DVDs get the 1080p treatment

Since my options for HDTV viewing were limited to a few primetime hours of NBC programming, I relied on DVDs as my main source for high-quality viewing. And DVDs looked consistently stunning on this set. Like high-end speakers in an audio system, the Samsung HL-R5078W let high-quality material look its best, while also exposing any deficiencies in signal formats, source components, and even cables.

For example, the picture improvements gained by upgrading from S-video to component video cables had never been so obvious. In the opening of The Bourne Identity, a fisherman on the deck of a storm-tossed trawler peers through the drenching rain at Matt Damon's unconscious body floating in the sea. For a few moments, the rain took on an unnatural solarized look that resembled a gauzy curtain, when I used an S-video cable. When I viewed the same scene via component cables, the curtain was gone.

The component video connection also yielded a surprise. In the past, most HD-capable displays I've tried provide their best DVD picture quality when using the player's progressive-scan mode. My Sony DVD changer is a few years old, but it's no slouch when it comes to picture quality. However, its video processing circuitry is a couple of generations behind the powerful circuitry in the HL-R5078W. Feeding the TV an interlaced signal via component video, the picture was always noticeably cleaner and more stable than with the player in progressive-scan mode.

The Sony DVD player worked fine, but I wondered how much better an "upconverting" player might perform, so at this point I substituted the Denon DVD-3910 from my basement audio system. I connected an HDMI cable between the Denon and the Samsung TV and cycled through the player's resolution options: 480p progressive, and upconverted 720p or 1080i. (Although the TV's display resolution is 1080p, the highest-resolution signal it will accept via HDMI is 1080i, which is the case for nearly all 1080p TVs released in 2005.)

I expected 1080i via HDMI to provide the best picture, but it didn't in my setup. Upconverted signals yielded a hyper-detailed picture that looked as if the TV's sharpness control had been turned up. I noticed DVD compression artifacts more, and the TV's "dithering" noise on solid-colored backgrounds became more noticeable. I ended up preferring the picture from the component video output.

I've watched a lot of DVDs since bringing this set home. I dug out Superbit versions of The Fifth Element, Vertical Limit, and Panic Room. Picture quality on the best DVDs approached high definition. One "torture test" DVD I like to use is The Man Who Wasn't There, the black-and-white masterpiece by the Coen brothers. It's useful for revealing "false contouring," an artifact of digital displays that gives different shades of the same color an artificially layered look instead of smooth gradations. It was a problem for last year's Samsung DLPs, but the HL-R5078W showed no trace of it.

The Samsung's set of connections is as future-ready as any TV currently available.

Samsung hit the nail on the head

The HL-R5078W does so many things so well that it's hard to come up with even minor complaints. (OK, it would be nice if the remote control was backlit, but that's about it.) It combines hot technology (1080p resolution, dynamic iris), high-performance HD tuners for over-the-air and cable signals, plus the connections you need to enjoy current (and future) high-definition sources.

You know a product is doing something right when it prompts you to get off your butt and make a change. HDTV material viewed on this big-screen is so compelling I can no longer be satisfied receiving only a single HD channel. My cable company's lack of HDTV programming is simply no longer acceptable. I'm scheduled to have DISH satellite service installed in a couple of weeks. I'll let you know how that goes in my next TV review. In the meantime, the Samsung HL-R5078W gets my strongest recommendation. It's an awesome TV.