Does anyone have or ruled out the Samsung SP50L7HX

[Capt Morgan]

I saw the SP50L7HX in Oxford st yesterday and now found it online for 2.7K

which is 700 more that the RD50 that seems to be getting a good reception.

Does anyone on here have first hand views on it's PQ etc vs the RD50?

Am I just being suckered bu the Samsungs good looks

[Notchy]

Hi I saw this model in Comets at Plymouth, S. Devon. They were playing Pearl Harbour and the picture was truly awsome even when close up. The TV appaers to be wider than 16/9, maybe because of the speakers on the side. Its a mean piece of kit on a very nice stand which includes a subwoofer. The sound was good, but I'm no expert on this.

I have a question too does anybody know if this model is HDTV compatible, so few people seem to know the answer to this question. I would like to get a DLP that is going to be suitable to all HDTV formats that come this way over the next few years.

Originally Posted by Notchy

I have a question too does anybody know if this model is HDTV compatible, so few people seem to know the answer to this question. I would like to get a DLP that is going to be suitable to all HDTV formats that come this way over the next few years.

Yes it is HDTV ready.

[loadsofleads]

It has a HDMI connection which is HDCP compliant, so yes it is HD ready

[Notchy]

I have done a bit more researching and it appears that HDMI is the way things are going. With this system you only have one cable from the TV to DVD to CD etc all digital with no analogue conversion so in theory the picture and sound is as best you can get it from either DVD (HD) or Satellite (Sky HD - out 2006). Note that you will need equipment that supports HDMI (DVD player etc). Another advantage is that on a good system only one remote control will be required to control all the systems connected to this lead.

There is a lot of debate in Europe as to weather to adopt 720P (progressive) or 1080i (interlace) number of lines for the up and coming new HD broadcast. The EBU (European Broadcasting Union) have virtually decided it going to be 720P. Now everyone is waiting to see what Sky adopts for their new HD broadcast due out in 2006 (in time for the world cup).

The Samsung TV therefore appears to be ready to handle the new era without wasting money having to buy a new set in less than 18 months time.

A couple of interesting links below:-

This one shows the HDMI connector.
http://www.samsungexplore.com/playin...article03.html

This one takes you to Samsung. Go under products, TV, DLP then specification for full details of the DLP TV.
http://www.samsungelectronics.co.uk/.../samsunguk.jsp

The following is a article about the EBU adopting 720p50
http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/article/ds15637.html

Enjoy

[Billy Hunt]

How does this one HDMI cable for all devices work?
Does it have multiple connectors on one end or do you daisy chain them from one device to the other?

[Notchy]

Belkin are one of the manufactures starting to make these cables, I'm not sure yet how they are connected from one unit to another, but I will further investigate and post my findings.

another useful site for Europe HD standards is.

http://www.1080.org.uk/about.shtml

Note the HDTV Label. For maufactures to use this lable they have to meet a minimum standard (720p50) So get one of these TV's will take you onto the next generation of HD broadcast

[Notchy]

Extract from

http://www.beststuff.co.uk/av_connection_guide.htm


HDMI Leads - HDMI stands for High Definition Multimedia Interface. At the moment HDMI gives the best connection of all. It is the new digital Scart lead. It is designed for connecting high definition video source to digital display screens such as plasma screens, LCD screens and high quality video projectors.

Do search on HDMI on google ect and there quite a lot of information on this new cable format.

another good web is

http://www.hdmi.org/

Have a good one!

[Neelix]

Ok, I have now seen the Samsung SP50L7HX twice in two different Currys stores. The first was attached to a dvd player upon my request (cheapish) using RGB scart. The picture was fantastic with good strong colours and sharp detail. Great I thought! I then decided to take my own laptop with some WMV HD files to see what 720p and 1080p looked like as I have seen the Axium which looked fantastic with this setup. When I got there it was showing the usual crappy Currys RF feed which was actually better than normal. It also had a progressive scan dvd player hooked up via component. I proceeded to turn this on and give it a whiz first. Well I was very dissapointed... it was showing Nemo but the PQ was very jagged, certainly nothing like what I saw the other day using RGB scart. I then proceeded to hook up my laptop using a PC RGB cable, this worked great and filled the screen when booting up, very sharp and perfect to use as PC display! Next step was to load up the WMV HD samples! Well I'm not sure if it was my laptop or the Samsung... while picture quality was very good, I'm just not convinced it was quite as good as the Axium. Now don't get me wrong, the PQ was definately very good and utilising the HD content well but maybe not as good as the Axium that's all. I was thinking maybe my laptop was struggling to display these samples (AMD XP 2000+ - 240mb - ATI Mobility U1) as it's a bit jerky when played on the laptop screen and likewise on the Samsung

Anyways, what do you guys reckon? The Samsug uses the HD2+ chip with Darkchip etc and the Axium uses the older HD2 chip... but is there really much difference? According to the specs the contrast ratio is more than doubled on the Samsung! I also think the viewing angle is wider on the Axium which while not really important is still a consideration Why do you think it produced such a poor jagged picture with the progressive scan dvd via component as the RGB scart was fantastic. After having read up on progressive scan it seems a lot of experts consider PS to be of little value with PAL as a 3:2 pulldown is not required and it offers a near enough straight conversion from film etc. I don't know nearly enough to comment on the PAL PS issues but I do know what I saw on the screen. Anyone care to share some views or comments on any of my observations, as I'm more confused than ever!!

