I need advice on a DLP big screen

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bonkrowave

2[H]4U
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Oct 12, 2004
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With the arrival of my tax return, W00T !!, I have been looking closely at the big screen DLP televisions. I want to go the DLP root as I want to be able to hook my computer up to the TV and use it as a monitor. I am currently looking at two DLP televisions. They are the:


Samsung 46" HL-P4663W HERE

Toshiba 44" 44NHM84 HERE

Both of the TV's have monitor VGA inputs as well as DVI. This is something I am curious about, .... my understanding is DVI is better quality then VGA. Would the difference really be that big between the two ? Or is it more of an E-PEEN difference.

So which set would the roudy bunch here recommend ? Should I just go with the bigger set ?, as it is only 100$ more. 100$ seems like a great price for 2 more inches ;) *wink *wink *nudge *nudge.
 
I have the 50" Samsung DLP and it looks great. You might be able to get it cheaper at Fry's or Circuit City. Believe it or not, Circuit City is real good/good selection of Digital TV's. I got my 50" Samsung HDTV DLP for only $2800 at Fry's. Last one in stock :)
 
darktiger said:
I have the 50" Samsung DLP and it looks great. You might be able to get it cheaper at Fry's or Circuit City. Believe it or not, Circuit City is real good/good selection of Digital TV's. I got my 50" Samsung HDTV DLP for only $2800 at Fry's. Last one in stock :)
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Im a Canadian eh ;) we dont have Ccircuit Citys .... im not sure about fry's but im pretty sure we dont have thoose either. Now if these damn Polar beats would just get off the street I could put on ym touque and take my dog sled to the store.

I was joking about the polar bears and snow, but we really dont have Fry's or Circuit Citys.

:(
 
I have been looking into buying a DLP TV for awhile now, everything I read says Samsung is the way to go.

Enjoy!

-Nate
 
Is there an addon for the TV that simulates daylight ? perhaps a UV lamp ? I know that after I get this and am able to hook up my XBOX, gamecube, and my PC, 44" World Of Warcraft .... I will not see daylight for awhile, and as such I will turn a sickly white. :D
 
I Have no first hand knowledge of the toshiba, but i have seen the samsung and really like it.
 
sergey85z said:
mitsubishi new gen DLP's are by far the best i have seen or read in reviews.
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Mitsubishi just brought its cars over to Canada, like 5 years ago, and now they are thinking of pulling out. I can just imagine how long, if ever, it will take for Mitsubishi TV's to come to Canada.
 
Don't know about the avialabilty. Also check out sonys LCD projection tv's. My father accually bought one a while back and Im pretty impressed with the picture.
 
sergey85z said:
Don't know about the avialabilty. Also check out sonys LCD projection tv's. My father accually bought one a while back and Im pretty impressed with the picture.
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Ya I think its time for a trip to the techno stores.
 
seeing is believeing. everybodies eyes are different, so yo have to look for yourself for sure.
 
both are nice tvs, ive seen both side by side

the only thing id also look into is bulb pricing, Samsung was ~5000hrs@$260cdn. The toshiba last time i checked was around $450

Also samsungs MCC is pretty cool, and with samsung you get the latest DLP chip(HD3) as opposed to the (hd2+). However that being said 1080p is just around the corner, if you can wait till june/july Samsung should have their DLP with the xHD3 chip out.
 
Well I went with the Samsung 46 inch. Just purchased it today. Now I just have to wait for my 20' DVI cable to show up, so I can hook up the computer to the TV.
 
I have the same samsung for my bedroom. Have had the HTPC hooked to it both via DVI and VGA and both performed well. Check out AVS for service menu tweaks once your comfortable with it and you can really bring the picture to life.
 
What sort of resolution have you been able to achieve with DVI ? Is text readable on screen ? The reason I ask is that I currently have my PC hooked up to my 27" through s-video and the text is unreadable in any games such as World of Warcraft.
 
IMO lcd projections look better than DLP's. I have a 60 inch sony Wega III that looks gorgeous, has a dvi input as well
 
bonkrowave said:
What sort of resolution have you been able to achieve with DVI ? Is text readable on screen ? The reason I ask is that I currently have my PC hooked up to my 27" through s-video and the text is unreadable in any games such as World of Warcraft.
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SVideo sucks for surfing, gameplaying, reading txt. VGA or DVI is the way to go, hands down.
 
Bonko,

WoW should be nicely playable on any "modern" RPTV that supports true HD (not that EDTV crap). The old analog coffins sucked but today's digitals provide the quality you need. It should make playing your warrior that much more enjoyable. Your max res though should be somewhere between 1280x720p and 1440x1080i. If you were used to playing at 1600x1200 on a smaller screen...the bigger picture will be nice but you will have a reduction in perceived resolution.

