[opendtv] News: Dream TV Screen, Now in Size Large
- From: Craig Birkmaier <craig@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: OpenDTV Mail List <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 18 Nov 2004 08:45:12 -0500
An interesting analysis by David Pogue, that is littered with a few
misunderstandings. I was particularly intrigued by this comment after
he noted that some of the new "Supersized" LCD panel have 1920 x 1080
resolution:
>The real payoff, though, will come in a few years, when broadcasters
>begin filming and broadcasting an even better, so-called 1080p HDTV
>signal. When that great day arrives, you'll see far more picture
>clarity than your buddies who bought 42-inch plasmas instead.
Uhhh David...broadcasters are ALREADY broadcasting in 1920 x 1080@24P
(they could deliver 30P as well today). Thus any perceived benefit of
a 1920 x 1080P display can already be seen. As for when 1920 x
1080@60P will be broadcast, let's just say that the 60,000 hour life
of these display MAY be long enough to assure that they may
eventually see 1080@60 signals. Then again, we may still be looking
at NTSC signals in 27 years...
Regards
Craig
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/18/technology/circuits/18stat.html?oref=login&th
November 18, 2004
STATE OF THE ART
Dream TV Screen, Now in Size Large
By DAVID POGUE
THESE aren't exactly flush economic times. But believe it or not,
according to a new Consumer Electronics Association survey, the most
desired electronic gift item for this holiday season is a plasma TV.
Of course, there are other kinds of TV sets (cathode-ray tube,
projection and so on). But those big, thin, wide, wall-mountable
screens look so good, they continue to make a statement even when
they're turned off. (Namely, that you just spent a few thousand
dollars on a TV set.)
By far the most popular plasmas are the 42-inchers, which are broad
and sweeping enough to make any wall blush with pride. But if you're
about to go buy one, three words of advice:
Don't do it.
Before you drop all that money on a 42-inch plasma TV, consider
dropping it on a different kind of flat-screen TV, one that until
this month wasn't even in the running: L.C.D.
Of course, liquid-crystal display screens aren't anything new;
they've graced laptops, camcorders and cameras for years. But until
recently you couldn't buy flat-panel L.C.D.'s with screen sizes above
40 inches, not even if you were Bill Gates. They just didn't exist.
It finally dawned on two of the world's biggest L.C.D. makers,
Samsung and Sharp, to spend a few million bucks to upgrade the
screen-size capacity of their factories. The fruits of their labors,
the world's largest commercially available L.C.D. screens, have just
arrived: a 45-inch L.C.D. from Sharp (the LC-45G1H) and a 46-incher
from Samsung (LT-P468W).
Apart from their sheer neighbor-humbling size, the biggest
breakthrough is these screens' resolution: 1,920 pixels by 1,080
pixels. That's the highest resolution of any flat-panel TV (including
the gorgeous new 42-inch L.C.D. sets from Sony and Philips). You're
getting more than two million tiny color dots.
Compare that number with the 786,000 pixels on a typical 42-inch
plasma HDTV, 345,000 on one of those $2,500 "enhanced definition"
plasmas, and only 300,000 on a standard TV. No wonder these are very,
very sharp screens. Now, high-definition geeks may be protesting at
this point. "But that's more resolution than anyone's broadcasting
yet!" And true enough, all those extra dots don't make DVD's or
today's high-definition broadcasts (known as 1080i and 720p signals)
look any sharper.
For now, the primary benefit of all those seething pixels is improved
brightness and contrast, simply because more of the glass is covered
by pixels. You also enjoy a greatly reduced "screen door" effect when
you're sitting up close; the square pixels are so tiny, you can't
make out the pixel grid even from three feet away.
The real payoff, though, will come in a few years, when broadcasters
begin filming and broadcasting an even better, so-called 1080p HDTV
signal. When that great day arrives, you'll see far more picture
clarity than your buddies who bought 42-inch plasmas instead.
These screens also enjoy the more universal perks of L.C.D.-hood,
like being a couple of inches slimmer than a plasma, too, and quite a
bit lighter. For example, the 45-inch Sharp, without its stand or
speaker, weighs only 48 pounds; a plasma weighs about 80 pounds,
requiring more structural support when mounting it on the wall.
Then there's the matter of burn-in, which has terrified plasma buyers
for years. A static image left long enough on a plasma screen will
eventually leave a permanent ghost image on its phosphors.
Now, everyday channel surfing doesn't produce this sort of burn-in.
