At the IFA show in Berlin, projector manufacturer JMGO launched its new Iris line. While externally similar to the N3 Ultimate and other models of its gimbal projectors, inside is a new light engine with even greater brightness and the new headline-grabbing feature at the show: a 120Hz refresh rate while running at full 4K resolution.
A 120Hz refresh rate isn’t exactly new in projectors, and definitely not with TVs, but with projectors, that refresh has been historically limited to 1080p. Is this a big deal? Sort of. It’s an interesting technical feat for sure, and shows where projectors can grow. For most people, it’s not likely a huge deal. Yet, a new DLP chip and design like what’s in JMGO’s new projectors is definitely worth having a look at. So I did.
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All the refreshes fit to refresh
I got a brief look at the new Iris projectors at IFA, and there are two models. The Iris Ultra Max has a stated 6,500 lumens, a fully motorized gimbal and a higher native contrast ratio compared to its sibling. The less expensive Iris Ultra has “just” 4,500 lumens and only manual adjustments for the gimbal. Both models have a 0.9-1.7:1 optical zoom as well as horizontal and vertical image shift (separate from the gimbal). They also have a dual iris system to help dial in brightness and improve the dynamic contrast ratio.
I didn’t have any of my test gear with me, and no trade show is an ideal place to judge a product anyway, but the projectors certainly looked bright. JMGO had a side-by-side demo set up running fast-moving and fast-panning 60-frames-per-second content. One projector was running at a refresh rate of 60Hz, the other at 120Hz. The latter did have less blur on some aspects of the image. However, if you’re not watching 60fps content like sports or video games, I’d expect some severe motion-smoothing issues, aka the soap opera effect (this will be the case with any of these higher-refresh projectors). Then again, 120Hz is an even multiple of 24, so theoretically they could dejudder without interpolating frames. We’ll see.
Geoffrey Morrison/CNET
DLP has never had a significant issue with motion blur, so a faster refresh isn’t as big an improvement as it would be with, say, LCD. Reducing LCD motion blur is actually why we have faster refresh rates in TVs to begin with. JMGO says the faster refresh rate can also further minimize DLP’s infamous rainbow effect, where some people notice rainbow trails to certain objects on screen (or when they move their eyes). That could be very helpful for those susceptible to that issue.
Geoffrey Morrison/CNET
I really liked the N3 Ultimate when I reviewed it. It was, at that point anyway, the best gimbal projector. I’m not fully convinced of the need for a fully gimbaled projector for most people. But, with image shift and optical zoom, the N3 can fit in a lot of rooms regardless of how much or little you interact with the gimbal mechanism. And regardless of all that, its performance was excellent. If JMGO can keep the image quality just as high with these new projectors while increasing the already impressive brightness, that will be a very interesting projector. I’ll be getting one to test soon, especially to see if this whole 120Hz thing is worth the hype.
JMGO is expecting the MSRP of the Ultimate Max to be $3,699 and $2,299 for the Ultimate. Both start shipping in mid-October.
Geoffrey Morrison
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