Optoma MicroDisplay RD50 50 in. HDTV-Ready DLP TV
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- Digital TV Standard: HDTV-Ready
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9 4:3 Enhanced 14:9
- Broadcast Format Displayed: 720p (HDTV) 480p (EDTV) 480i (SDTV)
- Weight: 90 lb.
- Projector Technology: DLP
- Built-in Tuner: NTSC SECAM
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User ReviewRead All Reviews »
Beautiful, bright display - better than Samsung
Pros
Fantastic picture ! Bright enough to watch in a sun-filled room.
Cons
Upconversion only on one input Mediocre Speakers Unresponsive tech support.
Recommended it?
Yes
The Bottom Line:
If you've decided on a DLP, and want to watch it without closing the blinds, then the RD50 is the one to buy; be sure to buy the extended warranty.
It's taken me a year to finally get an HDTV, and I finally settled on DLP. I was all set to buy the Samsung 507W, when I saw this on Costco.com.
What made it interesting was that it is quite a lot brighter (450 vs 400 NITs) than the Samsung. I have a very light family room, and I wanted something the kids could watch with the sun streaming through the windows. I read a few reviews (not many out there, which is why I'm writing this one !), and was finally convinced by the various awards that it had won.
After a month, I'm very, very happy with this product. I have friends with the Samsung, and they can't watch that with a lot of sun coming into the room. That is not a problem with the Optoma. My family room has big windows facing south and west, and the picture is very clear even withthe sun shining right in. In fact, its much better than the 32" CRT I had before, because of the anti-reflective screen - the glass on the CRT would reflect patches of sunlight on the walls and floors and we'd have to pull down the blinds; non of that with this beauty !
I use the RD50 with a receiver with component and S-video switching, as well as an HTPC. I use componet video out of my ReplayTV, which is fed from a digital cable box via S-video. The HTPC is hooked up via DVI, and I have an old DVD player that uses component out. I've also tried feeding the cable box in over S-video.
The first thing you notice is how poor the quality of regular analog TV signals is. I noticed this a little on the big CRT, but the image size and quality of the RD50 really make it obvious. Its a lot better than what I've seen of CRT rear-projectors, but it is something to think about. Unfortunately, my cable company does not transmit regular stations on digital - only the premium channels, so I'm seriously considering switching to sattelite, where all the channels are transmitted digitally.
For the best picture quality, DVI is the way to go. I used powerstrip (just google, and you'll find it - its free) to set up my HTPC graphics card to output 1280x720, and the picture I get watching DVDs played from the PC is fantastic !! You can get DVD players with DVI out (eg samsung DVD-HD841), and that is the way I would go if I wasn't using the PC.
The RD50 will do de-interlace and upconversion from a regular S-video connection, but only on the AV1 input. If you bring in S-video from multiple sources through a receiver, that isn't an issue, but if you like to connect several S-Video sources directly to the TV, then I can't recommend the RD50 for this reason.
The RD50 displays the component video output from the ReplayTV well, but its not up to the standard of the DVI; of course the TV can only do as well as the quality of the source signal, so its too early for me to draw any firm conclusions on that yet. I'll be ditching the ReplayTV soon anyhow - as soon as I have PVR software running on the HTPC.
I have not tried the RD50 with a true HDTV signal yet; my assumption is that any DLP will be as good as any other (brightness aside) when fed a 1080i signal - the chips that do all the work are all the same across DLP TVs.
Although initial setup was a breeze, there are a few niggles in getting the RD50 exactly as I want it. The default pictures settings are too bright (black is not true black) - but as well as the "Normal" and "Movie" picture settings, there are 3 you can customize. Setting up brightness is easy - just feed it a letterbox movie, and drop the brightness down until the black bars at the top and bottom are truely black. Getting the other settings perfect required the THX setup on a DVD - but lots of DVDs have that available through the "bonus features" menu. However, the picture was very watchable right out of the box; and just adjusting brightness made it fantastic. Also, turning the brightness down did not affect viewability with the sun coming in through the windows.
Another niggle is that when you turn the RD50 on, it allways comes up in "full screen" mode, which stretches the image if you are viewing a 4:3 aspect ratio source (ie regular TV). I have not found a way to change that. However, the manual provides shortcut IR codes for a programmable remote, so you can set up a Universal Remote Control to set the source (TV, DVD, etc) and the screen size mode with a single button press, so you don't need to navigate through on-screen menus. This is a great feature that all TVs should have - but sadly most don't seem to.
The only other area in which the RD50 does not get a "perfect 10" is the speakers. You can set the sound to mono, and feed them the center-channel pre-out from your receiver, which is good. Unfortunately, the sound quality is mediocre, so I have gone back to using a regular center speaker driven directly from my receiver.
I bought this set from TigerDirect via Amazon.com. Tiger seem to have mixed reviews, but the TV arrived 1 week after I ordered, direct ship from the manufacturer. Nobody called me to hassle me into buying an extended warranty - I clicked "buy", got a confirmation email from Amazon within minutes and from Tiger within hours. The delivery company called me 2 days in advance to schedule a time, and then they called me half an hour ahead to tell me they were on their way. Then they brought it into the house and unpacked it, and helped me set it up to test - and that was "standard" shipping - not "white glove". I've bought a lot of things on the web from low margin "etailers", and expect to put up with poor service as part of getting the lowest price; that was NOT the case with the RD50. If you decide to buy the RD50 on the web, then check to find out if the item is direct ship from Optoma - if its is, you can expect a great experience.
To conclude, I'm glad I bought the RD50 - no buyers' remorse. The brightness certainly puts it ahead of the Samsung, which is also a great TV, and appears to be the #1 seller in DLP. I'm also happy with my choice of DLP ahead of a plasma; HD plasmas have finally arrived at sensible prices, but only at 42". Dollar for dollar I'd go for a 50" DLP ahead of a 42" 720p plasma every time, and unless you want to draw the shades everytime you watch TV, the Optoma is the one to buy.
UPDATE
After 15 months, the "lamp" LED came on, and the set stopped working. 15 months seems like a short time for the bulb to go, but the kids do leave it on a lot during the day when not watching it, so I guess it could have seen 4000 hours. So I ordered a new bulb ($300). Unfortuntaely that did not fix the problem. I entered an inquiring on the web support system; no reply after a week. So I entered another web tech support inquiry, making it clear that I knew it was out of warranty - I just wanted them to give me the contact info for a local authorized repairer. Still no answer after 2 weeks. I guess I'll try calling the support number.... Will update again with further events...
What made it interesting was that it is quite a lot brighter (450 vs 400 NITs) than the Samsung. I have a very light family room, and I wanted something the kids could watch with the sun streaming through the windows. I read a few reviews (not many out there, which is why I'm writing this one !), and was finally convinced by the various awards that it had won.
After a month, I'm very, very happy with this product. I have friends with the Samsung, and they can't watch that with a lot of sun coming into the room. That is not a problem with the Optoma. My family room has big windows facing south and west, and the picture is very clear even withthe sun shining right in. In fact, its much better than the 32" CRT I had before, because of the anti-reflective screen - the glass on the CRT would reflect patches of sunlight on the walls and floors and we'd have to pull down the blinds; non of that with this beauty !
I use the RD50 with a receiver with component and S-video switching, as well as an HTPC. I use componet video out of my ReplayTV, which is fed from a digital cable box via S-video. The HTPC is hooked up via DVI, and I have an old DVD player that uses component out. I've also tried feeding the cable box in over S-video.
The first thing you notice is how poor the quality of regular analog TV signals is. I noticed this a little on the big CRT, but the image size and quality of the RD50 really make it obvious. Its a lot better than what I've seen of CRT rear-projectors, but it is something to think about. Unfortunately, my cable company does not transmit regular stations on digital - only the premium channels, so I'm seriously considering switching to sattelite, where all the channels are transmitted digitally.
For the best picture quality, DVI is the way to go. I used powerstrip (just google, and you'll find it - its free) to set up my HTPC graphics card to output 1280x720, and the picture I get watching DVDs played from the PC is fantastic !! You can get DVD players with DVI out (eg samsung DVD-HD841), and that is the way I would go if I wasn't using the PC.
