I spend my time writing about TVs, so you might expect my set at home to be the latest and greatest. If only! The TV perched on the A/V altar in our family room is an ordinary 27" tube TV that's 15 years old. Some people probably just think, "His wife won't let him buy one." But actually, she recently asked, "So, when are we gonna get a new TV?"
Part of my hesitation is job-related. I'm always reading about and researching TVs, and it ends up paralyzing the purchase process. Every time I think I've finally decided on a model, I hear about another cool feature or connection type, or some technological breakthrough that's 6 months away.
 I took home this good-looking Samsung 50" widescreen DLP TV and put it though its paces. |
The other reason is that Charlottesville, Va. continues to be something of a black hole when it comes to HDTV programming availability. The lone network affiliate is NBC, the HD laggard of the big three. The station isn't currently broadcasting its digital signal at full power, and doesn't expect to for several months. As things stand, I'm unable to pick up their signal.
The news isn't good on the cable TV front, either. Our local provider is Adelphia Communications. When I asked at the local office about HD service, the reply was, "Sometime in 2005."
But I see big, beautiful, tempting TVs all the time — at training sessions here at Crutchfield, and at trade shows. Some of the new digital rear-projection (big-screen) TVs are especially impressive. When Samsung's third-generation 50" DLP TV became available for evaluation, I had to give it a try.
Sizing up and setting up
First off, I want to be clear that this review doesn't include any kind of ultimate judgment on the merits of picture tube (CRT) vs. DLP™ technology. State-of-the-art direct-view tube TVs can produce terrific picture quality. But my tired old 27" is nowhere close to state-of-the-art. So, we're not comparing apples to apples, or even apples to oranges. It's more like apples to... crab apples.
The first pleasant surprise came when we carried the Samsung into the house and unboxed it. In or out of its carton, moving the 50" TV around was a 2-person job, but mainly because of the size of the set rather than the weight. I swear it weighed less than the old 27" it replaced! It took up the entire width of my equipment rack, and even though it's about as space-efficient as a 50" big-screen could possibly be, it looked bigger than I had expected. The screen is ruler-flat, of course, and has a matte finish which reduces the visibility of reflections. That was a major gain over my curved-screen 27", which showed distracting reflections at any time of day or night.
Another nice surprise was the easy hookup. My old Stone-Age TV has one, count 'em, one A/V input (at least it included S-video). So, for several years, I've used a little 4-in-1 A/V switcher to connect a cable box, DVD player, and VCR. By comparison, the Samsung's back panel offered a cornucopia of connections. You can feed up to 7 different video components to the HL-P5063W! The jacks range from garden-variety composite to the latest DVI and HDMI digital connections. I connected my Sony DVD changer using Monster component video cables, and hooked up the cable box (Scientific Atlanta Explorer 3100) with S-video.
Goodbye picture tube, hello "microdisplay"
One thing that was different right away about the Samsung is that it takes about a minute to fully come to life. The high-intensity lamp powers up slowly to extend its life (it's rated for 8000 hours). Flipping channels, I found that picture quality was all over the map. Overall, I was pleasantly surprised, because the image was a lot bigger, yet still very watchable. A few channels, like HBO and ESPN, looked great, but most showed varying amounts of grain and noise. Although we have digital cable service, the picture quality just isn't that great, even on the old 27". We didn't move any furniture to increase our viewing distance — it stayed at around 11 feet, which is about right for a 50" screen. After we'd been watching awhile, my wife remarked, "Hey, now I can watch without my glasses!"
The first DVD we watched was the riveting mountain-climbing documentary, Touching the Void (highly recommended!). The stunning opening shots swooped through hyper-clear air among snow-covered 20,000-ft. Peruvian peaks. And the climbers' brightly-colored clothing and gear stood out with pixel-perfect clarity against the blazing white ice fields. In the interview segments with the climbers, their features and expressions were completely natural. Before long, I simply forgot about trying to objectively critique the Samsung's performance and let myself become totally absorbed by the film.
The next day, I caught the women's final at Wimbledon. Center court's white chalk lines and the net's grid gave the Samsung a bit of trouble, but most displays have a tough time displaying those features cleanly. The grass was a realistic shade of green, and it was easy to see where the turf had been chewed up along the baselines. Between-point close-ups of Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova showed smooth skin glistening with perspiration, and expressions tight with determination. Occasionally, the breeze caught a stray strand of hair. Beautiful.
