Video Asylum

Posted by Colin (A) on March 09, 2004 at 08:17:27

This should be a buyer's odyssey leading to DLP, but that's already been done. But after an prolonged research effort and much anxiety (mostly from reading the posts at AV Forum) we finally popped--with trepidation--for a Samsung 50" DLP (with the W1 upgrade...one cool bit of information gleaned from fanatically reading at AV.) You can definitely overanalyze the DLP/LCD comparisons and complaints over at AV...from reading those threads one's expectations are completely lowered; you assume that whatever you buy, including the best plasmas, there will be so many problems and compromises that it isn't even worth purchasing any of them. This is complicated by the fact that Tweeter, Best Buy and Circuit City discourage--or don't even allow--DVDs or tapes (the latter of which at least would approximate a bad cable box signal.) The HiDef content in the stores often makes it impossible to guess which one of these sets to buy. The latest Hitachi Ultravision LCD was clearly the sexiest set, the most immediately appealing in the shop...particularly because the Sony's ALL had very evident bad (green) pixels. Even the mega-expensive super grandest of the Grand Wegas. Less than 14 bad pixels or so and Sony won't replace the set. Disappointing, plus the Hitachi has both a better picture, styling and no bad pixels on any of the display sets. Sony has a deservedly bad rep on this problem.

The Samsung DLP is clearly the homeliest of the lot. The speaker setup on the bottom of the screen makes it look boxy, squarish, instead of the very widescreen look (speakers on side) of the Hitachi. But the Hitachi on DVDs (not broadcast HD) revealed ugly, sparkly pixillation (on all their sets...as well as the Sony LCDs to a slightly lesser degree.) The Superbowl Patriots DVD showed lots of digititis around the helmets, or wherever the lighting source was harsh and hard and very bright. This was completely absent in the Samsung. We fiddled and diddled with the controls to calm the pixillation (or whatever the video geeks call it) to no discernible improvement. If you walk far enough away, this digital artifact is relatively absent. But it still is annoying. By contrast, no matter how close you get to the Samsung, the picture looks completely free of digital artifacts...it looks extremely fine-grained and dense. Very stable and deep colors. So I reluctantly--not enamored of the styling or hopeful about Comcast cable--bought the Samsung from CC...which assured me that I could return it, no questions asked.

Any reader at AVForum knows the constant complaints about cable broadcast for any of these digital hi-def sets, in fact, everyone believes these sets are actually worse than the Toshiba 16-9 rear projection that I was replacing. People rationalize it by praising the DVD and hi-def performance. Well, shock of shocks...the Samsung looks fabulous on standard, low quality Comcast cable. Amazing. Brilliant. Fill in the blanks with your favorite praiseworthy adjective. Yes, you can clearly see the difference between taped and live shows, filmed and taped network shows, etc. But even the worst sources are acceptable, well, beyond acceptable. Any decent TV channel is stupendous. Really. And I don't have a particularly good cable signal either. The fretful posters at AV must have tremendously high standards...complaining about cable reception on the Samsung is like complaining that Heidi Klum isn't good looking enough. (I'd like to see these posters' girlfriends or wives!) My usual tweaking (I had the service manual on the Toshiba and spent way over a hundred hours in its life setting all the parameters to perfection) is completely unnecessary. I haven't touched a thing. Maybe 'cause I'm in too great a shock still.

There are a couple of complaints, however, but they are the same for all the LCD and DLP sets. The panoramic view (I hate 4:3 viewing) has a few problems stretching on the edges...where too much expansion takes place. It bloats the image on the edges...not so much that I'd ever watch on 4:3 instead, but still an annoyance, if a minor one that detracts from absolute perfection. Plus, I've always hoped that true 16-9 enhanced DVDs would complete fill the 16-9 sets, but they don't. Still a small black bar, top and bottom, despite the promise on the notes of certain DVDs that this mode fills the screen completely. Maybe my DVD player is too old?

One other complaint. It's completely worriesome to watch the Samsung. It looks too good. I keep waiting for something to fail; after all, it shouldn't look this good. Another problem, I'm now watch far too much television.

PS Make sure the manufacture date is AFTER February. Nearly all the sets out there are after this software/hardware update, but check to be sure. CC guaranteed it, and made me check the serial number (has a '1' after the W at the end of the serial) before i'd accept it. Life is grand! Now, if only I could find a CD or SACD (or better, a combo) with this kind of price/performance.