Lcos vs DLP vs Plasma

So her comes this time of the year again when it itches me to upgrade my screen

I currently have a JVC AV-48wp30 rear projection but because of the space in the apartment getting tighter I am thinking of getting something "leaner".

After trying to find info online about LCOS, DLP and Plasma but really few interesting and usefull reviews are available so if anyone can help I'd appreciate.

My problem is mostly of space constraint as I am sitting about 7 feet from my screen and do not really know what to get... I kinda like the Panasonic TH-42PD25U/P (for its price and the reviews it got) but I am not sure about picture quality.

The second set I like is JVC 52Z575 but the fact that its 52" kinda scares me (not sure I have enough depth to really appreciate a good picture.

Anyone has any helpfull review/comment for someone trying to SAVE SPACE, get a GOOD PICTURE and keep everything around $2500.


BTW my excellent and mint JVC AV-48WP30 (48"widescreen, HD ready, display @ 1080i...) rear projection TV will need a new home soon pm if interested.

this has been done to death here. LCOS is a DEAD technology, Toshiba invented it, and it was too expensive to turn a profit, they don't make them anymore, the last sets came out in 2002 from Toshiba, end of story.

plasma is locked at 480p, if that's the route you want, go for it.

DLP seems to be the future of HDTV.

DashK said:

this has been done to death here. LCOS is a DEAD technology, Toshiba invented it, and it was too expensive to turn a profit, they don't make them anymore, the last sets came out in 2002 from Toshiba, end of story.

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Hughes invented LCOS. JVC bought the patents and named it D-ILA.

JVC makes a D-ILA RPTV. It's nice. They also manufacture several high-end D-ILA front projectors. Sony has released an LCOS projector and is releasing a 70" LCOS set (they call it SXRD, but it's basically the same technology). All of Sony's future front projectors will likely be SXRD. Intel has invested in the technology and will likely begin manufacturing sometime in the next year.

LCOS has a fill factor superior to any other digital display technology and excellent color representation. Contrast is currently limited to about 2000:1, but it will get better. Manufacturing yields have improved considerably.

It's not going anywhere.

plasma is locked at 480p, if that's the route you want, go for it.

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You can currently buy plasmas that have resolutions ranging from 848x480 to 1366x768--which can easily accommodate 720p. Several manufacturers have announced 1920x1080 models (at outrageous prices, of course).

DLP seems to be the future of HDTV.

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Maybe at the low end. I've owned a Sharp Z12000 DLP projector for a while now. It has better contrast and a lower black level than any other digital display out there. It also has its share of annoying artifacts.

In short, you're full of shit.


Howdoin,

I'm not satisfied with any of these digital technologies yet. They all need work. That's not to say they can't put out some nice images. Personally, I'm selling my projector, picking up a Sony 34XBR960 CRT, and waiting for another year or two before getting back into front projection.

I think a plasma is a nice choice for you given your space restrictions. The Panasonic you're considering is nice. However, it is an EDTV (it can only resolve 480p). If you're planning on watching any HDTV, you might want to consider the next model up, the TH-42PX25U/P. Both are HD ready, but the 42PX will resolve more detail and have less noticeable pixel structure thanks to the higher resolution.

DashK said:

this has been done to death here. LCOS is a DEAD technology, Toshiba invented it, and it was too expensive to turn a profit, they don't make them anymore, the last sets came out in 2002 from Toshiba, end of story.

plasma is locked at 480p, if that's the route you want, go for it.

DLP seems to be the future of HDTV.

Click to expand...

You gotta be shitting me!

LCOS is still being made and is not dead.

DashK... thanks but LCOS is being widely released as we speak with Philips, Sony, JVS, Mitsubishi ... releasing rear-projection LCOS sets and most analyst are betting on it for the future (vs. DLP).
Plasma go beyhond 480p now, at outrageous prices but still they can do it.

Thirdking: thanks, I also saw the higher res. model but its an extra $1000 at least and I cannot really afford that altough I wish.
HDTV is not really my concern yet as I only have basic cable and no over the air antenna.

I really like the JVC LCOS (HD-LIA) line but read conflicting reports online and could not find a good review from a pro. + watching a 52" screen from 7 feet does not sounds right to me... Damn why don;t they have a 42"

Any other comment or suggestion (Model #) is appreciated, my 3 most important factors:
- size (sapce saving)
- image quality
- keep it under $2500

Thanks

Stay away from Plasma. It's like a whore with HIV, you just don't want to touch it. Ok so that's a bit extreme, but for gaming purposes I just don't like the flaws that are inherant to the technology. The brightness half life built into the display and the burn in issues are too much of a risk factor. That and the only "affordable" plasma TV's are locked in at 480P, the real HDTV ones cost way too much for something with so many problems.

LCOS is "the future" but it's not fully here yet and what we do have is way too expensive. Though honestly I haven't really seen any LCOS sets in any Tweeter or Best Buy around me, the stuff I've seen has all been online and it's been pricey.

