THIS IS MY PERSONAL EXPERIENCE AND IS NOT RECOMMENDED IF YOU CAN AFFORD TO PAY SOMEONE TO DO THIS FOR YOU. THIS REPLACEMENT PROCEDURE COMES FROM AN AMATEUR. I AM NOT A PROFESSIONAL TV REPAIRMAN!

DANGER WARNING:
THERE IS VERY HIGH VOLTAGE IN THE BACK OF A TV FROM ITS LARGE CAPACITORS. BE CAREFUL!!! THE MANY DELICATE CABLES AND CONNECTORS MUST BE RESPECTED! WHEN YOU OPEN THE BACK OF A DLP TV, AND DO A REPAIR, IT REQUIRES ATTENTION AND PAITENCE! THERE SHOULD BE NO RUSH! BE SURE ALL YOUR TOOLS ARE HANDY! TAKE PROPER PRECAUTIONS! AND, DO NOT DAMAGE THE EQUIPMENT! OTHERWISE, IT DEFEATS THE WHOLE PURPOSE OF MAKING THE REPAIR.

IF YOU ARE NOT ABLE TO DO THIS, THEN HIRE A TECHNICIAN TO DO IT FOR YOU!

Get Your Equipment.

Be sure you have…

• A moderately long Philips screwdriver.
• A leatherman or small pair of pliers.
• The Toshiba service manual.
• The ballast board (Toshiba Part Number: 23122468).
• Some tape or a marker to label the cables for when you need the right one.
• Patience… a lot.

Starting the Ballast Replacement.

1. UNPLUG THE TV! The TV needs to sit so you can easily get behind it. There should be at least 3 feet of working space behind the TV.

2. REMOVE THE LAMP ASSEMBLY.

3. Remove all the screws on the lower panel of the TV. Set the cover aside.

Toshiba 52HM84 Ballast Replacement

4. As you look to the rear of the TV, behind the fan and lamp assembly is the ballast board.

Toshiba 52HM84 Ballast Replacement 02 board

5. Remove the screws from the silver brace arm in the middle and the bronze screws that hold the light engine assembly. This brace attaches to the ribbon cable using a Zip tie; no need to cut the Zip tie. See the service manual if the following picture shows the screws fuzzy. Looking at the “light engine sled” will make it obvious.

Toshiba 52HM84 Ballast Replacement 03 light engine sled

6. Remove the bronze screw holding the plastic shield. The plastic shield angles down to the lamp. This screw is difficult to see when looking at the back of the TV. You have to look above the ribbon cable. The ribbon cable is attached to the back audio/visual (AV) board.

Toshiba 52HM84 Ballast Replacement 04 plastic shield ribbon cable audio visual board

7. With small pliers, squeeze the plastic nipples inward. Push the cable hangers out of the plastic shield. Be careful when removing the shield from the back of the TV. Once it is removed, set it aside.

Toshiba 52HM84 Ballast Replacement 05 plastic shield

8. Be careful here. Slowly remove the copper ribbon cable. This copper ribbon cable was the hardest to replace during reassembly, no joke. Whoever designed that ribbon cable needs a different job.

9. Remove the yellow, blue, and red connectors. Rhe connectors are different lengths and fits in only one receptacle, in case you forget.

Toshiba 52HM84 Ballast Replacement 06 copper ribbon cable

10. Once again, be careful with this step. Slowly remove the light engine assembly. There are 2 yellow leads that power the lamp assembly. Remove them, if needed.

For lamp assembly removal, first slide off the rubber footing. There is a very small clip. Push the clip back while pulling on the lead, to remove it. Once the leads are removed, be sure to label them with a marker or some tape. Mine were difficult to remove (I missed the clips under the rubber footing before publishing this), so I left them on. If you do not remove them, just be aware of the stress on the cable around the lens assembly. I removed the cables from the plastic thingie holding onto them and moved the yellow cables to the front of the lens assembly.

