Dlp Hdtv

Mainstream consumers haven't been asked to make an investment in a piece of home entertainment gear as big as an HDTV since color TVs first hit the market in the early 1960s. Priced at around $1,000 (1960 dollars), color TVs were the domain of the well-to-do for their first several years on the market. HDTVs, too, are a substantial investment, and one you want to get right the first time. As this market continues to evolve, HDTV makers are looking to drive prices down any number of ways, and one of the best bang-for-the-buck HDTV technologies around is rear-projection TV (RPTV).

Samsung has made several very solid RPTV units based on DLP (Digital Light Processor) from Texas Instruments, and our Nick Stam's long-running HDTV buying odyssey ultimately led him to a Samsung DLP-based RPTV. Samsung is back with a new 50" unit that leverages TI's latest DLP chip, the HD3, a 1280x720 micro-display ASIC aimed at helping HDTV makers reduce the cost of RPTVs using DLP technology.

Past DLP chips used one tiny mirror per display pixel. The HD3 drives two pixels per micromirror, doubling the frequency of the mirror flip. This results in a smaller die size, better yield and, eventually, lower prices. We put the new HL-P5063W through our video obstacle course, and while it wasn't a perfect performance, we nonetheless came away impressed. Is an RPTV the right choice for you? Click next to find out.

Here are the HL-P5063W's vital statistics:

Price $3,499 list Weight (pounds) 77 Dimensions, in inches (HWD) 46.5 x 34.25 x 14.1 Visible screen (diagonal, in inches) 50 Native resolutions/aspect ratio 1280x720/16:9 Rated contrast ratio/brightness 1500:1/N/A Microdisplay technology TI DLP HD3 processor Composite inputs RCA (2 rear, 1 side), S-Video (2 rear, 1 side) Component inputs RCA (2 rear) Other video and data inputs HDMI (rear), DVI (rear), Analog RGB (rear) Audio inputs stereo RCA (6 rear, 1 side) Audio outputs stereo RCA Separate media connection box (YES/NO) No Supported SD, ED, and HD modes 480i, 480p, 720p, 1080i Film mode (inverse 3:2 pull-down) Yes Built-in tuner NTSC only CableCARD Support? No Dual-tuner split screen No Discrete Input Selection Buttons on Remote No User can assign names to input sources Yes User can assign separate picture settings to input sources No Audio system 15W x2 Power consumption 200W

The HL-P5063W offers up versatile I/O, though it lacks CableCARD support or a built-in ATSC (HD) TV tuner. We like the presence of VGA, DVI and an HDMI port, as this gives you the most choices for hooking up a PC as well as your HD satellite/cable box, DVD player, game consoles and external HDTV tuner box. At 77 pounds, the HL-P5063W isn't very hard to move around, though given its dimensions, it is a two-person lift.

Samsung's HD2-based TVs were quite successful in the DLP RPTV marketplace. Samsung is still using the successor to the HD2, HD2+ in higher end units. The HL-P5063W is one of the first sets to use TI's new HD3 .55-inch microdisplay. It drives two pixels with each microscopic mirror on the TI chip, thus reducing the chip size and cost substantially. The new ASIC is accompanied by improvements in switching speed, reflectivity, signal and image processing, and color wheel control, all of which improve on the previous generations' image quality. Using a single mirror to light two pixels could potentially cause some temporal smearing, since each micro-mirror now has to effectively pull double duty, though during the course of our testing, we noticed no such smearing.

We first described our HDTV test methodology in an article about our new HDTV Test Lab.

We test via the DVI input and at native pixel resolution, using Milori's ColorFacts measurement software with a Minolta CA-210 colorimeter. The CA-210 is lined up to be perpendicular to the display, and is positioned at point-blank range.

We test four major areas of display performance:

Contrast ratio RGB color response Grayscale linearity Color temperature linearity

Contrast ratio is the difference between the lightest and darkest values in two test images, one pure black and the other pure white. A high contrast ratio indicates that the display is capable of color subtleties and a very high degree of detail. Contrast ratio can be thought of as a kind of "dynamic range" of a display device. It is an important metric, but can be an incomplete indicator of a display's overall performance. For instance, if a display can get very bright, but doesn't get especially dark, the ratio can mask this fact. For this reason, we look at a series of other tests--both objective and subjective--to measure a given display more completely.

