I figured people on this side of the fence could provide the best criticism for the DLP boxes.

Being an owner of both, there's plenty.

No lamp replacement. Trust me... this can be a headache. I just had a lamp fail on me, and now that it has been 'fixed' the calibration is totally off. Our tech guy has to come back today to get it fixed. So it's a hassle, and it can cause problems as well.

Silk Screen Effect, or some people call it stationary grain. It's really noticeable on bright colors like white, and is a bother at certain times. I dont' find it too distracting, but no distraction is much better.

Powering up/Down, it takes seconds to turn on, and you have to be real careful with turning it on and off since continous use of the power button will increase your rate of lamp replacement. So not only can it get annoying... but it's making you even shell out even more dough.

Viewing Angles Plasmas are the best in the digital world at this.

The kinks of Projection PQ, yes the best ones give you the most theater like presentation but there are some drawbacks. Floating blacks is one. Light always scatters on rear projection displays. I don't know why RPJ buffs always down play this. So really bright scenes... say bye bye to shadow detail and truly black blacks.

They're not FLAT! Nuff said.

So yes, I am critical if rear projection sets. I own a Samsung DLP. I think it's a kickin TV, but I really wished I had a plasma downstairs instead. Don't get me wrong! They do have some advantages. Namely price. Higher resolutions at a lower cost. And no burn-in... or in a more reality sense image retention problems.

1) Couldn't mount anything other than a flat panel high enough out of reach of my 1yo.

2) Reclaim lots of space in my small family room by hanging it on the wall.

What everyone else said.... and I just cant get past the Rear-projection thing. Its OLD technology, IMO. As plasma and LCD prices drop, the DLP price-per-screen-inch advantage dwindles and you're left with very few if any reasons to buy a DLP. The concept of the mirrors is VERY cool but the lamp replacement, large chassis, rear-projection, and disco-ball color wheel are a turn-off.

No offense to DLP guys.... you like what you like.

Just my opinion.... flat-screen is the NOW and the FUTURE.... ;)

Same as what most people already stated. Here are my main reasons:

1) Flat panel saves much space and "opens" up the room
2) Viewing angles much better on a plasma
3) Bulb replacement

Yeah, the bulb replacement is a huge downside for me as well. Not only can it screw up your calibration, but its a large chunk of change every time one burns out. Viewing angles are also much better on a plasma, and IMO you get more vibrant colors/pop from a plasma.

I have owned two DLPs but I have always found the plasma a better picture for my eye. The main drawback to me is price and reflection. My main viewing area has a lot of windows and reflections off a glass plasma screen would not make it work there. My last purchase was a 61" 1080p DLP which I could not even afford in a plasma. So while I think the picture is better I am not able to justify a 4x-5x price difference.

Ditto for me. I gave my DLP to my sister. 400 bucks a bulb, and sometimes they weren't even in stock when I needed one.

Don't discount the "cool factor". It may sound vain but we are all somewhat in this category. What we drive, where we live, how we dress etc. Plasma's are just flat cool.

Yeah, the bulb replacement is a huge downside for me as well. Not only can it screw up your calibration, but its a large chunk of change every time one burns out. Viewing angles are also much better on a plasma, and IMO you get more vibrant colors/pop from a plasma.Bulb replacements are no longer an issue with the LED backlit DLPs and LCOS displays shipping in 2007. LED backlit displays also eliminate the color wheel and their associated rainbows.

thanks for the comments. I could use some more.

the bulb. I had a front projector and besides having to replace it periodically the brightness falloff is very rapid the first few hundred hours.

I own both, a 61in dlp and a 42in plasma.
In sizes of 50in and lower, you'd have to be insane not to get a plasma. Greater than 56 though, plasma becomes quickly loses to dlp in terms of price(and resolution) per square inch.

All the benefits lie with plasma, problem is (still) price.

first lamp blew at 14 months, waiting on the next one to blow is not cool.
my mits dlp was not sealed well and dust got on the internal mirror causing visible dust smudges on the screen, so it needed to be cleaned after only 6 months.
and the PQ of plasma is just better gives you that looking through the window effect.

Owned a Mits 50" RGB RPTV - BIG Box!

Owned a Panasonic RGB CRT Front PJ on a 16x9 100" screen (first ever sold by Stewart Screen)

Owned a Zenith PRO900X RGB CRT Front PJ on a 16x9 144" screen

Own a Phillips 30" HDTV (bedroom)

Bought a 50" Samsung 5053 - Its 2007. I wanted modern technology and I don't have room for a Front PJ.

Bulb replacements are no longer an issue with the LED backlit DLPs and LCOS displays shipping in 2007. LED backlit displays also eliminate the color wheel and their associated rainbows.

DLP has no chance against a good plasma.
Forgetaboutit! :cool:

1. Lack of stock / selection. Big box stores just arn't stocking many DLP any more other than huge ones.
2. Size I wanted something in the 42" range for my living room, making plasma Ideal.
3. No bulbs to replace.

DLP is soooo...2002. Plasma is it now and will be till SED (not likely) or OLED come up with a better product.