Toshiba 52HM84 Ballast Replacement 07 light engine assembly

11. Slowly remove the light engine sled. Place it to give you access to the ballast assembly.

Toshiba 52HM84 Ballast Replacement 08 light engine sled

12. Notice how dirty the ballast board is. Unscrew the two screws holding the ballast board.

Toshiba 52HM84 Ballast Replacement 09 ballast board screws

13. Remove the 2 connectors attached to the ballast board.

Toshiba 52HM84 Ballast Replacement 10 ballast board connectors

14. Carefully, push the plastic tabs holding the ballast board in place to the light engine assembly. Carefully, lift the ballast board to loosen it from the plastic tabs grip. There are two more tabs on the other side.

Finally, you can remove the ballast assembly entirely, so you can install the new board.

Toshiba 52HM84 Ballast Replacement 11 board light engine assembly

15. On the other side of the ballast assembly is the lamp connector. Unscrew the screws.

Toshiba 52HM84 Ballast Replacement 12 lamp connector

16. Carefully turn the lamp connector towards you to remove it. Remember the connector orientation because it needs to be the same to install the new board correctly.

Toshiba 52HM84 Ballast Replacement 13 lamp connector board

17. Install the new board and put everything back together. While everything is open, it might be a good idea to take some compressed air and blow all the dust out of there. Do not rush during reassembly. Be very, very, very careful connecting everything back together. It is mightily frustrating having to reopen the TV because a part was missing or something was not connected properly.

18. Be sure to put the back cover on the TV. Re-install the lamp assembly before connecting inputs and turning the TV on.

19. That’s it! If you were careful and thorough, you should be enjoying your Toshiba again. Plus, you probably saved several hundred dollars!

Congratulations!

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Marantz VP 4001 - DLP projector - 1200 ANSI lumens - WXGA (1280 x 768) - widescreen - High Definition 720p

DLP projector – 1200 ANSI lumens – WXGA (1280 x 768) – widescreen – High Definition 720p

Marantz VP 4001 - DLP projector - 1200 ANSI lumens - WXGA (1280 x 768) - widescreen - High Definition 720p windows desktop

This projector was $4,000, new. It is better than other entry level 720P projectors. Contrast is superior and the projector is best described as a light cannon.

Compared to the H31, this projector has superior black levels, with more detail. Don’t fixate on resolution alone. The colors, flesh tones, and 3D are flawless.

This will be my workhorse since upgrading to 1080P does not produce enough of a difference in image quality to get one.

This is a short throw projector. Be aware the image displayed is much larger at the same distance than other projectors. Make sure it fits the dimensions of the room where it will be used.

Marantz VP 4001 - DLP projector - 1200 ANSI lumens - WXGA (1280 x 768) - widescreen - High Definition 720p movies casino royale

With a PS3 and Oppo DVD player, the picture is extremely satisfying! Why get a more expensive 1080p projector? Even on economy mode, the image is still very bright with some moderate ambient light.

After 250 hours of viewing, there have been no problems.

Setup.

120″ WilsonArt DIY screen
Polk Speakers
12″ Dayton Subwoofer
Onkyo 504 Audio/Visual
PS3
Gigabyte 780G/AMD 4850e combo
Logitech Wireless keyboard/mouse

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After 1.000 hours, there was a gradual, but noticeable drop in picture quality. Another 1,000 hours more, it pushed me to use the “Deep Field Imager” to ‘boost’ contrast/brightness and compensate for the drop in light output.

Lamps Not Bulbs.

The lamp for a DLP is a sophisticated, high pressure, mercury, vapor lamp. These lamps run at high temperatures for extended periods. Osram and Philips are the major OEM manufacturers of lamps. Both brands rate their lamps at 6,000 hours of life.

Lamp Assembly.

Below are pictures showing where the lamp assembly goes. Note the glass lens on the left hand side.

Mitsubishi DLP Lamp Replacement lamp assembly cavity

Mitsubishi DLP Lamp Replacement assembly

Mitsubishi DLP Lamp Replacement light engine

Open Assembly.

Do NOT touch any of the glass of the assembly with your fingers.
Wait for the assembly to cool, first!

Use fine cloth gloves or a couple of tissues folded in half to ‘handle’ the assembly by the threaded stud at the rear of the bell housing. Finger oils shorten lamp life.

Mitsubishi DLP Lamp Replacement assembly open

The assembly is held together by 3 plastic clips. Two on each side (above the screen in the photo) and the 3rd is opposite the handle. See the 4 mounting clips that secure the lamp to the housing.

