So, LCD, DLP, CRT, or Plasma?

What kind of TV technology is the best?

  • CRT

    Votes: 8 9.9%
  • RPTV-CRT

    Votes: 4 4.9%
  • LCD

    Votes: 29 35.8%
  • RPTV-LCD

    Votes: 1 1.2%
  • RPTV-DLP

    Votes: 18 22.2%
  • Plasma

    Votes: 21 25.9%

  • Total voters
    81
I have one too and it broke right at the end of one year. Its a 1600 dollar part! But its covered. When they came to pick it up they said they had 5 other sammys on the truck for repair. When samsung sent them the new part... it was defective too!!!... Never again.. Never again. If the OP buys one, get the longest extended warranty he can NOW because at the end of the one year warranty Samsung will want an arm and a leg for a 3 year warranty. My next set will probably be LCD.:rolleyes:


I had a friend telling me his issues with a part on the Samsung. He got extended Sears warranty on it. They replaced it 3 or 4 times now and still having issues. They got to where they would wait a month before they would come back out and right after the guy would repair the tv it would go out a few minutes later. I would stay clear of that particular type of Samsung. Even the replacement parts are crap.
 
Here is part of an e-mail I sent my mom explaining the difference between sets when she asked what to get. I helped her out last week and she ended up with a 42" Hitachi plasma for $950. She loves it! I personally own a 32" Toshiba LCD and a 42" Hitachi (one model above what mommy-dearest got):

Besides size of the screen, there are four different flavors to TVs now:

CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) Good ol’ Tube TV that we are used to

LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) like the one in my bedroom

DLP (Digital Light Processing) Used for projection TVs

Plasma – Like the one in my living room.

So now that you know that and I’m sure really don’t care (you just want a TV) here is where what YOU want comes into play:

CRT is the least expensive by far right now. You can get the standard square (4 by 3) tube pretty cheap. The only problem with tubes is they are very, very heavy. A 27” tube TV can weigh 70 to 100 pounds easy. My 36” tube set I gave to Luis was considered LIGHT at 125 pounds. Moving them is a bear. But the price is about 2/3 that of an LCD or Plasma. Also most new programs are in the wide screen format so you will have black bars at the top and bottom of the screen on a "square" TV

LCD itself comes in two flavors. One is a flat panel TV like the one in my bed room. This is a great alternative for medium and smaller sizes. As the picture size increases, the product price increases exponentially. An inexpensive 29 to 34” LCD TV runs about $600-$1200. A 42” LCD set jumps up in price to about $1800 to $2300. The LCD is reliable and less likely to “burn in” meaning that you do not have to worry about what is on the screen or for how long. It is better than a tube in this respect. LCD TVs are also very light. My 32” TV weighs about 35 pounds.

The other flavor for LCD is projection. This allows for much larger screen sizes at more moderate prices, but I would rarely call them “cheap” by comparison. They are very reliable and, depending on the model, do not have the bulb problems most DLPs have. The LCD projectors have been around for over a decade so the technology is tried and true.



DLP is a mixed bag. It has proved itself more reliable than it appears at first blush. The technology is VERY complicated and one would think prone to easier break-down, but it’s not as bad as all that. DLP TVs are all projection TVs. This means you can get a very large screen from a relatively low cost. A 50” DLP screen can be as cheap as $1000. This is compared to $2500-4000 for LCD and plasma of the same size. The down side to DLP is the very likely possibility of the projection bulb going out over time and having to be replaced. The bulbs generally last about 3000 hours of use. This is 125 days if you turn on the TV and leave it on until the bulb goes out. …Or more realistically about 2 to 3 years of regular use. The bulbs cost about $300 right now. The price may drop in the future, but we can’t count on that.