You're most likely to see it on, for example, airport monitors that
show gate information 24 hours a day. But news hounds should beware
the headlines ticker at the bottom of the screen, and video gamers
may worry about the motionless grid of, say, the field in a football
game. In any case, an L.C.D. doesn't have any phosphors, so images
can't burn in.
In general, L.C.D. screens last longer, too. The Sharp and Samsung
are rated at 60,000 hours, which comes out to six hours of viewing a
day for 27 years, after which you can have the bulb replaced for
$200, if in fact the TV, the company and you are still around. Plasma
life spans are shorter, and you can't replace the bulb, although the
latest models are catching up. The earliest screens, which are even
now being hauled out to the curb by sobbing early adopters, lasted
only a few years before the picture deteriorated noticeably.
Finally, L.C.D. screens consume less electricity than plasmas, and
they don't buzz at high altitudes, as plasmas do.
So if plasmas are thicker, heavier, shorter lived, greedier for
power, buzzier and vulnerable to burn-in, why on earth are they at
the top of everyone's wish list?
The fact is, plasma is still superior to L.C.D. in certain areas,
especially price. The 45-inch Sharp and 46-inch Samsung cost $6,100
and $6,200 online, respectively, and about $8,000 in retail stores.
For that kind of money, you could get a 50-inch plasma and still have
$1,000 left over for popcorn.
Plasma is also the only way to go if you want something larger than
46 inches (for now, anyway; Samsung and Sharp have already
demonstrated 57- and 65-inch L.C.D. prototypes). You should also opt
for plasma if you don't care about milking every speck of quality
from high-definition broadcasts and you're perfectly content with the
quality of DVD's. In that case, an "enhanced definition" plasma can
save you thousands of dollars.
Picture quality is another debate. In general, an L.C.D.'s picture is
sharper than a plasma's, and the colors are more vibrant. Moreover,
an L.C.D. screen fares much better in a bright or sunlit room.
But in a side-by-side test, you might be inclined to declare the
plasma's colors more lifelike and its blacks slightly blacker.
Still, most people would call this theoretical nitpicking. Both the
Samsung and the Sharp look incredible. (Or, to quote a visiting
home-theater installer who saw my review unit: "I - I've never - I've
never seen a picture like that." He would have stayed to watch "The
Godfather" Parts I, II and III if I'd let him.)
They couldn't be more dissimilar in design, however. The Sharp is
understated, calming and minimalist: a pure, floating sheet of moving
image with only a 1.5-inch margin of handsome dark aluminum. It owes
much of its sleekness to an external box that houses the power
circuitry and all of its jacks.
On one hand, you have to stack this box on your other components and
hope that its 10-foot cable is long enough (or pay big dough for a
special extension cord). On the other hand, the box offers three
features that the Samsung lacks. First, it's a high-definition tuner,
meaning that you can plug an antenna directly into it. (The Samsung
is purely a monitor; if you get your TV from an antenna, you have to
buy an external HDTV tuner box.)
Second, the box has a slot for a CableCard, a new offering from
cable-TV companies that eliminates the cable box, its remote and its
cords.
Third, it has a slot that (with an adapter that you have to buy)
accommodates a memory card. It can play slide shows of your digital
pictures, or even - get this - capture what's on TV, either as
digital photos or even little digital movies. Sharp cheerfully
suggests that this screen-capture feature could eliminate having to
scramble for a pencil when a recipe or an 800 number appears.
The Samsung, on the other hand, is entirely self-contained; all of
its jacks are on the back. As a result, it's thicker (5.7 inches,
compared with 3.4 for the Sharp) and a good deal heavier (99 pounds
instead of 48). You'll certainly prefer it if the effect you're after
is pure, wall-covering massiveness. The broader margin and the
30-watt permanently attached speakers make this screen a full foot
wider than the Sharp.
Otherwise, though, these screens are more alike than they are
different. Each offers a healthy assortment of jacks (HDMI, DVI,
component, composite, S-video and so on), a swiveling table stand and
a remote (the Sharp's is illuminated and much nicer). Both offer
excellent viewing angles (now 170 degrees) and much better handling
of fast motion than previous L.C.D.'s (now down to 12 milliseconds
per pixel flicker). Both can memorize calibration settings
(brightness, color tint and so on) independently for each video
input. And both can serve as computer monitors, which is handy if you
work with really, really big spreadsheets.
Above all, both of these screens change the landscape for anyone
who's in the market for a big, gorgeous, luxurious flat-panel TV. If
you're among those whose No. 1 wish-list item is a plasma, consider
wishing upon a different star.
E-mail: Pogue@xxxxxxxxxxx
Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company
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