Samsung HL-P5085W 50 in. HDTV-Ready DLP TV

I did fairly extensive online research to determine that Samsung makes the best DLP TVs on the market. I chose this model, basically, because it was as high up the hierarchy as my budget would allow. Because of the pedestal, it definitely takes 2 people to get it into the house. I can slide it around myself, but would be afraid of breaking it if I tried to move it any distance without help.

The picture quality is outstanding--much better than I expected. We have not seen any noticeable pixellation. Sometimes, when we specifically try to, we can spot a little rainbowing, but it is not bothersome and we probably would not have noticed it if we weren't looking for it. The only time I have heard the fan is when I am behind it changing connections. We have not heard any sound from the color wheel (and my wife has ears like a dog).

For a TV that is officially "projection", it has excellent side-to-side viewing angles. You can move past 45 degrees without noticeable dimming. The only caveat to this is that they have sacrificed vertical viewing angles to achieve this. You need to be within a few feet of "level" with the screen or there is serious dimming. However, the pedestal holds it at about the ideal height for viewing while sitting. While standing, it is noticeably dimmer, but you can still see what's happening. Once you get more than 10 feet away, this effect is greatly lessened.

You need a decent sized room for a TV this large. Once you get inside 8 or 10 feet, it's just too big, and you can start to see imperfections in the content and scaling errors. At a reasonable distance, though, it all blends to appear amazingly sharp.

Outside the showroom, the picture is plenty bright. However, the screen does have some difficulty absorbing glare. This TV will not look its best in a room with too many windows or with lights shining on the screen. When our overhead light is on, there will be a portion of the screen that looks slightly washed out from the reflection. However, the effect is not severe--it irritates me, but my wife barely notices it.

With HD content, the picture is positively breathtaking. The difference from regular content is so striking that we suddenly feel like we are seeing what people "really" look like. When I connected my old Sony DVD player, I noticed a lot of the artifacts that are referred to as the "screen door" effect. However, this was using the composite video output on the DVD player. When I connected a newer DVD player using the component outputs, the effect vanished, and the picture is excellent. Nonetheless, DVD content is not high-res. I am still coming to grips with the fact that American Idol now looks better than my Lord Of The Rings DVD. But this is not the TV's fault.

This TV apparently has excellent internal electronics for scaling content to the size of the screen. I have found that I get the best picture from all sources by letting the TV have it in the "rawest" form possible. In other words, if you have a DVD player that is capable of upscaling the picture, turn this feature off. The TV will do a much better job of upscaling the content. I have also changed the settings in my cable box to "pass-through" for the video feed.

This TV has at least one of every kind of input currently on the market, including DVI, HDMI, and an XVGA input so you can use it as a computer monitor. There are two component inputs and two composite/SVGA inputs. In other words, you can plug in everything you need to without having to buy any kind of switchbox. It also has RCA outputs to forward the signal to a home theater or VCR. However, these outputs only work for signals coming into the composite/SVideo inputs. I have found the multitude of options to be a very good thing, because it enables me to hook up every source with the maximum available quality.

If you do not have HDTV, one thing you will find is that, once you have it, you will still be watching a lot of content in regular 4:3 video--even on your HD channels. Pretty much all of the commercials are 4:3 and a great many shows are still standard definition, including The Amazing Race and The Apprentice, surprisingly enough. In other words, your TV will, for the foreseeable future, have to spend a great deal of time showing black bars on the sides. This is one of many reasons that DLP TVs are probably the best tradeoff for HDTV available: DLP screens do not experience burn-in or aging effects at all, so you don't have to worry about your picture degrading from all the black bar viewing. All TVs will go dim over time. With most TVs, this means it's time to buy another one. With DLP, you just need to change the projector bulb (about $250 currently). These TVs have the potential to deliver outstanding video for years and years.

I wholeheartedly recommend this TV or, for that matter, any of the high-end Samsung DLP models. While I have had nothing but trouble from Sony products over the last few years, I have never had trouble from any of my Samsung gear. We bought this TV to replace a Sony CRT that is only about 6 years old and is clearly dying. Meanwhile, the small Samsung TV I bought my wife when we were dating (about 14 years ago), is still working. Come to think of it, I have never thrown away a piece of Samsung equipment.

I've been waiting for years for one of the newer TV technologies to become "mature" enough to be affordable and functional enough to purchase. At first, I was betting on plasma. However, I don't think it is quite there yet. And LCDs just don't seem to have the reliability that I want from a TV. If you are still waiting like I was, I suggest you check out these Samsung DLPs.

If you're like me, you will conclude that the waiting is finally over.

The only real downside is that standard TV video does not look as good as it does on a regular CRT. For one, upscaling standard video to a high def screen cannot help but produce some errors. In addition, blowing up the picture to such a large screen makes the low resolution of standard TV content quite noticeable (especially when changing channels from a high def channel). However, when the low-res signal comes from the component outputs on the cable box, the TV does a pretty good job of upscaling it and I would not describe the picture as "bad". On the other hand, when I run the same signal through composite or SVideo, it looks much more degraded: Watchable, but very disappointing. In other words, video coming from a Tivo box does not look very good at all. This TV does not turn every signal into gold, and it really matters what kind of input you give it. If you are intimidated by adjusting settings and inputs like I have discussed, you may be disappointed with the TV. If you are willing to experiment with inputs and settings, this TV can provide you with the best picture you have ever seen.

btw, I ordered my TV online from Digital1234.com. As a result, I got the TV and the component stand (also recommended) for less than my local Circuit City would sell me just the TV (before tax). In total, I saved somewhere between $800 and $1000. If you can stand to wait a week, the savings are well worth it. And you should not worry about shipping damage. My set was slightly damaged in transit (screen has the equivalent of a dead pixel). I sent one e-mail explaining the problem, received a phone call from a customer service rep, and my replacement is on its way at this moment. And we still have the damaged one to watch until it arrives. That said, the week after I ordered it was a very long week for me.