Ready to take the plunge. Any DLP HDTV owners???

I'm getting ready to take the plunge into the HDTV world. Been doing a lot of research and have pretty much decided on a 46 to 50 inch projection DLP TV. Any owners out there care to share your opinions? What models/brands? Likes/dislikes?

Thanks,
CajunBabe

Re: Ready to take the plunge. Any DLP HDTV owners?

I am thinking about getting an HDTV too...

Here is one review site:reviews.cnet.com

-Bill

I spend a lot of time on the HT forums, mainly audioholics.com and avsforums.com. (And Axiom.com too, they have great speakers and have a very active forum).

Here are some of my thoughts and opinions, but please, do your own research, and draw your own conclusions!

The best value, both in price and in Pict Quality, seems to be the old technology RP CRT (Rear Projection Cathod Ray Tube). Heavier, Thicker, and higher voltage than the newer technology DLP and RP LCD, but if you have the room for it, it offers great PQ, superior black levels, brighter brights, etc.

Helped my dad buy a HDTV in Jan, and we choose a Hitachi RP CRT and MAN, it is incredible!

But, rumor has it that RP CRT production will stop sometime soon, as it is cheaper to produce RP LCD and DLP and LCD Plasma. Cheaper to produce, weighs less, takes up less shipping space.

Expect to see better quality and cheaper prices on DLP and RP LCD in the near future.

Plants are gearing up to produce Large (50 inches and up) thin LCD, and should be out in the near future. Look for BenQ to produce good quality at good prices for panel LCD HDTV's soon.

If it is in your price range, consider EDTV plasma and LCD instead of HDTV. From a couple of feet away, you cannot tell the difference, save thousands, and it WILL play HDTV signals. Even DVD does not send a HDTV signal.

Make sure that you get a TV that has DVI or an HDMI input.

While I would rather have Plasma or thin panel LCD, I will probably get a DLP in the next 8-12 months because of price, quality, size and I do not want built in speakers.

A great value in a HT Receiver is the Pioneer VSX 1014, that is what I have.

Check out Axiom.com for really nice speakers.

It is a fun time to buy a new TV!

Re: Ready to take the plunge. Any DLP HDTV owners?

What the heck is HDTV?

I crushed my remote in my hand the day Klinton gave his inaugural address on every channel and then sold the TV and haven't had one since...I don't miss it either.

Richard.

Re: Ready to take the plunge. Any DLP HDTV owners?

The most important thing you can do is check out some of the tech forums, and read up on the subject. Everyone has an opinion, and it's important not to lean too much on just what one person says.

Personally, I'd go with dlp, because they are much more resistant to screen burn. Yes, you can buy a much larger crt big screen for the same price or buy a similar sized crt for less money, but the threat of screen burn is too risky, in my opinion. Plasma and lcd, while super thin and cool, are still much much more expensive then a hdtv dlp set. I consider dlp technology to be the best bang for the buck. You get superior picture quality to a traditional crt, but without higher cost of plasma and lcd.

Whatever you do, please consider getting an extended service warrenty. TV repair centers are ripp off joints, and the 200-300 dollars for an extended service contract are well worth the peace of mind.

Believe me, you don't want to know how much repair centers want to transport and repair big screen tvs.

As for the brand, bestbuy has some nice toshiba and mitsubishi dlp sets, and they offer a pretty good deal on service contracts and delivery, and no I do not work at bestbuy.

Re: Ready to take the plunge. Any DLP HDTV owners?

A couple of links that might help:
http://www.plasmatvbuyingguide.com/
http://softwareforhomes.com/HDTV-Home-Theatre.htm
http://www.plasma.com/classroom/LCD_tv%20_versus_plasma_tv.htm

Re: Ready to take the plunge. Any DLP HDTV owners?

What is HDTV

Raven is correct, RP CRT is prone to screen burn in. Also, RP CRT is not the prefered choice for Video Games or to be used as PC monitors.

Here are some links. There is enough reading here to keep you busy, well, forever!

audioholics.com
avsforum.com
axiomaudio user forum
hometheaterforum.com
hometheaterspot.com
htguide.com
revolutionhometheater.com

Re: Ready to take the plunge. Any DLP HDTV owners?

My favorite display technology is currently DLP. If I was buying one today, I'd probably get an RCA Scenium DLP set. There's a really cool description and animation of DLP at T.I.'s DLP Site. Click on the "launch the demo" button on the left.

I like the fact that DLP has:

1) Excellent brightness
2) NO burn-in
3) Extremely wide viewing angle
4) No motion artifacts

Try getting all four of those in any other display technology (except OLED, which isn't ready yet). You can't.