Have you looked at that lazy-boy with the built in toilet? You could play WoW 24/7 and never have to get up. :D

-tReP
 
Trepidati0n said:
Bonko,

WoW should be nicely playable on any "modern" RPTV that supports true HD (not that EDTV crap). The old analog coffins sucked but today's digitals provide the quality you need. It should make playing your warrior that much more enjoyable. Your max res though should be somewhere between 1280x720p and 1440x1080i. If you were used to playing at 1600x1200 on a smaller screen...the bigger picture will be nice but you will have a reduction in perceived resolution.

Have you looked at that lazy-boy with the built in toilet? You could play WoW 24/7 and never have to get up. :D

-tReP
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Ya I had 2 crappy monitors that could only display a max res of 1280x1024 at 60hz. But I ordered my 20 foot DVI cable last night, so hopefully I will be able to play with some nice high resolutions.

And the lazy boy comment is so true. I know my social life is going to go right down the crapper ;) when this TV arrives today.

Also to achieve any of the HDTV resolutions I have to use DVI cables correct? Or am I just mis-informed that VGA cables cannot handle those signals.

Also Im thinking I should get a DVD rom for my comp, as I was reading up on the XBOX (current dvd player) and it says movies are defaulted to 480p (460 ? whatever that number is). I think I am correct that if I play the DVDs through my comp I could send a 1080i signal from the Geforce 6800 gt to the tv.
 
bonkrowave said:
Ya I had 2 crappy monitors that could only display a max res of 1280x1024 at 60hz. But I ordered my 20 foot DVI cable last night, so hopefully I will be able to play with some nice high resolutions.

And the lazy boy comment is so true. I know my social life is going to go right down the crapper ;) when this TV arrives today.

Also to achieve any of the HDTV resolutions I have to use DVI cables correct? Or am I just mis-informed that VGA cables cannot handle those signals.

Also Im thinking I should get a DVD rom for my comp, as I was reading up on the XBOX (current dvd player) and it says movies are defaulted to 480p (460 ? whatever that number is). I think I am correct that if I play the DVDs through my comp I could send a 1080i signal from the Geforce 6800 gt to the tv.
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Actually in terms of resolution, VGA is SUPERIOR! VGA is scalable to ANY resolution and is only bound by our own limitations of what it interfaces to. If you have a good VGA card and a good VGA cable you should not be able to tell the difference if the monitor/TV has a good VGA decoder. However, most modern TV's are making VGA cheap as shit so when compared to DVI it looks like its isn ot as good. Can't blame them completely since the <start booming deep voice> "DVI" is the way of the "Future" <end booming deep voice>. If you don't believe me you should see some of the CRT projectors out there. Even to this day based upon 40 year old technology, a DLP/LCD cannot match it. However DLP/LCD is cheaper to mass-produce and thus in many ways more profitable for the companies who make it. But I don't mind being able to get 90% of what a CRT projector can do for 1/10 cost, 1/100 weight <-- not a typo, and a x10 WAF.

As for your 20' DVI cable. If you bought it from a "good" vendor, then you should be okay. The DVI spec is for 6' maximum :( However, with process improvements and slightly larger guage conductors almost any monkey can get 10'. Once you go beyond 10' becomes a gamble whehter or not your see the dreaded sparkles. If you bought from somebody like RAM then your shot of a bad cable is about 1 in 10. Since RAM guarntees their cable, you are only out shipping. I'm using a 50' DVI cable from Blue Jeans Cable. Love this place sice they use top of the line cable and charge about 1/10 of the botique shit. Hell their performance is better than monster and 1/3rd the cost. God be praised for giving some engineering the brains to put RG-6 and Canare connectors together for home use. :D

Here is our little theatre room in our basement. Also servers as our DDR room, Anime pr0n viewing area, and occasional gaming room. Projector on the ceiling with equipment in the DIY rack on the left. 50' DVI cable connecting it. Wifes elbow showing as we watched SL2. :p

-tReP
 
Trepidati0n said:
Here is our little theatre room in our basement. Also servers as our DDR room, Anime pr0n viewing area, and occasional gaming room. Projector on the ceiling with equipment in the DIY rack on the left. 50' DVI cable connecting it. Wifes elbow showing as we watched SL2. :p

-tReP
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WOW, I just blew my load. That is one hell of a nice setup you have there.

