Plasma or LCD TV ??
Senior Member
Joined: Jan 2000
Posts: 2,075
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From: Central Florida
LCD Projection
Not to be confused with LCD Flat-Panel display technology, LCD Projection is nevertheless related to its pricier flat-panel cousin. Like DLP and LCOS projection, LCD Projection is a microdisplay technology, meaning that the image is created on a thumbnail-size chip or chips, and projected onto a larger screen surface by means of a powerful light source in conjunction with a sophisticated system of precision optics and mirrors. As with LCD flat-panel systems, LCD projection is a transmissive technology, meaning that light is transmitted through the chip or chips, rather than created at the screen surface as with plasma or bounced off a reflective modulator like the DMD chip used in DLP projection systems. Fundamentally, LCD projection works like an old-fashion slide projector, where the "slide" is a dynamic LCD chip rather than a static photographic transparency.
Most current LCD projection TVs and front projection systems employ a 3-chip projection system. In a 3-chip system, a single, ultra-bright light source is split into its component color spectra by a fixed prism. The resulting red, green and blue light streams are each fed through an individual, monochrome LCD chip which modulates only the corresponding color by allowing a controlled amount of light to pass through each of its thousands of individual pixels. The three modulated light streams are then prismatically recombined, much like the output of the three cathode ray tubes in a traditional CRT-projection TV, and magnified to produce a composite full-color on-screen image.
Strengths
More expensive than CRT projection systems but less costly than flat-panel LCD or plasma displays, LCD projection systems deliver excellent picture quality in a chassis that's significantly sleeker and lighter than that of a traditional projection TV. Their exceptionally high brightness makes them ideal for viewing in brightly lit environments like a sun-bathed room. LCD projection systems typically exhibit excellent contrast ratios, mostly due to their high light output. The single-light-source design and fixed-prism optical system eliminate the convergence issues that plague CRT projection TVs, and there's only the one bulb to replace should it fail. And gamers will appreciate that LCD projection TVs, like their flat-panel LCD brethren, are immune to phosphor burn-in.
Considerations
Despite technological enhancements over the past few years, transmissive LCD technologies provide marginal reproduction of deep blacks as compared to other microdisplay technologies (although, conversely, contrast ratios are redeemed by their exceptionally high brightness). More so than with DLP or LCOS technologies, LCD projection systems tend to suffer from the so-called "screen-door effect," where individual pixels can be distinguished by the naked eye, particularly when viewed at close range. Like plasma and LCD flat panels, as well as DLP projection systems, the finite number of pixels in the display necessitates complex processing of input signals of differing resolutions in order to render them properly; depending on the sophistication of the processing, scaling artifacts may be visible in some instances and real resolution compromised. Lastly, LCD panels historically have been challenged by slow "refresh rates" — the time required for an individual pixel to shift from one state to the next to reflect moment-to-moment changes in the image. Recent technological enhancements have all but eliminated this problem, but in some cases, image "smearing" may be evident with fast-moving source material like sports and action movies.
The bottom line
Along with the other microdisplay technologies, LCD projection offers an affordable, high-performance alternative to pricey flat-panel TVs, with a significant reduction in bulk and weight as compared to traditional CRT projection. Visit your local Best Buy store to see all these technologies in action, and decide which you prefer.
Not to be confused with LCD Flat-Panel display technology, LCD Projection is nevertheless related to its pricier flat-panel cousin. Like DLP and LCOS projection, LCD Projection is a microdisplay technology, meaning that the image is created on a thumbnail-size chip or chips, and projected onto a larger screen surface by means of a powerful light source in conjunction with a sophisticated system of precision optics and mirrors. As with LCD flat-panel systems, LCD projection is a transmissive technology, meaning that light is transmitted through the chip or chips, rather than created at the screen surface as with plasma or bounced off a reflective modulator like the DMD chip used in DLP projection systems. Fundamentally, LCD projection works like an old-fashion slide projector, where the "slide" is a dynamic LCD chip rather than a static photographic transparency.
