Bryan's Samsung HLM507W DLP TV Page

This page is dedicated to DLP television technology, sepecifically the Samsung HLM507W.

My HLM507W Setup

All of the photos on this page are thumbnails which will allow you to see larger versions of the image. The images you see here were taken on the day the set was delivered, and no tweaks to the image had yet been made at the time. I'd like to add that within the first 6 hours of using this TV, I have experienced virtually all of the visual defects, anomalies, and artifacts that people have been reporting on AVS-Forum, except for dead and/or stuck pixels.

This includes dithering, the "rainbow" effect, and the "clay" effect. Despite having experienced these things, I can honestly say that I am more than satisfied with my purchase. For those who are interested in this sort of detail, my set has a release date of Nov 30 2002 09:55:00, and it does remember the aspect ratio setting and color mode for each input.

My setup with the Samsung HLM507W 50 inch rear projection DLP TV. Yes, I am quite aware that the coffee table is a mess!

This shot shows the glow of the backlight. I'm using a 15 watt, 24-inch flourescent tube type lamp.

Before I rearrange the furniture to accommodate this larger television set, I used Sierra Home Architect made a to-scale mockup of it in the computer to make sure everything would fit perfectly and that the viewing distance and height would be optimal, as well as the distance and spread of the speakers. It's a fine program that includes hundreds or thousands of 3D "clip art". While your exact furniture may not be in the program, you can pick something similar and input the exact dimensions of your actual furniture, and everything will fit exactly how it would in real life. It's a lot better than actually lifting and moving stuff only to find that you don't like where you've placed it!

HDTV Screenshots

The following shots are from NBC's "The Tonight Show". I am using a Samsung T150 OTA HDTV receiver set to output 720p, the native resolution of the 507W. The bottom part of each of the images below is a cropped portion of the image in the top section, at the native resolution of my 5 megapixel digital camera, so you can see just how detailed the actual image is.

Comparison of the HDTV broadcast and the standard broadcast of NYPD blue. The top is HDTV, the bottom is the standard broadcast. These two shots are from the same episode, and Dennis Franz is wearing the same shirt in both of these shots. The inserts are closeups of his collar. The difference in resolution is quite clear. Both of these shots are are of the same TV.

Comparisons

The TV that the 507W is replacing is a 30" Samsung direct-view widescreen CRT EDTV set, capable of a maximum resolution of 480p. I enjoyed this set greatly, but I just felt it was time to upgrade to something... well, bigger, and fully HDTV. The photos below demonstrate some comparisons. All of these photos were taken from the same distance away from the set, with the camera's height set to be at the height of the center of the screen. They have, however, been cropped to show approximately the same area.

Reflectivity: The 507W has an extremely non-reflective screen. I took these shots by holding up a flourescent tube directly underneath the camera lens. The upper image shows my direct-view tv. Notice how you can quite clearly see me in the reflection of the TV screen, as well as all of the junk that's on the coffee table. Notice how the bottom image which is of the 507W that not only can you not see any detail in me or the items on the table (and trust me, I was making the exact same pose!), even the shape of the light source is not well defined.

The bottom line is that the non-reflective nature of the 507W will enhance your viewing experience by reducing the effect of ambient light and its related reflections.

This shot is taken from the opening shot of Disney's Monsters Inc. The top image was taken from my wide screen direct-view set (which is not too shabby of a set, I might add!!). The bottom is from the 507W DLP set. Notice how much smoother and sharper the bottom image is, and how much bolder the colors are. I guess it's not really fair comparing a set that 2 years ago retailed for $1500 with one that currently retails for over $4000, but hey, I wanted to demonstrate just how good it really is.

I may or may not update this page. Who knows.

Last updated January 21, 2003