As TVs grow, so do electric bills

DLP has lower power consumption.

DLP will need the bulb replaced ($350) every 6000 hours give or take. LCD 30,000 hours, plasma 60,000 hours.

For me, whose TV is on 18 hours a day DLP is too expensive.

DLP is also a very nice picture quality I might add.

I have been out of town on vacation and I agree with almost all of what you say.

My projector is true high definition and does the 3/2 pulldown and has very good interlacing. However I do not use any of those features. I use a dedicated Home Theater PC with TheaterTek software and scale using FFDSHOW filters. It is similar to doing real time Photoshop filters on the DVDs. The PC directly addresses the panels via a DVI hookup. The interlacing, 3/2 pulldown and scaling are better than any projector as far as I can tell.

The LCD does indeed have lower contrast than DLPs especially the new chips. However I do get the headaches especially with the slower 2X wheels. The ones with the white segments (business projectors) really get me. I was shopping the Marantz VP-12S. I did not get a headache watching it but my viewing was limited. The picture was great. Having had the headache with the other DLP projector I couldn't see myself eating the 12K they were going for then if I started getting migranes. I started looking at LCDs. Most were washed out. The Studio Experience 20HD (Sanyo PLV-70 rebadged) was and is absolutely stunning. The Black levels may not be as good in a totally blacked out room but in real life they are fantastic. I love this projector still after 3 years. I haven't seen one I want more. The real bummer about it - it does not support HDMI.

I love my setup and it will last me for several more years. I know there are much nicer toys out there but I don't want to look too closely at them. The newer Marantz VP-12S2 is a really nice toy and has a beautiful picture. I still prefer the brighter picture of the PLV-70.

The interlacing, 3/2 pulldown and scaling are better than any projector as far as I can tell.

That's one of the nice things about digital video. You can upgrade it!

Your's sound similar to reviews I have read of the Sony VPLHS51. It's supposed to give very satisfying blacks, but has deficiencies as would any other $3500 LCD projector.

Solution?....get an outboard scaler and you're competing with those those $12,000 DLPs (like the marvelous Sim2 HT 300 I just installed for a plastic surgeon) with no fatigue

Oh yeah....I checked on your Dell.
It does all the right things!

Your's sound similar to reviews I have read of the Sony VPLHS51.

I have heard it is a very nice projector. It is just not bright enough. Also you cannot directly sync with the panels, meaning the internal scaler is ALWAYS messing with the signal. They are supposed to be fixing that and may have. I intentionally don't keep up with the new toys.

You can get away with the higher black levels with a brighter projector. A typical DLP once it is properly calibrated produces far less light than advertised. In a dark room with a high gain screen on axis they look great. My projector is projected on a gray wall. No gain. From any angle it looks the same. Bright and contrasty. I mean from 80 degrees off axis. The PLV-70's blacks look black. They aren't inky like the HD2 chip produces in the Marantz but the whites are far brighter. Far. The apparent contrast is there. The older marantz with the original HD chip did not have that much darker blacks and the whites were positively dull compared to the LCD.

Now would it look better on a high quality screen? Oh yes. I have seen the marantz and several others on walls and Firehawks. The difference is stunning. So is the proce of the Firehawk in an 8.5 foot wide screen!

Now does it look better than the Marantz with a properly setup high gain screen in a dark room? No. The Marantz is more refined. Is there 7,000 dollars difference? Hell no - not on my budget!

Oh yeah....I checked on your Dell. It does all the right things!

???

I don't have a dell anything. Here is a review for my projector. I didn't buy it because of the review. I bought it because the installer for one of the upscale Home Theater places told me to look at it after I said something about getting headaches from the cheaper DLPs. I knew him in high school and he followed me out of the store and said he had set one up for his parents in their home theater. He liked it.

As far as the PC goes I built it myself. Do you know anything about the FFDSHOW technology? If not it is pretty damn cool. It is a bitch to get working right but the results are fantastic once they are working properly. It processes and scales in software rather than the video card. You can use much more powerful algorithyms that the simple ones the PC cards use. The card then directly addresses the panels. It gives you incredible control over the picture.

I know there are much nicer toys out there. Believe me - I am acutely aware of it. Still the results you can get with a PC and a decent projector are pretty damn good. The sony you mentions (if they fixed the syncing and scaling problems) and the panasonic PT-AE700 are two good LCD projecotrs. There are numerous DLP projectors which if you use a good scaler or a properly set up PC will look great.

I wish I had the money just to dump 30-50 on top grade equipment and someone like you to come in and setup a top of the line toy. I don't!!

What type of projector do you have?