Toshiba LCOS TV

[Brandon B]

http://www.toshiba.com/tacp/news/jan_08_03_lcos.html

This looks really cool for an RPTV. Note is does 1080P not 1080i. Well, it would have too, wouldn't it?. Wonder how the internal deinterlacing/scaling is.

See if I can pester my dad into buying one.

BB

[JonMarsh]

There's a lot of discussion about whether Toshiba will actually pull this off, and be able to ship a working set in moderate volumes (relative to the approximately 8K price). Frankly, I really hope they do, if only to set a new high water mark for the performance of moderate size RPTV's.

JVC and RCA were also introducing DILA high res rear projection sets, (anyone remember the JVC Dahlia?), but weren't able to pull this off.

If properly setup and calibrated, a three chip DILA projector can offer very good performance, but color calibration, uniformity calibration, contrast in the light optics path, etc., all are critical factors. Plus, as you note, the de-interlacer/scaler will be a big factor - how will it do from 1808i to 1808p, or from 480i to 1808p?

And, unfortunately, it won't have a 1080p input, so no fall back to an HTPC or external scaler.

Still, I have my fingers crossed- this coudl be a remarkable set for the money.

Regards,

Jon




Earth First!
_______________________________
We'll screw up the other planets later....

[Brandon B]

unfortunately, it won't have a 1080p input, so no fall back to an HTPC or external scaler. . . .

Jon

Shesa got DVI input. Couldn't you feed that from the video card of your HTPC, in effect giving it 1080p?

BB

[Brandon B]

Answering my own question -

Maximum resolution supported no the DVI is 1024x768.

Phooey.

Theres a very long thread over on AVS by a guy who has one. Other than that, this sounds like quite a spiffy unit. Available now at Tweeter.

BB

[Brandon B]

See if I can pester my dad into buying one.

BB

Looks like I sold that one. Let you guys know how it looks when he gets it. His remodel will be another several months though, so no breath holding.

BB

[JonMarsh]

We look forward to your report! Ya gonna invite us over to help tweak it in and evaluate? :W

It SHOULD be pretty dang nice.... ;B


-Jon




Earth First!
_______________________________
We'll screw up the other planets later....

[George Bellefontaine]

I haven't read it as yet ( just came in the mail) but the current issue of Perfect Vision has an article on this tv written by Gary Merson.




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[Brandon B]

Well I saw it at Tweeter in San Diego yesterday.

It was probably the nicest looking display in the store. But, it was out in the main room with glare galore and general ambient light problems. It has a pretty good antiglare treatment (especially compared to the Sony next to it), but still no way to judge black levels and dark scenes at all effectively. They appeared better than its neighbors under the conditions.

So about all I can comment on is the resolution. Which was very good. Detail was superior to everything else hey had (Elite RPV, plasma, DLP, etc). If I put my face AT the screen, I could barely make out hair thin lines of the pixel grid. Detail was nice. Would expect this, since it's basically taking the equivalent of a three chip hitachi 5500 Fp and putting it on a 57" screen.

The image was HD HBO of some Martin Lawrence in medieval England movie. Since this was being split to a couple dozen TVs by unknown equipment and since I'm unfamiliar wih the quality of image of this movie to begin with, can't comment too usefully. I'm pretty sure this unit is out of the box too, no calibration. Maybe not, don't know if Tweeter goes a little farther. They had MartinLogan speakers ALL over the store so maybe.

Oh well. It's probably great, from what I can tell. My dad is sold. If I were richer and buying an RPTV, probably what i'd get too. Find out more this summer when I help set one up for real.

BB

[JonMarsh]

Interesting comments, Brandon. I'm hoping that the contrast and color fidelity achievable, combined with the inherent fill factor and resolution, will make this set a "standout".

I rather like some of the new Toshiab CRT RPTV's; their color properties, once tweaked up, are very good. But keepin convergence in adjustment still seems to be an issue- overall resolution is limited because of that. The LCOS set should address that well.

Regards,

Jon




Earth First!
_______________________________
We'll screw up the other planets later....