[Christian]

I'm slowly moving to test the waters on upgrading from my Panasonic CRT RPTV. It'll most likely be a FPTV, but I've been perusing the local BB, CC, etc. on seeing if I can see the two usual suspects of the newer technologies in RPTV's on the showroom floors - the screen door & rainbow effects.


The screen door effect I've noticed, but I can't seem to check if I'm sensitive to the rainbow. Is there a good scene on a DVD I can use? I recall that it's very prevalent on "high contrast" scenes. Or is there another alternative? I'm hoping I can just replay the scene a couple of times to see if I can detect it. It's pretty hard to check for this on the closed circuit programming loop they play at your electronics store.


I am leaning toward DLP, but I'd like to see if this effect is an aspect I can live with.


The reason why going thru this trouble is that I never noticed the CUE (chroma upsampling errors) that plague some DVD players until I started reading about it. Now, I can pick it up in almost any player that has it.


Thanks!


Christian

 

[david(dallas)]

I was like yourself, comparing the DLP and LCD's. I looked at the DLP's for about a month in the stores before I bought. I didn't see the rainbow effect within the store. But after I got it home, I started seeing it. Seems the more I watched, the more I noticed I seemed to notice it most when I was watching the screen then I looked to right to the right quickly to get a drink from the side table. I also noticed during quick editted screens where your eyes have to go back and forth across the screen.

I ended up exchange it for the LCD and I have been happy ever since. I have a 50" and I sit about 10 feet away. I don't see any screen door effect. You have to be very close to see that and you wouldn't be seeing that close to a large screen.


So my only suggestion I make to anybody this this questions is make sure you get from a local outlet where you can do an easy return/exchange within 30 days, matter which type of TV you get.


Good luck.. I

 

[rogo]

Turn your head away from the TV. Watch from the corner of your eye. Have something with chunks of white against a dark background, moving. Do this in a darkened place.


That, to me, is rainbow central.

 

[sportsrumormill]

Funny, I've had my Sammy for 6 months now and haven't noticed any rainbows. My only "gripe" would be that the dark colors just aren't done justice...and it's not extremely bright.


However, for the money, nice look and great-otherwise picture quality--I love it. Tough TV to beat for $3,000.00 (50").


I looked at CRT projection hard (half of the price) but could not get past the saran wrap effect. Way too glossy.

 

[videoking]

I still have never seen a rainbow in a store. Of course I still haven't brought one home for the ultimate test.


**waiting for the HLP's**

 

[CactusJack]

Not all people see the rainbow effect the same, if at all. If you don't see the effect in stores, then you are likely less prone to. Keep in mind that once you've learned the particular scenario where it's easiest to see, and you DO see it, you will likely ALWAYS see it to some extent.


In other words, if you don't see it now, you don't want to know how to see it!


Jack

 

[Electro Funk]

i have had my sammy DLP for 3 months now... never saw a rainbow until reading about them over and over in this forum... then i started to look for them... i must say, even looking for them i RARELY see a rainbow... maybe once or twice since i have owned this set... the instances i did see them i was looking away from the set quickly... i have since tried to repeat this effect, by darting my eyes away from the tv quickly and i almost never see rainbows... while directly viewing the set i have NEVER seen a rainbow... this is not a big issue for me...


who darts their eyes around like crazy while watching a tv program or a movie anyway? unless your sitting right up on the screen?

 

[icaruso]

You know, I too have been looking at the rptv dlp's in local stores and checking for the rainbow effect and I have not seen it. But I am wondering if there is just too much light in the store to see it.

I have seen it in a darkened room with fp dlp's.

 

[RogRacer]

Most people that see the rainbow effect see it when looking quickly away from the screen...toward something else in the room. Since you're not actually watching the TV under those condtions, it shouldn't be an issue. There is a small minority of people, however, that have such rapid eye movement that they see the effect while actually *watching* the screen. If you're one of them, a DLP with a color wheel is not for you. Otherwise, it's a non-issue.

 

[MJBVIDEO]

Keep in mind some people have complained about getting headaches after watching DLP's for a while.

 

[Christian]

Thanks for all the replies. I'm aware it's a very particular phenomenon - most people don't see it, but some people do and are acutely aware of it.


I'm going to do more acid tests at the store (hopefully I can find I good hi-end store around here [I'm temporarily up in Rhode Island] and really get down to business), then ante up for a FP DLP with a GOOD return policy, in case I start seeing the rainbows.


Thanks again!

 

[lusid]

If you really want to see them, hook a DLP up to a PC, set the desktop to black, and start moving the mouse pointer around and different speeds.


I rarely see a rainbow in normal viewing, but it's pretty easy to produce them with the PC.

 

[Salmoneous]

If you just want to know what the rainbow effect is, fire up any DVD with the THX Optimizer on it. Go to the geometry section, and you should see them.


If you want to see them under slightly more natural conditions, go to the credits of a moive. The white on black text, and the quick eye movements between credit and name are great rainbow producers.


Of course, IMO, none of this matters. What matters is are you bugged by rainbows while watching what you normally watch on TV. The best (though not foolproof) way to do that is to watch hours of TV before buying the thing.

 

[doug_k]

Salmoneous, your name+pic looks remarkably like a character from "Hercules"...?

 

[Larry Hutchinson]

I (as well as several friends) have tried all kinds of goofy things trying to see rainbows in stores. Try as we might, clicking teeth, whacking the side of or heads with our hands, no one has been able to see them yet. But we'll keep trying.


But I wonder if biophysics researchers should perhaps do a research project on people who are bothered by rainbows. Perhaps their eyes experience abnormally large saccades or perhaps they have just somehow taught themselves a bad habit.

 

[rogo]

I don't even get the head whacking nonsense. Use the peripheral vision trick. If you can't see rainbows out of the corner of your eye went white chunks are moving against dark areas of the the picture, you never will.

 

[CactusJack]

Quote:

Try as we might, clicking teeth, whacking the side of or heads with our hands, no one has been able to see them yet.

"And all the salesmen slowly backed away from us....."