[opendtv] Re: News: Slim and Light, a Bright New Rival to Plasma
- From: "Clay Cowdery" <ccowdery@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 13 Jun 2004 17:58:55 -0400
Thx.
We looked at Samsung DLP microdisplays. New generation are coming out any
week. The old models we saw had rainbow problems and viewing angle was
limited. New models will have larger screens. Too large for us. While a 34"
CRT is larger, we already have allocated the space so it will fit in the
room.
C
> -----Original Message-----
> From: opendtv-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> [mailto:opendtv-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Craig Birkmaier
> Sent: Friday, June 11, 2004 6:58 AM
> To: OpenDTV Mail List
> Subject: [opendtv] News: Slim and Light, a Bright New Rival to Plasma
>
> http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/10/technology/circuits/10basi.html?th
>
> June 10, 2004
> BASICS
>
> Slim and Light, a Bright New Rival to Plasma By WILSON ROTHMAN
>
>
> OR Glen Mauriello, Phase 1 is complete: his wife, Patty, has
> given him the green light to build a home theater in the
> basement of their home in Tewksbury Township, N.J. "I married
> a saint," said Mr.
> Mauriello, a vice president of a Manhattan-based financial
> services company. Now comes Phase 2: choosing the right TV.
>
> When he set out on his search four months ago, Mr. Mauriello
> thought of TV's in four established categories: classic
> direct-view sets using cathode ray tubes (C.R.T.'s),
> liquid-crystal-display (L.C.D.) flat-panel sets, the larger
> plasma flat panels and the biggest and clunkiest of them all,
> C.R.T. rear-projection sets.
>
> But when he visited an electronics store, he discovered a
> new class of pricier rear-projection TV's called
> microdisplays, which are slimmer, are lighter in weight and
> have a brighter picture than their predecessors. They usually
> cost half as much as similar-size plasmas.
>
> "No matter what television technology you choose, there are
> compromises," said Lance Braithwaite, engineering consultant
> for Samsung Electronics' American Quality Assurance Labs.
> "For the moment, microdisplay is the best compromise."
>
> Since the early 1980's, most big-screen televisions have been
> rear-projection C.R.T. models. Rather than shooting an image
> straight at the screen from a single tube, rear-projection
> models use three smaller tubes that send red, green and blue
> images through a series of lenses and mirrors, projecting
> them together onto the screen to create a picture.
>
> The trouble is, even smaller tubes weigh quite a bit and take
> up space in the television cabinet. Rear-projection sets are
> not as bright as plasma models or direct-view single-tube
> sets; those using bigger C.R.T.'s deliver brighter pictures,
> but greater size means additional weight.
>
> New Technologies
>
> Microdisplay rear-projection TV's get their name from the
> three chip-based technologies that they variously use to
> create a picture.
>
> L.C.D. In L.C.D.-based rear projection, red, green and blue
> lights shine through three tiny L.C.D. screens (replacing the
> three tubes in traditional rear-projection sets). The images
> travel a path of lenses and mirrors to appear converged on the screen.
>
> D.L.P. Other sets use Texas Instruments' digital light
> processing chip, which is covered with thousands of tiny
> mirrors, each tilting individually to create gray shades from
> light to dark. Most D.L.P.
> sets use only one chip to create the image, which is given
> color by red, green and blue lights spun on a color wheel
> that reflect off the chip in sequence 120 times per second,
> so fast that they appear converged. That image passes through
> lenses and mirrors onto the screen.
>
> LCOS The newest method, liquid crystal on silicon (LCoS),
> combines characteristics of the other two. Three chips with
> red, green and blue light can be used to create the picture,
> or, as with D.L.P., a single chip with red, green and blue
> light rapidly scans across its surface. In both cases, light
> is reflected off each chip.
>
> At the moment, major manufacturers are divided across the
> three formats. L.C.D. is championed by Sony, Hitachi and
> Panasonic, which is also introducing a D.L.P. line. Squarely
> in the D.L.P. camp are Samsung and RCA. Mitsubishi and
> Toshiba, having introduced three-chip LCoS televisions, are
> now refocusing their product lines around D.L.P. JVC will
> introduce several three-chip LCoS models in the next few
> months. Philips is the only manufacturer selling a one-chip
> LCoS set in the United States.
>
> Microdisplay rear projection will soon overtake its more
> affordable C.R.T.-based counterpart, according to Riddhi
> Patel, senior analyst at iSuppli, a market research firm. At
> the start of this year, microdisplays represented only 8
> percent of the rear-projection television market worldwide,
> itself just a sliver of the overall TV business. But by
> year's end, nearly a quarter of all rear-projection sets will
> be microdisplay.