For me, the SSE and bulb negatives of DLP along with the "cool" factor of plasma.

The lamp replacement and viewing angles were the major factors in my choosing plasma over DLP. I also wanted a plasma ever since seeing them for the first time in the late 1990s at the Consumer Electronics Show in Vegas.

DLP has no chance against a good plasma.
Forgetaboutit! :cool:

As an owner of a DLP front projector and a short stint with a DLP RP, I totally agree.

I don't want to in-flame anyone but I believe based on the 2007 CES Show announcements and displays that RPTV has one foot in the grave. It's a technology that is almost 30 years old.

www.hdguru.com has a very good posting, by manufacturer, of all the new displays that are coming in 2007. I believe there are 8 or 9 posts.

Read them all and you will see that both Plasma and LCD will be releasing more 60". 63" 65" and 67" models. This size is "usually " reserved for RPTV. . .not anymore.

Also 2007 is the year of the 1080P plasma so what advantage other than cost does DLP HDTV have?

Plasma/LCD really is a "Jetson's TV"

They are going to have to go to 70+ inches or be regulated to the bargin area like the few 52" and 60" RGB CRT RPTV's (all for less than $1000, some below $600) to stay alive.

30 years ago it was stated that some day in the not too distant future you would have Hang On The Wall TV.

40 years ago A T & T demo'd at the 1964 Worlds Fair the PicturePhone. They said in 10 years EVERYONE would have one.

So now we have HOTW TV . . .and NO PicturePhone. At the time if I was old enough to bet I would have bet on the phone before the HOTW TV. Seemed like too much of a leap in technology staring at that 21" 400 pound RCA Color Console TV.

no wanted to be caught nekid or picking their nose with a picture phone. Imagine all the lies you can't use with a picture phone :)

same as most people.

Space - i have a pretty small living room so i needed a flat panel.
viewing angle - i HATE the viewing angle of DLPs and rear projections. I stand up and it gets darker, i find that ridiculous.

Those are my only 2 reasons.

Just to be on the fair side in comparisson, plasmas aren't really perfect TVs either. I own Hitachi HDT79 42" and I love it but there are still drawbacks.

One issue for me is glare. I have my plasma in my bedroom right up against a big ass window. The only place I can put it. Right now during winter sun hangs low right across my window and even with closed blinds still makes the room very bright. It's watchable during the day, but whenever a dark scene comes on you just see your whole room in your plasma. So most of the time I wait until it gets dark before watching anything. In future I will probably put drapes or change my windowblinds to something much thicker. Right now it doesn't bother me that much.

Another is image retention. So you have a scene where some object is in one place for a long time, like for example South Park cartoons, a lot of stationary objects in their scenes, or black bars on top and bottom in really wide movies. Anyway, during these scenes, sometimes some object will leave an ghost image on screen and if the scene immideatly cuts to dark you will end up seeing it until the scene changes to something colorfull and erases the image retention. After that it will be gone. It's mostly black bars though, whenever the movie goes dark you see the bars on top and bottom blacker than the black color in the movie.

Not 1080p. In fact most plasmas have weird resolutions. Mine is 1024x1080 I think. So this isn't even a real 720p screen because it doesn't have enough horizontal pixels. When you feed this tv 720p picture, a scaler in tv will have to discard a bunch of horizontal pixels and then make up a bunch of vertical pixels. And when you feed it 1080i image it will have to discard a lot of horizontal pixels. I don't know if this hurts image quality (probably a little, depends on the scaler and I think hitachi has a real good scaler), but I can tell you HD picture quality is stunning.

Like I said, I love my plasma, but it's not perfect TV YET. The thing that I also really like is playing people a superman returns airplane scene on my oppo upconverting player and watch their jaws drop. They can't mention enough how good the picture looks so it makes my day :)

Just to be on the fair side in comparisson, plasmas aren't really perfect TVs either. I own Hitachi HDT79 42" and I love it but there are still drawbacks.

One issue for me is glare. I have my plasma in my bedroom right up against a big ass window. The only place I can put it. Right now during winter sun hangs low right across my window and even with closed blinds still makes the room very bright. It's watchable during the day, but whenever a dark scene comes on you just see your whole room in your plasma. So most of the time I wait until it gets dark before watching anything. In future I will probably put drapes or change my windowblinds to something much thicker. Right now it doesn't bother me that much.

Another is image retention. So you have a scene where some object is in one place for a long time, like for example South Park cartoons, a lot of stationary objects in their scenes, or black bars on top and bottom in really wide movies. Anyway, during these scenes, sometimes some object will leave an ghost image on screen and if the scene immideatly cuts to dark you will end up seeing it until the scene changes to something colorfull and erases the image retention. After that it will be gone. It's mostly black bars though, whenever the movie goes dark you see the bars on top and bottom blacker than the black color in the movie.

Not 1080p. In fact most plasmas have weird resolutions. Mine is 1024x1080 I think. So this isn't even a real 720p screen because it doesn't have enough horizontal pixels. When you feed this tv 720p picture, a scaler in tv will have to discard a bunch of horizontal pixels and then make up a bunch of vertical pixels. And when you feed it 1080i image it will have to discard a lot of horizontal pixels. I don't know if this hurts image quality (probably a little, depends on the scaler and I think hitachi has a real good scaler), but I can tell you HD picture quality is stunning.

