What are the pros and cons of the different HDTV systems?

Factual Questions
1

I’m seriously thinking about buying an HDTV, but I want some info on them. If someone could just point me to a place on the web, that would do. Otherwise…

What are the pros and cons for the different systems? (CRT, DLP, LCD, Plasma)

I expect all to display HD programming that would be far better than regular TV. I expect that there are some differences in the quality of the HD display of HD programming. How do these systems do in the display of regular TV? Far more programming is not using HD yet, so this is important to me.

I was at a friend’s place over Thanksgiving and they have a 46" HDTV. It was some sort of rear-projection system. They had not signed up for any HD channels with their sattelite provider, so all we saw were regular TV signals. I was not really impressed. If there was any motion, the picture became sort of pixelated. There also seemed to be some dithering of colors. Is this to be expected or is it a limitation of a certain type of display?

2

I can only speak on your last question myself being new to HDTV. But yes, standard def. TV looks pretty close to terrible on the bigger screens (oddly you do get used to that). Those signals are intended fo rfar smaller, far less detailed screens and don’t look good at all on the big screens. You can only blow up an image so big before it gets distorted.

3

I faced these same questions for the last few weeks. I have done a lot of reading since. I also seem to be popping up on most of the threads about big screens or surround systems, so I might as well reply to yours too. First, I would recommend doing some reading at Wiki as a starting point. It will explain a lot to you and make you realize other questions that you may want to ask. I would recommend the sections on HDTV and DVD’s to start.

As far as pros and cons (off the top of my head)…

Pros:

Plasma: thin, wall mountable, nice picture, available up to 80-90"

LCD: thin, wall mountable, light weight, low power consumption, no burn in, very sharp

Rear projection DLP/LCD: thin compared to CRT’s (ie. 14-20" deep), light weight compared to CRT’s (ie. 70-100lbs for a 50"), no burn in, good price point (cheaper than Plasma or LCD)

Rear projection CRT: cheapest, proven technology

Cons:

Plasma: Heavy, fragile, high power consumption, still more expensive that most other formats, less longevity?, suffers from burn in?

LCD: only available up to 46", expensive in large sizes, screen door effect, may have poor contrast, ghosting

Rear projection DLP/LCD: project bulb wears out (generally user replaceable), not true blacks, colors may not be as good as some other formats

Rear projection CRT: big, heavy, bulky, image not as sharp
As far as cites, with a little Google-fu, I’m sure you can come up with plenty of reviews of the various technologies. Some will dispute some of what I wrote. For example, the burn in problem with plasmas is hotly debated. By asking yourself a few questions, you can find the right technology for you. How much do you want to spend? How big do you want the screen? Will you wall mount? How long will it be on each day?

Once you figure out which technology will work the best, then you can start looking at other things like inputs, native resolutions, brand comparisons, and a hundred other things.

For the record, we ended up going with a 50" Sony 3LCD WEGA rear projection LCD. It’s rated highly at Consumer Reports and still managed to fit into our price range.

4

I forgot to mention viewing quality of regular TV. On ours, the broadcast channels don’t look very good in normal definition. Sunday football games on Fox look especially poor. There’s just not enough signal for the size of the screen. Oddly, most movies on HBO and the like look fine, even though they are also normal definition. The high def channels look great. Monday Night Football looked super in high def.

5

I have a Sony Grand Wega, which is a rear-projection LCD TV. I find the quality of digital SDTV to be somewhat better than my Toshiba CRT rear-projection TV, although still nothing to write home about. Both TVs (being widescreen) are amazing for DVD. On the other hand, HDTV signals are absolutely stunning (but only on the LCD; the CRT TV is not HD).

Personally, I felt that LCD rear projection was the best comprimise between price, quality and convenience. There are real concerns about the longevity of plasma screens, as well as issues with power consumption, heat and viewing angle. LCD panel TVs are very nice, but I felt they were not as bright, and they are quite pricey (especially since I was buying in the 60"+ range). My 60" LCD rear projection is about half the weight of my older 65" CRT rear projection, as well as having a significantly smaller cabinet.

6

I opted for an LCD projector system with a pull-down screen mounted on the wall. The picture quality is terrific, and I get a 120" diagonal picture.

When I watch a football game in HDTV, you can almost count the blades of grass.