>
> Size and Weight
>
> Without needing tubes to generate an image, microdisplays are
> up to two-thirds lighter and a third less tall than C.R.T.
> rear projection sets. The new optics take up less space too,
> so cabinets are shallower, by 10 inches or more.
>
> They also weigh less. While a 65-inch C.R.T. rear-projection
> set can tip the scales at more than 350 pounds, a 60-inch
> microdisplay weighs less than 150 pounds. Even the ballyhooed
> plasma can't match a microdisplay pound for pound: while one
> of Sony's 42-inch plasma sets weighs 78 pounds, its 42-inch
> L.C.D. rear-projection weighs just 64 pounds.
>
> "Suddenly projection TV isn't just a suburban product," said
> Ed Wolff, vice president of Panasonic's display group. "If
> you live in a three-story walkup, you can now carry a 47-inch
> TV up the stairs."
>
> Microdisplays are even closing in on plasma's slender form.
> In January, RCA and its partner InFocus introduced a
> super-thin wall-mountable D.L.P., a set less than seven
> inches deep. This fall Hitachi will start selling an L.C.D.
> rear-projection set that is deeper than plasma but has the
> same head-on appearance: screen, speakers and not a whole lot else.
>
> Picture Quality
>
> Size, shape and weight play increasingly important roles in
> choosing a TV, but picture quality is still pre-eminent. All
> three technologies have rapidly evolved from somewhat glitchy
> novelties into contenders embraced by videophiles.
>
> Not long ago, L.C.D. rear-projection sets were plagued by low
> contrast ratios: the pictures were always bright, but as a
> result, black tended to appear lighter, more of a deep blue.
> Today improved chips and screen materials have darkened the
> dark parts of L.C.D.
> pictures.
>
> D.L.P. sets have always had better black levels than competing L.C.D.
> products. But because single-chip D.L.P.'s use the spinning
> color wheel, viewers who jerk their heads or move their eyes
> very fast may see the "rainbow effect," that is, the three
> colors out of alignment.
> With better, faster color wheels, the rainbow effect is diminishing.
> One-chip LCoS TV's also face this problem, though three-chip
> LCoS TV's do not.
>
> The greatest obstacle for LCoS TV's has been manufacturing.
> Toshiba abandoned its LCoS set despite critical acclaim
> because the company could not find an affordable way to build
> it. Philips recently stepped up LCoS production, however, and
> Intel announced its entry into the LCoS business, so it is
> likely to become a larger force soon.
>
> Gary Merson, who publishes The HDTV Insider Newsletter and
> reviews television sets for several magazines, said that the
> latest microdisplays from most major brands put up a good
> fight against plasma and C.R.T.-based sets of a similar size.
>
> "What motivates people are brightness and uniform sharpness," Mr.
> Merson said. "With C.R.T.'s, the picture is sharper in the
> center than in the corners. Like flat-panel L.C.D.'s and
> plasma TV's, microdisplays are sharp from edge to edge."
>
> Mr. Merson says that microdisplay rear-projection sets can
> even be as bright as plasma, but only at certain angles.
>
> Though some purists feel the best viewing experience still
> comes from a well-maintained C.R.T. rear-projection set, the
> need for maintenance puts C.R.T. at a disadvantage. The three
> separate tubes of C.R.T.-based sets can shift out of
> alignment, leading to a fuzzy image. "Microdisplay sets, out
> of the box, are perfectly converged,"
> Mr. Merson said.
>
> After researching several microdisplay makers in his hunt for
> the perfect television, Mr. Mauriello has decided to wait for
> Samsung's newest 61-inch D.L.P. Meanwhile, he is getting his
> basement ready.
>
> "I'm setting up the room with two big Montauk sofas on
> different levels to form stadium seating," he said. "I'm
> looking forward to crawling into them with my four kids and
> watching 'Finding Nemo' - then putting them to bed and
> watching 'Star Wars.' "
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> You can UNSUBSCRIBE from the OpenDTV list in two ways:
>
> - Using the UNSUBSCRIBE command in your user configuration
> settings at FreeLists.org
>
> - By sending a message to: opendtv-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with
> the word unsubscribe in the subject line.
>
>
----------------------------------------------------------------------
You can UNSUBSCRIBE from the OpenDTV list in two ways:
- Using the UNSUBSCRIBE command in your user configuration settings at
FreeLists.org
- By sending a message to: opendtv-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the word
unsubscribe in the subject line.
Other related posts:
