Flat Panel Observations

[kevhed72]

I just returned from vacation spent with various family members up north and was able to "demo" the following televisions at the various places we stayed:

46" Samsung DLP w/ Comcast HD Signal
PROS: Unbelievable live HD broadcasts of golf, tennis and...women's volleyball. Also, easy to view in a brightly lit room.
CONS: Too much color saturation on some HD signal movies, HD movies had poor contrast / details on dark & black shades (ie a dark figure with a bright background made me focus too-much to figure out what I was looking at. I also noticed this with a 19" DLP I viewed)

58" Panasonic Plasma with SD Movie Signal
PROS: Great picture for SD signal, realistic colors on movie we viewed (although movie sucked - Marley and Me)
CONS: Some "image retention" on the screen between scenes (ie going from a large dark image to a bright, empty screen).

Between the 2, which were both very good to what I currently own (46" Toshiba DLP - 1080i max), I would chose the Panasonic Plasma.

Yesterday I went to the local B Buy and immediately felt like I was walking into a used-car lot. When I asked about the Panasonic Plasmas, the first word out of the salesperson's mouth was 'Do you know they will discontinue making plasma soon?' and immediatley tried to steer me the the DLPs. After I got rid of him, I spent a good 30 min. viewing all the screens which appeared to be displaying different signals. (The Sony DLPs looked the best to me). After walking walking out of B Buy I decided on 2 things: 1. I still prefer a plasma screen and 2. When I do purchase one, it probably won't be from here.

[thsmith]

In the age with flat panal being king I would choose Plasma but I still prefer my Mits 73" CRTRP.

[kevhed72]

Is that a front or rear projection?

[nguyendot]

A few questions:

Where did you find a 19" DLP? I wasn't aware they made them smaller than ~40".

Second, where did you find a SONY DLP? I wasn't aware they ever made DLPS (they made LCD projection using LCOS...SXRD line).

Plasma and DLP should have very good black levels, as their light emission sources can be turned completely off, unlike LCDs.

LCDS are very bright, and very clear. Plasmas are very smooth and very very good with colors/black levels.

If I had a choice, I would get a Pioneer Kuro (high end) or Panasonic Viera THX (mid level).

As far as image retention goes - it usually goes away after the burn-in period.

Then I also wonder - how did you find a 1080i DLP (your current 46" DLP)? DLPs are all progressive 720p or 1080p. The input signal can be whatever, it will always output 720p or 1080p.

[jvc]

buyer's market for Plasma...

[thsmith]

Is that a front or rear projection?

rear

[kevhed72]

A few questions:

Where did you find a 19" DLP? I wasn't aware they made them smaller than ~40".

My bad...this was a LCD, as was the Samsung...

Second, where did you find a SONY DLP? I wasn't aware they ever made DLPS (they made LCD projection using LCOS...SXRD line).

My bad again....LCD again

Plasma and DLP should have very good black levels, as their light emission sources can be turned completely off, unlike LCDs.

LCDS are very bright, and very clear. Plasmas are very smooth and very very good with colors/black levels.

If I had a choice, I would get a Pioneer Kuro (high end) or Panasonic Viera THX (mid level).

As far as image retention goes - it usually goes away after the burn-in period.

If I had to guess, the plasma was pretty new...

Then I also wonder - how did you find a 1080i DLP (your current 46" DLP)? DLPs are all progressive 720p or 1080p. The input signal can be whatever, it will always output 720p or 1080p.


I am sure about this...in both the manual and when I try to upconvert a signal w/ my receiver, the TV only supports up to 1080i (older model Toshiba)

[nguyendot]

Ah, your Toshiba is a 720p probably. Look in the specs page, it will say it can take up to 1080i (1920x1080i) but the physical resolution is 1280x720.

It is impossible for a DLP to be interlaced! (it would probably look weird even if it were possible).

Have you seen a LED DLP yet?

[kevhed72]

Interesting....
LED DLP...now your trying to confuse me:)

[Upstatemax]

A few questions:

Second, where did you find a SONY DLP? I wasn't aware they ever made DLPS (they made LCD projection using LCOS...SXRD line).


Not all the Sony Rear Projection LCD TV's were LCOS SXRD's...

http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10551&storeId=10151&langId=-1&partNumber=KDFE42A10

They ran this line for a long time.

[xj4094dg]

Interesting....
LED DLP...now your trying to confuse me:)

What is the difference between LED and all the others? I saw one at B Buy the other day, it was very thin and had a great picture.