The nut (tip of the bell housing) and the screw were not tight. The replacement lamp had another screw and nut, but no washer.

Mitsubishi DLP Lamp Replacement assembly mounting clips

New Lamp.

The design changed from the original Osram. For one, the thickness of the bell housing and the front flat piece of glass made securing the clips more difficult since they didn’t fit as before.

Mitsubishi DLP Lamp Replacement

Mitsubishi DLP Lamp Replacement

Mitsubishi DLP Lamp Replacement

I was somewhat surprised at the ‘haze’ that settled on the face of the glass ‘lens’ that covers the opening of the bell housing/reflector of the lamp assembly. Also, the design was changed from a ‘lens’ (with an interior curved surface) to a flat piece of glass.

Old vs. Replacement Lamp

This image shows not a reflection, but a ‘haze’ (right image), which forms on the surface of the outer ‘lens’. Other than a thicker piece of glass, the corners of the bell housing (reflector) were thicker also.

Mitsubishi DLP Lamp Replacement

Remove the Screen.

Some recommend removing the filter screen to the rear of the lamp housing. There was substantial dust buildup in there. The screen is a fine mesh, which traps most of the dust passing across the front glass faceplate. This is the only ‘forced’ air circulating around the lamp assembly. Those two large, screened openings only use convection currents. There is no fan pushing air through those. They were not dusty.
Note with the before shot, the very corner of the screen. It shows the dust buildup that covered the whole screen before it was cleaned.

Mitsubishi DLP Lamp Replacement dust screen

A closer look of the lamp mounted in the housing shows an ‘arch’ to the front of the reflector, on each side of the assembly. Air is forced across this area. It is in front of the actual ‘bulb’ in the assembly. This appears to be a mistake, or “factory design flaw”.

Mitsubishi DLP Lamp Replacement dust screen

General Questions.

Has anyone purchased a lamp from a 3rd party? If so, how was lamp quality?

TV manufacturers do not produce their own lamps. They design the housings for the lamps because the housings go in their TVs. The manufacturers get their lamps from two primary sources: Philips and Osram (A Seimens Co.). These are the lamps manufacturers use in their own TVs, so the quality is identical (assuming your 3rd party provider sells Philips or Osram lamps, because knock-offs are out there).

How difficult is it to swap lamps in the bulb housing?

Typically, changing lamps from the housing takes 10-20 minutes. Use your TV’s user manual to identify where the lamp is. From there, all it takes is a phillips-head screwdriver and some patience.

Once the panel is removed, for the lamp housing, you see the housing and the lamp inside the TV. There are usually 2-4 screws holding the lamp housing in place. After removing those screws, the lamp housing slides out of the TV.

Another 1-3 screws hold the lamp housing together. Remove them and the housing comes apart. This lets you access the lamp.

2-4 screws hold the lamp in place. Remove these and replace the old lamp with the new. Be careful to position the lamp where the old one was placed. Also be careful not to touch the lens of the new lamp with your bare hands. Body oil degrades the quality of the lens and the life of the lamp.

The light engine was fixed once. Does this affect my lamp choice?

No.

Will the use of an OEM lamp affect the 3 year light engine warranty at all?

It should not affect the warranty at all. These are the same OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) lamps that TV manufacturers use on the factory floor.

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Samsung HLT6187SAX 61-Inch Slim LED Engine 1080p DLP HDTV

No need for a lamp ‘bulb’ with the LED, unlike other DLP, LCDs, SXRD/LCoS, etc projection TVs. AND… no ‘spinning’ color wheel, which you hear in some units.

This LED is rated to last about twenty years. No need to wait for a service technician to replace a bulb…while you have no TV.

Samsung LED HLT shows an the image in 4 seconds, while it is not uncommon for others to take over 30 seconds.

You get deep blacks. Compared to other projection TVs, colors are more vibrant.

Samsung HLT6187SAX 61-Inch Slim LED Engine 1080p DLP HDTV screen

The cabinet is sleek with a small surrounding frame (less than one inch border).

The audio/sound is not great. A home theatre system is needed to get surround sound.