Most current LCD projection TVs and front projection systems employ a 3-chip projection system. In a 3-chip system, a single, ultra-bright light source is split into its component color spectra by a fixed prism. The resulting red, green and blue light streams are each fed through an individual, monochrome LCD chip which modulates only the corresponding color by allowing a controlled amount of light to pass through each of its thousands of individual pixels. The three modulated light streams are then prismatically recombined, much like the output of the three cathode ray tubes in a traditional CRT-projection TV, and magnified to produce a composite full-color on-screen image.
Strengths
More expensive than CRT projection systems but less costly than flat-panel LCD or plasma displays, LCD projection systems deliver excellent picture quality in a chassis that's significantly sleeker and lighter than that of a traditional projection TV. Their exceptionally high brightness makes them ideal for viewing in brightly lit environments like a sun-bathed room. LCD projection systems typically exhibit excellent contrast ratios, mostly due to their high light output. The single-light-source design and fixed-prism optical system eliminate the convergence issues that plague CRT projection TVs, and there's only the one bulb to replace should it fail. And gamers will appreciate that LCD projection TVs, like their flat-panel LCD brethren, are immune to phosphor burn-in.
Considerations
Despite technological enhancements over the past few years, transmissive LCD technologies provide marginal reproduction of deep blacks as compared to other microdisplay technologies (although, conversely, contrast ratios are redeemed by their exceptionally high brightness). More so than with DLP or LCOS technologies, LCD projection systems tend to suffer from the so-called "screen-door effect," where individual pixels can be distinguished by the naked eye, particularly when viewed at close range. Like plasma and LCD flat panels, as well as DLP projection systems, the finite number of pixels in the display necessitates complex processing of input signals of differing resolutions in order to render them properly; depending on the sophistication of the processing, scaling artifacts may be visible in some instances and real resolution compromised. Lastly, LCD panels historically have been challenged by slow "refresh rates" — the time required for an individual pixel to shift from one state to the next to reflect moment-to-moment changes in the image. Recent technological enhancements have all but eliminated this problem, but in some cases, image "smearing" may be evident with fast-moving source material like sports and action movies.
The bottom line
Along with the other microdisplay technologies, LCD projection offers an affordable, high-performance alternative to pricey flat-panel TVs, with a significant reduction in bulk and weight as compared to traditional CRT projection. Visit your local Best Buy store to see all these technologies in action, and decide which you prefer.
Senior Member
Joined: Sep 2005
Posts: 125
Likes: 0
From: NW Indiana
Originally Posted by closer9
We've been thinking about getting the same thing. Would you recommend it? How are these new projections? Do you have to have them aligned all the time like the old ones? I know very little about projection TV's, and don't want to get something I can't live with...
I have a 42" plasma flatscreen at work [only for our camera system
] and that also has worked very well. It is on for 12 hours a day, 6 days a week. It was the offbrand from Costco...I think it was 1599.00 a year ago.Woof
Bowser
Senior Member
Joined: Oct 2002
Posts: 117
Likes: 0
From: Northwestern PA
Originally Posted by Bowser4x4
As stated here, no alingning needed. We like this due to the brightness: used in the family room with kids, so lights are always on, blinds open and so on. We got ours at Costco...2400.00 or so. I really wanted the 61", but was just too lazy to tear apart my entertainment center.
I have a 42" plasma flatscreen at work [only for our camera system ] and that also has worked very well. It is on for 12 hours a day, 6 days a week. It was the offbrand from Costco...I think it was 1599.00 a year ago.
Woof
Bowser
I have a 42" plasma flatscreen at work [only for our camera system
] and that also has worked very well. It is on for 12 hours a day, 6 days a week. It was the offbrand from Costco...I think it was 1599.00 a year ago.Woof
Bowser
so I spent a good part of the day surfing Walmart to Crutchfield and everything in between. My only limitation is that I want an all black system instead of a silver. It will more than likely be next year after the tax return.Does everybody else have their tax return spent like 6 months before you get it?