For contrast ratio, we take nine measurements, in three rows of three. For the other three tests, we take one measurement at dead center.

We measure grayscale linearity to see how close the display comes to 6500 degrees Kelvin along the full IRE range. IRE is an arbitrary unit for gray level, which is really the amplitude of the voltage representing the gray level. 100 IRE is pure white, while the video blanking level is 0 IRE. One IRE unit is 7.14 millivolts.

New and Improved We have a very cool new piece of gear we've added to our arsenal--Radiant Imaging's ProMetric 8.1 image analysis software. This application, together with a Radiant temperature-regulated CCD camera, allows us to take full-screen measurements of luminance. And rather than taking measurements at nine points, as we used to do with the spot colorimeter, we can now take a full-screen single image that consists of tens of thousands of measurement points.

We measure both full-field white (IRE 100) and full-field black (IRE 0) test images, and report the average level, the VESA DFPM 2.0 uniformity percentage. VESA's method derives this value by taking the minimum measured value and dividing it by the maximum measured value. The result is a percentage, with 100% being the theoretical perfectly uniform display. The closer this value is to 100%, the more uniform a display is.

The VESA uniformity value is useful, but is susceptible to outlier values skewing the final result. In addition, the VESA uniformity value doesn't take into account what's called the dispersion of the data set, which expresses how spread out the values are in a given data set. In statistics, we normally express this dispersion using a standard deviation. So in order to better express a uniformity value that factors in the dispersion (or lack thereof), we calculate a slightly more complicated value:

We take the standard deviation of the luminance values from a test image, and divide it by the average for that same set of values. What this tells us is how dispersed (non-uniform) the data points are compared with the average, with a lower value indicating that the display is exhibiting better uniformity.

We used Microsoft Windows Media HD clips from our PC test system, high-definition video clips and test patterns from a Sencore VOP-920 HD video player. We also spent time watching VOOM satellite HDTV content to make subjective observations about image quality. (It's tough work, but someone's got to do it.)

We used a PC equipped with a Radeon 9800 Pro graphics card to generate a variety of clean, robust test patterns, such as SMPTE bars, pure red, blue, and green, checkerboard, grayscale gradient, and high-frequency patterns to assess image fidelity using DisplayMate. We run these test patterns at 480p and 720p. We also use a Sencore VP403 signal generator to evaluate the 1080i HDTV resolution. Interestingly, the VP403 uses a subset of the DisplayMate test patterns in its firmware.

Finally, we use DVD movie content coming from a Yamaha DVD-S2300MK2 progressive-scan DVD player (check prices) connected via the panel's component video connectors. Currently we do this testing using the Gladiator and Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers DVDs, and use both bright, intense action scenes, as well as darker scenes to gauge dark-tone response. Dark tone response is especially important for a display, because we perceive light the same way we perceive sound: logarithmically. This means our eyes are very good at distinguishing subtle changes in luminance values in dark scenes, but as we move toward fully bright scenes, our sensitivity diminishes, and almost everything appears to be bright to our eyes.

We also use the DVDs to look for banding, also known as false contouring. This effect can be noticed in scenes where a single color (usually dark gray or white) transitions from one shade to another. These transitions should be a smooth blend, but some displays produce noticeable banding.

Contrast Ratio Measurement

Average Contrast Ratio VESA White Uniformity (Min/Max) VESA Black Uniformity (Min/Max) Samsung HL-P5063W 173.6:1 67% 53.5% RPTVs tend not to do especially well on checkerboard test-pattern contrast ratio tests, primarily because of internal light scatter. As an example, the HL-P5063W had an average black value of around 1.03 candelas/square meter (cd/m2), whereas a full-field black image showed a luminance level of around 0.5cd/m2. So this contrast ratio, while disappointing, should be taken with something of a grain of salt. For example, as we watched HDTV and DVD test content, we noticed that dark scene detail was well rendered. At the other end of the spectrum, the HL-P5063W doesn't get especially bright, with average bright values around 174cd/m2. This, combined with an average dark value is what causes the somewhat unimpressive contrast ratio number we see.