Other makes place the inputs/output in the back center. This can make it difficult to get to the plugs during installation or to make changes later. Samsung puts the rear inputs/outputs on the right side. Yet, it still allows plugs/cables to be concealed while viewing, instead of them coming out the side. The power cord itself is on the back-right (and removable). If you use a cabinet, the power cord does not get in the way.

Samsung HLT6187SAX 61-Inch Slim LED Engine 1080p DLP HDTV chicken little movies

Some complain that changing/flipping channels. Not a problem with this Samsung. Channels show immediately.

No ‘screen door’ effect nor ‘image trailer blurs’ of a LCD. No burn-ins and it is not an energy drain like a Plasma. This Samsung has a fast start-up compared to a LCoS system. The screen has a wide viewing angle.

This Samsung LED has a great contrast. Be sure to customize the picture to your particular tastes.

Samsung HLT6187SAX 61-Inch Slim LED Engine 1080p DLP HDTV HTPC home theater setup

My Home Theater Setup.

1 Cerwin Wega CLSC-6 Center speaker
2 Hole punch to direct center speaker sound slightly upwards.
3 JVC 7-DVD changer
4 Something called a “VCR” (just using it to prop up the shelf for item [3]).
5 HTPC:
* ThermalTake Bach with iMon VFD
* Seasonic 500 W power supply
* 500 GB + 320 GB drive with Win XP. Drives are mostly empty. NAS devices hold all my media.
* ASROCK SATA2 939-Dual
* Opteron 180 (2.4 GHz x2) S939 CPU
* 4×512 MB OCZ Gold DDR-800
* eVGA 8800GT
* LG combo BluRay/HD-DVD/DVD-RW drive
6 Sony STR-DE-995
7 Philips 5982 1080p Upconverting DVD/DivX player
8 Samsung 61″ HL-T6187S LED DLP connected to HTPC via DVI-HDMI
9 Harmony 880 recharging cradle
10 Apple iPod Universal Dock (Harmony 880)

Mitsubishi WD-60638 60-Inch 1080p 3D-Ready DLP HDTV rear panel back

Comparisons.

The Sony A2000/A2020 have motion blur. The Mitsubishi reviews rated the Samsungs higher for color accuracy (Mitsubishi’s 6-color light system is no good if the colors are off) among a host of other things.

This Samsung does 1080p over component video on an Xbox 360!

On screen menus are good.

Colors are bright and vivid.

The cabinet is a little flimsy. It is easy to shift the cabinet and “bend” the screen.

This was chosen over the Samsung 6189S because of the HDMI 1.3 spec, which appears 5 years away from ANYthing being ready for it, and maybe 10 years for HD. By then, HDMI will probably be irrelevant anyway.

Samsung HLT6187SAX 61-Inch Slim LED Engine 1080p DLP HDTV jriver media center

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Mitsubishi WD-60638 60-Inch 1080p 3D-Ready DLP HDTV desktop

First Impressions.

You get an absolutely beautiful picture. I believe it is better than a pixelated LCD or a glassy/shiny Plasma. Let me be clear, LCD and Plasma produce great pictures.

But…

Can you find them at a 60 inch size (or more) for less than $1,000? Don’t even think about 24p HD viewing and 120hz refresh. That makes this TV an excellent value. You get lots of features with a HUGE viewing size, for a great price.

Advantages.

After tweeking the picture, it looks very good, very natural. You get good speakers with this TV, if you choose not to connect your own surround sound. I use Klipsch speakers and can highly recommend them!

Automatic connectivity theme makes connecting and changing inputs easy.

Setup and tweaking the colors right is not difficult. Try the perfectcolor feature.

While this TV has a huge screen, every pixel is shown in HD or Bluray. It produces a smooth and natural picture (color is deep and thorough). Just be sure to adjust your settings to get the picture you want.

Basic SDTV looks surprisingly good compared to some of the LCD and Plasma competition I have seen.

Mitsubishi WD-60638 60-Inch 1080p 3D-Ready DLP HDTV

Disadvantages.

THE REMOTE SUCKS! The only positive is a light shows when it is pressed.

You get a narrow viewing angle for ideal color and focus. For me, the ideal location is directly facing the set and a minimum of about 8 feet from the screen. If you move to the side, the picture is still good but degrades as you move off-center.