Plasma provides the brightest most colorful picture out there in my opinion. The only real down side is price. Plasmas are generally more expensive than tube or LCD until you get to the bigger sizes. The only possible down side to plasma is the possibility that over time the gas that makes up the picture loses its capacity to shine a brightly or as colorful as it does when it’s new. This has pretty much been “fixed” but there is still that possibility. The other down side is heat. Plasmas get hotter than the other three types of TVs (with the exception of the DLP bulb itself). They never get hot enough to be any kind of danger or fire hazard. The only reason I bring it up is that a plasma TV should never be put into any kind of a cabinet that doesn’t have very good ventilation. It won’t harm the cabinet if you do this. It will harm the TV over time.
(I did add to this later in talking with my mother than "burn in" is also a concern with plasma, but there are simple counter-measures for this such as the gray bars and not using the pause button on the DVR for more than a few minutes at a time and turning down the contrast on the TV.)
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See ya
Tony

Thank you Tony, an informative read.
 
For that $1300 - $2000 price range you list you can't get any better bang for the buck than with FPTV. A projector offers so much more size, options, portability and over a 5 - 7 year life - less overall money as it is expandable. AND it offers equal and in many cases better visual experience.

Don't lock in or settle on something just because "its common" or "popular"... Sometimes stores want you to buy that more popular or more common item because it offers them the greatest profit margin. Hmmm?

When you say it is expandable what do you mean by that? I still never bought a replacement to my bigscreen yet. It is on the blink now and we had two other televisions blow over the past month as well.
 
Good post, buty this is probably a little bit dated and skewed. My Toshiba 56" DLP projector cost just over $1200. The bulb is rated at 6000 hours, and a replacement is $210 from Toshiba and under $200 everywhere else. Still not cheap, but not nearly as bad as Tony posted. Also, LCD and LCOS projectors will have similar lamps.

Nope. I used new info I pulled from several manufacturers and retailer web sites with new info. Think of it this way, $210 is how much I paid for my last 25" tube TV. $210 is 20% the cost of the entire DLP TV you bought. That is, buy 5 lamps (10-15 years of use), you could have bought a new TV. And a 6000 hour rating is the exception not the rule looking at current available models.

This is not saying that DLP is not a good option. It is. I am saying that DLPs are not as cheap as the initial price may suggest.

See ya
Tony
 
I would go wth an LCD,Tv in your case . Whether RPj,or Flat panel,Both good IMO, I know 3 people with DLP's,and all were not Trouble free in the first year they've had them. Examples" 2 bulbs in less then a year,blue spots on the screen,one just quit working."I've had Lcd's with no problems,I've even had CRT-RPj models with no issues.IMO the Front projections didn't Impress me.I looked at them to try and save a little money. If you have a movie theater in your home,Then perfect,but it exactly what you would think it would be like otherwise. I 've been in my friend house watching football on a 106 in screen with a $7000 projector,Its nice and all ,but not what I'd want to watch everyday tv on. And Neither does HE.Maybe it would be more impressive on a smaller screen.And in not a pitch black room.
 
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I like front projection, but unfortunately I just do not have the house to match. Perhaps one day I will add on a theater room, but without light control it is just too hard.

I have plasma, rear projection, LCD and tube:

Tube: I have decided to never buy another tube again. They are just too big and heavy with tiny pictures (relative now where 30-36 is tiny). The ones I have now will last forever. If one of them were to break before I replaced it, it would be replaced with a different technology. I expect them to all be discarded long before they break. One big strength of tube is that they last 20+ years.

Rear Projection works well in room situations that do not have seating/viewing from off angles. There is a huge difference between the center viewing and off angle viewing. For casual TV it is not too big a deal. The only thing is that you need a large screen for rear projection to pull ahead of flat panel in price. You also have a much thicker set. There are some new slim ones coming out, but they tend to cost more and are smaller screens which negates the pricing advantage. The other issue is that if you are going to have a huge screen, it is probably going in a large room, which probably has seating that is not all in the center leading to off angle viewing issues. It is definitely a good technology, I just view it as one that requires a match to the viewing room (just not as restrictive as front projection).