In terms of uniformity, RPTVs will generally not fare as well as either LCDs or plasmas, and that was certainly the case here. With the VESA uniformity measure, you want to see a percentage as close to 100 as possible. No HDTV is 100% uniform, but plasmas generally do best here, with uniformity measurements up in the 90+% range for both black and white. LCDs are next in line, and finally RPTVs. Note that what the meter sees in full-field dark or white uniformity doesn't always equate to major problems with normal content. We certainly didn't see a substantial lack of uniformity in our subjective viewing of real content. RGB Color Response

The black triangle represents a "perfect" response, whereas the white triangle represents the measured color response. Note that these are pure color measurements that don't factor in luminance (brightness).

As you can see, the HL-P5063W seems to be over-driving its greens, while blues are slightly off target as well. Reds appear to be just about on target. We've heard that some HDTV makers will purposefully over-drive their green levels, since it boosts the measured brightness level without affecting overall color balance too badly, and that appears to be the case here. We tried several different color temperature settings, but saw basically the same pattern repeat itself.

Grayscale Linearity

The above graph shows (from left to right) grayscale tracking from gray levels IRE 0 (video blanking level/absolute black) through IRE 100 (full-on white). An ideal plot will be a straight line that runs along the dotted line, which represents the target color temperature.

Here the HL-P5063W was well over white-target, and remained this way irrespective of which color temperature setting we used. One reason we suspect is the same one that caused sub-par contrast ratio measurements--light scatter inside the unit's chassis. Because additional light was hitting the measurement spot, it may have caused the color temperature to elevate well above white-target.

Color Temperature Linearity

This chart shows color tracking as the luminance level is raised from 0 IRE to 100 IRE, and indicates how uniformly the display device tracks the selected 6500K target white point. An ideal plot will show all three lines in this graph (Red, Green, and Blue) hovering around the 100% reference line, indicating the display device is converging on or near the selected target white point.

Interestingly, greens were pretty much spot-on throughout the IRE levels, where reds were low and blues were high. Changing the color temperature modified the response pattern slightly, but the overarching pattern persisted.

For starters a picture shot using the Radiant Imaging camera that uses contouring to highlight variances in the screen. This first image is taken from a full white test image:

Next, here's an image that uses the same color contouring but of a full-field black test image:

The different colors you see represent different levels of luminance in the image. This image shows where hotspots are.

Next, let's turn our attention to the actual luminance data collected. In the case of the Samsung, we export nearly 11,000 luminance values from the Radiant Imaging camera image. That's only about 10% of the actual values contained in the test image. The problem is that if we export the all 109,800 values, Excel cannot fit them all onto a single worksheet. So, we figure that "only" 10,981 values will have to do.

Here we've analyzed those data points:

This is consistent with other RPTVs we've tested using the Radiant Imaging camera—the center, where most of the reflected light from the micro-display device hits will be the brightest, and then the luminance value falls off in concentric circles toward the four corners. At the four corners, the luminance level falls off quite a bit more.

We calculate our own "non-uniformity" value using the many sample points we gather using the Radiant Imaging camera system, with a target value being as close to 0% as possible. For white values, the HL-P5063W was at around 26%, consistent with the above isoplot image, and not especially good. Both LCDs and plasmas typically are down around 5% to 10% on this measurement.

Here we see more of the same--the HL-P5063W is up around 28% using our non-uniformity calculation method, whereas plasmas are still down around 5% to 10%, and LCDs are trending toward 10%. So uniformity is one area where the RPTV, because projected light can only be steered so much, doesn't fare as well as the other HDTV panel technologies.

The HL-P5063W's back panel is very easy to access, though all connectors are perpendicular to the unit's back panel. You'll want to leave some extra space behind the set to allow for cable clutter. At 14 inches deep, you'll want a shelf or table at least 26" deep to accommodate the set and leave some room for cabling in the back.

The HL-P5063W's remote is identical to the one found on Samsung's LT-P468W 46" LCD panel we recently reviewed.

On-screen displays are pretty well done, and there's even a feature to do A/B comparisons of some of the Samsung's more advanced video processing features like Digital Natural Image engine (DNIe) and its digital noise reduction filter. DNIe is supposed to enhance image detail, contrast, and white levels. One cool thing is that you can "demo" the feature on any content you're watching, where half the screen will show DNIe enabled, and the other half with it disabled. We noticed that this feature also seemed to improve black levels, which were already pretty good to begin with.