Light reflections show which distracts from the picture since it uses a plexi-screen. I don’t believe it is as bad as what you get with Plasmas.

Some inputs are lacking (aka S-video) but buying adapters can solve this problem.

Mitsubishi WD-60638 60-Inch 1080p 3D-Ready DLP HDTV rear back

3D.

I watched 3D and was shocked. It is much better than I would have expected. The 3d effects were great! I watched Jim carreys christmas carol for 15 mins.

It has been reported that 3d on dlp only displays half res. on each eye. For me, it was hard to notice. For 3D, bigger is always better.

Bottom Line.

This set is easily the best choice for anything under 1,000$. In fact, you could include up to $1,300. You need a lot of wall space for this TV, but I guarantee it will not dissapoint.

Mitsubishi WD-60638 60-Inch 1080p 3D-Ready DLP HDTV

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Toshiba 23311153A D95-LMP D95LMP LAMP ASSEMBLY WITH HOUSING
Toshiba ST5265 TV Stand for Toshiba 52HM95 52-Inch DLP Television

Tools/Equipment.

• Phillips screwdriver (magnetic tip)
• 1/4 inch nut driver
• 1/4 inch wrench, small adjustable wrench, or stubby Phillips (to access screw in tight spot)
• Canned air with extender tube, a few cans
• Optical-quality microfiber cloth
• Clean, lint-free cloth
• Small brush

Cautions

• Do not use cleaner that contains ammonia. A clean lint-free cloth dampened with water can work.

• To prevent overspray, do not spray cleaner directly on any TV part. Spray on rag ONLY! (Try a damp rag to clean plastic and metal surfaces; no electronics or optical surfaces.)

• Use only an optical quality microfiber cloth and/or canned air to clean the light engine lens, the mirror and the inside surfaces of the front screen.

• Be careful with canned air. Do not tilt the can and allow any liquid propellant to escape. You may need to swap to a new can often.

• Keep removed screws, from each panel, separated. Most are different sizes. Use separate bowls or trays to keep them from mixing.

• Keep track of color codes when disconnecting wiring connectors so you know what to reconnect. Most connectors only install in one orientation, but is not clearly obvious.

• If contacting any circuit boards/wiring connectors, make sure to touch the metal frame first to discharge any static charge.

Cleaning Steps

Toshiba 52HM95 Rear Cover Removal

1. Be sure the TV is powered off and let it cool at least 2 hours (overnight is ideal).

Toshiba 52HM95 optical engine removal

2. Open and remove the Lamp Unit door (it is on left side of the TV). With a Phillips screwdriver, loosen the 2 screws on the lamp unit. Carefully remove the lamp unit.
Clean the lamp unit lens with a microfiber cloth. Once finished, set it aside for reinstallation.

3. Removing the lamp unit exposes the light engine’s color wheel through the small hole. To block any dust from entering, put tape over the small hole.

4. Remove the lower rear cover (2 screws on each end and 9 along the back panel).

5. Remove the cover from the Input/Output jacks by removing the 7 silver screws securing the cover to the Input/Output modules and sliding the cover off the power cord grommet.

6. Remove the front pedestal cover as follows:

Note the blue, red and grey wire harnesses on the right side leading to the front panel controls, AV-3 jacks and PC slots. Loosen and remove these wires from their wire ties.

Grasp the pedestal cover at the ends and gently pull outward. It is installed with quick-release pins and should release easily.

Gently pull the pedestal cover out, being careful to guide the wiring.

Carefully disconnect the 3 wiring connectors, noting the color code for reconnection.

Before removing the front screen, 2 hidden screws must be removed. These 2 screws secure the bottom corners of the front screen and are installed from the back.

7. Remove the plastic housing where the lamp unit was removed:

Loosen the wire tie and remove the wires from the top of the plastic housing (these wires go to the lamp door switch).

Remove 2 screws securing plastic housing. One on left side and other in base on right side (with limited space available, will need 1/4” wrench or stubby Phillips).

Slowly pull housing from TV, until you can reach the connector to the lamp door switch. Note color code and disconnect wiring connector (may be easier to pull some wire through the hole and lift upward to remove connector).

