TV Technology question (1 Viewer)

[MichaelGomez]

Currently I have a Toshiba TheaterWide HDTV and I'm looking to upgrade to a larger TV. I looked through here trying to find some info on which is better, Plasma, LCD or DLP. My living room is a fair size but there are 2 windows, on apposing sides. My current entertainment center blocks one of the windows. Which means when the sun is setting, the sun shines in the other window and on the TV. I plan on fixing that with darker drapes.

At the moment, the TV is used for DVDs, PS3 and a lot of cartoons. I have Blu-Ray through the ps3 and I'm thinking of getting a HD-DVD to complete the system.

I think I am interested in the 50-65" range but i'll have to hit a store to see which I really want. Kinda wanna keep the price around 2k. Thanks.

Oh ya, what's this rainbow effect I keep seeing in the DLP threads?

 

[Aaron Silverman]

At this point I'd recommend getting a set that does full 1080p -- your price range probably rules out any quality plasma or LCD.

The "rainbow effect" is something that some people notice on DLP sets, usually when there's a solid white area in the image, I think. Nobody's quite sure why some folks see it and others don't. I don't see it when I look at sets on display in stores.

 

[SethH]

With your price and size requirements I think you should stick with DLP or LCoS (SXRD & HD-ILA). Some options:

Samsung T5687S 56" 1080p DLP - $2000
Sony KDS50A2020 50" 1080p SXRD - $2000
Toshiba 65HM167 65" 1080p DLP - $1700
JVC HD-61LH97 61" 1080p HD-ILA - $1600

*Prices for top two from BestBuy website, prices for bottom two from beachcamera.com

 

[Ken Seeber]

I agree with Seth. Don't leave out LCoS (Sony calls it SXRD, JVC calls it HD-ILA) when you're evaluating new HDTVs. I have a 50-inch Sony and the image is amazing.

 

[Patrick Sun]

I notice the rainbow effect easily on DLP sets on black-n-white footage when my eyes look away from the screen a little bit, that's when you'll see colors when you should be seeing black, white and shades of gray.

 

[ChrisWiggles]

Single-chip DLP displays shoot off a single DLP chip, and through a colorwheel to create colors. To create white, Red Green and Blue are flashed very quickly in rapid succession, fast enough to create the illusion of white. But if you move your eyes across the screen you may see this 'fall apart' into the different bands of R G and B that makeup that color. This can be very annoying for some people (depending on colorwheel speed and viewing environment, etc). 3-chip DLP displays do not use a colorwheel, and so have significantly less of a problem with this kind of temporal anomaly. Other displays like fast-phosphor CRTs, plasmas, etc may also have similar kinds of temporal issues, but for different reasons. In any case, don't go looking for rainbows if you don't see them or aren't bothered by them. View displays in person in a similar viewing environment as yours to make sure that it's right for you.

 

[MichaelGomez]

I took my wife to our local best buy. She didn't like the Mitsubishi 65". Thought the picture quality was "fuzzy". She did really like the 55" Toshiba. Unfortunately, they didn't have a 65" Toshiba there. How are the Toshibas? I have a 42" Toshiba now and so far so good. My only complaint on my current TV is that there is no input button anywhere but on the remote. I did think the Toshiba's image was a little sharper but really I think they had the contrast jacked up more than the mitsubishi.

 

[GeorgeAB]

Best Buy is one of the LAST places I would ever take anyone to compare TV pictures. I was in a new Best Buy's Magnolia department last weekend, talking to the #2 managager of the audio/video section. He told me that they only pull their display TVs out of the box and plug them in without adjusting them at all for the darker viewing environment of the Magnolia showroom.

I asked him if they had any ISF-trained calibrators in the store. He said they had 2 but were told by "corporate" not to let them make adjustments on the demo TVs. Unfortunately, this is only too common in the retail world of consumer electronics. The average consumer will likely NEVER see an HDTV properly adjusted and producing its best picture. Sorry.

Best regards and beautiful pictures,
G. Alan Brown, President
CinemaQuest, Inc.

"Advancing the art and science of electronic imaging"

 

[Patrick Sun]

I was actually surprised when I spotted a side-by-side comparison between a ISF-calibrated 42" Panasonic plasma with a non-calibrated 42" Panasonic plasma at my local Best Buy. But it was outside of the Magnolia area, and on the wall with the rest of the TV sets.