After we got the unit set up and configured and took our objective measurements, it was time to spend some quality eyeball time with Samsung's latest DLP RPTV. The first thing you have to make peace with is that any RPTV has a "bootup time" of around 30 seconds for the projector lamp to hit full brightness, some longer than that. The Samsung took about 40 seconds before its lamp was at full brightness.

For comparison, we stacked the HL-P5063W up against Samsung's LT-P468W LCD panel (around $5,800 street price), and Pioneer's Elite Pioneer Elite Pro-1110HD 50" plasma panel (around $12,000 street price). These panels each represent the three main types of HDTV technology currently on the market. And while the prices are quite disparate, we wanted to get a sense of how the HL-P5063W RPTV would stack up against more expensive panels using the other panel technologies. In fact, Samsung's RPTV offering did surprisingly well versus these more expensive panels, though it was clearly outgunned in some areas.

One of the other main knocks on RPTV-based HDTV has to do with viewing angle sensitivity—in particular, when the vertical viewing angle is changed, brightness and color shifts often are the result. Samsung's did exhibit some of this, and we found our best viewing was at dead-center (vertical/horizontal). To the TV's credit, changing horizontal viewing angle caused little or no changes in brightness and color quality.

VOOM HDTV content looked very good indeed. We spent time watching part of Game 6 of the ALCS (those amazing Red Sox), as well as several movie scenes and Spanish Primera Liga Soccer. In particular, we were looking for any temporal smearing in quickly changing scenes (fast camera pans) that caused substantial inter-frame pixel delta. Such scenes could possibly overwhelm either the unit's video processor or the TI HD3 chip, whose micro-mirrors are drawing two pixels each instead of one. However, we saw no such smearing, and even during fast camera movement in the sports broadcasts, we noticed no smearing or blurriness.

Overall color balance looked good, and we didn't have to spend a lot of time futzing with knobs and levers in the HL-P5063W's menus to achieve this chromatic bliss. We actually preferred the HL-P5063W's overall color palette to the Samsung LCD panel, which tended to push its reds. However, neither Samsung unit was on par with Pioneer's overall color balance on any of the content we looked it, so on this point, the plasma panel clearly was the best of the three.

DVD movie content looked quite good as well. In the Gladiator "Hell Unleashed" sequence in the opening of the film, dark scene detail was rendered considerably better on the HL-P5063W than on Samsung's LCD panel, and even gave the mighty Pioneer Elite plasma a run for its money on this particular front. Action sequences from the Fifth Element were also carried off well, and the Samsung's video processor did a very good job of scaling the DVD content.

One complaint is that we generally found that the HL-P5063W was best viewed in a darkened room. And in terms of brightness, the HL-P5063W clearly was outshone by Samsung's LCD panel, since LCD panels hold the brightness high ground among the three display technologies. We did spend quite a bit of time watching the HL-P5063W with the lights in our HDTV test lab turned on, and after some time spent, our eyes acclimated to the HL-P5063W's brightness level.

We've discovered that RPTVs generally don't fare as well as LCD or plasma panels when we test them using our colorimeters. And upon side-by-side comparison, it's pretty obvious that LCDs will deliver a brighter image, and plasma panels have better overall color balance. That said, neither of those technologies can compete with RPTV in terms of screen size for dollars spent. RPTV is still the best price/performance technology on the market, and the Samsung HL-P5063W is a prime example of a lot of HDTV for the money.

This HDTV delivers solid image quality, versatile connectivity, and good color balance for a price that would make some other HDTVs blush. It won't get as bright as an LCD, and it won't unseat high-end plasma panels for the color balance crown, but it still delivers a very good combination of image quality, screen size, features and price that makes it well worth considering if you're looking to enter the HD world without taking out a second mortgage on your house.

Product: Samsung HL-P5063W Company: samsung.com Pros: Solid overall image quality; good color balance and pretty good brightness in a lit viewing environment; a very good value for the price. Cons: Poor uniformity compared with other panel technologies; lacks an ATSC tuner or CableCARD support; vertical viewing angle sensitivity; 40-second to full-bright "boot time." Summary: With a street price around $2,600, the HL-P5063W is a good value for a 50-inch RPTV. The chassis is still fairly compact so this set won't consume your entire living room. Just be sure to set the vertical viewing angle so that watching it straight on gives best results. Price: $2,600 (street) Rating:

Copyright © 2004 Ziff Davis Media Inc. All Rights Reserved. Originally appearing in ExtremeTech.

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