Recommendations for a 50" (or Larger) Display?

An anonymous reader asks: "What display device should I get for a conference room? It can't be a front projection and it should be >= 50" and somewhat slim. If I go plasma, it seems like the burn-in problem could be serious if the unit is used as a monitor -- I don't want to look at either a 'Start' or 'KDE' button until the end of time. LCDs don't impress me since I can only get them in sizes of 45" or less. What about DLP? They make noise, but will it drown out a person trying to make a presentation to a room of 10-20 people? Overall, am I really stuck with a max vertical resolution of 768? Are rear projection LCD's or DLP's slim enough to not dominate a room?"

Comments

DLP considerations

[j-turkey]

Rear projection DLP is pretty good, and is less expensive than its alternatives. Whether or not it's appropriate for your requirements is up to you.

I just went to Samsung's site and selected the first rear projection DLP monitor that was over 50". I got this. Whether or not it's too deep is up to you. Samsung is claiming 16.3" deep in their specifications. Some are thinner than others though. As far as noise goes, manufacturers seem to be listening to what their customers want and are competing to make quieter units. You may want to go to a showroom and hear what kind of noise these produce. Also, plug a laptop into a few to see what your presentations look like.

It has been estimated that about 5% of people experience what is known as the DLP Rainbow Effect, where some viewers can see flashes of color separation on the edges of high contrast edges. To minimize this, manufacturers are speeding up color wheels and adding more segments to effectively increase the color wheel speed. As DLP chips become cheaper, I believe that we will begin seeing 3-chip solutions enter the consumer market to completely eliminate the issue. In any case, the rainbow effect is something that you may want to keep in mind when you consider whether or not to use DLP.

Another possibility

[stonecypher]

It is both cheaper and more effective to get a pile of networked laptops, and have people look at their local copy. Other benefits include people being able to cut and paste, to participate and so on.