Earlier this year, I had an inquiry from an acquaintance who was looking at getting a new HDTV rear-projection television. We bantered back and forth about a number of different companies - most notably Samsung, Sony, Toshiba and Mitsubishi. I finally told him that I would take a closer look at the televisions when I went in to the Tweeter stores in the Chicago area for one of my once every six week visits to their stores. This is what I found in looking at all the sets:
The Sony SXRD LCD rear projection is a nice set. The big problem I found with the LCD's over the DLP's is that the LCD's didn't seem to react to quick movement as well as the DLP. I noticed a lot of digital break-up in the Sony, especially when scenes changed and when there was a lot of quick activity on the screen. The color, however, I found to be a little more natural than the DLP units. But I noticed a lot of digital artifacts and "picket fencing" when the camera would pan or when there would be quick motion on the screen.
The Samsung 78 series units, I still believe, have the best overall picture quality. I think they have the best black levels, I think they have the best contrast ratios, the color is very, very good, there's little to no digital break up or digital ghosting. It handles sports better than the Sony (the Sony, I was told, makes digital photographs shown on it look unbelievably great, but it doesn't handle motion that well). There was little to no digital artifacts going on with the Samsung compared to how noticeable it was on the Sony.
The Toshiba 62" MX195 model was on display at Tweeter, too, and I thought the picture looked blurry, it was almost TOO bright and washed out. I didn't like the black levels or the contrast on it. It handled motion very well and there wasn't much of a problem with digital noise. I liked it the least of the ones I looked closely at.
One of the guys from one of the Tweeter stores showed me the Diamond series 62" Mitsubishi (62827) and I came away very impressed. I've always liked the Mitsubishi's, but a lot of their higher end Diamond series have extra gadgets included - like a DV recorder. I think the DVR on the 62827 is a 160 gig hard drive on it. I don't know why I'd want one built in to the TV, but you never know.
The Mitsubishi did everything well - handled motion, didn't have any artifact problem like the Sony did, the picture was softer and more "film-like" than the Samsung, I didn't get a headache watching it like I did watching the Toshiba the short time I watched it. The contrast and black levels were not as good on the Mitsubishi was not as good as the Samsung. I liked the sharpness in the picture on the Samsung, but some people do like the softer picture Mitsubishi employs.
Mitsubishi also has their famous "Mitsubishi Blue" color scale where they add a bit more blue into the picture to make it appear whiter - sort of like what All detergent does when they add little bits of blue coloring to their detergent to make it appear the clothes are "brighter". All they did was to put a little bit of blue dye in the detergent. Mitsubishi sort of does the same thing. Once again, it appeals to some and not others.
By the way - all of these sets were 1980 X 1080 pixel counts, full HD.
My informal poll of the guys I talked to ran about 8 for Samsung, 5 each for Sony and Mitsubishi, and none for Toshiba.
I would have to concur. I liked the Samsung the best, Mitsubishi would be a close second (and possibly even closer if it didn't have a built in DVR) and the Sony a not so faraway third. All of them are very good in their own right. But it's like trying to pick between two or three $75 bottles of good wine - they're all going to be pleasing. I don't think you'll go wrong with which ever one you choose.
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