55" CRT RPTV vs. 52" D-ila RPTV...my impressions so far :^) (1 Viewer)

DAY 1

Hey everyone!

I'm a big screen owner again! I had to downsize from my beloved MITS 55" WS RPTV that I bought in 2002 to a 26" Panny cheapy for the last two years.

Well, I'm outta purgatory and back in heaven! My JVC 52" D-ila was delivered this morning. (Edit, Nov 10...model number HD52Z575 -Dan)

So far, I'm knocked out! I could only play with it for about an hour before I had to come in to work today, and can't WAIT to get home and dial it in. But here are my EARLY impressions and comparisons to my Mits 55" for your amusement.

First of all, my early impressions of this microdisplay.

Yup, sure is BRIGHT! It's in our master bedroom, sitting on a dresser at the perfect height. The light output of these new displays is awesome..really. I think I'd rather have a little too much and be able to tame it down some than trying to coax more output where you can't get it. So, I don't mind how bright it is so far...but I haven't seen it in the dark yet.

I can already tell (and was well-prepared) for black levels not being what I was used to on CRT, but it's really even. Not much different than looking at a computer screen. I'm looking forward to working with the set and my Avia disc to get it looking as good as it can, but the black level doesn't bother me.

SHARP picture...TONS of detail. But I can tell it's a little ramped up (good ol' factory settings) with some of the 'sparkle' going on. I know some of this may be slight pixel-shifting, and was again prepared for this (thanks to this place). It doesn't bother me...being prepared for all this stuff really helps.

Fan noise...yes, I can hear the fan. So what? There's usually some noise in the room anyway from the A/C or heat, and it's not high pitched or annoying. I CAN see it as maybe being a bit of an issue in a dead quiet theater room, but it's a non-issue in my room. Plus, don't ALL microdisplays and flatscreens have fans anyway? And projectors? Really, it's not that bad, and certainly not as bad as some have made it out to be, but it would depend on the person and the room to how much it matters.

Now, what do you lose from CRT, and gain?

Plusses of CRT RPTV:
*Black level - though I should say I could never get it
TOTALLY black, I got it pretty deep. The
richness and depth of color was very good.
*Video noise - None. Picture was a rock. No weirdness
of any kind in terms of crawl or noise.
*No blur/lag - Again, stable, solid, and better than film!

Plusses of Microdisplay:
*NO CONVERGENCE - as in, you don't have to deal with it
The picture is astounding and tight to
every corner of the set, no blue or red
drifts or shadows. Makes it incredibly
sharp and detailed.
*Weight - This 52" set weighs in around 90 pounds, as
opposed to the immense, room-dominating bulk
of the CRT unit. These things are so light
you can put them almost anywhere, and very
easy to move around while you fuss with it

*Brightness - I think this is a plus. It makes whatever
you're looking at come alive.

So far, I love the JVC, and prefer it over CRT. It's got some digital-isms that are frequently discussed, but frankly, I see them as less of a problem than the frequent tuning I had to do with the CRT unit, and I like the tighter picture.

I tested all my inputs...hooked up my DSS S-video (no component out on my box) and it looks a little better than I thought it would. I was used to DSS not looking exceptionally great on the 55, so this is fine. My Xbox hooked up great (component) and looks amazing. And of course, DVDs looked amazing. The cavalry charge in ROTK, the lightsaber duels in The Phantom Menace, Shrek, all looked spectacular BEFORE any serious tweaking.

I'm delighted. Thanks to this forum and it's members, I went it to microdisplay technology well-researched and prepared..eyes wide open. Knowing the 'ism's' of this technology sufficiently braced me for them, and I love this set. M

More to come after tweaking

Nice post on it... Very usefull for those considering DLP in general, and excellent for those looking at this one in particular for sure.

Thanks John! Just trying to give a little back

My pet peav(sp?) anymore on here is people never comming back and giving input on and experiences with what they actually purchased after getting advice.

Especially when I am searching for information about something in particular, I seem to run into a lot of dead threads so to speak.

Well, happily for me there was a lot of info here on the various microdisplay techs (LCD, LCOS/Dila, and DLP). But, yeah...I've seen examples of folks not posting followups after purchasing; or maybe their heads explode from too much information and they CAN'T purchase!

LCD RPTV looked REALLY good, but I could see the screen door effect. DLP is excellent, also. Did not notice rainbows on the floor, but I preferred the D-ila's picture, so went with that after MUCH deliberation and research.

Congrads, keep us inform after your calibration. Throw in some Star Wars and let us know how it handles it.

Glad you like your JVC! I've been enjoying my 52" D-ILA for the past few months and I don't have any buyers remorse at all. If you think it looks good with xbox and dvds just wait till you watch HD on it because it's simply amazing with HD material! Enjoy!

