Plasma or LCD? Price trends? New technology?

11/22/05 | Don't_Tread_On_Me_888

[Dont_Tread_On_Me_888]

Please offer your expertise and research into the "State of the High Definition TV".

Is plasma or LCD the way to go?

I heard that most of the makers bring out new models in the April-May period next year. Will prices for 2005 models plunge then after New Year's?

What manufacturers offer superior quality?

Should one wait a year or two due to rapid change in technology?

When will the technology advancement in HD TV slow?

Best Buy has a 42 inch plasma from Panasonic for about $2900. What types of prices are you seeing out there for various size LCDs and plasma?

Why would anyone buy a rear projection DLP?

What regualtory changes are happening re the government involvement over spectrum and HDTV standards?

For those of you in the industry, please offer your expertise on these and other questions one should consider before purchasing.

For others not in the industry, please offer your research into these andother need to know issues re HDTV.

[GummyIII]

Plasma or LCD?

More CNET reviews....

ConsumerSearch.com

When you've narrowed down your choices, check epinions.com.

[oldsalt]

Check out the new Samsung 1080p DLPs, if you can find them.

I recently purchased a 56" Samsung DLP at Best Buy for $2400. So far so good. I have Dish network and watching "Rome" on HBOHD has been wonderful. Football is great in HD too!

[seastay]

For small screens, and if one already has an LCD for their computer, I found a TV tuner video modulator for the LCD @ 100$. Thinking about using it with a monitor switch to share between the computer and TV, so instead of two screens in the room there would only be one, saving a lot of space.

Or one could trade up their small computer 19” LCD for a bigger one , and attach the modulator to the old flat screen for an extra TV for the kitchen or elsewhere. Flat screens are versatile on where to mount,,,very cool!

[magellan]

Best picture we saw was Sony's answer to DLP. Some new set of initials. Incredible..

Hey, I heard about that. I would like to know more about that.

LCOS. Liquid Crystal on Silicon. Similar in concept to a 3-chip DLP.

I am wondering if this will be unique to Sony or if it is a big enough advancement that other makers will adopt it as a standard.

JVC also uses its own implementation of LCOS, called D-ILA.

LCOS is uses a more complicated chip than the Digital Micromirror Device (DMD) of DLP systems. Intel planned to get into the LCOS market, but couldn't make it work, and bailed out. So there is no powerhouse behind LCOS the way Texas Instruments is behind DLP.

LCOS has none of the drawbacks to single-chip DLP (no spinning color wheel, therefore no rainbow effect). Also, LCOS is based on an LCD chip, so the chip is not a moving technology like DLP's DMD.

LCOS is a reflective technology like DLP, so it does not have the screen door effect of LCD rear projection, and has like DLP, has deeper blacks than LCD rear projection.

LCOS is not subject to burn-in like plasma.

LCOS is cheaper than flat panel LCD.

Unfortunately, because it such a good technology, has a limited supply, and is well suited for very large projection systems, LCOS is being positioned as a premium rear projection technology in very large screen sizes (60 inches and greater).

[Yossarian]

DLP is a "Micro Electrical-Mechanical Structure", or MEMS chip. It is a tiny machine - an array of many little mirrored squares that flip up and down. It is quite amazing, really.

There's another non-solid-state (i.e. moving) part of DLP displays: the color wheel. (Simplified explanation follows:) The DLP chip flashes the red frame, the blue frame, and then the green frame for each full-color frame that you see on the screen. Since it does it very rapidly, most people's eyeballs merge each component scene into the full color scene. (Some don't quite fully, leading to DLP's infamous "rainbow" effect. This is most easily seen on black and white films.)

In order to have the red scene on the DLP chip get to the display screen as red, you have to obviously shine a red light on it. Same with the blue, and then the green scene. Rather than have separate bulbs for each component color (all flashing on and off), one constant illumination bulb is used, and a spinning color filter is put in front of it, coordinated with what is showing on the DLP. This spinning wheel will make some noise, and may (so I've heard) occasionally need oiling.

[Dont_Tread_On_Me_888]

I'm sure it will, although I have come to realize that the longer life of the LCD over plasma may be unimportant, since if you get 7-8 years out of a plasma, you will probably just as soon upgrade to whatever newer technology will be available at that time. If the LCD lasts five years longer than that, who woudld still have that TV with outdated technology that old?

That is fine thinking for just one TV, but I have a need for three and I hate to think I will be replacing 3 TVs X $3,000 bucks each or so every 7-8 years if I keep going for the latest technology.

What would be really cool is to have a 12-14 foot wide screen for a home theatre, surround sound. Some day, the price/technology will be there to do that.

[Yossarian]

Sony's answer to DLP is called SXRD. It is a form of LCD, using reflectivity and projection rather than translucency. The quality is stunning!

[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

LCD rocks.

[Chickensoup]

I like DLPs because you can hook up a media device, like a Mac mini, and not worry about screen burn-in or convergence problems. The lifespan of DLP projectors should be excellent, with only a single-bulb replacement required periodically.


You sound like a man who knows his Dlps. It was recommended that I purchase a DLP 50 or 58". Is a DLP an HDTV? I dont have broadcast or cable. Someday perhaps or dish. Mostly we watch vids and dvds.

[Dont_Tread_On_Me_888]

I have Direct TV.

What happens with the picture quality when the channel is not a HD channel? How much loss of sharpness happens? Somebody told me that the quality is less than regualar TV when you view a channel on an LCD or plasma that is not being broadcast in HD.

Any truth to that?

[Samwise]

First, thanks for posing your question. Our television is getting ready to go out again, and I refuse to repair it again. The information in the thread so far has been helpful.

However, I have more questions for anyone who knows the answers. We have Direct TV on two televisions. I see no sense in buying a regular television when everyone is switching to HDTV.

