My Totally Opinionated HDTV Review

Just took delivery of our new HDTV, a Samsung HL-T5087S and already love it. It's a 50" DLP projection set with the new LED light engine (no expensive incandescent bulbs to replace, and no rotating color wheel), goes up to 1080p resolution, and has plenty of inputs (3 HDMI, 2 component, etc... incl a VGA input for a PC :) Image is very nice on the HD channels from the Verizon FiOS service, and it does a good job displaying standard definition TV, too.

If you want a good, readable introduction to what's going on with HDTV equipment these days, you could do a lot worse than start with the Oct., 2007 Buying Guide from PC Magazine. But here's my even shorter, take-home message:

IMHO, the highest image quality with HD sources is to be found in the best grades of LCD flat panels from companies like Sony, Samsung, and Sharp. But the larger sizes of these displays (say, greater than 42") are still rather expensive and they do less well with standard definition signals. The title of "best bang for your buck" in larger displays still belongs to projection technologies like those from Samsung and Mitsubishi which use TI's DLP chips. Plasma is still the brightest and does better with signals containing lots of fast motion, but the sets are heavy, don't work well at high altitudes (above 7000 ft) and, to me, still look rather "grainy." But remember, everyone's eyes are different, so after having consulted information sources like the buying guide above, please go look at these for yourself.

However, in my house, the LED light-engine DLP sets from Samsung get a big thumbs up! Recommended.