Calibration makes a good thing even better
Before watching any more DVDs, I got out my trusty Avia setup disc and adjusted the Samsung's picture controls. For an in-depth look at using this disc effectively, check out Advisor's TV setup article. After making the changes, I revisited a couple of chapters from the Superbit DVD of The Fifth Element. It had looked very good before, but now it looked noticeably better — among other things, the color balance seemed more neutral. (If you're not familiar with Superbit DVDs, they are encoded at a higher bit rate for a better-looking picture. The difference is noticeable, especially on a big-screen.)
The HL-P5063W is part of Samsung's 3rd-generation "63-series" DLP models. It uses one of Texas Instruments' newest DLP chips, the HD3. Unlike previous chips which use square microscopic mirrors to form pixels for images, the HD3's mirrors are diamond-shaped. This, along with Samsung's Cinema Smooth™ Gen 3 "light engine," gives this set a smoother look overall. I preferred it to previous-generation DLP models, which at times can seem unnaturally sharp. For a detailed explanation of how DLP works, see our "Choosing a Digital Big-screen TV" article.
With its high resolution and big screen, the HL-P5063W revealed flaws in video sources the way a high-end audio system exposes recording glitches. I began noticing subtle (and not so subtle) imperfections that I'd read about in magazine reviews for years, but never seen firsthand: things like compression artifacts on DVDs, edge enhancement, etc.
DVDs were looking great, but I figured they could always look a little better, so I started experimenting. Initially, I used my DVD player's interlaced mode and let the Samsung's Faroudja DCDi™ video processing handle de-interlacing and 3-2 pulldown. (Hey, it's one of the best processors available.) Out of curiosity, I selected the Sony player's progressive-scan video mode (which bypasses the TV's Faroudja chip). To be honest, I couldn't see any differences on the scenes I looked at. Both were free of any jagged lines.
--Attempting to take DVD beyond progressive scan
I hoped to take the DVD picture quality to an even higher level by connecting Samsung's new upconverting DVD player, the DVD-HD841. The player is able to upconvert to 720p or 1080i, sending the signal over the digital DVI connection. Unfortunately, I was never able to make the DVI connection work. The other jacks on the TV (and player) worked fine, but I was never saw a picture of any kind via DVI. I sought help from Crutchfield's tech advisors, as well as Samsung's tech support line, but received no solutions. I thought the player's supplied DVI cable might be the culprit, so I substituted a length of Monster Cable DVI, but to no avail.
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Plenty of options
Aside from its crisp, high-impact picture, the HL-P5063W crushed my old TV when it came to conveniences and customizable features. The Samsung's setup menus were polished, well thought-out, and easy to use. You could assign a set of picture controls for each video input, which was great, since the settings for the DVD player ended up being quite different from those for the cable box. Another nice touch is that each picture setting has a number value, so once you've got everything dialed in, you can jot them down for safe-keeping, in case the settings ever get accidentally changed.
It was great having several aspect-ratio options to choose from, and the ability to change them from the remote. When watching regular TV programs, I tried out the stretch modes, but the distortion was too distracting. Besides, DLP is probably more immune to screen burn-in than any other display technology, so I never minded viewing with vertical black pillars on the sides. Where the black bars did become intrusive was on the occasional standard TV program that was letterboxed. In that case, I had an image with bars on the sides and on the top and bottom!
My final DVD test was The Man Who Wasn't There, the Coen brothers' black and white film set in the '40s. It looked amazing — DLP's image consistency gave scenes a truly seamless look. There were deep blacks, bright whites, and a seemingly infinite number of shades of gray in between. I did notice a few more "rainbows" while watching this disc. The multicolored flashes really stood out. Also, I noticed some "false contouring" in a couple of scenes. In one, the characters played by Frances McDormand and Billy Bob Thornton are in a room with their lawyer, played by Tony Shalhoub. Bright sunlight streams down through a window, illuminating drifting clouds of cigarette smoke. Viewed on the Samsung, there were distinct layers to the smoke, rather than a smooth gradient.
Wrap it up, I'll take it!
Priced at $3500, the Samsung isn't cheap. But there's a lot going on inside its slender cabinet. It's an A/V switcher with capacity for 7 A/V components. It's a 50" HDTV-ready display (HDTV reception requires a separate HD tuner of some kind). It also has Faroudja DCDi line-doubling that's more advanced than stand-alone doublers from a few years back that cost thousands! Overall, I was extremely impressed by the Samsung. As I write this, it's the day after I had to pack it up and return it. I already miss it.
