CES 2005 HDTV news: DLP vs LCD, LCoS, SED, SXRD, Plasma review

	Understanding HDTV by Adrian Biffen Systems Administrator AeroHOST Web Systems Dec 15, 2005
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This series of articles is designed to help you get through the complicated process of choosing and setting up an HDTV home theater system. It is part of our overall website, which is about the X10 home automation system that uses the A/C wiring in your home - you don't need to run any wires. (for complementary home automation products such as lighting control and motorized blinds and shades, see our home automation DIY kit article) Here's a brief topic summary of these home theater articles, with direct links:
Article#	Topic
1	HDTV Definitions and terminology used in home theatre systems
2	HDTV news from Jan 2005 Las Vegas CES show
3	HDTV remote control consolidation issues
4	DLP projector decision: My reasons for purchasing
5	BenQ DLP 6200 review -projector setup process
6	HTPC: using home theater PC for DVD display
7	DVD software player review: watch DVD on your PC
8	Upsampling DVD player vs HTPC - comparison with Zenith DVB 318
9	Sony HDRHC1 Handycam review: widescreen high definition 1080i camcorder
10	Wireless video sender solves the 'extra tv' problem
11	SED Toshiba-Canon HDTV display review - the flat panel HDTV race heats up!
12	Canon SX 50 Realis LCoS projector review - first 3 chip LCoS projector under $5,000
13	Optoma H78DC3 'DarkChip3' DLP projector review - first 'Dark Chip3' DLP projector under $4,000
14	Xbox 360 review: best buy for game play online? - Windows Media Center Extender
15	Play Station 3 vs Xbox 360 - Sony and Microsoft Compete for gaming market
16	SXRD vs SED vs DLP - Sony raises the HDTV bar with Qualia and Grand Wega series
17	LED DLP light engine from Samsung vs SXRD, SED - 1080p resolution arrives
18	HD DVD vs Blu-ray: We review the new Toshiba HD DVD players (HD-XA1 and HD-A1)
19	H.264 AVC: High Definition advanced codec for movie downloads and HDTV Online

For the sake of clarity, here are some acronym and terminology definitions relating to the various display technologies, used in the other table below to compare the various screen types:

TERM DEFINITION

TLA Three Letter Acronym

HDTV High Definition Television. The highest quality video picture available in Digital TV. In the U.S., the 1080i and 720p resolution formats in a 16:9 aspect ratio are the two acceptable HDTV formats. Regular NTSC analog TV is 480i.

HTPC Home Theater Personal Computer. The use of a PC as a processing and source control platform for a home theater system.

RPTV Rear Projection TV. The type of home theater screen system where the image is projected onto the back of the screen. Can be DLP, LCD, CRT projection technology.

Lumens An ANSI Lumen is a measurement of light radiation or brightness. A 3,000 Lumen projector creates a brighter picture than a 2,000 Lumen unit. The ANSI prefix is a standards designation (American National Standards Institute).

Nits Plasma and LCD manufacturers use this term to define the brightness of their screens. Another term for Nits is Candelas per square meter (Cd/m2). One nit = 0.2919 foot-lambert. Nits includes an area definition, unlike lumens, so you can't simply divide by Watts to establish a Nits/watt spec.

480i 720p 1080p resolution measurement in lines, p for "progressive scan", i for "interlaced scan". Conventional TV (e.g. 480i) is interlaced whereby the screen is scanned twice by alternate lines that are interleaved (interlaced), whereas HDTV (e.g. 720p) can scan all lines sequentially (consecutively or progressively).

DVI HDCP Digital Visual Interface technology with High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection. Developed by Intel Corporation, HDCP is a specification to protect digital entertainment content through the DVI interface. The HDCP specification provides a transparent method for transmitting and receiving digital entertainment content to DVI-compliant digital displays. Some products, such as set-top boxes and DVD burners will require this connector. Even if you have a HDTV set-top box, if it lacks the DVI, your signal may be degraded.

HDMI High Definition Multimedia Interface. Like DVI, HDMI is another digital interface, and from what we saw at CES 2005, it may become the universal standard. Developed by Sony, Hitachi, Thomson (RCA), Philips, Matsushita (Panasonic), Toshiba and Silicon Image, the High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) has emerged as the connection standard for HDTV and the consumer electronics market. HDMI is the first digital interface to combine uncompressed high-definition video, multi-channel audio and intelligent format and command data in a single digital interface.

SACD Super Audio CD uses a new recording technology called Direct Stream Digital. DSD records a one bit digital signal at a sample rate of 2.8 million times per second, 64 times higher than conventional CD's.

NTSC Existing color TV standard developed in the U.S. in 1953 by the National Television System Committee. NTSC vertical line resolution is 525 lines/frame and the vertical frequency is 60Hz. The NTSC frame rate is 29.97 frames/sec.

