DLP vs. LCD front projectors

[blackthunder]

hey guys ... i am seriously debating on which way to go ... please advise.

my father in law has the Infocus X1 ... it works great ... but the people at the AV stores say that LCD is the way to go for home theatre ...

LCD - its not as bright but the picture quality is better
DLP - brighter but you can see little squares (for the picky people)

please advise .... as i will pluck down the $$ within the next two weeks ...

thanks in advance!!!!!!!! 8)

[JonMarsh]

Well, I think the best advice I can give is the same as I would someone shopping for new speakers- look and listen for yourself.


LCD displays don't have some of the artifacts common to DLP's, like temporal dithering and rainbows. But many LCD's don't have as high a contrast ratio as the better DLP projectors. Many early DLP's had rather limited color fidelity, due to the lamps used and color wheel design, but his has improved. DLP's actually have a better fill factor than LCD's (less "screen door effect"), but then I have good enough corrected vision that at my preferred seating distance, they all have visible screen door effect. This can be lessened by a slight de-focusing of the projector. (Don't even get me started about SVGA DLP- I hate the biz projectors I have to use from time to time in that resolution class - very visitble screen door effect, and generally terrible color rendition)

One thing I do recommend is that you view some projectors in various technologies at price points higher than you're currently considering, just so you get a better feel for what is possible. Use some different movies in genre's you like, that you're at least somewhat familiar with. Geta feel for what the $3K or better models do, so you aren't just "swept off your feet" by having any kind of large screen picture. Go look at an NEC HT1000 like Geroge has; there you'll see what moderate cost DLP can do at it's best. Check out the Sony HS20, or Sanyo Z2, also, because they're pretty representative of what widescreen LCD can do.

I was looking at getting a "temporary" solution in the price range you're discussing earlier this year, not spending much over a grand. Intiially I was looking at RPTV's for which I could get detailed technical setup info, so that I could thoroughly dial in an "inexpensive" widescreen model, such as from Panasonic or Toshiba, which one can often get at CostCo for good prices; for example, $1300 for a 56" widescreen Panny with HDCP/DVI inputs. I've never been particularly happy with what I've seen in the low buck digital projectors, but CRT doesn take more setup effort. I ended up getting going back to the future to my first love, a CRT front projector, having found an NEC 9PG+ with low hours for $1600. The setup isn't for a neophyte (I've built FPTV CRT kits before), but the picture quality is pretty stellar bang for the buck. (the 9PG+ went for 22K new- this one had less than 700 hours on it).

Good luck, and happy hunting.

~Jon

[George Bellefontaine]

That's good advice from Jon, as usual.