Samsung's 50" HL-R5078W delivers outstanding picture quality with DVDs and HDTV programs.

Man, what a difference a year makes in TV land.

A year ago, I reviewed Samsung's 50" HL-P5063W DLP TV. It was my first extended experience with a digital big-screen TV, and I found a lot to like about the set. For the past few weeks I've been spending a lot of time with one of Samsung's most advanced DLP sets: the 50" HL-R5078W. Its biggest claim to fame is "1080p" resolution, but there are many more significant improvements compared to Samsung's previous 50-incher.

Why 1080p is the real deal

Big-screen TVs based on 1080p technology have only been around for a couple of months. Prior to that, digital big-screens had resolution at or around 720p. On paper, the difference in resolution is substantial. 720p images have about a million pixels (1280 x 720), while 1080p images have about two million (1920 x 1080). That doesn't mean that a 1080p set will look twice as good as a 720p set, but 1080p should look more detailed and seamless. And since 1080i is the most common format for HDTV signals, you should be able to see programs at that resolution with no loss of detail, unlike 720p sets, which have to "downconvert" 1080i. Of course, 720p sets still have great-looking pictures, but there is a slight loss in detail. Whew, that's a lot of numbers.

A "dynamic iris" improves contrast and black level

Digital displays like DLP have trouble reproducing the high contrast ratios and deep blacks that tube-based TVs are so good at. DLP does a better job than most other non-tube TVs, but past DLP sets displayed a "black" that was often more of a dark charcoal gray. But Samsung (and other TV makers) have hit on a brilliant solution: the dynamic iris. The iris controls the amount of the lamp's light that passes through to the imaging chip. With a dynamic iris, a circuit samples the brightness level of the video signal and opens and closes the iris on the fly, optimizing contrast and black level scene by scene. It's incredibly effective. Blacks were very deep on the HL-R5078W — to the point where I can't imagine it will still be an issue, even for the most demanding videophiles.

Viewing impressions: standard and high-definition TV

I spent my first few days with the HL-R5078W feeding it a steady diet of digital cable TV (non-HD). Standard TV signals (broadcast or cable) always present a challenge for digital (non-tube) TVs. These displays are designed and built to look great with DVD-quality material or better. On lower-quality signals, they tend to expose and magnify noise and distortion in the picture.

Luckily, it turns out that the video processing circuitry inside the Samsung set is quite good. I actually got a better cable picture by connecting directly from the wall to the TV than by going through the digital cable box (Scientific Atlanta Explorer 3100). Of course, I had to switch back to the cable box to watch digital channels.

The Charlottesville area only has two local stations broadcasting digital signals, and only the NBC affiliate shows a significant amount of high-definition material. The last time I'd checked, the station had been broadcasting its digital signal at only half power, so it felt like I was rolling the dice when I connected Terk's set-top HDTVi antenna and placed it on the equipment rack behind the TV. I aimed it in the general direction of the transmitter cluster on Carter's Mountain, 13 miles from my house.

The NBC analog signal looked good (better than on cable), and I tuned up to the digital channel's location, and … Eureka! — I was watching widescreen crystal-clear HDTV. I've seen lots of HDTV in training sessions here at Crutchfield, at our retail store, and at trade shows, but this was the first time I'd experienced it in my own home. It was a revelatory moment — the clouds parted, sunshine streamed down, and I thought I heard a choir.

ER was on, and although it's not a show I generally watch, my eyes were glued to the screen. The local news followed, and though it's not shot in HD, the digital standard-definition picture was much sharper and cleaner than it's ever looked in analog. The Tonight Show was on next, and I immediately saw why it is often used as HD demo material. I can't imagine how a TV picture could look any sharper or clearer. And every time I saw the little Terk antenna poking out from behind the set, I was reminded that all it took to pull in these gorgeous, free images was an inexpensive set-top antenna.

The HL-R5078's DLP chip not only offers higher resolution than past designs, but also seems less prone to exhibiting "dithering" noise — most often seen as swarming pixels in solid-colored backgrounds like a wall or the sky. The chip also has improved contrast, which is enhanced by the dynamic iris. The overall result is a picture that is naturally sharp, vibrant, and remarkably three-dimensional.