JVC either desperately or cleverly targets dSLR owners with new display

(Credit: JVC America)

Having trouble moving your small, overpriced HDTVs? Toss them on the bandwagon of one of the few growing product markets, dSLRs, and hope they fly off the shelves. That seems to be the reasoning behind JVC's marketing of its new Xiview LT-42WX70, a $2,399.95, 42-inch, tunerless TV.

I can't figure out exactly what this thing is appropriate for, especially at its price. On one hand, the specs on the display seem imaging friendly. It's rated at 96 percent Adobe RGB gamut coverage and 100 percent sRGB, with lots of controls for tweaking gamma and individual colors. It has a 12-bit processor, so in theory it would be able to handle the necessary wide-gamut support from a graphics card.

JVC's press release states:

This [array of connectors] allows the user to easily perform various operations such as checking images by connecting directly to an SLR camera compatible with HDMI or component connector, editing stills on the large 42-inch screen by connecting it to a PC via a D-sub 15-pin, or even do a round of onscreen checks in accurate colors prior to outputting images to a high-resolution digital photo printer and thus save on expenses.

But it doesn't have a DVI input, which is necessary for communicating with the graphics card for accurate wide-gamut color reproduction. (VGA output on graphics cards is only 8-bit and color-matching profiles don't operate with HDMI or component.) And at 42 inches, it's clearly not intended for daily computer use--unless you sit more than 5 feet from your desk. And pro imaging displays don't bother to put all that color intelligence in the monitor because all the color matching should be controlled by software anyway.

It also integrates a lot of TV technologies for making motion look better on an LCD, including 120Hz demotion blurring, 8/10-bit to 12-bit color upconversion, and noise reduction. Those are fine in a TV, but not for editing and proofing video where you need to see the artifacts.

With the exception of the missing DVI, its specs match more reasonably sized wide-gamut displays like the NEC MultiSync LCD2690WUXi2, Eizo CG242W, HP DreamColor LP2480zx Professional Display, and Samsung XL24, though all of those cover more of the Adobe RGB gamut.

Maybe for a photographer or videographer to hang in the office to display a portfolio running off a Blu-ray player? I could see that, but not for $2,400. Or am I missing something? Is this really a brilliant move on JVC's part that I just don't get? If so, please enlighten me.