The answer — one pick, priced
Get the
JVC DLA‑NZ500
no budget ceiling
The black-level benchmark for a dedicated theater — 40,000:1 native contrast, the deepest under $10,000, on genuine native-4K D-ILA panels with a 20,000-hour laser.
Fit ledger — need → measured evidence
■ The catch — co-equal billing, always
It demands a blacked-out room. At 2,000 lumens the NZ500 is built for pitch-dark only — any ambient light and its black-level advantage evaporates. And at ~$6,899 it costs ~$900 more than the Sony that also does native 4K, with Dolby Vision on neither.
Dealbreaker? Runner-up №1 (Sony VPL-XW5000ES) does native 4K for ~$900 less ↓
■ Every product has a catch. Verdicts that hide it are how bad buys happen.
Runners-up — if your needs differ
Adjacent verdicts — same method
Traps — this verdict avoids
The screen tax
A UST projector is punishing on surface — on a bare wall or a cheap screen its contrast collapses in any ambient light. It only hits its rated picture on a proper ALR/CLR screen, so budget another $500–$2,000 the price tag never includes.
Lumen-label roulette
Brightness is quoted in ANSI, ISO, or nothing at all, and independent labs measure real output 10–20% under the box claim. Size a projector on measured lumens, not the sticker.
Pixel-shift wearing a 4K badge
Every DLP model here shakes a sub-4K chip to simulate 4K — sharp on movies, but short of the fine detail native SXRD or D-ILA panels resolve, and native 4K starts at ~$4,000+. Match the panel to what you'll actually watch.
Provenance — 8 sources, dated
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