doubt the last part, but if it was good enough for demo, then I'm sure it would be good enough for me. However, it might have been close to a month before it arrived! (2x shipping).

Thanks for the PM regarding the price. That is just a really sick price. Now, I know the RS20 is a significant step up, but I don't think it's a +230% step up, and that's compared to the best street price I know of. So funny how these things get superceded so quickly. My unit was a real bargain, yet this is the better unit, at $700 less than what I paid. I remember one guy lamenting that he was so ready to pull the trigger on the RS1 that day, just wanted to wait to get off work to do final measurements to be sure, but by that time they were already sold.


If this unit is very similar to mine, and it probably is, there is red and green push, and it's particularly the latter than can be a little more offensive. Bear in mind when I talk about this that it still looks better than anything else I ever see, very subjectively speaking. Most displays now horrify me.

So far, as an uber noob at calibrating, do the test disc first, and then play with the gamma settings available. If you significantly change the light control, or color of walls, play again. Sometimes a particular gamma will look better with faces, and another might with greenery/nature. I used gamma A for a while, and now on on C for what I find to be the better compromise, at least since I have a brand new bulb in with very good light control.

Sorry about spelling your handle wrong, btw.

 

[strube]

Thanks again, sir. All your wisdom and experience is greatly appreciated. It sounds too good to be true, but I know it is true because of you. It is worth it even if we have to buy a new bulb for $350 sooner than if new! I sent AV Sales an email and asked them to call me in the morning so they can't sell out - they were just closing up when I got the prices, and they weren't sold out . If they don't call, then I will call them!

No worries on the spelling either, I only give people hell about spelling in the boring thread .

Strube

 

[strube]

Well I ordered one for my dad as soon as they opened this morning. He said that it should ship out by the end of the week. I wanted soooo bad to order one for me too (that I couldn't pay for), but I resisted. I didn't purchase any extra warranty - the 2 year JVC one is plenty for him.

Then the lady I got the prices from last night called a couple hours later to check and she seemed disappointed that I didn't order from her. I felt kind of bad, as I am guessing they get commission, so I told her we will be ordering a Denon AVR-4310CI from in a month or so when his theater is done. It may end up that my dad buys my 3808 from me and I get a 4810 when it comes out in the fall. I don't need 9.3 channels right now, but who knows! Or, maybe I will end up winning the lottery (that someone else will have to buy me tickets for) and I can buy separates!

Anyway, thanks again for the heads up, Jostenmeat. I am sure I will let you know how it is right away. The good thing about his theater not being done for a month is that I will probably get to put it in mine until then. The only problem with that is that I will have to go back to the 720p Sony LCD projector when we are done renovating his basement into a theater, and will probably want to stab my eyes out because the picture will look so bad after having the RS2 in there ...

 

[BMXTRIX]

If you got pricing - would you please PM me with it?

Thanks!

I just got an AE1000 but I was thinking I might sell it and do a nicer model.

 

[ivseenbetter]

I was really considering jumping on this...but I don't think it will work in my setup. The lumens are too low for me. I have a 120" screen and it is tough to get enough light output on this model. Plus, since my theater room doubles as a "kid" room, we often watch TV on it with the lights on. It's not the best solution in the world but it works with my current projector since it puts out so many lumens. I'm bummed!

 

[jostenmeat]

Thanks again, sir. All your wisdom and experience is greatly appreciated.

*blushes. I'm taken aback by your kind words. I'm just happy that even just one poster here that I like gets to enjoy the deal. Or at least his dad does. It's his first PJ? I wish/hope Erin Hardison sees this, and I PMd him at the same time as you. This would fall exactly between the two PJs he was considering before, and, um, 6100 vs RS2 is just not exactly fair.

CONGRATS!! to your dad....

btw, I like your rhyming poem. You are a cunning linguist.

It sounds too good to be true

but I know it is true

because of you.

It is worth it even if we have to buy a new bulb for $350 sooner than if new!