7

RR’s summary is pretty much right on. The only things to add are:

Burn-in and lifespan with plasmas is getting better with each generation.
CRT rear projection have poor viewing angles if not sitting directly in front of the screen.
DLP has a thing called a “rainbow effect” that apparently some people find annoying.
First generation Sony LCD projection sets had bulb issues. I believe these have been taken care of.

8

Allow me to add this recent thread to yours.

9

Yep, although it doesn’t have to be an “LCD”. The DLPs like the one Samsung makes are very similar. I have a Panasonic, and the picture looks great. It’s only about 17" deep, and weighs about 60 or 70 lbs. The regular rear projection unit would be about 3 feet deep and weigh 2 or 3 times as much.

The normal broadcast signals are definitely compromised, and I will almost always watch the HiDef channel even if the signal is not HiDef (ie, for the local news and stuff like that).

Tell us more about your system, especially the cost. I thought a good projector like this was really, really expensive.

10

I own a Samsung 43" DLP rear projection TV and my only regret with this purchase is that I didn’t get a bigger one. HD on this TV is fantastic. SDTV is only fair. DVD is near HD quality, especially if you get the widescreen version. Look for anamorphic, or more usually called, enhanced for 16x9 televisions. Also, make sure you set your DVD player for 16x9 TVs (very important).

A couple of minor corrections to some previous posts:

Lack of true black was mentioned as a con for DLP. That is true, but is also true, and to a greater extent, for LCD. CRT gives the best black levels.

The rainbow effect is visible to me (though apparently not to anyone else who has watched TV while visiting), but it is not particularly annoying. Maybe I’m adjusting somehow, but I very rarely notice it anymore (I’ve owned the set for almost 2 years). The rainbow effect is not inherent to DLP, but is inherent to any single chip or panel television (including DLP, LCD, & LCoS) that uses a color wheel to generate RGB.

I would not recommend any large size HDTV to someone who doesn’t intend to obtain a good HD source (i.e. cable of satellite) with a wide variety of programming. Once you’ve watched HD, SD just plain sucks. I have Comcast cable and get over a dozen great HD channels. HDTVs are great if you watch a lot of DVD, though. As I said before, be sure to get widescreen.

11

One thing to be aware of – and which has postponed my HDTV purchase from 2 weeks from now to about a year from now – is a specific problem if you are a DirecTV subscriber and use Tivo.

DirecTV uses MPEG2 encoding (go to howstuffworks.com for a great basic intro to HDTV and these terms), but will be switching to MPEG4 in the near future. Their contract with Tivo is also set to expire in 2007. (This gets confusing, hang in there. I still haven’t sorted out all the facts.)

Timetable for the switch to MPEG4 is, depends on who I’ve spoken to at DirecTV during different calls, 1) mere months away in LA and NY and farther away elsewhere; or 2) who the hell knows, probably within a year.

Now, when they DO switch, any DVR you have now becomes obsolete and you need a new one. They say they’ll offer new ones at a discount, but won’t say how MUCH of a discount. So if I spend $600 now for a new HD Tivo, I can pretty much throw it out the window in 3-12 months. Or if I’m really lucky, I’ll get a new one for a few hundred bucks more. Not worth it.

Plus, I can’t STAND generic DVRs. Tivos are SO much better than any other ripoff I’ve seen out there – no, I don’t work for them, I just like my toys to be user friendly and functional – so I don’t want to shell out the bucks and be stuck with a 1st generation DirecTV generic DVR that will undoubtably suck.

Of course, I could go to cable. But I despise most cable companies, especially our area provider Adelphia. Which means I have to wait a year and see how the entire mess works itself out. Sigh.

I know, a very specific portion of the population will have this problem, but be aware of it.
As for DLP rainbow effects, I have no idea how true this is but I’ve been told you either see it or you don’t. Has to do with how fast your eye is able to process information or something like that (guy at Best Buy told me this, so caveat emptor, but he knew quite a bit about the TVs that the other sales guys had no clue about). In other words, he claimed it had something to do with the physical makeup of your eyes, and if you don’t see it right away, it won’t be an issue for you.

Also have read that 3chip DLPs don’t have the issue in the first place. Again, no idea how accurate that info is.

