60-inch D60WLCD Rear-Projection Widescreen LCD (1 Viewer)

[David_DM]

Hi, I am ready to buy a large screen for computer(mainly) and tv use. I've read a lot from these forums and from avsforum and have decided on a LCD or DLP RPTV. I saw the sony grand wega and loved it but it had to PC input so it wasn't right for me, but the new zenith 60 incher does have it and it sounds great. I havent' seen it since I haveonly found one online store that sells it currently so I was wondering if anyone could comment on it who maybe has seen it at any shows and compare it to the grand wega and the new samsung DLP 50 inch that's comming out this summer. I'm mainly wondering how this would display my computer images for browsing and for gaming and if it would be worth waiting for the Samsung DLP instead. This will be mainly for computer usage. Thanks a lot. Its a lot of money so I want to make sure I spend it right.
http://www.zenith.com/sub_prod/downl...df/D60WLCD.pdf
http://www.homebyfive.com/cgi-bin/hb...ail.cgi?ID=599

 

[Dean McManis]

I'd pass on the Zenith, and wait for the Samsung.
The Zenith has decent resolution, but the 200:1 contrast rating seems relatively low.
My understanding is that the Samsung will be using the new H2 DLP chip with MUCH better contrast and black level performance. I'd wait for the H2 based DLP RPTVs.
For $6K you could even get a nice DLP/LCD/LCOS front projector (for $4K), and spend the price difference on replacement bulbs over the next several years.
-Dean.

 

[David_DM]

Sounds about right, I was riding the fence on this one and you just pushed me over to the waiting side. I'll wait for the DLPs. That 200:1 contrast ratio was bothering me a bit. For this kind of money I guess its better to wait....alhough I can't stand waiting =(

 

[Dean McManis]

David,

There should be more product/technical announcements about upcoming DLP/RPTVs in about a week at the Infocomm conference/show.

-Dean.

 

[Gabriel_Lam]

The new Samsung HD2 chips are already being produced and should be in the channels in late June to July, mainly in the high end stores. It'll hit normal retail markets in August. The MSRP will be $4500 or so for the 50" and about $4000 for the 43". They're pretty light weight (About 85-88lbs or so) and only about a foot and a half deep. Native resolution, of course, will be 1280x720, just like the rest of the mustang chips. By the end of the year, they may have a 60-61". You can see the 4 currently produced models (yes, they're already on samsung's website. There will be a high end line and low end, for both the 50 and 43), but you must browse there yourself because Samsung USA decided to use the same stupid SessionID technology on their website that CircuitCity does (so no direct linking). Models are:
HLM507W - high end 50" with 3:2 pulldown
HLM5065W - low end 50"
HLM437W - high end 43" with 3:2 pulldown
HLM4365W - low end 43"
Here's the linecard:
http://www.samsungusa.com./images/prod/product/dtv.pdf
There are new LCOS rear projection TV's coming out soon as well. I believe philips is developing one.

 

[David_DM]

Great thanks for the info!

I was also watching about those LCoS TVs. They look great! I don't know if I can wait 6 months though for that Toshiba 57HLX82 LCoS Cinema Series TV. I was ready to order a 43 inch plasma last week before I found out about burn in (yes I'm very new to this). I'm thinking now that I can go with the 50 inch samsung for about a year until they get the LCoS tech better and cheaper. This will mostly be for playing 3D/2D games on the computer and web surfing with some DVDs thrown in here and there which is the reason a plasma won't work for me. I'm just really hoping the samsung will be able to display the PC's output well. Thanks again.

Oh, and someone had posted a link to buy the zenith 60 LCD for $6000 from one shop, but A&L Commercial products quoted me $4649.00 which isn't too bad for a 60 inch with PC input. Too bad the contrast is so low.

 

[Bill Slack]

Anything with a component input can be converted to take a PC (RGB-HV) with a simple $150 transcoder.