Like I said, I love my plasma, but it's not perfect TV YET. The thing that I also really like is playing people a superman returns airplane scene on my oppo upconverting player and watch their jaws drop. They can't mention enough how good the picture looks so it makes my day :)

Yeah, good post and definitely "fair" ;)

I still love the plasma look though.... :cool:

The one and only reason I chose a plasma over a DLP projection was bulb replacement. Who wants to buy a 2 or 3 hundred dollar bulb every year or so.

David

I think the plasma gives the most "3D-like" image.

The one and only reason I chose a plasma over a DLP projection was bulb replacement. Who wants to buy a 2 or 3 hundred dollar bulb every year or so.Well, it's not every year. The bulbs last from 3000 to 8000 hours, depending on model. Most DLPs use 4000 to 6000 hour bulbs.

Even watching ten hours of TV each day, you would still get 1.5 to 2.0 years between bulbs. Many people have their DLPs for 5+ years and never need a bulb change, because they don't watch hours of TV every day.

As noted above, the new 2007 LED-backlit DLPs eliminate both the bulb and the color wheel. There are no more bulbs to change.

I just bought a plasma and had wrestled with this same question. This is what got me to just say no to DLP:

I want more room in my basement/Home Theatre Room. Sure, a big giant screen is nice, but it is more "bulky" than my current giant sony.

I often have company over. Unless said company is sitting at eye level and right in front of the TV (rarely anyone is "sitting" around) the screen looks pretty bad from the sides. If I continue to have poker games and baseball/hockey/football/beer guests, they can't see the screeen when playing foosball or table hockey.

It looks sandy/silky/screendoorish to me, I just can't seem to focus on the screen like I can with a plasma.

That is what moved me to the plasma.

I looked hard at Mits,Samsung,JVC DLPs and Sony SXRD after 3 1/2 years of watching on my 42" plasma but i just can't stand the rainbow, silkish picture, and poor viewing angle of those, I can live with the non thin factor/bulb replacement but in the end the smoother and 3d like picture of plasma made me stayed with it...burn in is not an issue since it did not occur on my 42"...

I am the new owner of a 50" Plasma, and a longtime owner of a DLP home theater front projector. I've never had issues with RBE, so I do like the DLP image as far as it goes, but...

The plasma has way too much going for it. The 4-inch thick wall-mountable form factor rocks. No getting away from that. The picture typically cranks out way more foot-lamberts in brightness than the rptv's do. And to top it off, the DLP sets - even with Faroudja DCDI like my projector, have hellacious motion artifacts. Lots of motion on the screen makes me feel like I've drank too much cough syrup. Plasma sets seem to have faster scan rate, thus smoother motion.

With the prices taking such a dramatic dive in the past year, plasma is, IMHO, the way to go in most cases. I love the 110" 16:9 picture from my DLP front projector, especially during family movie nights, but the plasma is just an all-around better (brighter, smoother, higher contrast, more compact, better viewing angles, more ambient light tolerant, etc.) choice for me in my living room than a bulky rptv. With so many quality plasma sets costing the same (or less) than comparable sized LCD or DLP sets, why? Why, I ask you! ;)

I am the new owner of a 50" Plasma, and a longtime owner of a DLP home theater front projector. I've never had issues with RBE, so I do like the DLP image as far as it goes, but...

The plasma has way too much going for it. The 4-inch thick wall-mountable form factor rocks. No getting away from that. The picture typically cranks out way more foot-lamberts in brightness than the rptv's do. And to top it off, the DLP sets - even with Faroudja DCDI like my projector, have hellacious motion artifacts. Lots of motion on the screen makes me feel like I've drank too much cough syrup. Plasma sets seem to have faster scan rate, thus smoother motion.

With the prices taking such a dramatic dive in the past year, plasma is, IMHO, the way to go in most cases. I love the 110" 16:9 picture from my DLP front projector, especially during family movie nights, but the plasma is just an all-around better (brighter, smoother, higher contrast, more compact, better viewing angles, more ambient light tolerant, etc.) choice for me in my living room than a bulky rptv. With so many quality plasma sets costing the same (or less) than comparable sized LCD or DLP sets, why? Why, I ask you! ;)

I have a 42" plasma (which is the largest size I could wall-mount in that particular room) as a bedroom TV, and plasma, in terms of price for features, was not merely the best choice in that size, but the *only* choice in that size (especially given that CableCARD-equipped LCDs in the same size were downright difficult (nowadays, try *impossible*) to find, and when they were available, cost twice as much as plasma). Also, you can wall-mount a plasma (my 42PF7320A/37 is wall-mounted using a Peerless wallmount), whereas wall-mounting *any* projection TV in that size simply doesn't work.

I chose a plasma over DLP simply because it looks MUCH better and you can view it without cementing yourself into ONE position.
DLP is the cheap mans hidef bigscreen IMO. You get a lot of screen for the money but it just doesn't compare to a plasma or LCD.