Will an HDTV monitor work with our Direct TV? Will I have to buy new HDTV receivers? Will I need to buy a home theater system to place between the monitor and the Direct TV receiver?

Our wallet is not bottomless. If we could transition to HDTV in stages, we could probably do it. Last summer when our television went out, we went to Best Buy. The guy started adding the monitor, speakers and receiver, new Direct TV receiver and dish, and we freaked. Can't afford all that.

We fixed the television for $200. Now it's going out again.

Any information will be appreciated.

[Dont_Tread_On_Me_888]

No need to get the entire home theater stuff. I also have Direct TV and I do know that the regular receiver box will not work and the HD box adds about $250.00.

All you need is that box and the TV. Some LCDs in the 30 inch range are quite affordable.

I am looking at a 42 LCD for about $2900 and a 50 inch plasma for about $3800. Some decent LCDs can be had for less than $1000.

[magellan]

More thoughts on HD:

Regarding projection technology, it seems below 48", LCD rear projection is strongest. Sony has a very nice 42" LCD RP. Between 48" and 56", DLP and LCD RP compete with each other. Above 56", is divided between DLP and LCOS. I believe the DLP vendors will come out with premium 3-chip DLPs to better compete with LCOS.

50" and above RPs will all go to 1080p. 42" - 48" will stay 720p for now for cost reasons. It is more important for the vendors to produce a cheaper set than a better set at the same price point.

CRTs above 30" are history. Only Sony still makes one. So the price point of the 34" CRTs ($1,500) will have to be filled with something. The 720p 42" LCD RPs will soon drop to this point.

LCD flat panels and plasmas are declining in price at the fastest rate.

Enhanced Definition (EDTV) plasmas will be history soon. As will CRT projection systems.

[Samwise]

Do you know if we can leave the old receiver in the bedroom with the regular TV? Can we have a mixed system?

Thanks.

[HAL9000]

Is a DLP an HDTV?

It's actually the name of a process. DLP is an acronym for "Digital Light Processing". A DLP-based HDTV set contains these optical components -

* a high-intensity lightbulb (user replacable),
* an optical semiconductor (sometimes referred to as the "DLP chip"),
* a high-velocity spinning color wheel, and
* a projection screen.

Most DLP HDTV sets have 720p resolution, about a million pixels. 720p has a great picture. But the new generation of 1080p DLP sets have about two million pixels, so the picture will be more detailed when viewing programs at maximum resolution.

I haven't seen the Samsung 1080p DLP HDTV sets yet, but look forward to seeing them. Some websites like Crutchfields are selling them, but they haven't arrived in the big box stores yet.

[Prophet in the wilderness]

Yes... compared to the price and problems with LCD and Plasma TV ... and if you want a BIG SCREEN ( as big as your room and wall will allow ) a good quality, and high resolution DLP projector is the way to go.
Only use your old TV set to watch regular TV news or shows that don't matter.
Use the DLP projector for movies or TV shows that are worth to watch on the projector.
The ( RAINBOW EFFECT ) problems of the DLP projectors are not as bad as they use to be, some manufactures fixed that problem by speeding up the color wheel.
Now if you got mega dollars, you can get a 3 chip, prism DLP projector around $ 25,000 - $ 29,000.

( http://dlp.com/dlp_technology/default.asp )

( http://dlp.com/dlp_technology/dlp_technology_overview.asp )

There are DLP projectors that have 3 chips, one for each primary color ( RED, YELLOW, and BLUE ) and instead of having a color wheel to produce the colors, it separates the light with a prism, then sends each chip a primary color spectrum of light to that chip, great clarity, color quality, and reliability.

[Prophet in the wilderness]

http://dlp.com/business/default.asp

http://www.dtvcity.com/dlp/tvresources.html


DLP chips ( DMDs ) are extremely reliable ( yes, in every product, either cars, radios, computers, CPUs, you have a defect ) however, DMDs are very reliable, and don't degrade over time and from heat like the LCD format of LCD based projectors or TVS ).
The techknowlegy of DLP is only getting better and better, and you'll get a better quality picture, more clearity, and viberent color with the DLP over LCDs ( Plasma has to many problems ).
One other technology of promise is the L.E.D. technology.

From web sight:
A DLP-based HDTV set should last indefinitely because the digital micro mirror device behind it is very reliable.
There is no maintenance or alignment required for DLP based sets as they age.
The only consumer replaceable component is the DLP light source (lamp) which will last for 8,000 hours and costs around $250 to replace. The micro-mirrors used in DLP are not subject to degradation due to heat, humidity, vibration or "burn-in".

According to Lars Yoder of Texas Instruments "To test hinge failure, approximately 100 different DMD's (i.e. the DLP chip) were subjected to a simulated 1-year operational period.
Some devices have been tested for more than ( 1 trillion cycles , equivalent to 20 years of operation. )
Inspection of the devices after these tests showed no broken hinges on any of the devices. Hinge failure is not a factor in DMD reliability".

"The DMD has passed all standard semiconductor qualification tests.
It has also passed a barrage of tests meant to simulate actual DMD environmental operating conditions, including thermal shock, temperature cycling, moisture resistance, mechanical shock, vibration, and acceleration testing.
Based on thousands of hours of life and environmental testing, the DMD and DLP systems exhibit inherent reliability".

[Petronski]

That's nice.

What are they going to say..."uh...it sucks?"




Tiny moving parts? I'll pass.

[Prophet in the wilderness]

Is a DLP an HDTV?
Yes.... if the product is digital.
When and if you go buy a new TV or projector, make sure it is true HD ... and not just HD compatible.

[Cedar]

I'll just keep my 1980's Zenith 25" TV.

:)