I was really considering jumping on this...but I don't think it will work in my setup. The lumens are too low for me. I have a 120" screen and it is tough to get enough light output on this model. Plus, since my theater room doubles as a "kid" room, we often watch TV on it with the lights on. It's not the best solution in the world but it works with my current projector since it puts out so many lumens. I'm bummed!

Please note that JVC's lumens are much more "real world" than other manufacturers. Most any other mftr overblows this spec big time. Skim some reviews, and it should be clear. Put it this way, I'm lighting up a 159' with JVC, and my last bulb at 836 hours was almost too bright in high lamp (which I don't use anyways due to noise). I do use a high power retroreflective, but just wanted to share my POV on this.

One of the most prominent strengths, if not most prominent with JVC is the black/shadow level/detail. The current models have been directly compared with 25k Sim2 Pjs. Now, it suffers comparatively in most any other category, but just wanted to make that point.

The RS2 makes a large leap in native contrast over the already very good RS1, but in order to do so, it loses a bit of overall brightness.

I have a very hard time thinking that an RS2 can't light up a 120" just fine, unless the light control is bad.

BTW, this deal is not something you ponder too long over. The last such deal like this was the day I bought mine, and that over 1.5 yr ago. So, you can wait another 1.5 yr, but if you're on vacation or AFK, then make that another long while. These deals are particularly great because not only do they beat used prices, you also get the mftr warranty. I mean, what's there not to like?!

 

[strube]

*blushes. I'm taken aback by your kind words. I'm just happy that even just one poster here that I like gets to enjoy the deal. Or at least his dad does. It's his first PJ? I wish/hope Erin Hardison sees this, and I PMd him at the same time as you. This would fall exactly between the two PJs he was considering before, and, um, 6100 vs RS2 is just not exactly fair.

CONGRATS!! to your dad....

btw, I like your rhyming poem. You are a cunning linguist.

Oh wow I am a poet and I didn't even know it! That was totally accidental and I feel like kind of a nerdtastic geek, but thanks for the compliment anyway.

The JVC will be his fifth one, actually (I am even surprised at that number). I got into theater design as a sophomore in college when my parents moved to the same town as myself. I designed his theater first (and have learned a lot of things and designed quite a few others since). They were building a house and I had the notion that one could get a very large screen much larger, cheaper, and with much higher quality than the current options for TVs, and really the entry level projector market was nowhere near what it is today for HT options. I got him a 480p DLP Sharp DT-200. He then went through about 2500 hours on that and upgraded to the Optoma H77 in 2005 (with the Sharp coming to the HT in my newly built rental house), and that was a very frustrating projector. It had to be warrantied 3 times before we got one that worked (which worked great, but my dad had had enough of it).

When the Sharp died at my house (definitely out of warranty) we were both fed up with DLP projectors going bad (and I was tired of that nasty rainbow effect), and got a great deal on two Sony VPL-HS60 LCD projectors - one came here to my house and one went in his system so I could sell the Optoma for him (which I didn't do till last week ).

He got the upgrade bug again when he saw my 1080p Samsung LCD TV, so he bought a Sony 1080p SXRD projector (along with a Blu-Ray player, new speakers, and a new AVR), which I complained about in my first post on this site - we had to return it because it had horrible vertical lens shift range that made it impossible to mount on the rear shelf in his room, and we have recently become anti-Sony because they limit features way too much compared to competitors, have sub-par warranties, blah, blah, etc.

Finally he ended up with a Panasonic PT-AE3000U, which was an outstanding projector, but he just sold his house and the offer he accepted included his projector and AVR. I talked him into the JVC for the theater we will soon be putting in his new house after you told me about the sale. Now we just have to remodel a basement in a house built in 1959 to set it up, and replace the 70 amp electrical panel with a much bigger one. Until then though, that JVC is going in my theater. That can be my fee for design and labor on his system!

 

[septim]

I have a Panny AE3000 which I am very satisfied with. This deal is making me consider selling it and going with the RS2. I am just worried that the B-stock units are returns because of poor convergence or light leakage or something.