Whatever you get, make sure that it can display 1080i AND 720p. Some CRT sets can only display one or the other because of design shortcuts they make with the deflection circuits.

And if you're looking for a CableCard (Digital Cable Ready) set, try to avoid the Mitsubishi WD-52x25 series. They have exhibited firmware compatibility issues.

Re: Ready to take the plunge. Any DLP HDTV owners?

I have a CRT set. The difference in picture quality is noticeable. My Mitsubishi has a much sharper image than any DLP or LCD available to consumers today. Burn in is a problem though. It can't be used for games or PC applications. I have a DLP projector for the other stuff.

Something to look out for is LCOS. I think it will be the first discrete pixel technology that will reach the full resolution of HDTV (1080x1920). It won't have the screen door effect of other discrete pixel technologies.

It comes down to what you are going to use if for. If the majority of your time will be playing DVDs or xbox then DLP is what you need. If the ultimate in picture quality is your goal then CRT is still king. This assumes that you have a source that will drive the set to its limits. There aren't many channels out there that will though.

Chris

Re: Ready to take the plunge. Any DLP HDTV owners?

You might also look into a DLP projector+HD reciever, then you dont have the giant tv set taking up space, I have a very nice 2000 lumens projector+HD reciver that cost about 2k total, actually a little less. You dont have to worry about viewing angle or burn in, just replacing the bulb every 5k hours. It will actually work great on a white wall, but a screen is not too expensive either. They really save so much space and have a great picture.

Re: Ready to take the plunge. Any DLP HDTV owners?

LCOS (Liquid Crystal on Silicon, basically fusing an LCD display to the front surface of the driver chip) looked like a promising technology, but Intel recently threw in the towel on LCOS and announced that they can't produce the chips in a cost effective manner, causing at least one set manufacturer to scramble to find an alternative source for the chips. This worries me a little.

BTW, I have a factory sample of a DLP chip; it looks pretty cool. When viewed with the naked eye, the mirror assembly looks like a solid plate of silicon, but bounce a laser pointer off of it and look at the reflection (carefully) on the wall and you can make out the individual mirrors. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif

Re: Ready to take the plunge. Any DLP HDTV owners?

Great info guys, especially thanks for the links... I thought I had hit just about every web site but I can see I have a few more sites/forums to take a look at. At the moment I've pretty much narrowed my choices down to the Samsung HL-R4677W or the Toshiba 46HM94. Both have features that I like and either would fit in the space I have available for it. One thing that appeals to me is the thin bezel on the Samsung, I think it looks very classy. Both models have 52 inch versions if I decide to go with a little larger screen, but it might be a bit large for my room.

Thanks again for the input,
You guys are the greatest,

CajunBabe

Re: Ready to take the plunge. Any DLP HDTV owners?

Good luck. You know that you have to invite all of us over to see it now! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

Re: Ready to take the plunge. Any DLP HDTV owners?

I wouldn't hold out for Cablecard -- it's not Cablelabs certified, so the cable companies won't use it, and the cable companies don't want to use it, and so it's in their best interest to not put it through Cablelabs certification any time soon.

The idea is really cool, but don't expect it to go anywhere until version 2 or 3...

Re: Ready to take the plunge. Any DLP HDTV owners?

I've been eyeballing this set for some time.

Re: Ready to take the plunge. Any DLP HDTV owners?

Saaby, I agree about waiting for CableCard 2 or higher, since CC-1 is a one-way technology and thus cannot do certain functions, particularly any of the on-demand services.

Re: Ready to take the plunge. Any DLP HDTV owners?

Raven, that set looks great except that there's one spec that's puzzling me. They referred to "the step-up HD2+ DLP chip with full 1280 x 720 mirrors." But the "full" HD resolution at 1080i is 1920x1080.

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thinking.gif

Re: Ready to take the plunge. Any DLP HDTV owners?

[ QUOTE ]
PhotonWrangler said:
Raven, that set looks great except that there's one spec that's puzzling me. They referred to "the step-up HD2+ DLP chip with full 1280 x 720 mirrors." But the "full" HD resolution at 1080i is 1920x1080.

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thinking.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

That's a good question. Unfortunately, I don't know the answer.

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Directly to your initial question, I have a Samsung 50 inch DLP. It has become the favorite TV to watch by my entire family. So far it is only used to play widescreen DVDs and Dish programming. While it is HD ready, I have not hooked it up to access anything HD off air.

I chose this partly based on Consumer Reports info. Purchased it at Costco due to their liberal return policy. Chose DLP for picture quality in a narrow cabinet depth. I didn't have room for a CRT set and LCOS is still new and more expensive.

If you decide to buy one of these be sure to buy the service contract.The price of the lamps are in the 600 dollar range and the light engine is about 2500 dealer cost!