The RD50 will do de-interlace and upconversion from a regular S-video connection, but only on the AV1 input. If you bring in S-video from multiple sources through a receiver, that isn't an issue, but if you like to connect several S-Video sources directly to the TV, then I can't recommend the RD50 for this reason.
The RD50 displays the component video output from the ReplayTV well, but its not up to the standard of the DVI; of course the TV can only do as well as the quality of the source signal, so its too early for me to draw any firm conclusions on that yet. I'll be ditching the ReplayTV soon anyhow - as soon as I have PVR software running on the HTPC.
I have not tried the RD50 with a true HDTV signal yet; my assumption is that any DLP will be as good as any other (brightness aside) when fed a 1080i signal - the chips that do all the work are all the same across DLP TVs.
Although initial setup was a breeze, there are a few niggles in getting the RD50 exactly as I want it. The default pictures settings are too bright (black is not true black) - but as well as the "Normal" and "Movie" picture settings, there are 3 you can customize. Setting up brightness is easy - just feed it a letterbox movie, and drop the brightness down until the black bars at the top and bottom are truely black. Getting the other settings perfect required the THX setup on a DVD - but lots of DVDs have that available through the "bonus features" menu. However, the picture was very watchable right out of the box; and just adjusting brightness made it fantastic. Also, turning the brightness down did not affect viewability with the sun coming in through the windows.
Another niggle is that when you turn the RD50 on, it allways comes up in "full screen" mode, which stretches the image if you are viewing a 4:3 aspect ratio source (ie regular TV). I have not found a way to change that. However, the manual provides shortcut IR codes for a programmable remote, so you can set up a Universal Remote Control to set the source (TV, DVD, etc) and the screen size mode with a single button press, so you don't need to navigate through on-screen menus. This is a great feature that all TVs should have - but sadly most don't seem to.
The only other area in which the RD50 does not get a "perfect 10" is the speakers. You can set the sound to mono, and feed them the center-channel pre-out from your receiver, which is good. Unfortunately, the sound quality is mediocre, so I have gone back to using a regular center speaker driven directly from my receiver.
I bought this set from TigerDirect via Amazon.com. Tiger seem to have mixed reviews, but the TV arrived 1 week after I ordered, direct ship from the manufacturer. Nobody called me to hassle me into buying an extended warranty - I clicked "buy", got a confirmation email from Amazon within minutes and from Tiger within hours. The delivery company called me 2 days in advance to schedule a time, and then they called me half an hour ahead to tell me they were on their way. Then they brought it into the house and unpacked it, and helped me set it up to test - and that was "standard" shipping - not "white glove". I've bought a lot of things on the web from low margin "etailers", and expect to put up with poor service as part of getting the lowest price; that was NOT the case with the RD50. If you decide to buy the RD50 on the web, then check to find out if the item is direct ship from Optoma - if its is, you can expect a great experience.
To conclude, I'm glad I bought the RD50 - no buyers' remorse. The brightness certainly puts it ahead of the Samsung, which is also a great TV, and appears to be the #1 seller in DLP. I'm also happy with my choice of DLP ahead of a plasma; HD plasmas have finally arrived at sensible prices, but only at 42". Dollar for dollar I'd go for a 50" DLP ahead of a 42" 720p plasma every time, and unless you want to draw the shades everytime you watch TV, the Optoma is the one to buy.
UPDATE
After 15 months, the "lamp" LED came on, and the set stopped working. 15 months seems like a short time for the bulb to go, but the kids do leave it on a lot during the day when not watching it, so I guess it could have seen 4000 hours. So I ordered a new bulb ($300). Unfortuntaely that did not fix the problem. I entered an inquiring on the web support system; no reply after a week. So I entered another web tech support inquiry, making it clear that I knew it was out of warranty - I just wanted them to give me the contact info for a local authorized repairer. Still no answer after 2 weeks. I guess I'll try calling the support number.... Will update again with further events...
