JVC has come up with an incredibly expensive and extremely limited edition projector to celebrate the 25th anniversary of its flagship D-ILA range. 

The company first introduced its D-ILA projectors 25 years ago, introducing a then-nascent Liquid Crystal on Silicon technology. LCOS, as it’s known, is a reflective liquid crystal device for projectors that enables industry-leading black levels and contrast together with excellent colours, higher brightness and high resolution. 

To celebrate this high-end technology, JVC has announced that it’s going to sell just 25 units of its new DLA-25LTD 8K laser projector, and it will be one of the most expensive models that money can buy, with a staggering price tag of £33,000.

Of course, those who’re willing to drop that kind of money will get full VIP treatment, with North American buyers getting a shiny, commemorative jacket that sports an exclusive 25th anniversary crest. Meanwhile those in Europe will get a fancy plaque that’s engraved with the serial number to match the one that’s engraved onto the projector itself. 

Aside from those extras, the DLA-25LTD is very, very capable projector, as it should be. The company’s spec sheet mentions 3,000 lumens peak brightness, a 150,000:1 contrast ratio, support for HDR10+ and JVC’s proprietary 8K/e-shiftX processing technology that’s able to upscale 4K resolution content to 8K quality. On the connectivity side, there are two 48Gbps-rated 8K HDMI 2.1 ports that support 8K@60 frames per second and 4K@120fps.

Within the projector there are three 0.69-inch native 4K D-ILA devices and an 18-element, 16 group 100mm glass lens with a full aluminium lens barrel. JVC says the DLA-25LTD’s performance will be “mind-blowing” and given the price tag, we’re inclined to believe such claims. 

The company said the JVC DLA25LTD will go on sale in mid-December, so there’s plenty of time to save up for it. 

In other news, JVC also spoke of a coming firmware update for existing projectors including its DLA-NZ9, DLA-NZ8, DLA-NZ7, DLA-NP5, DLA-RS4100, DLA-RS3100, DLA-RS2100 and DLA-RS1100 models. The biggest update with the new firmware is support for Filmmaker Mode, which switches off image processing to enable users to view content as the creator intended. 

The firmware upgrade also brings improved Frame Adapt HDR picture performance thanks to a new Auto (wide) option that puts greater emphasis on picture brightness. Two other new Frame Adapt picture modes will serve to save the user’s picture settings according to different ambient lighting conditions. Further, there’s a new laser dynamic control mode for laser-based models that bases control on peak brightness as opposed to the average luminance of the entire screen. 

JVC said the V.2.XX firmware upgrade will roll out in the middle of November.