I recently bought a JVC LCOS 3 chip HDILA powered projection unit model HD-52G787 and found the picture to have terrible false contouring. This is also known as solarization, where the set cannot properly display color and shade gradients properly, resulting in very distinct bars of color across your screen, similar to a topographic map but in color. This is especially noticeable in sky and water scenes, as well as dark scenes in movies, and in intricately detailed and complex surfaces such as faces (look like someone painted on thier face or the actor is wearing a lot of makeup.) Does anyone else have this probelm and what resolution have you found so far from JVC and authorized service centers? So far they have replaced my main drive board for the DILA light engine and uploaded new software to correct the grey scale, but it did not improve a single thing. One other thing to point out, 3-2 pulldown on this TV causes a grid- like pattern when scenes change, only for a millisecond but definately noticeable, more so than the choppiness of the frame rate conversion that it is supposed to correct. It looks better to have it off. Also, my video labeling does not save and the lamp light on the front of the unit does not function at all. So far I am very unhappy that a TV of any price would perform this badly.
What type of input and source are you using? Are you speaking of HD or SD programming? What setting (Standard, Dynamic, Game or Theatre) are you using? Tell us a little more about what you're trying to do.
The false contouring occurs using any input source, and any program material, including HD. It's more eveident as the quality of the signal increases, i.e. going from SD to HD makes the problem worse, or at least more obvious due to the increase in program material. I run high end cables, all component, but the problem is still just as noticeable with standard cables as well as composite or S-video. It even occurs on the PC input, and i have used my calibration DVD to set the level on the TV, but this had no effect. Changing any of the settings on the TV did not fix the problem either, in fact it has absolutely no effect on the false contouring or any other issue. I tried a new lamp, but that does not fix the problem either.
The issue with 3-2 pulldown occurs whenever you turn on the Natural Cinema feature, and is the same using any input device or signal just like the false contouring.
My input toggle menu continues to list the input selections as video 1, video 2, video 3, etc. instead of displaying what I named them, such as DVD or SAT.
I definately feel that with the additional problems my TV has, that it is a larger issue, but the false contouring is the most noticeable and bothersome for me. I may have been able to live with the other issues if this one did not occur. You have never seen this on your set at all? Look closely at scenes that involve sky or water or dark scenes and tell me if you see bands of shading across the sky, or when there is an underwater scene, and light is entering the water, this should trigger it. You will notice distinct color bands of the blue in water for instance going from the dark places in the water to the light part in about 3- 7 distinct shades of blue. This depends on how subtle the shading is. It requires more bands if the shading is more subtle, less if it is a sharp contrast of light and dark. Also, when watching any program material involving grass, especially football or baseball, the grass looks like it is moving, this includes HD program material. If you focus on the grass and not the ooh, ahhh stuff like the sharp colors of the uniforms and facemasks, you can see that the grass is just a greenish bunch of color with different shades of green moving in and out of each other. You never see grass, let alone blades of grass, just a blob of various green colors under the athletes feet. I brought it to an authorized JVC service center for a complete analyzation. Thanks for the input I appreciate it.