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**Seán** · 14-11-2004

If you are happy watching TV in a dark room and mainly watch TV for typically half an hour longer at a time, I would recommend the front-projection option. I have a Panasonic PT-AE500E and have to say I'm very happy with the picture on it. When running in a dark room, I have yet to see any other TV system other than a good quality CRT matches the colour rendering. Prices for high resolution projectors such as native HDTV are very reasonable compared with getting a native HDTV resolution Plasma.

However there are a few drawbacks. For example LCD projectors with a low contrast ratio have a noticeable glow on black or dark scenes. While projectors do have a cooling fan, most of the newer projectors including my Panasonic are fairly quiet and certainly quieter than the average PC. Finally, background light significantly affects the picture's contrast. For example turning the light on has the same effect as turning up the brightness on a PC monitor.

Most projectors have bulbs that typically last between 1,500 and 3,000 hours. This works out at replacing the bulb every 1.5 to 2.5 years for an average of 3 hours viewing per day. However, however their life also depends on how many cycles the projector is powered up. This along with a 30 second warm-up time makes them less suitable for short viewing times such as quickly checking what's on TV. Finally, while the filters in a projector tend to need cleaning (rinsing) every 100 hours, this is still less often than wiping the dust off a TV screen every few days.

Here in Ireland, I haven't seen any great quality plasma sets. The one thing that put me off these is the colour rendering, for example when I see a plasma TV running next to a regular TV the colour looks much more vivid on the TV than the plasma set. I have yet to see a plasma set that can show a deep red colour as most I have seen shows red with a tint of orange. Then again, from what I have read on recent plasma TV reviews, the new sets have much better colour rendering. Other issues I have heard with plasma include pixels failing over time and the picture brightness dropping over time. However, I have yet to see a set with a dud pixel. Screen-burn can also be an issue such as viewing a channels with a bright logo. VH-1 has an example with an awfully bright logo.

Then again, the main advantage with a plasma set is that they take up a fraction of the space of CRT and most rear-projection sets, much like comparing an PC TFT monitor to a CRT monitor. They have no warm-up time from what I recall making them very suitable for frequent short use such as quickly checking what's on TV. The cost of good native HDTV resolution sets can be very expensive. Finally, while most 42" plasma sets claim to support HDTV, these down-scale the 1280x720 (or 1920x1080) HDTV resolution down to their native resolution of 848x480 which turns out just marginally better than standard definition TV. For HDTV viewing, I would recommend looking for a native resolution equal to or greater 1280x720.

I can't really comment much on rear-projection TVs as I have not seen these working in real life, however I heard that their vertical viewing angle is quite poor which can be annoying should the viewer get up, hear something interesting from the TV and then must duck to see what's happening

Anyway, for more info on the advantages and drawbacks of DLP, have a look at this article comparing plasma against DLP:
http://www.plasmatvbuyingguide.com/dlpvsplasmatv.html

For more information comparing front & rear projection with CRT and plasma, have a look at this thread.

14-11-2004	#8 (permalink)
Seán News Coordinator, Reviewer & Senior Moderator Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Republic of Ireland (North West) Posts: 2,595	Re: Plasma, DLP or HD projection? If you are happy watching TV in a dark room and mainly watch TV for typically half an hour longer at a time, I would recommend the front-projection option. I have a Panasonic PT-AE500E and have to say I'm very happy with the picture on it. When running in a dark room, I have yet to see any other TV system other than a good quality CRT matches the colour rendering. Prices for high resolution projectors such as native HDTV are very reasonable compared with getting a native HDTV resolution Plasma. However there are a few drawbacks. For example LCD projectors with a low contrast ratio have a noticeable glow on black or dark scenes. While projectors do have a cooling fan, most of the newer projectors including my Panasonic are fairly quiet and certainly quieter than the average PC. Finally, background light significantly affects the picture's contrast. For example turning the light on has the same effect as turning up the brightness on a PC monitor. Most projectors have bulbs that typically last between 1,500 and 3,000 hours. This works out at replacing the bulb every 1.5 to 2.5 years for an average of 3 hours viewing per day. However, however their life also depends on how many cycles the projector is powered up. This along with a 30 second warm-up time makes them less suitable for short viewing times such as quickly checking what's on TV. Finally, while the filters in a projector tend to need cleaning (rinsing) every 100 hours, this is still less often than wiping the dust off a TV screen every few days. Here in Ireland, I haven't seen any great quality plasma sets. The one thing that put me off these is the colour rendering, for example when I see a plasma TV running next to a regular TV the colour looks much more vivid on the TV than the plasma set. I have yet to see a plasma set that can show a deep red colour as most I have seen shows red with a tint of orange. Then again, from what I have read on recent plasma TV reviews, the new sets have much better colour rendering. Other issues I have heard with plasma include pixels failing over time and the picture brightness dropping over time. However, I have yet to see a set with a dud pixel. Screen-burn can also be an issue such as viewing a channels with a bright logo. VH-1 has an example with an awfully bright logo. Then again, the main advantage with a plasma set is that they take up a fraction of the space of CRT and most rear-projection sets, much like comparing an PC TFT monitor to a CRT monitor. They have no warm-up time from what I recall making them very suitable for frequent short use such as quickly checking what's on TV. The cost of good native HDTV resolution sets can be very expensive. Finally, while most 42" plasma sets claim to support HDTV, these down-scale the 1280x720 (or 1920x1080) HDTV resolution down to their native resolution of 848x480 which turns out just marginally better than standard definition TV. For HDTV viewing, I would recommend looking for a native resolution equal to or greater 1280x720. I can't really comment much on rear-projection TVs as I have not seen these working in real life, however I heard that their vertical viewing angle is quite poor which can be annoying should the viewer get up, hear something interesting from the TV and then must duck to see what's happening Anyway, for more info on the advantages and drawbacks of DLP, have a look at this article comparing plasma against DLP: http://www.plasmatvbuyingguide.com/dlpvsplasmatv.html For more information comparing front & rear projection with CRT and plasma, have a look at this thread.