Plasma, what can I say, it gives a fantastic picture. It is thin, has great viewing angles, and every year they produce great improvements in the picture quality. But, the really good plasmas tend to be very expensive still. Pioneers still are not "cheap". They are competitive with LCDs in price only because LCD prices go to the stratosphere when you go over 52". As much as I like my plasma I do not think I will buy another because of the mental anguish it gives me. Mental anguish? You ask? Well there is a "burn in"/"Image retention" issue with plasmas still. No, I have never had an issue with my plasma, but I cannot stop thinking about it. When I watch 4:3 material I want to have black bars on the side. I absolutely hate stretched video (I know it does not bother some, my parents always stretch everything since they are more bothered by an empty area on the screen). So, I usually go for grey bars on the side. That bothers me too, but just not as bad as the stretch. Then there are 2.35:1 movies, they have bars on the bottom. They make me paranoid too. What happens if I pause something and forget about it? My current plasma is over 2 years old and has no sign of burn in, but that is no comfort to me. Plasmas also need a darker room than LCD, they tend to wash out easier if you have a lot of sunlight in the room. Not saying you need a cave, but I would not put in a sunroom.

LCD: Well they work great too. They have a picture that can rival (and many argue surpass) plasma. They have a huge picture quality range. Much larger than I see in rear projection or plasma. The low quality ones are extreamly bad picture, the high quality ones people argue back and forth with the plasma people. The contrast range of LCD has been its weakness. Great strides have been made, but to get these great strides you have to pay. LCDs have dropped in price extreamly fast. Right now I am shopping for an LCD TV as a background exercise. The picture is getting good enough, and the price of the 52" and lower is dropping rapidly. I expect price/picture quality/size to be about right by the end of the year or perhaps January sales times.
 
Regarding UHP lights used in DLP projectors, Samsung is using PhlatLight LEDs to drive their new high-end 1080p DLP RPTVs. These LED light engines are rated at over 20,000 hours (I've seen 60K and 100K hours tossed around; YMMV).
 
Yes, I read about this new tech. This will definitely put the DLP on the same footing. However Phatlite sets are on average $500 to $700 more expensive than comperable DLPs with standard bulbs and arguably not as bright. Still a 61" TV with a projected life of 20,000 hours (2 years and 3 months roughly if turend on and left on...or 9 years 2 months roughly if used 6 hours a day on average) is fantastic.

See ya
Tony
 
When you say it is expandable what do you mean by that? I still never bought a replacement to my bigscreen yet. It is on the blink now and we had two other televisions blow over the past month as well.


If you have an avg room now you can scale to 50" or so; if you get a larger room or move it will scale upwards or 200" + depending on the make & model. Nothing new to buy. Maybe a screen depending on what you start with. Light control is also a old myth issue unless you are view in a room made entirely of glass windows and can't afford to buy shades or curtains or refuse to turn off some lights.

The bottom line is buying the CORRECT projector for YOUR specific needs. Does this mean you can use the $799 - $999 models; maybe so, but they might not be exactly what is correct for YOUR needs. Don't shop fast, without proper research and by the dollars alone. This is where most people fail; with any purchase; then they complain or feel they got ripped off and pass info to other users that may be looking - that this or that is a bad product; when that likely is not the fact; the true fact being that THEIR setup or the test setup they saw was crap; so now their mind is prejudiced.
 
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Regarding UHP lights used in DLP projectors, Samsung is using PhlatLight LEDs to drive their new high-end 1080p DLP RPTVs. These LED light engines are rated at over 20,000 hours (I've seen 60K and 100K hours tossed around; YMMV).
How does that help the fact that their models are held together with adhesive tape holding mirrors in place? Ala the HL-S5687W?? I'm so pissed about that I could scream.
 
Yes, I read about this new tech. This will definitely put the DLP on the same footing. However Phatlite sets are on average $500 to $700 more expensive than comperable DLPs with standard bulbs and arguably not as bright. Still a 61" TV with a projected life of 20,000 hours (2 years and 3 months roughly if turend on and left on...or 9 years 2 months roughly if used 6 hours a day on average) is fantastic.