DLP, IMO, is the way to go right now. A 58" set from Samsung is around $2800 and it's highly worth it.

Nice big screen with great viewing distance that doesn't suffer from burn in. I've never heard of artifacting being a problem on a DLP set, only on LCD Projection TV's.

If you've got to buy now, DLP is the way to be. Well that or a LCD or LCD rear projection, but you want to find something with a very fast response time to avoid image artifacting. Large 16ms panels or 16ms rear projection units are expensive now. I personally think DLP is where it's at right now if you want to be as "future proof" as you can be when it comes to buying a good TV.

Just go to your local electronics store that sells TV. Compare a demo unit of each.

DLP makes plasma and all the others look like shit (what with the ghosting and pixelated shitness that they tend to do so wel).

I am getting the JVC 52" DILA. I thought it look better than the DLP or LCD RPTVs (but that's just my eyes). I do still like the DLP but I see rainbows And that they have moving parts in the light engine just doesn't appeal to me.

Anyway, good luck.

Well I can say that DLP tvs are the best bang per $$$ right now. If you're going to buy a plasma then make sure its on the high end side (the one you mentioned is REALLY good still, but the burn in and fading will be a problem).

LCD projectors are also good but some of them have terrible black levels. The Sonys blacks look a lot like mud. The Hitachi LCDs and the Panasonic LCD tvs are on the better side of the LCD rear projectors.

DLP Pros:
No screen door effect
brighter colors (very light)
higher contrast ratio
No burn in (Good for games and sports)

DLP Cons:
Rainbow effects (if you see it...I for one can not)

LCD Pros:
I say VERY good Digital TV viewing and DVD viewing

LCD Cons:
Stuck pixels
Motion artifacts
black levels not as good as newer DLP's

I hope this helps...oh and if you have more then ask away...(I sell tvs part time for $$$ while going to school )

EMAGDNIM said:

I hope this helps...oh and if you have more then ask away...(I sell tvs part time for $$$ while going to school )

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Would you mind giving us a rundown on what brands are best for each technology?

Thanks

CRT
LCD
Plasma
Standard Projection
LCD Rear Projection
DLP

Electroman said:

Would you mind giving us a rundown on what brands are best for each technology?

Thanks

CRT
LCD
Plasma
Standard Projection
LCD Rear Projection
DLP

Click to expand...

Even tho I am not a salesman, I will try based on my own research the past year. Feel free to disagree

CRT: SONY
LCD: No Clue
Plasma: SONY
Standard Projection: No Clue
LCD Rear Projection: Hitachi
DLP: Samsung

Oh yah, DLP can have bad pixels too. It is possible in all HDTVs but we just call it different things, stuck pixel, etc.

Have you thought about a front projector and going from a range of 72' to 200' ?
I have a panasonic lcd model and it fit well below your range , got mine for $1,600 .

Electroman said:

Would you mind giving us a rundown on what brands are best for each technology?

Thanks

CRT
LCD
Plasma
Standard Projection
LCD Rear Projection

DLP

Click to expand...

Sure thing...

Okay here we go...

CRT: Sonys KD-34XBR960/ Sony KV-34HS420 (The 900 series it TOP OF THE FREAKING LINE). I've been messing around with my friends. Setting it up for him and its the best looking CRT screen I've seen in ages. If you want CRT and have a little extra money to spend, then buy this one.

LCD: the Sharp brand LCDs are great. Best bang for your buck. They just had a price drop, and all of their models above 20" are HDTV ready. Check some of them out. Sharp is only doing highend stuff now so these screens is what they are all about.

Plasma: EDTV or HDTV...which one?! If its ED (takes a 1080i signal and downconverts it to 480i) then it would be Panasonic. the Panasonic TH-42PD25U
is tops here. Very solid black levels (thank god). Little to no motion bluring. And its nice and vivid.

HD Plasmas are another story...most top brands make a great HD plasma. Panasonic and Sony stick out in my head as being great brands.

Standard Projection: Hmmm...if you REALLY want one the anything Hitachi (They make 60% of the parts for everyone else). You have to calibrate these things a lot if you want to get your moneys worth. Also, I reccoment you get the thing serviced one a year. Its good for the CRT "cannons" surface to be cleaned so no dust settles and "coats" the lens. It will make a dark picture over time.

LCD Rear Projection:

Hitachi's LCD projection models are number 1 here. I don't like the Sonys this year at all, Try and stay away from the Sony KDF-50WE655 (or the 42 model as well). From what I've seen with the Canadian Model (620) then there's nothing happening with model for the 04/05. The blacks are a mud colour and when I tried to adjust it, the best I could get was a smoked grey. They Took out the memory card reader to "make it cheaper for comsumers ". IT does NOT have a HDMI slot (DVI). Its REALLY cheaply made this year (You just have to see it for yourself).

