DLP rear projector recommendation please

I own two Samsung DLP RPTVs. One is a slightly older HLN617W that is the display in my HT. The other is the newer HLP5063 in my bedroom. I like both very very much, have had no trouble with either, and can recommend Samsung highly.

I did a lot of comparisons in making the decision to go with the HLN617W. The HLP5063 purchase was not based on comparisons as I was fully satisfied with Samsung, and had been tracking the design improvements at avs forum.

One comment is I believe the digiupdate page was the one that Arun Gupta ran, but unfortunately Arun was killed riding his bike and the page is no longer up to date. I second the recommendation to go to avs forum to get the latest information.

Just as no technology is perfect; e.g., some see rainbows although I never have, I expect no one brand is perfect, so you need to weigh the pros and cons of each. Samsung was the only game in town when I was doing my comparisons (primarily Samsung DLP to Sony GWIII), so I cannot comment on other DLP brands.

If DVD viewing is a priority, then one thing I would look for is the ability to accept a 720p feed via either DVI or HDMI, and the ability to display that without any intervening processing, so you can take advantage of an upconverting DVD player. The Samsungs can do this. RCA has/had a model that could not. It downconverted to 480i/480p and then rescaled to the native DLP resolution of 720p - needless extra processing.

I would appreciate feedback on any comparisons you do between different brands of DLP RPTV.

Thanks
Bruce

Very sad to hear about Arun; his guide and tracking of the Samsung models was truly amazing.

I like the Sim RPTV, but it is quite expensive. At a far more reasonable price, the RPTVs from Optoma look pretty good.

I am not a fan of the Samsung sets. Even when the sets are suppose to be calibrated, the colors look odd and artificial.

I saw the JVC LCOS set at CES. The colors are decent and the picture is very detailed, smooth and natural looking. The weak point is black level and shadow detail, which is not up to what DLP sets can do.

I understand that LG or some other company has announced a 55" backlit LCD set. If they have licked the problem that LCD sets have with motion artifacts (slow response of the set to rapid changes in the image), it could be a top contender. I like the color palette of LCD sets and black levels are getting better and better.

I expect to see at CEDIA the ultra thin DLP RPTVs that several manufacturers have been touting. I wonder what picture quality compromises had to be made to make a 55" set only 5-7" in depth.

Samsumg HL-P6190, out in another month or three. Take a good look. If it (and xHD3) meets half the hype, it will be worth the $6500. If not, I'm stuck with my current display for yet another year of wait and see.

I just saw the 70" Sony SXRD (their proprietary version of LCOS) RPTV at CEDIA. The source material was 1080i from a blu-ray. Incredible detail, low video noise, very little obvious motion artifacts, beautiful color, pretty good black level. In short a fantastic picture, that bests anything but the most exotic machines. Aside from a Sony G90 CRT front projector, a Faroudja D-ILA projector ($42,000), the Sony Qualia front projector, this was my favorite display device at CEDIA. At $10,000, nothing approaches this set. The 82" Mitsubishi LCOS set was also displayed at CEDIA. It suffered by comparison, primarily from poorer black level.

The 61" DLP set that is only 7" in depth was being shown by In-Focus (RCA was showing their version, which is identical). I was surprised that it had reasonably good focus at the edges, given that the beam must be hitting the edges at an extremely oblique angle. My only concern was that, with the material they were using, I saw a bit more of the "rainbows" than I like to see. Can't say if this was an inherent quality of this technology.