OTHER TECH

COLOR While the finer points of contrast can be hard to quantify, it's easy to measure a TV's color performance using test patterns. That explains why DK, DR, and I all had basically the same judgment of the DLP and LCD color rendition. We focused mainly on each set's ability to maintain consistent color at various brightness levels. (This is actually called "grayscale uniformity" since you test to see how well the TV maintains a specific color of gray.) We also paid close attention to the sets' overall color saturation and balance, which can mean the difference between seeing rich, realistic turf on a baseball field or a pale approximation that suggests the field's in bad need of watering.

The DLP did better than the LCD at maintaining consistent color as the image brightness varied. On test patterns, it showed an even ramp of mid-gray tones between black and white, while the LCD showed slight green or red tints at different steps - an effect we could occasionally see in movie clips. DK pointed out that in a high-def D-VHS tape of Terminator 2, the actors' skin had a pink-red bias on the LCD but looked completely natural on the DLP. Both DR and DK also noted a blue cast to shadows in some of the dark clips we watched on the LCD set, like the bar scene from Ed Wood.

But the LCD's color-shifting grayscale wasn't a problem on most programs. And it clearly did a better job than the DLP with color saturation and balance. On almost everything we watched, from T2 to The Fellowship of the Ring to high-def documentaries on PBS, the LCD displayed a richer, more enticing color range. Maybe the most dramatic example of this came when we watched a scene from The Matrix Revolutions DVD. While rain falls on the actors, a bright green glow suffuses them from below. To my eyes, this special effect barely registered on the DLP but came across dramatically on the LCD. DK, meanwhile, described the LCD's green as being "more toxic, as it should be." Tallying up the positive and negative points of color performance, the LCD won by a nose.

PICTURE DETAIL Both the Samsung DLP and Hitachi LCD share the same 720p (progressive-scan) native HDTV display format, so you'd think they'd show the same level of detail, right? Wrong. The number of pixels on a TV's display chip doesn't always directly correspond to actual picture resolution. And the processing some TV makers use to heighten the apparent sharpness of pictures only complicates the issue. This processing sometimes adds a harsh, artificial look that makes you wonder why they went through the trouble in the first place.

Resolution test patterns showed that the DLP handled sharpness with high-def signals better than the LCD did. While the DLP came up slightly short of full 720p resolution, it bested the LCD on this test. And with 1080i (interlaced) signals, the LCD looked even softer. Interestingly, the LCD set's resolution notably improved when we used its HDMI input instead of its component-video input - a testament to the potential for better image quality offered by digital video connections.

When we finally put aside test patterns and started watching movies, the LCD acquitted itself well. Watching the high-def tape of T2 via both sets' HDMI inputs, DR observed that both TVs did equally well with finely detailed textures like human hair. DK was more critical of the LCD's overall detail. He noted that in a scene from Master and Commander, the ropes connecting the ship's sails to its mast - a detail that was clearly visible to him on the DLP - were obscured on the LCD. My impression of the two TVs put me somewhere in the middle. While the DLP revealed more detail on a number of programs, its excessive edge enhancement gave it a noisy, "processed" look. On many levels, I found the LCD's smooth, noise-free images more pleasing. With the final scores in for picture detail, the DLP took the lead by a full point.