JVC Professional Products Company

WAYNE, NJ (November 4, 2010) – JVC Professional Products, a division of JVC U.S.A., today announced that the Department of Film & Video at Columbia College Chicago – one of the largest accredited film schools in the world – has purchased six DLA-RS35U Reference Series projectors for its screening rooms. The move will help standardize presentation workflow for the instructors that use the rooms for a variety of classes, while providing the image quality necessary for critical assessment of student cinematography.

The department, which is housed in the college’s School of Media Arts, began technical renovations for its screening rooms this summer. The proliferation of video formats over the years had led to inconsistent interfaces in the rooms. Rather than try and make faculty members “signal flow wizards,” Charles Celander, manager of technical operations, Department of Film & Video, chose to create a consistent presentation workflow that would be standardized across all the rooms.

Some of the screening rooms had been equipped with JVC DLA-G150CL projectors, so Celander was already a fan of D-ILA technology, particularly its accurate, stable color system. He said the DLA-RS35U projector was chosen because it provided excellent image quality and ease of use at a reasonable price point.

“It’s a great solution for us in rooms where we’re projecting film and digital video,” he explained. “The new DLA-RS35U looks great and it’s a great price. This was really an affordable solution.”

In particular, Celander said the DLA-RS35U’s native contrast ratio of 70,000:1 is an important tool for faculty members who need to assess the quality of student footage. “A cinematographer looking at a raw file wants to see it all – good, bad, or indifferent,” he noted.

Celander also said the DLA-RS35U is incredibly quiet (19dB in normal mode), a marked contrast to fan noise issues the school had with older projectors. “We can have the new JVC projectors in the rooms and not have them interfere with the experience,” he said. “They are often quieter than the ambient noise from the air conditioning in the rooms.”

The renovated screening rooms were completed in September in time for the new semester. In an effort to provide a user-friendly interface for instructors and students, each room routes all inputs through an Intelix DIGI-SCAL-11X2 switcher, which scales all sources to 1080p for display through the DLA-RS35U. The projector also allows quick alignment changes if a presenter needs to change aspect ratios. The rooms are also equipped with a Mac mini, Blu-ray player, and document camera, as well as a port to accommodate laptops. An additional HDMI connection enables students to screen footage directly from the school’s JVC GY-HM100 ProHD camcorders.

The DLA-RS35U Reference Series D-ILA projector delivers 1920x1080 resolution and 900 ANSI lumens. It also provides two HDMI inputs, as well as component, composite, S-Video, PC, and RS-232 terminals. It supports a variety of video signals – including 1080p, 1080i, 720p, 480p, and 480i – as well as PC signals up to WUXGA resolution. For installation flexibility, the DLA-RS35U features motorized horizontal and vertical lens shift, plus a high-performance 2x motorized zoom lens with 16-step aperture.