What's The Right TV Set For Gaming?

Thanks to GameSpy for its article discussing the choice of TV sets that are best for playing videogames. The piece points out: "It is also important to keep in mind that bigger isn't always better, and that some types of displays aren't so game friendly", before analyzing the options, including Direct View CRT screens ("Affordable; good resolution... [but] Very large sets; limited progressive scan options"), DLP ("Immune to burn-in; reasonably affordable... [but] Doesn't work as well as CRT in bright conditions"), Plasma screens ("Wall-mountable; bright picture... [but] Phosphor burn-in; expensive") and Front Projection ("Big display; portability... [but] No speakers; depends a dark environment.")

Comments

Re:Interesting to note

[Babbster]

You know why I (and many others) haven't used it? Because they make you special-order the damned component cables from their website. You simply can't buy one in a local store. As a special bonus, they want to charge you $30 (plus shipping) for the privilege of them cutting out the middle peoples. The same functionality for the Xbox and PS2 can be had for $20 and under.

Typical GameSpy excuse for selling ads

[Cecil]

Ah, the usual fluff without any conclusion from GameSpy, full of common sense advice, blatant truisms, and technical inaccuracies. I liked this gem:

• LCD Rear Projection
  
• Pro for Gamers: Reasonably affordable; immune to burn-in.
  
• Con for Gamers: Phosphor burn-in; limited brands.
  

So, does it burn in or not? (The answer is no) Therefore... the only con you could come up with is that there are limited brands (also not really true)? In other words, this display type is excellent for gaming.

Yet it gets a single paragraph hidden away at the end of the rear projection section where they explicitly avoid saying whether it's good or bad. DLP, on the other hand, gets one and a half sections devoted to it (The DLP section and the rear projection section. uhh...)

Meanwhile, a shitty 800x600 projector with a bottom-of-the-barrel 1200 lumens seems to be their choice for gaming, their primary reasoning apparently being "it was designed by Italians!"

• Recommended LCD Projector: 3M S10 Bravo Home Theater Projector; Price: $1400.
  
• Features: Crafted by Italian design firm Pininfarina, 1200 lumens; digital keystone correction; HDTV support; 800x600 native resolution.
  

GameSpy continues to live up to their traditional standard of inspid and useless ad-copy disguised as articles. It's odd how people still find them relevant enough to be submitted to and accepted by Slashdot, though.

Re:Typical GameSpy excuse for selling ads

[hawkstone]

Sorry, no Mod points today, but you deserve 'em. At least you saved me the trouble of typing it all up myself. And just to reiterate, because this is often debated and often gotten wrong: LCD Rear Projection TV's do not burn in. (Excessive heat buildup might cause some temporary afterimages, but that is rare, minor, and temporary, and is thus not burnin.
)
And why on earth did they put LCD rear projection with CRT rear projection, but leave DLP off by itself? LCD RP and DLP (RP) are so much more similar than CRT RP is to either one. I'm tempted to send the author a nice polite note with some educational material.

That being said, there are downsides to LCD RP that the author didn't mention. Specifically, slightly worse contrast ratio and a slightly higher dead pixel ratio than DLP. Also, an SDE (screen door effect) is more likely because of bigger gaps between pixels.

However, I bought an LCD RP because these disadvantages were far less intrusive than the disadvantages I saw with DLP. Specifically, some DLPs had dithering that was very disturbing, the price was far too much (relative to LCD RP), and the moving parts were a slight maintenance concern.

blech, not a good article

[Malor]

If you have good light control, which *most* folks either have or can arrange, a front projector is an extremely good way to go. You get a gigantic screen and great picture quality. And no, they don't have speakers, but most folks I know have a stereo in the front room anyway, and just hook up through that.

The biggest decision point on projectors is what you want to display. If you just want to do Standard Definition(SD) stuff, then even the cheapo projectors are fine. The Infocus X1 (and, apparently, the replacement X2) are very well-regarded. These are DLP projectors that do 800x600, which is just fine for SD material, including DVDs. (which are not very high resolution).

In general, DLP technology at a given resolution is better than LCD at the same resolution; the contrast ratio is better and the pixels are larger, resulting in less screendoor. However, because of how the image is generated, it is important to do a test viewing before buying. About 10% of the population sees rainbows with DLP. The technology basically consists of a spinning color wheel in front of a bright light, with thousands of tiny mirrors. The mirrors rotate so that a certain amount of each color gets through while the wheel is showing. During the (short) interval between colors, the mirrors realign. So you are seeing red/green/blue/white, red/green/blue/white. Most people can't see this, but some do, and it shows up as rainbows.

If you are sensitive to rainbows, or if you want to do HDTV, then LCD projectors are the only reasonable alternative at this point. Both the Panaonic AE500 and L500 (same unit, different distribution channels) and the Sanyo PLV-Z2 are excellent projectors that do 1280x720 resolution for around $2000. The contrast ratio isn't as good as DLP (1300:1 instead of 2000:1). To get a true 1280x720 DLP projector, you are talking $5000+: if you can afford that, it will look better, but I doubt it's 2.5x better.

LCD is more susceptible to misalignment and stuck/dead pixels than the DLPs. Misalignment mostly manifests as vertical banding. In watching posts on avsforum.com, nearly everyone who starts out with a problem will find an adjustment that will make them happy, but the chances of starting out unhappy are higher with LCD.

Of the Panasonic and Z2, the Panny is considered to have a little nicer screen quality (and is a shade cheaper), and the Z2 is much more flexible about mounting, due to a nice feature called 'lens shift', which will let you move the projected image an amazing distance on your wall.

I have a Studio Experience 2HD, which is a rebadged Z2 with a better warranty, at a little higher price. I am EXTREMELY happy with this unit. I have a HTPC hooked up to it, using PowerStrip to run a true native 1280x720 out the DVI port, and it looks *awesome*. I'm throwing a 100" 16:9 screen..... playing Ninja Gaiden on a screen 7.5 FEET wide is pretty darn impressive. "You still measure your screen size in inches? How quaint!" :-) And they're tiny, easily fitting under one arm. At 9lbs, I know you could carry it comfortably with two fingers, and probably with one.

If you have good light control, you want true HDTV, and you want it BIG.... these projectors are a fantastic way to go. There are many, many tweaks available, but right out of the box, either unit is likely to knock your socks off.

Both units are more than you need, however, for SD material. For that, you're fine with the $1K projectors.

Oh, one final note: you also have a runtime expense with front projectors. The Z2's bulb, for example, is rated as lasting about 3000 hours, and replacements cost about $300, so the run cost is about 10 cents/hour. Make sure to find out the expected bulb life and cost before buying a projector.

($300 for a bulb, you gasp? Yep... you gotta realize that these things are putting out an AMAZING amount of light in a very small space. That's not easy to do, and they cost plenty.)