TV differences

[retfa]

Finding the best LCD TV can be difficult if you have no clue at all on which one to go for. I did some research and I finally settled on Samsung 32" Series 4 lcd television. So far, I have no regrets and I'm happy with it.

[lamaros]

 

[Sky]

Finding the best LCD TV can be difficult if you have no clue at all on which one to go for. I did some research and I finally settled on Samsung 32" Series 4 lcd television. So far, I have no regrets and I'm happy with it.

You have a small penis!

[KallDrexx]

8 or so months ago I bought a 46" LCD tv (samsung).  I love it and it looks amazing with HD programming.

However, due to my previous setup I had my 360 hooked up to my roommate's DLP 50" and I mostly used it to stream videos from my laptop.  The quality was amazing and you couldn't tell that the video itself wasn't even at 720p and was being upscaled.  However, now that I am using my LCD tv, it is much noticeable(DLP was at 1080i, LCD is using 1080p).

It's not horrible, but you can certainly tell that it's not HD quality.  I do not know if that's because HD looks better on my LCD tv or if the projection makes the artifacts/pixelation less noticeable.

*edit: meant the artifacts/pixelation is less noticeable on the DLP

[MahrinSkel]

Another issue with a DLP is the viewing angles.  You can watch a Plasma or LCD from 45 degrees off axis without any problem (other than parallax), but many DLP's get very dark at more than 15 degrees away from straight in front, so only one or two people are actually sitting where the view is good.  Also, you may have bright spots where you're seeing the lamp in the mirrors, and the edges may be dimmer than the center.

On size, keep the limits of both your budget and the room in mind.  If you've got a 60" set but you're sitting 4 feet away from it, you're going to see every pixel even at 1080P, and you're going to have some of the same effect of losing the action at the edges of your peripheral vision you'd have if you were in the 4th row at a movie.  The fovea (the part of your eye where you see the most detail) is only about 10 degrees wide, saccades (the automatic flicks your eyes make) can widen that out a bit, but if you're not sitting at least twice as far from the set as its width (so about 8 feet for a 60 inch set), you're going to have issues (like blinding headaches after watching a few hours).  On the other hand, if your room layout dictates a 10 foot viewing distance and your budget sets a 50 inch limit, 1080P is a waste (because you can't see the pixels of 720P at that distance on that size of screen).

Nobody makes large CRT's anymore, I have a 150 *pound* 36 inch SDTV in the kid's game room as an explanation of why (my old "good set").  LCD's are probably the most reliable technology (but they get expensive in the larger sizes), a *good* DLP (like my Sony) can be just fine if you don't mind a TV that's a couple of feet thick.  Plasmas are inherently prone to break, the way they generate a picture just doesn't allow a really long-term service life, unless your ego or your space absolutely requires a completely flat set, don't do it.

With any projection set, keep in mind that you may want to elevate it to eye level (when seated) or slightly higher.  This tends to reduce some of the lighting problems I mentioned before (mine is sitting on a buffet, the lower edge of the screen is about 3 feet off the ground).

Something to look at is the cost and service life of the lamps.  6000 hours and a replacement cost of $100-150 is about right.  One downside of the LED backlights is that you *can't* replace the backlight in most cases, if one of the LED's dies, you've got a dim spot and that's that.  Or if you can, you have to replace the whole assembly for much more than the cost of a lamp.

--Dave

[Sky]

Another issue with a DLP is the viewing angles.  You can watch a Plasma or LCD from 45 degrees off axis without any problem (other than parallax), but many DLP's get very dark at more than 15 degrees away from straight in front, so only one or two people are actually sitting where the view is good.  Also, you may have bright spots where you're seeing the lamp in the mirrors, and the edges may be dimmer than the center.

Not true. The DLP viewing axis issue is vertical, not horizontal.

I have a loveseat that's more than 45 degrees off and you can watch tv just fine. And there is no lamp effect. However, I like to lay on the carpet and watch tv, and my tv stand is a bit too high, and I have a degraded picture and the lamp effect. Ideally I'd lower my tv stand a bit, I've already eyed the legs with a hacksaw...

Maybe it's a difference in the way Sony and Samsung lay out their electronics?

[Merusk]

Must be, because I've noticed that viewing angle problem with the DLPs on display at Best Buy and Sam's club when the wife and I have been browsing.

[Cyrrex]

I have one of them fandangled new 52" Samsumgs (650A) with 120hz, and it is the bees knees.  I love it more than my sorta old Panasonic plasma (42") which I loved dearly.  120hz is the shit on those Samsung sets...may take some getting used to for some people.

Buy DLP if money is a major issue.  The only good projection is front projection.  If I could fully control the light in my living room, I'd only use a projector.