Would the RS2 be a significant upgrade to make it worth the trouble of selling the AE3000? I do use the frame interpolation as I find it adds a nice 3D pop to movies. Also I enjoy games and the Panny has a game mode which eliminates all lag.

 

[strube]

I have a Panny AE3000 which I am very satisfied with. This deal is making me consider selling it and going with the RS2. I am just worried that the B-stock units are returns because of poor convergence or light leakage or something.

Would the RS2 be a significant upgrade to make it worth the trouble of selling the AE3000? I do use the frame interpolation as I find it adds a nice 3D pop to movies. Also I enjoy games and the Panny has a game mode which eliminates all lag.

There is no frame interpolation on the JVC, nor the lens memory, which could be awesome if we used it on the Panny. We have it turned off on the PT-AE3000U for anything, and when I play Rock Band (don't tell anyone ) I don't find game mode to be necessary.

The Panny is great, and if you get rid of it for the JVC, you will be trading a wealth of features and higher brightness for superior picture quality (so they say) and minimal chance of dust blobs. If you don't have full control of the light in your room or if you like to have some ambient light when playing games, etc., you may want to stick with the Panny, as I am pretty sure it is capable of higher brightness than the JVC.

Additionally, I specifically asked the sales rep about the B-stock and was told that they were warranty returns that have been repaired and checked by the manufacturer to operate like new, so I wouldn't worry too much if you are interested.

I can't really say one is better than the other overall because it depends on your application, plus I don't actually have the JVC yet for a true direct comparison. I get the feeling from everything I read that the JVC is a great projector, and I know from experience that the Panasonic is a great projector, but they are very different animals.

I don't know if this helped, but I hope so!



Strube

 

[Pheaton]

Hi,
I also have a JVC RS1 and can tell you that when I purchased it ~2 yrs. ago it was the best projector that I saw under $10K. I am still very happy with it to this day.

It is in a room that also doubles as a kid play room, family room, etc.. and the picture is still great with some ambient light on. The only lights that wash out the picture are the ones directly over the screen and next to it.

Just throwing another happy review your way to make you feel more comfortable in purchasing one of these.

Pheaton

 

[captain-joe]

I was on the fence with the RS2 vs the Panasonic AE3000U.

I went for the RS2 because it was voted the best of the high end projectors of 2008 vs the AE3000 as the best of the mid range in 2009.

We do not watch much projection in daylight so the brightness is not really an issue. In the daylight we crank up the Panny 58" plasma

I had dust blobs on my older DLP and I know that within time, the AE3000 will get em and drive me crazy.

 

[captain-joe]

Unless you can view them with the same content side by side, it is all talk and specs.

Be happy and watch a movie!

I have a Panny AE3000 which I am very satisfied with. This deal is making me consider selling it and going with the RS2. I am just worried that the B-stock units are returns because of poor convergence or light leakage or something.

Would the RS2 be a significant upgrade to make it worth the trouble of selling the AE3000? I do use the frame interpolation as I find it adds a nice 3D pop to movies. Also I enjoy games and the Panny has a game mode which eliminates all lag.

 

[septim]

There is no frame interpolation on the JVC, nor the lens memory, which could be awesome if we used it on the Panny. We have it turned off on the PT-AE3000U for anything, and when I play Rock Band (don't tell anyone ) I don't find game mode to be necessary.

The Panny is great, and if you get rid of it for the JVC, you will be trading a wealth of features and higher brightness for superior picture quality (so they say) and minimal chance of dust blobs. If you don't have full control of the light in your room or if you like to have some ambient light when playing games, etc., you may want to stick with the Panny, as I am pretty sure it is capable of higher brightness than the JVC.

Additionally, I specifically asked the sales rep about the B-stock and was told that they were warranty returns that have been repaired and checked by the manufacturer to operate like new, so I wouldn't worry too much if you are interested.

I can't really say one is better than the other overall because it depends on your application, plus I don't actually have the JVC yet for a true direct comparison. I get the feeling from everything I read that the JVC is a great projector, and I know from experience that the Panasonic is a great projector, but they are very different animals.

