mike123abc said:
Every current technology has its drawbacks:
True, but the upcoming LED technology looks very promising.
1. DLP - Expensive light bulbs every 2k-3k hours. 60,000 Hours is 20 light bulbs, $200 - $300 each is $4000 - $6000 over 60,000 hours. It also suffers from off center viewing brightness issues, and the color wheel causing some to have problems seeing rainbows/getting headaches. Black levels are not very good
Experiential comment: DLP bulbs are rated at 8k hours, not 2k-3k, and the price is around $250. So, 60,000 hours is actually 8 (rounded up) lamps instead of 20 lamps, for a cost of $2000 for 60,000 rather than $4000-$6000. Off-axis viewing gets a little dimmer around 100-110 degrees off-axis, but is still quite watchable up to about 130-140 degress off-axis. Many stores will give you "free" replacement lamps (1 per year) with the purchase of an extended warranty. I've never had an issue seeing the "rainbow-effect", nor have the 3 other people that I know personally at my work-place who also have DLP RPTV sets. Black levels aren't what they were with my standard 4:3 36" TV, but they aren't that bad and the second-generation DLP sets that I've seen have significantly improved black levels. It's a good alternative to plasma, considering the price of a nice plasma is about 3x the price of an equal image-quality DLP.
2. Plasma - Can have good black levels on high quality sets, but can suffer on the cheap ones. You can burn them in, but is a much smaller risk than it used to be, but if you want one for a computer screen or just to play video games not a good choice. 30k - 60k hours is now pretty much average time to 1/2 brightness of the display. Resolution tends to be more limited than other technologies.
Research and observational comments: The higher quality sets are spectacular to look at, but you'll pay the price for it...> $10,000 for a nice size (50" or larger) screen. Since many people do have some kind of video game system, burn-in is still an issue, especially if you have kids who like to play the games with friends. Resolution tends to be more limited, yes, and the fade issue at around 30k hours is very problematic in lower-priced units.
3. LCD Flat Panel - Off angle viewing has brightness issues, especially in the cheap panels. Slow response time shows up in fast moving scenes (they are really improving in this area, probably not a problem for long). The bulbs in the back eventually burn out, but usually last 30k-60k hours. Black levels are bad, especially again in the cheaper sets.
Off-axis viewing degrades very quickly, as you said, it's worse in low-end units. Pixelization is very bad in fast action scenes. Lamp-life is good, but pixel-burnout still is a big issue. Black levels are poor in general.
4. Rear Projectection LCD, all the problems of flat panel LCD plus expensive light bulbs going out every 2k-3k hours.
Off-axis viewing problems are just as bad as in #3. On-axis brightness is amazing though. Lamp life is 8k hours (same as DLP), so not quite as expensive as you indicated. Pixel burnout is an even greater issue because of the brightness in on-axis viewing - a black rectangle really is noticeable on these sets. 2-3 black rectangles and you want to throw rocks at it.
Very annoying.
5. Tube sets - great picture, but limited size, big depth and weigh a ton
Yep, you need 6 people (or a forklift) to move them! Looks great, but the size/weight is a big (no pun intended) drawback.
Standard (3-lamp) RPTV's aren't bad, they're just too huge and they need to be re-aligned at least once a year (if not more often).
