DLP or LCD - which is better?

[The_Munter]

Anyone know which is the better technology? Which has the greater colour depth, brightness and contrast (better black ranges)

I realise "better" might be a bit vague, but you get the idea ...

[nwgarratt]

DLP will beat LCD however, it depends if you suffer from the rainbow effect. Some people are affected so much they can't watch DLP and have to use LCD.

[tryingtimes]

Short answer is that neither is inherently better.

LCD Pros
Cheaper
3 chip therefore no rainbow artifacts

LCD Cons
3 chip therefore convergence is down to build quality (or luck of the draw).
Apart from the very newest designs, contrast was poor - both on/off and ANSI.
Apart from the very newest designs they had poor fill factors - some used blurring techniques to try and fill more.

DLP Pros
1 chip designs have higher perceived sharpness (I say perceived because they still resolve the same detail as LCDs)
3 chip DLPs are very highly regarded.
Huge ANSI contrast figures
Decent contrast figures.

DLP Cons
1 chip designs suffer from rainbow artifacts - some people suffer, some dont. The faster the colour wheel the fewer the people effected.
1080 still expensive

The Pearl, Ruby and JVC HD1 are currently LCD-based technology projectors which are starting to compete with DLP on contrast figures. This coupled with lack of rainbows, reasonable prices and good product design combines to make them flavour of the month.

Some prefer the smoother look of LCD over the sharpness of DLP, but others, the opposite.

if you're looking at 1080 projectors, then LCD seems to have the price advantage. But another 6 months might change that.

Hope that helps

[The_Munter]

OK, thanks very much. I have a panasonic ae700 which does 720p (i think) but I wanna get a 1080p projector that has more contrast and colours so I was considering spending about 5k. But maybe the new panny 1080 lcd pj will do it...

[tryingtimes]

You should definitely have a look at the JVC HD1 - £3800 on a prebuy now or a little more when they become widely available in a while.
There's a viewing today in Guildford between 4pm-8pm. It's the first public showing in the UK. Check the massive thread!
The Sim2 D80 DLP is also highly regarded - it'll be at the Bristol and Manchester shows. You can probably find a demo of the D80 in London easily enough though. These 2 will give a good indication of the DLP v LCD situation.