I don't know if this helped, but I hope so!



Strube

Well you summed it up perfectly. I wish there was a way of returning the JVC if I didn't like it.

The warranty return thing is definitely making me stop and consider. I would almost rather have a cosmetic blemish than a unit someone sent back (for whatever reason) and I know that some MFRs allow for slight misconvergence and light leakage in spec. By the time you and the others report back with your RS2s it will likely be too late to move on this deal...

 

[jostenmeat]

Well you summed it up perfectly. I wish there was a way of returning the JVC if I didn't like it.

I agree, nice summation.

The warranty return thing is definitely making me stop and consider. I would almost rather have a cosmetic blemish than a unit someone sent back (for whatever reason) and I know that some MFRs allow for slight misconvergence and light leakage in spec. By the time you and the others report back with your RS2s it will likely be too late to move on this deal...

If it was me, I think I might do it if I were in your shoes, HOWEVER, you are enjoying the perks of the 3000. I don't game, whatsoever, and I abhor the idea of FI, but that's just me, and I'm sure I haven't seen what a good implementation can do yet. Anyhoo . . . I'll say this:

I was leaning extremely hard towards the Pana 2000 at the beginning of last year. I hadn't quite finished the research I really wanted to do, but I knew the RS1/2 were the bee's knees. Welp, I bought it, and out of fear of not being able to implement it very well, I found in no time at all, other forum members more than willing to take it off my hands. And that was well before I even received it.

The RS2 should represent the next level in contrast, and shadow detail. Otherwise, combined with your fears, and your typical usage, I think you can pass on this one. Just wait another few years mebbe. Perhaps LED starts coming in at affordable prices at that time, who knows.

 

[septim]

The RS2 should represent the next level in contrast, and shadow detail. Otherwise, combined with your fears, and your typical usage, I think you can pass on this one. Just wait another few years mebbe. Perhaps LED starts coming in at affordable prices at that time, who knows.

I am thinking more and more that the contrast upgrade will be incremental at best, and combine that with the hassle of selling the AE3000 and losing some features I enjoy, I am leaning towards passing but I just having this nagging thing in my mind about always wanting an RS2.

 

[jostenmeat]

I am thinking more and more that the contrast upgrade will be incremental at best.

I sure don't. I think it will be quite significant. Very, in fact. The only question is if you are willing to trade so many things for that.

Also remember that JVC hits the numbers natively. No use of iris, which means "averaging" out certain scenes.

I believe the 3000's blacks aren't as good as Epson's, which aren't as good as RS1, which aren't as good as the RS2. The RS2 boasts a doubling of the on/off of the RS1, at least on paper.

Check out some screen shots at this review. The 3000 looks straight up gray next to the RS1. Even the Epson looks significantly darker.

It says: As you can see, the PT-AE3000 has a ways to go to catch the JVC RS2, in terms of black levels, but, that doesn't take away from the Panasonic's extremely good black level performance.

Then follow the screen shots, and the 3000 pales compared to all of them.

So, no, I don't think it's "incremental at best". More like incremental at the very darn least, and most likely extremely significant.

http://www.projectorreviews.com/panasonic/pt-ae3000u/image.php

Here's the 3000 on the right, next to RS1 (and remember the RS2 is darker)

And here's the JVC DLA-RS2, which has set the standard for black level performance when introduced last year:

Gee, we can see the clouds on the left. You think the iris got rid of them on the first starship pic? Did the iris make the bright looking flash on the right much smaller?

 

[Sherardp]

JVC projectors are very good. I spend allot of time looking at these things ( not a pro viewer) and can tell you there is a big difference in black level compared to the 3000U. Though all of them are nice PJs, dont get me wrong, the JVCs are in a class of their own. On the support side of the house, I can tell you they offer excellent support with very fast turn around times. I think anyone who purchases any JVC model will be happy. I'm now on the RS10 and will keep it in my setup for awhile. Enjoy, you're in for a treat.