Toshiba 52HM95 touchpad bezel assembly removal

The front panel screw can now be seen in a recessed hole. Loosen this screw. (I did not remove the screw completely, to aid in reinstallation. Otherwise, a magnetic Phillips screwdriver may be needed.)

8. From the area of the front panel, wiring ties the other, hidden, front panel screw can be seen in a recessed hole. Loosen this screw.

Toshiba 52HM95 mirror removal

9. Remove 11 of the 12 screws along the back of the TV securing the front screen, leaving one loosely installed at the top.

10. Remove 4 of the 5 screws on the front of the TV, at the bottom of the screen.

11. Hold the screen at the top and bottom AND remove the two remaining screws, AND gently lift and pull the front screen panel away from the TV.
Store the front screen assembly to clean the inside surfaces with the microfiber cloth and/or canned air.

12. Reassemble the TV in the reverse order. Remember to remove the tape from the hole covering the color wheel, if installed earlier in step 3.

There are 3 fans to clean:

The large Lamp Fan behind the lamp and light engine assemblies is clearly visible.

There are two smaller fans mounted next to each other. One fan is mounted between the cable card slot and the light engine and the other fan is mounted just to the right directly on the light engine assembly. It’s somewhat inaccessible without removing the light engine, but using an extender tube on your canned air, it is easily cleaned.

The light engine lens has the most dust. Clean using canned air and the microfiber cloth. Use a corner of the cloth to reach beneath the plastic tabs covering the lens.

The mirror may have a few dust particles. Gently wipe using the microfiber cloth and then use the canned air.

Toshiba 52HM95 speakers removal

Bracket Removal

Toshiba 52HM95 bracket removal

Toshiba 23311153A D95-LMP D95LMP LAMP ASSEMBLY WITH HOUSING
Toshiba ST5265 TV Stand for Toshiba 52HM95 52-Inch DLP Television

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Samsung 42 inch 720p DLP spots fix dmd Digital Micro-Mirror Device

 DMD (Digital Micro-Mirror Device) or DLP (Digital Light Processor) chip is failing. The DMD is has hundreds of thousands of tiny movable mirrors. Each white spot is a stuck mirror. Each mirror is a pixel. Sometimes a stuck mirror shows as a black speck.

Samsung has extend coverage for this problem on some models.

Samsung 42 inch 720p DLP spots fix dmd Digital Micro-Mirror Device

Samsung 42 inch 720p DLP spots fix dmd Digital Micro-Mirror Device

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Epson PowerLite Home Cinema 6100 1080p 3LCD Home Theater Projector

Epson PowerLite Home Cinema 6100 1080p 3LCD Home Theater Projector

If you want to try a 1080p projector, this Epson PowerLite is an excellent choice! After using this 6100 for a few weeks, it definitely performs well. There is outstanding image quality with fantastic colors (of course you need to configure it). My setup uses a HDMI output from a Harman Kardon AVR-254 7x50W 7.1-Channel Surround Sound Stereo Home Theater Receiver with HDMI 1.3a Repeater.

Advantages.

This projector is very BRIGHT! It is fascinating how nice it looks even with ambient light.

It has a minimal screen door. You would expect this from a 1080p projector.

Expanded color mode is extremely satisfying and works very well.

The contrast ratio is strong. It blows away the competition.

The feature for lens shift is excellent.

Epson PowerLite Home Cinema 6100 1080p 3LCD Home Theater Projector big bang theory

Epson PowerLite Home Cinema 6100 1080p 3LCD Home Theater Projector disturbed

Disadvantages.

Sometimes the projector loses focus and it has been difficult to find out why. Maybe it is from the vibrations of nearby traffic, reverberations from footsteps upstairs, or the startup sequence. Either way, the focus definitely needs tweaking occasionally. If you mount your projector in an inaccessible place, I would suggest a different projector since you will need to get at it to make image adjustments.

With an HDMI source, you cannot change aspect ratio nor zoom options. When watching a letterboxed 4:3 source it is annoying since zooming in on the smaller image frame is not possible. Instead, it shows combined letterboxing and pillarboxing.

I have seen a lot of compression-artifact banding with Bluray. This projector requires a good video source to get good results.

Lens shift doesn’t work in all directions. Far left or right shifting prevents full up or down shift. If shifting near the center point, it is difficult to tweak the shift because it locks on the center point.