CRT Cathode Ray Tube - venerable old style picture tube

PDP Plasma Display Panel, plasma is a physics term for an electrically charged gas

LCD Liquid Crystal Display, same as laptop screens

TFT Thin Film Technology, a type of LCD

DLP Digital Light Processor, a reflective light switch chip developed by TI. Has a very fast response time - no motion lag

TI Texas Instruments Corp., original manufacturer of DMD's and DLP's

DMD Digital Micro-mirror Device - chip for DLP technology by TI

DNIe Digital Natural Image enhancement - chip for optimizing video picture quality, by Samsung (used in their DLP units)

LCoS Liquid Crystal on Silicon, reflective light switch

SXRD projection Silicon X-tal Reflective Display: Sony's incarnation of LCoS technology. Sharp picture, no pixelation, very high resolution, reflective system won't burn out picture element, "no moving parts" design usually incorporates 3 imaging chips for primary colors, instead of color wheel.

SED Surface conduction Electron emitter Display by Toshiba/Canon

FED Field Emission Display: New technology from Sony

OLED Organic Light Emitting Diode display: new technology from Seiko-Epson

D-iLA Direct Drive Image Light Amplifier, LCoS chip developed by JVC

QXGA high screen resolution of 2048 x 1536, attained by D-iLA chip

DCDi Directional Correlation Deinterlacing (a de-interlacing method to eliminate jagged edges (jaggies) along diagonal lines caused by interpolation, developed by Faroudja corp. An important feature to look for, this Emmy^® award winning technology was once only available in products costing $20,000 or more, and is now available in numerous products costing well below $2,000

aspect ratio ratio of screen width to height. An aspect ratio of 4:3 is conventional TV and 16:9 is HDTV (and film)

3-2 pulldown a method of film-to-video conversion

twitter and judder terms describing film conversion related artifacts

anamorphic lens a special lens that compresses the pixels of a 4:3 screen into a 16:9 format, and allows a projector to use the full brightness of the display, without black bars above and below the image. Must normally be removed for regular 4:3 viewing.

SDE Screen Door Effect is a term used to refer to the visible pixel structure on a screen.

YADR! Yet Another Dang Remote! A common exclamation heard from people who just bought their third or fourth home audio/video component. And then there are further unmentionable expletives when you find out a component isn't supported, or it's just too complicated to program everything in?? Maybe it's time to read about our experience in the remote control review article.

The following table provides a quick comparison of the display types; "pixelation" refers to the ability to see individual picture elements (pixels) at normal viewing distances (note that all the types below can contribute to the YADR index). Please note that these products are being constantly improved and not all manufacturer's models may be subject to the disadvantages listed below:

DISPLAY TYPE PRO - ADVANTAGE CON - DISADVANTAGE

CRT conventional
picture tube Cathode Ray Tube: very sharp and bright, high contrast ratio, good picture view from side, low cost, handles regular analog NTSC channels well, no moving parts heavy and bulky, limited in size to about 36", picture can fade

CRT projection
low cost, large screens possible, no moving parts heavy and bulky, limited viewing angles, visible raster lines, mis-convergence can be a problem, picture can fade over time

LCD flat screen panel Liquid Crystal Display: bright, sharp picture, light and compact, can hang on wall, solid state, no moving parts picture can fade over time

LCD projection fairly bright, large screens possible, sharp picture, no moving parts display can fade due to heat damage to organic compounds that some manufacturers use in the LCD, projector bulb can fail

PDP Plasma flat screen panel Plasma Display Panel: bright picture, light and compact, can hang on wall, wide viewing angle, no moving parts, handles fast motion really well expensive, some pixelation, display can burn out.

DLP projection Digital Light Processor: bright, sharp picture, high contrast, no pixelation, reflective system won't burn out picture element, very fast response time - no motion lag. possible visual "rainbow" artifacts on single chip versions caused by spinning color wheel, projector bulb can fail

LCoS projection Liquid Crystal on Silicon: bright, sharp picture, no pixelation, very high resolution, reflective system won't burn out picture element, "no moving parts" design usually incorporates 3 imaging chips for primary colors, instead of color wheel. projector bulb can fail

SXRD projection Silicon X-tal Reflective Display: Sony's incarnation of LCoS technology. Sharp picture, no pixelation, very high resolution, reflective system won't burn out picture element, "no moving parts" design usually incorporates 3 imaging chips for primary colors, instead of color wheel. projector bulb can fail

SED panel display Surface conduction Electron emitter Display: very bright picture, very high resolution, can hang on wall, very high contrast ratio, can be viewed from any angle, no moving parts, handles fast motion really well expensive at first, not available yet

FED panel display Field Emission Display: New technology from Sony, properties are similar to SED expensive at first, not available yet

OLED panel display Organic Light Emitting Diode display: new technology from Seiko-Epson expensive at first, not available yet

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