DLP vs LCD

[DSGCobra]

I am currently in the market for a widscreen tv. I have narrowed it down to 2 now, the 50 Sony Grand Wega LCD RP and the 50 Samsung DLP RP (HLM507W). I have seen both and they both look really good, picture quality is impressive on both. Both are around the same price. I like the DLP better than the LCD but I do have some reservations on Samsung. Are they a good name? Do they produce quality stuff or is it more affordable lower end products? I know a regular Samsung TV is cheap as hell and looks that way. After shelling out about 4k I definetly want a quality product.

Also is their anyting in the DLP tv that is going to need replacement after so many hours. (Like the user replaceable lamps in the Grand Wega's?) Finally one more question, the only DLP RP TV I have found is the Samsung, is the technology new and other makers haven't starting producing them yet or is it something that other tv manufacturs don't want to get in volved in.
Thanks for any comments.
Jeff.

[JonMarsh]

Samsung has made a concerted push into the higher end display segment, and they are one of the larger producers of large flat panel LCD displays. Thye have good panels and well above average electronics; quite competitive with NEC/Mitsubishi- I have a couple of the latter, but have recommended Samsung to several friends with excellent results.

Their early LCD RPTV's left a bit to be desired in the area's of contrast and color accuracy.

Other vendors have introduced DLP RPTV's, such as Panasonic and Mitsubishi; they've generally been priced in the $8000 area, and have had rather poor color accuracy, and problems with the scaler circuits, according to reviews by SGHT and HT magazine. My own viewing of them correlated with the reviewer's reports.

All digital panel TV's (RPTV or FPTV) will have a lamp (typically UHP) which has to be replaced after a number of viewing hours. Quoted lifetimes are based on having them on for reasonable amounts of time each time they're turned on, because the most stressful operation for these bulbs is turning them on. Don't plan on turning this on for a few minutes to see if there's something on then turning it off and to do something else the next hour or two before coming back, or you'll go through bulbs rather quickly.

The only other issue to be on the watch for is "rainbows", the tendency of some folks to see color artifacts when they're scanning their eye's across the image, due to the color wheel used by all consumer single chip DLP displays, RPTV or FPTV. I'm personally rather sensitive to this phenomena; those who are often can't watch a DLP single chip device with video for more than 10 to 15 minutes without getting a headache. I'm one of those guys, so the DLP projectors hold no interest for me.

In the range of digital RPTV's, I'd suggest a close look at the Toshiba LCOS HDTV, which uses 1920X1080 LCOS panels, about twice the resolution of the 1280X720 panels used by the HD1 or HD2 based DLP sets. Its a three chip device, like DLP has excellent fill factor (no screen door effect), and unlike DLP, doesn't have any temporal dithering or motion artifacts. It's more expensive, but might be a better long term investment.

~Jon




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[DSGCobra]

thanks for the reply. I wound up going with the Samsung 50 DLP. Fits my theater room perfectly. Picture quality is very good. I do now understand about the true black levels, but it is not bad at all. The other day I was watching the Matrix, which is a very dark movie, the TV performed flawlessly. Overall I am a happy customer. Now if Rotel would hurry up and release their new Rsp-1098 processer my home theater would be complete (for now anyway).

[George Bellefontaine]

Congrats on the buy, dsgcobra.




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