I have a Samsung I am very happy with. I have had it a couple of years and haven't kept up all that much with them since, but when I was looking itno it I also looked at the Mitsubishis and Sonys, but decided that the Samsung was a nicer TV for less money. If it had been a Tube TV I would have went with a Mitsubishi due to past experience with them, but for projection I would buy Samsung again.

I need to check out the Panasonic PT50DL54 vs the Samsung.

Anyone seen the PT50DL54????

What works best for you counts on lots of things. Things that nobody here can tell you ... you have to tell us.

First what is the size of the room? If you're watching plain old NTSC (including your porn and video games) then the law (not suggestion) of 3-5 to 1 comes into effect. The best viewing distance - the sweet spot on size is three to five times the diagnal measurement of the screen. You should be at least 22 feet to 38 feet way from that 92' screen to enjoy it best. Closer than that (assuming you've got 20:20 or better vision) and you'll see artifacts - further away and the eye can't see the picture detail. NTSC was "invented" 60 years ago for antique technology but build around the eye's primary charcheristics - which haven't changed in the last 60 years with the technology.

So any who. DLPs' - about 10-12% of the population have eyes that actually see a rainbow effect. Take your wife, kids, and who ever else is going to have to possibly suffer the DLP's effect with you to the TV place to make sure they don't see it. Watch a bit of television and look for an arch of sparkly wrong colors. It can be worse in a darken room. There are LCD and CRT projectors - you're not going to find CRT projectors at consumer prices. You'll dump 250 to 500 watts worth of heat into the room every moment you watch television - that requires removing.

Plasmas - ugg. We're have a dozen of them at they're crap. Poor colors, lower resolution, bad contrast, the dump lots of IR heat into the room, burn-in, and damage easy. Bump the front of a plasma and you'll suffer the bruise forever. They burn-in so if you play the same game or watch the same television channel lots the "bug" will burn-in and display as a ghost on other channels. We're having to replace our plasmas every one to two years - we run them 24 hours a day so you do the math.

CRT's big, heavy, and oh so beautiful! I have a big house - but no 1200 sq.ft. bathroom - and a 42" set works right - 11 to 15 feet is the distance from my living room pit to the screen (3-5:1). They use 80-140 watts. The color is the best (widest coverage), have the highest contrast ratio (black is black, white it white), high resolution (they're analog so the display isn't limiting like the digital light panels). I have a projector (LCD) that I use to teach with and for the occassional backyard movie theater but the rest of the house is Sony Wega's (bedroom and living room), an XBR in the garage, and one little Toshiba here in the office.

High resolution changes things up and I haven't heard a new ratio but it's going to be smaller meaning you can get closer up to the screen without seeing artifacts ... unless you're watching a digital signal like satellite or digital cable. Analog television has about 260 Mb/sec worth of data, digital about 5 Mb or less. That kind of compression doesn't come without extreme artifacts which are always visible to the trained eye. I'm not going to ruin you're enjoyment by teaching you what to look for . High-def digital does look better than low-def. At work I have 19" monitors that cost $15,000.00 and will display every flaw in the signal ... high-def does have fewer artifacts but still to my trained eye, isn't as good as good old analog video (700-800 lines of resolution without artifacts).

There are some new rear screen short throw DPL's that have come out that are only like 12" thick. They're better than front screen projectors in that they'll not require super high lumens or a lower room lighting to enjoy - or give better contrast all things being equal. Less lumens = less heat from the lamp. They still suffer the rainbow effect.

If you have a bottomless budget I recommend finding an old analog Barco 8100 light cannon. Used you ought to be able to pick one up for the price of a new Corvette. They are a two man lift, require 220 Volt power, but their picture is to die for as they use CRT's to project the image. Bright enough to use in normal office lighting and able to throw a huge screen. They're the type of projectors the big rock bands would tour with to to the video walls. Beautiful.

Plasma's are very impressive to your friends and give an acceptable picture. Nothing can produce a picture bigger than a projector. And nothing (yet) can match the quality of a good CRT. Sony sets cost more because they are better. You might not be able to see the difference - or even apreciate the difference - but they do put more into their ciruits.

Unless you're going high-def (like DVD) soon try and buy something to hold you over. For the last 60 years we've been using RGB-Y video - red, green, blue, and luminance video. There's been a recent break though and they're developing RGB/CYM televison which does the RGB but also cyan (sky blue), yellow, and magenta (purple) which in theory will open the color triangle about 50% meaning colors will be so much more like real color - think of the leap from black and white to color in difference.

The magazines that I use to keep abreast are "Presentations" and "Broadcast Engineering" which has  web presences somewhere.

Paul
SBE CPBE
(Society of Broadcast Engineers Certified Profession Broadcast Engineer)

The DLP's and LCD's(rear projo) are really nice and is what is going to be slowly phasing out the traditional CRT rear projection over the next 1-2 years. DLP's typically have a better contrast ratio, better color, and faster refresh rate(similar to computer monitors). LCD projo's have the same problem that lcd computer monitors have by having a slower refresh rate. Drawback to dlp's and lcd's is that they have a consumable bulb which lasts 7500-10,000 hours.

From the professional reviews and scientific measurements I've seen performed by third parties DLP's have a smaller color triangle than CRT's and a lower contract (black isn't done well).

You can't change the refesh rate of NTSC without first digitizing it, frame buffering, and then clocking it out at a different rate. That's beyond the scope of most consumers at this point. You can buy a pretty nice scan doubler for a $500 but I would recommend a higher quality one. If you're using the projector for data you can increase the refresh rate from the computer if the projector will support anything other than 60 hz. Data projectors will also support higher resolutions - 1024 x 768 being common but in my teaching experence at the UC 800 x 600 is plenty as the students are reading PowerPoint bullets and looking at screen captures and pictures not trying to read a schematic or blue print.

The DLP's I've looked at from Infocus, Benq, Sony, Samsung, NEC, and others have had bulbs with lifes less than 3000 hours on economy mode. Watching 8 hours a day (my wife is past that!) the bulb ought to last about 14 months. Figure a dollar a day in bulb burning.

Forgot to add that DPL projectors add about 34 dB worth of fan noise into the room lowering the audio signal to noise ratio and dynamic range. The short throw ones less than the exposed ones.

Quoted: I guess that's why ALL TV studios use Sony.  I guess that's why all the shows you watc on your TV were edited on a Sony monitor.  Yeah Sony sucks.  That's very funny. Sony is the De-facto standard in broadcst television.  If your studio or post house has anything else your clients will force you to rent or buy a Sony.

That is well and good for commercial grade equipment, but most people here are buying consumer grade equipment, not studio monitors, and I am sure the studio stuff is a bit more pricey than what you would find at your local Best Buy.