See ya
Tony

The cost would probably be a wash over the life of the set, given the 6-8k hours rated for the $200 bulbs in standard DLP projectors. However, consumers seldom think that far ahead.

The brightness issue is another matter. My Toshiba DLP projector has dimmed considerably in the 18 months I've had it, although I will admit it has been used heavily. I suspect it may be dimmer than the DLP sets you mention.
 
IRear Projection works well in room situations that do not have seating/viewing from off angles. There is a huge difference between the center viewing and off angle viewing. For casual TV it is not too big a deal. The only thing is that you need a large screen for rear projection to pull ahead of flat panel in price. You also have a much thicker set. There are some new slim ones coming out, but they tend to cost more and are smaller screens which negates the pricing advantage. The other issue is that if you are going to have a huge screen, it is probably going in a large room, which probably has seating that is not all in the center leading to off angle viewing issues. It is definitely a good technology, I just view it as one that requires a match to the viewing room (just not as restrictive as front projection).

How recent are your rear projectors? I replaced a vintage 1994 53" projector with a new Toshiba 56" dlp unit last year. The viewing angle was considerably increased to the point where there aren't bad spots within reasonable viewing angles. Also, my 56" set is only about 20" deep. Considerably less than the set it replaced, and even less than a typical 30" CRT unit. BTW, the Toshiba is going in the $1300 range, which I don't consider excessive.
 
How recent are your rear projectors? I replaced a vintage 1994 53" projector with a new Toshiba 56" dlp unit last year. The viewing angle was considerably increased to the point where there aren't bad spots within reasonable viewing angles. Also, my 56" set is only about 20" deep. Considerably less than the set it replaced, and even less than a typical 30" CRT unit. BTW, the Toshiba is going in the $1300 range, which I don't consider excessive.

Yes many have improved dramatically on off angle viewing, but it is still noticeable. They have a worse problem with up and down viewing than with side to side.
 
Nope. I used new info I pulled from several manufacturers and retailer web sites with new info. Think of it this way, $210 is how much I paid for my last 25" tube TV. $210 is 20% the cost of the entire DLP TV you bought. That is, buy 5 lamps (10-15 years of use), you could have bought a new TV. And a 6000 hour rating is the exception not the rule looking at current available models.

This is not saying that DLP is not a good option. It is. I am saying that DLPs are not as cheap as the initial price may suggest.

See ya
Tony


Yes. The 6000 hr. rating is for sure the exception. I ran my dlp on low power have had it 2 years and I am on my 3rd bulp. Will sell now and will purchase a lcd or plasma. To me most hdtvs look really good and your eyes will adjust to whatever you buy.
 
I did not see anybody comment on Sony's SXRD technology. From the reviews that I've read it seems to be top of the line at the moment. Does anyone have any first hand experience with it?
 
Ok, I am looking at new TV's, and I know this question has been asked, but it seems that just about everyday something new comes out.

What does everyone here think the best is? Not so much about brands, but type of TV.
I will throw in my 2 cents, I was looking and shopping for months and just couldn't find what I wanted I was able to spend up to 4 grand, then I saw a sony crt 34 inch xbr 970 wide screen at circuit city at a close out price of 599 it had the best pic quality of anthing I saw up to 4 grand from any angle " no screen door and no glare" the only drawback was size and weight, also was not the best one in that size that they ever made but I went ahead and got one, that was a good decision not only did it look great but also had a digital tuner for ota hd. anyway went back and got another, then found matching stands on ebay for 40 bucks so for under 700 a peice I have 2 great looking tv's. the reason I wrote this was to let you know that if you have a rex close by they still sell them for about 599-650 check them out if you have the room they are about 2 feet deep and easy to calibrate within service menu if your brave. oh by the way 2 year warranty parts and labor
 
FP for me. The HD70 has served me well and you can't beat the price for a 92 inch screen! not sure what kind of room you have that you don't think will work with FP but as you can see my room is not special!

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