If you've grown tired of squinting at the tiny picture produced by your 50- or 60-inch projection HDTV, perhaps you should take a look at JVC's mammoth HD-70FN97. Sure, we're exaggerating a bit here, but if you are searching for a really BIG television, microdisplay screen sizes don't get a whole lot bigger than this 70-inch set.

The HD-70FN97 uses three of JVC's HD-ILA (a variation of LCoS) chips to produce a true 1,080p picture, and all incoming signals are upscaled to display at 1,080p. Each chip handles a different color (red, blue and green) and the HD-70FN97 has a five-point color management system, but the color accuracy isn't quite up to the level of some competing microdisplay HDTVs. Despite this, images are certainly represented with sharp detail, and the HD-70FN97 does an excellent job producing deep blacks, which is something that many projection televisions struggle to do.

The integrated ATSC tuner means you will not need an external HD receiver to watch high-definition signals received via cable and over-the-air sources. In addition, the HD-70FN97 sports a QAM tuner and CableCARD slot, so it is digital cable-ready. There a number of PIP and split-screen viewing options, but you'll need a second video source to enable them.

The audio system is somewhat limited for a TV of this size. The below-the-screen stereo speakers produce only 10 watts of output per channel, so it would be a good idea to route the audio to a home theater receiver via the HD-70FN97's optical digital audio output. There are a number of useful convenience features, including index viewing, a picture-freeze function, a front-panel lock and a choice of four aspect modes for standard content and three for HD content. JVC includes an illuminated remote control, but its crowded layout will take some getting used to.

The connection selection is good for such a large TV, although we would have liked a third 1,080p HDMI input added to the two already present. Other connections include a single RF input, five composite video inputs (one on the side panel), two S-video inputs, two component video inputs, two IEEE 1394 ports and a PC input with audio, as well as the CableCARD slot and the digital audio output.

If you have the room and the budget, and if a 60-inch projection HDTV just isn't big enough, take a look at the JVC HD-70FN97.


Pros: Huge screen, 1,080p display, PC input, split-screen viewing
Cons: Single tuner for POP, humdrum audio system

Warranty
1 year parts and labor