I ordered the DVI cable from mycableshop.ca. I have ordered other cables from these guys before, and have never had problems. I actually just had to change my order as the sales person at future shop was a moron and told me the TV had the wrond kind of DVI connection. When I recieved the TV last night I noticed it had a DVI-D dual link connection rather then the DVI-I dual link which the sales person had indicated.

Oh well what can you do. Well hopefully my BFG6800 GT can pump out a good signal through the DVI-D dual link connection.

On a side note, do you output custom resolutions, and if so, do you use powerstrip ?
 
bonkrowave said:
WOW, I just blew my load. That is one hell of a nice setup you have there.

I ordered the DVI cable from mycableshop.ca. I have ordered other cables from these guys before, and have never had problems. I actually just had to change my order as the sales person at future shop was a moron and told me the TV had the wrond kind of DVI connection. When I recieved the TV last night I noticed it had a DVI-D dual link connection rather then the DVI-I dual link which the sales person had indicated.

Oh well what can you do. Well hopefully my BFG6800 GT can pump out a good signal through the DVI-D dual link connection.

On a side note, do you output custom resolutions, and if so, do you use powerstrip ?
Click to expand...

1. Your connector may support Dual Link DVI-D but it really only is Single Link. You only need dual link if you do 1920x1080P. DVI-I is really DVI-D + VGA in the same connector. It really is that simple. But alot of commercial equipment only support the DVI-D connector and they put a seperate VGA connector on. Fine by me...

2a. My setup isn't that great. I would consider my setup the low end of the "middle ground" market. But it does the job nicely and the wife didn't kick my ass for it. Actually she blew her load (no sick comments please) when I put lion king in. However for what I paid...you would have to pay alot more to get significantly better. It is a Sanyo Z2 PJ + Sony Receiver + BIC America Speakers + Native HD DVD Player (Momitsu). When I watch movies I can achieve 100+ dB levels in that room with the doors closed and that is only 40W RMS on each channel being put out :) I have it calibrated for 65 dB since the wife gets pissed when I put it at 85 dB reference levels. Watching gladiator is a rush especially in the first big battle. The arrows whistling are phenominal.

2b. As for a sub $2k PJ if I had to buy today woudl be the new Panasonic AE700. Next year I think the Sanyo Z4 will do a great job since they are switching to the D5 panels (finally a LCD with CR of 1000:1 out of the box and 2000:1 calibrated). Big nail in DLP's side with that. My ideal CR is about 4000:1 (where my eyes can't tell).

3. As for custom resolutions...don't need them. Modern video cards support the whole gambit. I think you just need to check a box in WinXP to make "non-standard" resolutions as an option. Unless you are interfacing to a non-digital TV, the standards are good. If you need something special, then powerstrip is a fine way to go. Since you are using DVI-D, it should be good for you...very good for you.

Enjoy your new TV...see you on the flip side.

-tReP
 
Trepidati0n said:
1. Your connector may support Dual Link DVI-D but it really only is Single Link. You only need dual link if you do 1920x1080P. DVI-I is really DVI-D + VGA in the same connector. It really is that simple. But alot of commercial equipment only support the DVI-D connector and they put a seperate VGA connector on. Fine by me...

2a. My setup isn't that great. I would consider my setup the low end of the "middle ground" market. But it does the job nicely and the wife didn't kick my ass for it. Actually she blew her load (no sick comments please) when I put lion king in. However for what I paid...you would have to pay alot more to get significantly better. It is a Sanyo Z2 PJ + Sony Receiver + BIC America Speakers + Native HD DVD Player (Momitsu). When I watch movies I can achieve 100+ dB levels in that room with the doors closed and that is only 40W RMS on each channel being put out :) I have it calibrated for 65 dB since the wife gets pissed when I put it at 85 dB reference levels. Watching gladiator is a rush especially in the first big battle. The arrows whistling are phenominal.

2b. As for a sub $2k PJ if I had to buy today woudl be the new Panasonic AE700. Next year I think the Sanyo Z4 will do a great job since they are switching to the D5 panels (finally a LCD with CR of 1000:1 out of the box and 2000:1 calibrated). Big nail in DLP's side with that. My ideal CR is about 4000:1 (where my eyes can't tell).

3. As for custom resolutions...don't need them. Modern video cards support the whole gambit. I think you just need to check a box in WinXP to make "non-standard" resolutions as an option. Unless you are interfacing to a non-digital TV, the standards are good. If you need something special, then powerstrip is a fine way to go. Since you are using DVI-D, it should be good for you...very good for you.

Enjoy your new TV...see you on the flip side.

-tReP
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That wife agro is killer I hear :D
Anyway, thank you so much for the help, I hope I wasn't a bother.
 
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