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Re: LCD/DLP vs rear projection/direct view

Posted by Joe S (A) on August 16, 2001 at 08:23:17

In Reply to: LCD/DLP vs rear projection/direct view posted by ed rex on August 15, 2001 at 16:16:44:

I've seen numerous LCD displays in dealer demo rooms and if you can ignore the image artifacts, the lack of color saturation and most importantly - the complete inability to render black as any thing more than a faded middling gray - they might just be your ticket. From what I've seen all they give you is big. Low image quality + big isnt a winning combination for a device that requires a screen and an installation with a projector somewhere out in the room itself. Some of which have outrageously noisy fans BTW. I saw a Runco digital system this past Saturday and the fan noise had to be on the order of 40 or 50 dB - and the projector was just about 4 feet above my head. Talk about distracting! Add to that the fact that the image was pale, undersaturated and basically lousy in every way and I was unimpressed to say the least.

I will say there are at least two digital displays I've seen that show potential. The first is the new Panasonic Flat screen LCD 16:9 - it does a credible job with blacks and displays a purity and sense of clarity and sharpness that are quite striking - though you will still see image artifacts. I still perceive a certain lack of color range - its a bit like looking at a computer monitor set to 256 colors instead of 16 or 32 bit. There is even occaisional color banding in shaded areas rather than smooth gradual transitions in tone.

The other device that points to an interesting future is the new Mitsubishi 65" RPTV based on the Texas Instruments DLP technology. I saw this two weeks ago in a pitch dark demo room and I thought at first that it was a CRT based unit - the blacks were that good. The thing that was striking about it was an absolute sense of fine detail, clairty and resolution and lack of CRT "blurriness" that was absoulutely striking. This technology has real potential, but IMO its not quite there yet. On Disney's Dinosaur there was an odd squirminess to complex finely detailed objects as they moved (the close ups of the pebbled skin of the dinoasaurs heads, for example) and the set had the worst edge enhancement I've ever seen. During the courtship sequence in theat film, where the dark vines hang vertically against a light sky, there were white lines as broad as the vines themselves on either side of each vine - particularly towards the middle of the screen. There was also obvious moire in a few of the scenes where there were large solid color fields with richly saturated colors.

But the thing that was striking was the lack of focus and convergence issues that are endemic to multi tube CRT display devices. There was an absoulte clarity and sense of focus that exceeded ANY CRT based system I've ever seen. Problem is its a $15k device and its still got problems but as these devices are pushed to higher contrast ratios and more refined designs there is no doubt in my mind they will ultimately outdistance CRTs as the superior display technology. But I bet it will be a few more generations of development before that happens...

Oh yeah, all DLPs are not created equal. I saw the Panny RPTV DLP (also $15k) and it couldnt do blacks to save its life. I had the chance to adjust brightness, contrast and color to my hearts content in a darkened room and I never got anything better than a really tired and faded looking gray with an overall image that can only be described as washed out.

joe

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