Howstuffworks.com sums it up beautifully: " We are witnessing a merging of three huge industries: personal computers, entertainment, and consumer electronics. Many companies have turf to protect, and a lot of money will be spent on the conversion. That means that the process will be slow and sometimes uncomfortable. However, the ultimate destination is a significant advance – remarkably better pictures and sound for both your TV and your computer!"

PS - I’m curious to see what happens in a few years when folks have all bought HD TV sets for their living rooms but have standard sets elsewhere in the house… and all of a sudden, those sets won’t work with the new broadcast standards…

12

I recently ordered a Panasonic AE900 front projector. This is a 720P LCD unit.
I got mine for about 2k. The advantages of FP is the best /in[sup]2[/sup] and the fact the unit weighs 8 pounds and is 4in x 11in x 14 in (i.e. very portable).
The disadvantage is doen’t work so well in bright rooms and one has to replace the lamp. (Tho there is also lamp issues in RP).
The other disadvantage is if your DVD player, etc are in the front of the room you need long cables which are hard to find and possibly expensive.

Brian

13

Addendum: Another disadvantage with FP is that none (AFAIK) have tuners (tho some have built in DVD players). So for HDTV you need some sort of box. Your cable/sattelite box may output DVI/HDMI, but for over the air you need to buy another box.

DLP and rainbows - yes this an issue that only some people have problems with. And with faster color wheels it is less of an issue. (that is some people who saw rainbows with 1x wheels don’t see them with 4x wheels).

3 chip DLP don’t use color wheels (1 chip for each color, so no wheel needed), but there are no mainstream 3 chip DLPs. (3 chip FP DLPs are >$15,000. I’m not aware of any 3 chip RP DLPs but ther might be some)

Brian

14

Sorry for the delay getting back. I guess I’ve missed following this thread.

We bought a Panasonic PT-LC80U LCD projector (2,000 lumens) 2 years ago for about $2K. I imagine the price has come down since then. I bought a 96" x 72" screen on eBay from a Da-Lite distributer for about $120. Like I said, we really enjoy it.

15

Plasma longevity is a non-issue. Originally good for 6-7 years, the lifespan now rivals regular TV: 20+ years.

LCD TVs will be in surplus next year. Economics 101 tells us that this means prices will continue to fall, especially for 40+ inch models.

16

Newsweek provided some basics on the subject in this article a couple of months ago:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9379349/site/newsweek/

17

Ressurecting this thread to ask a question that relates…

While looking at HDTV’s I saw a nice LCD-projection model by Sony. It’s a 50-incher.

One thing I’m interested in doing is connecting a PC to it. Well, this particular model, according to Best Buy (everything on this particular wall said this) it is “PC-Compatible”.

However, there is no DVI connection, no XGA connection. The manual of this model (skimming through it) contained absolutely nothing about PCs or XGA.

Anyone have any ideas what this could mean?

-Joe

18

Do you know which model Sony this is? I’m guessing it has a HDMI input? I’m not sure on connecting a PC to it, but HDMI is basically DVI+sound channels. You can get a DVI to HDMI cable.

19

It definitely had HDMI connectors. Specifically, it was the KDFE59A10.

Which, on the positive side, looked so good that even my girlfriend is being a little less difficult. She’s gone from “It’s your money, I can’t tell you want to do with it” to “Well, personally, I’d redo the hallway floor first, but that’s just me”.

So…will we probably have the best prices right before the Super Bowl, or right after?

-Joe, planning evilly

20

Using Sony’s numbering, the 59 would mean 59". I couldn’t find that on Sony’s site. Since you mentioned it being a 50", if you meant KDFE50A10, then that’s the exact model we bought. We’ve had it for 2 months now and are still very happy with it. About the biggest disappointment is going from High Def to a DVD (which are not high def… yet). DVD’s used to look so nice.

One other thing to mention, if you don’t have a stand picked out for it, I would recommend the matching Sony stand. The TV is a little front heavy. The stand has a strap to lock the back of the TV in place.

Also, I don’t know if you are a service plan kind of person. I’m not. They will try to use the fact that the lamp burns out in them as a selling point for the service plan. The lamp is $200 from Sony and is very user replaceable (ie. access door in the back). From what I’ve read the average user may replace one lamp in the life of most service contracts (3 years). You’ll have to judge for yourself on the contract, but we didn’t get one.