If you can get the Hitachi 50VS810 then BUY IT. the blacks are great (pushes a little bit of green, but I can't get anyone else to notice what I can see ). If you can score that then the v500s are good. I don't know if you can get the 515s (current model) in the 50 inch set yet. At my work we have the v515 in the 42" but not in the 50"

DLP:

Okay...The new Panasonic PT-50DL54 Is the BEST one I've seen for the 04 year. The pre sets made this DLP look great. I've tinkered with it and I love it. The blacks are more solid then the Samsungs this year. I'm vary surprized seeing that its their first DLP for sale.

the Samsug models are still great but they switched to the HD3 chip, so everything is a lot righter, but the detail has dropped in the process. So people love it, other hate it. You'll have to decide that for yourself .
I personally like the HD2+ chip which the Panasonic PT-50DL54 is using.

Go to your local BB, CC and Sears and try them all out. Bring some dvds so you can SEE what you'll be buying. You'll need something with a lot of dark parts. Something with a lot of fast parts. And last, something with a lot of colours (Pixar movies are great here).

I hope I've helped you out...

Electroman said:

Would you mind giving us a rundown on what brands are best for each technology?

Thanks

CRT
LCD
Plasma
Standard Projection
LCD Rear Projection
DLP

Click to expand...

CRT: By "CRT", I assume you mean tube TVs and not CRT projection TVs. I'm waiting on my KD-34XBR960, which many have called the best display to ever hit the consumer sector. Simply gorgeous. Go Sony.

LCD: Sharp seems to be kicking ass here. I'm not a huge fan of the technology due to its inability to handle fast motion, poor contrast, and high black levels.

Plasma: Bang for your buck, you want one of the Panasonic industrial models. They use the same panels as the consumer models and have the exact same specs, but they're very plain looking and have no built-in tuners or speakers. Just a monitor basically. If you have a separate audio system, this is a great way to go, and it'll save you a few dollars. Check out the TH-42PWD6UY.

If you want the ultimate plasma image quality, you want a Fujitsu. Great panels and superb internal scaling. Very expensive though.

Standard Projection: I assume you mean CRT projection TVs. Bang for your buck: Panasonic. Dirt cheap and excellent after calibration. Performance: Hitachi UltraVision. More expensive, but as someone else mentioned, Hitachi manufactures most of the parts for the other manufacturers anyway.

LCD Rear Projection: Panasonic for best price/performance ratio. Hitachi for best performance overall. Contrast and black level are sub-par when compared to CRT and DLP RPTVs.

DLP: I haven't seen the Panasonic yet. This is absolutely not their first DLP set though. They released one several years ago and were the first company to sell a DLP RPTV, despite what Samsung claims. I do know that the Panasonic uses an 8-segment color wheel with the latest HD2+ DMD, which puts it ahead of Samsung's offerings. The Samsungs are really inexpensive though and a perfectly good choice if you're on a budget.

Just dropped by CC and BB last night - as usual sales clerks there where as halpfull as ... well I do not even know what to compare them to... noone was able to tell me anything intelligent and 2 people from the same store BB were even contradicting themselves on specs and DLP vs. LCOS.

The JVC 52" LCOS had the worst image quality at BB, I tried to ask the guy if it was normal and he said that its cos it was displaying as a regular feed when everything else was on HDTV !!! - I was kinda surprised and assumed that its also poor set up (The set was on the second shelve, hard to see the screen and impossible to peek behind).

CC was not much better, only the HD plasma screens were working, all DLPs and rear projection TV were set up in a way where you could not see any difference in picture quality and the "low-end" plasma (Akai and Panasonic EDTV) were not even working. I tried to turn one on and there was no signal.

Only noticeable thing I saw was the Samsung HL-P5085W


especially when matched with their DS1000 home theater... gorgeous, but way too expensive.
Anyone has a discount for this

Howdoin, strange that the JVC HD-ILA looks bad, maybe they moved it around or something but it looked gorgeous when I saw it about 2 weeks ago at BB. They were running the same feed to every TV then (the Panasonic Olympic commerical) and I swear there was a shot of a HIGH RES football game in a small window that was just jaw-dropping.

Not sure what the heck happened, it looked alot better than the Kirk model you liked... Actually, I have yet to see the Kirk model in a store that displays a decent picture. I am sure it is capable but the feed is just so bad.

I went to the samsung press event last night and they had their upcoming line for 2005 - that DLP (pic. in previous post) was hooked up to one of their DVD player and even a 5 feet the picture looked beautifull (and at least I know this time it was optimized).
You can see it at the Time Warner Center - 3rd floor - they opened the "samsung Experience" where they display all their current and future tech. (nice little cellphones ). Get there and look at it before they get broken/stolen.

Damn their DS1000 Home theater also looked superb - they really have a winning design there.

I've heard a lot of good things about that model. Its a little pricey, but WILL worth it. I've only been able to play with one while I was shopping with my friends dad for a high end TV (We went to a specialty store).

The Digital signal was good and the HD content was AMAZING!!! they were running a DVD using the DVI imput and it was VERY sharp...

To all who offered TV Type-per-brand advice, thank you. I was certainly not the only person you helped.

This TV business has my head spinning. The opinions stated here helps alot.
Thanks!