Thanks guys!

I watched The Phantom Menace last night in it's entirety and LOVED it. Looked absolutely spectacular. I was noticing details that I'd never seen before!

DAY 2

After I got home from work yesterday, I broke open my new Avia disc and did some solid, basic adjustments. It's amazing how high you can run the detail (sharpness) up on these things! I set it to where it looked good on the test screens, set the color temp to low, massaged the color and tint (vibrant!!!) and worked with the contrast settings.

Picture improved greatly over an already very good picture.

After adjustments, I threw in several movies for 'quick hits', including the Fifth Element (ledge scene for her hair color and skin tone), LOTR for the Shire greens, The Incredibles and Shrek just to be WOWED, and Neo vs The Smiths fight in Matrix: Reloaded, among several others. Awesome down to a T!

The tv looked awesome at night as well...though a bright scene like Tatooine on TPM could give you a suntan

I fired up the Xbox around midnight and played some Tiger Woods (the stretch-o-vision looked fine), then some widescreen gaming with Burnout 3 (mindbending) and Doom 3 (ok, I can see where deeper blacks would be good here...but I can finally play Doom 3 during daylight hours on this tv because of it's output!).

I'm rockin and rollin!

What DVD player you have hooked up to this bad boy?

Haha...actually an inexpensive Sony I bought in 2003 for about $150. But it looks outstanding on this set. It's a good player, just low-frills.

Dan, did you happen to order your JVC online? I'm looking to buy the JVC hd-ila 70". The only problem is I can't seem to find anyone that carries it in my area. I saw that they have it at TV Authority. I may order it from them but, I have never ordered a tv online so to me it seems kind of risky. I know many people have ordered from them and have had great service. Since I haven't made a big purchase like this online, it makes me a little hesitant to pull the trigger.

Hello Shawn,

No, I bought it from Best Buy directly.

A 70"???? Caramba!

I've done some major purchases online, but never a TV, nor do I think I would, personally. I like the warm fuzzy feeling of having Best Buy three miles away and able to take care of the set should there be ANY issues, especially since these new sets actually have fans and possibly some other moving parts in them. Plus I'll need my lamp replaced in a couple of years (under ext. warr).

A lot of people here seem to have had very good experiences buying tv's online, though. And Tv Authority seems to have a good rep. If they have what you want at the price you want with a good rep and return/service policies, go with your gut!

The D-ila's are AWESOME sets!

DAY 3

Ok, now the quality is really coming through!

I did the 'final' tweaks on it last night after reviewing the Avia tutorials to do the tests that I had forgotten how to do properly Made reductions in sharpness, picture, brightness, and ADDED some color.

Holy crap!

The D-ila throws an amazing picture...we watched all of Star Wars: Attack of the Clones last night after I had finished tweaking, and it just leapt off the screen. After Avia, the picture was vibrant and vivid, but much more accurate.

I'm really seeing the differences between LCOS and CRT now, too. The big plus for CRT is deep black levels. The big plus for D-ila, as mentioned above, is shattering detail, and VIVID color...all you want!

Also of note: This TV has very good speakers built in, and they are front firing. I will likely use them as a center channel....they fill out the sound really nicely.

A question for those in the know...does this set upconvert everything to 720P or JUST stuff hooked up via component cables?

Greetings

Everything gets scaled to fit its panel ...

Regards

Thanks, Michael.

Oh, only one other negative of these microdisplay sets....no space up top to place a center channel speaker, unless it's REALLY dinky.

Ah, but there is hope!

Center channel add-on shelf for microdisplay RPTVs.

http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/OmniM...oductDetail.do

I had the jvc for about a month and returned it. Way too bright for a pitch black theater room, dark scenes were doing somthing really weird (looked like a tie dye type pattern), fan noise was as bad or worse than I had read about. This thing was so loud at 11' away, but it was in a dead silent dedicated theater room. This tv went back.

I had a Toshiba dlp before this for a month which also went back, but only because of rainbow effect. If not for this I would have kept it. No fan noise, great color, two brightness settings (jvc has one that is unnacceptable for a fully light controlled theater). I saw the rainbow effect though and it was a deal killer.

I am now on to front projection which is what I should have done in the first place considering that I have a fully light controlled HT.

Just my experience.

Dan, I was trying to find measurements for that Center Speaker shelf you linked to...

Hi Todd,

Thanks for sharing your experience. None of these Tv's are perfect, to be sure...but thank goodness there are several different techs and many models for us to choose from, eh? I'm glad you finally found your solution.

Eric, the only dimensions I can find on the 'net are box/package dimensions of 16 X 5.5 X 20. Circuit City near you may have one there you can look at.

Thanks, Dan! Great thread!