[soni]

Neelix,

I have had exactly the same experience with the Toshiba 46WM48P!!!

The Sagium Axium was the first DLP R/P set that i had ever seen. I took my wife along to see it at Comet, and they were feeding a HD signal to it - apprently via a PC. Anyway, it was short samples of film, one of which was a roller coaster ride, with the camera positioned right on the front of the train, and i can certainly tell you that i would have been 100% happy with that quality picture - the roller coaster climbed slowly to the top of the rails, and then all of a sudden it rolled slowly over the top, and then down the track as it picked up tremendous speed, my stomach rolled - it was that realistic!

Anyway, my wife deffinetely didn't like the look of the set - and although i didn't really like the design, to me its the picture quality that counts, not the look of the cabinet.

Anyway, i agreed with her that we would wait until the Tosh was released. We waited about 8 weeks of sheer agony, but then eventually found a Comet store at Greenwich which had the set on display, which is about 40miles from our house. When we arrived, we found the set, and we were both totally amazed at the look of this set. It acutally looked 10 times better in the flesh than it looked in the brochure. Problem was, it was displaying one of the most terrible pictures i had ever seen, i asked the sale bloke if it was normal RF feed, and he said no its DVD via component. I was so dissapointed that i asked him to hook it up with my DVD player. Although my DVD player is a couple of years old, it has allways delivered a fantastically clear picture on my Tosh 100hz 28". Anyways, he hooked it up with mine, and the picture was exactly the same. Even standing 8 Ft away from the screen - which would be about right for my room - i could notice all of the jaggies on Kenu's nose out of the Matrix. However, since then, i've been to Sevenoaks Sound & Vision at Sevenoaks, and explained to the sales guy, and he said that although they don't sell the Tosh, he thinkgs it could have been down to the internal scaler. He showed me a Sharp LCD panel, and it was about £2000.00 worth. He hooked it up with a Denon 3910 DVD player, and it can be set to 720 or 1080, and the picture looked fantasic. So i think thats the route i will take in the new year sales, get the Tosh, and the Denon DVD3910, which hopefully will deliver a perfect picture, or at least one that is equivalent to my 28" Tosh - otherwise i see little point in changing from what i've got!

[Billy Hunt]

You really need quite a powerful PC to play HD content
I would think a 2.0GHZ laptop isn't upto the task
I'd go for a PC with at least the Optimum Configuration.
I've played a few clips just on various PC's using the monitor only (NO HD TV yet!) and came to the conclusion personally that the Optimum Configuration is the least you require.

Minimum Configuration
(to play 720p video)
# Windows XP
# Windows Media Player 9 Series
# 2.4 GHz processor or equivalent
# 384 MB of RAM
# 64 MB video card
# 1024 x 768 screen resolution
# 16-bit sound card
# Speakers

Optimum Configuration
(to play 1080p video with 5.1 surround sound)
# Windows XP
# Windows Media Player 10
# DirectX 9.0
# 3.0 GHz processor or equivalent
# 512 MB of RAM
# 128 MB video card
# 1920 x 1440 screen resolution
# 24-bit 96 kHz multichannel sound card
# 5.1 surround sound speaker system

[Neelix]

Soni, interesting to know that you have experienced these jaggies on another DLP tv. I am inclined to think it is something to do with the component connection as RGB scart and S-Video have been fantastic when connected to the Samsung.

Billy, yes you are right about the performance issues. My laptop can just about cope with 720p but 1080p (near enough 8megs a second ) It runs great on my desktop, as does Star Wars : Episode 2 (1280x720 WMV HD). You can see the faintest hairs on queen amidala's face... aewsome

[RaPiDfIrE]

[quote=Capt Morgan]I saw the SP50L7HX in Oxford st yesterday and now found it online for 2.7K QUOTE]

can you please tell me where you found it for that price (link please)

[Neelix]

http://www.unbeatable.co.uk/CatalogueItem_19352.html

I am still torned between the Samsung and a 50" plasma.

I don't really know what to choose......

Anyone got this Samsung yet and can share some of his or her experience?