A few of the color modes appear useless and blown out on default (out-the-box) settings. But, that can be fixed by changing the settings once you get comfortable with the projector.

Epson PowerLite Home Cinema 6100 1080p 3LCD Home Theater Projector desktop pc windows

Epson PowerLite Home Cinema 6100 1080p 3LCD Home Theater Projector modern warfare xbox 360

Overall, I’m extremely happy at this price range. $1000 more probably gets you a 5-star home theater experience. But I’d rather have the $1000 and the Epson PowerLite projector at this point.

Epson PowerLite Home Cinema 6100 1080p 3LCD Home Theater Projector HD movies

Epson PowerLite Home Cinema 6100 1080p 3LCD Home Theater Projector resident evil

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Samsung HL50A650 50-Inch 1080p Slim DLP HDTV

Let me start by saying you do not want to wall-mount this TV! This TV is meant for a stand or a table.

Watching “LOST” on this in HD is absolutely beautiful. This Samsung is made for shows like that. It also works well with standard definition TV shows (i.e. non-HD). However, this TV was meant for HD.

With my Comcast digital receiver, HD ranges from “a little better than standard definition” to “stunningly beautiful” which depends on the show you are watching. There have been more than a few “Wow!” moments, from HDTV programming and DVDs. The DVD player is a Samsung DVD-1080P8. It up-converts 1080p.

Watching the Transformers movie and the original Star Wars Trilogy (2004 DVD release) have been great.

Picture.

Contrast is very good, including for a bright room. Full brightness takes a few moments to reach full capacity.

My Home Theater System.

Besides the Samsung DLP…

• HDMI 2 meters
  (6 Feet) Super High Resolution Cable.

All TV goes through this on my DLP. This cable is very affordable from Amazon!

• Samsung DVD-1080P8 1080p DVD Player which up-converts.
• Comcast HD with coaxial cable from wall to box.
• Prepac
  BPS-6000 stand.

Don’t Forget.

You need an HD cable / satellite receiver to get HD. Just because you have a Cable/Satellite receiver doesn’t mean it is HD-ready. You may have to pay a little more, but it’s worth it if you want to see in high-definition.

CALL your cable/satellite provider to activate HD once you have your HD receiver. Just because your subscription is active doesn’t mean the new box shows HD!

To activate HD on your receiver may take AT LEAST an hour. So, be sure to call and get it activated with enough time before the show you want to watch.

Recommendations.

Get a TV stand at least 20 inches high. Many don’t like to watch their HDTV with their head looking too far downward. A good high stand gives you more of a “movie theater” experience with optimal viewing when standing.

TV Stand.

The Prepac BPS-6000 is 26 inches, which works great for this Samsung!

Remote.

When you first get started, the “Source” button is useful. The E-mode button works well. The P-size button slightly “stretches” non-HD 4:3 programming to fit a 16:9 screen. It does this for standard 2.35:1 movie programming, too. It removes the letterbox and stretches the picture.

Try this option to see if you like it. If you do use it, remember to reset to the 16:9 setting for HD programming!

Issues.

In a completely dark room, the light from the back of the TV is sometimes noticeable. Usually, what’s on the TV keeps you from noticing it, though.

In very dark rooms, sometimes the picture is too bright. This is at the default setting. After you change the “E-mode” and some other settings, this is not a problem.

Compared to LCD.

After some testing and research, the picture is comparable to the Samsung series 6 LCD and the Sony XBR4.


Samsung HL50A650 50-Inch 1080p Slim DLP HDTV


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Toshiba 65 inch 65HM167 DLP TV 3 HDMI connectors

(Top Left) Sony STR-DG810 Receiver
(Top RIght) Sony 400 Disc DVD Jukebox (CX995V)
(Lower Middle) Dish VIP622 HD-DVR
HSU Ventriloquist VT12 Speakers with STF-2 Subwoofer
(Lower Left) 300 Watt Amp used for the speakers below

Aura BaseShaker Pro’s (4 in my couch – literally under the seat cushions, for that extra realistic experience while watching explosions, earthquakes, and stuff)

Toshiba 65 inch (65HM167) DLP TV home theater components

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