Before watching any more DVDs, I got out my trusty Avia setup disc and adjusted the Samsung's picture controls. For an in-depth look at using this disc effectively, check out Advisor's TV setup article. After making the changes, I revisited a couple of chapters from the Superbit DVD of The Fifth Element. It had looked very good before, but now it looked noticeably better — among other things, the color balance seemed more neutral. (If you're not familiar with Superbit DVDs, they are encoded at a higher bit rate for a better-looking picture. The difference is noticeable, especially on a big-screen.)
The HL-P5063W is part of Samsung's 3rd-generation "63-series" DLP models. It uses one of Texas Instruments' newest DLP chips, the HD3. Unlike previous chips which use square microscopic mirrors to form pixels for images, the HD3's mirrors are diamond-shaped. This, along with Samsung's Cinema Smooth™ Gen 3 "light engine," gives this set a smoother look overall. I preferred it to previous-generation DLP models, which at times can seem unnaturally sharp. For a detailed explanation of how DLP works, see our "Choosing a Digital Big-screen TV" article.
With its high resolution and big screen, the HL-P5063W revealed flaws in video sources the way a high-end audio system exposes recording glitches. I began noticing subtle (and not so subtle) imperfections that I'd read about in magazine reviews for years, but never seen firsthand: things like compression artifacts on DVDs, edge enhancement, etc.
DVDs were looking great, but I figured they could always look a little better, so I started experimenting. Initially, I used my DVD player's interlaced mode and let the Samsung's Faroudja DCDi™ video processing handle de-interlacing and 3-2 pulldown. (Hey, it's one of the best processors available.) Out of curiosity, I selected the Sony player's progressive-scan video mode (which bypasses the TV's Faroudja chip). To be honest, I couldn't see any differences on the scenes I looked at. Both were free of any jagged lines.
 The HL-P5063W sports a wide array of connection options. |
--Attempting to take DVD beyond progressive scan
I hoped to take the DVD picture quality to an even higher level by connecting Samsung's new upconverting DVD player, the DVD-HD841. The player is able to upconvert to 720p or 1080i, sending the signal over the digital DVI connection. Unfortunately, I was never able to make the DVI connection work. The other jacks on the TV (and player) worked fine, but I was never saw a picture of any kind via DVI. I sought help from Crutchfield's tech advisors, as well as Samsung's tech support line, but received no solutions. I thought the player's supplied DVI cable might be the culprit, so I substituted a length of Monster Cable DVI, but to no avail.
-->
Plenty of options
Aside from its crisp, high-impact picture, the HL-P5063W crushed my old TV when it came to conveniences and customizable features. The Samsung's setup menus were polished, well thought-out, and easy to use. You could assign a set of picture controls for each video input, which was great, since the settings for the DVD player ended up being quite different from those for the cable box. Another nice touch is that each picture setting has a number value, so once you've got everything dialed in, you can jot them down for safe-keeping, in case the settings ever get accidentally changed.
It was great having several aspect-ratio options to choose from, and the ability to change them from the remote. When watching regular TV programs, I tried out the stretch modes, but the distortion was too distracting. Besides, DLP is probably more immune to screen burn-in than any other display technology, so I never minded viewing with vertical black pillars on the sides. Where the black bars did become intrusive was on the occasional standard TV program that was letterboxed. In that case, I had an image with bars on the sides and on the top and bottom!
My final DVD test was The Man Who Wasn't There, the Coen brothers' black and white film set in the '40s. It looked amazing — DLP's image consistency gave scenes a truly seamless look. There were deep blacks, bright whites, and a seemingly infinite number of shades of gray in between. I did notice a few more "rainbows" while watching this disc. The multicolored flashes really stood out. Also, I noticed some "false contouring" in a couple of scenes. In one, the characters played by Frances McDormand and Billy Bob Thornton are in a room with their lawyer, played by Tony Shalhoub. Bright sunlight streams down through a window, illuminating drifting clouds of cigarette smoke. Viewed on the Samsung, there were distinct layers to the smoke, rather than a smooth gradient.
Wrap it up, I'll take it!
Priced at $3500, the Samsung isn't cheap. But there's a lot going on inside its slender cabinet. It's an A/V switcher with capacity for 7 A/V components. It's a 50" HDTV-ready display (HDTV reception requires a separate HD tuner of some kind). It also has Faroudja DCDi line-doubling that's more advanced than stand-alone doublers from a few years back that cost thousands! Overall, I was extremely impressed by the Samsung. As I write this, it's the day after I had to pack it up and return it. I already miss it.