Charlie,

How do you overdrive a DLP? Literally, you can't - but it's hard to describe things you see on new technologies without using pre-existing terminology. You could just as reasonably object to the term "anamorphic DVD," as there really is no such thing. But since the term describes the phenomenon reasonably well, the term stuck. Here, too, the DLP sets Samsung showed at Home Entertainment 2002 appeared like overdriven CRT sets. In other words, they had their contrast and/or brightness and/or color settings adjusted for maximum punch at the expense of accuracy. They exhibited extremely high contrast, high color saturation (flesh tones were a bit warm), and "clipped" or "blooming" highlights (bright areas such as whites lost some of the gradations in color). I have experimented with similar settings on my own HD1-based DLP projector, so I have some basis for comparison. While I could easily see that the Samsungs' HD2 contrast improvements were real - and quite impressive - it wasn't possible to tell just how significant the improvements would be with the settings pulled back into ranges that produce a more accurate picture. As I mention in the article, some other manufacturer reps were claiming that all the sets on the second floor were suffering from magnetic forces from the subway system (I don't make this stuff up, I promise).

Most single chip DLP projectors for the business market have audible color wheels. It's not the decibel level, rather the pitch - it can be quite grating. Thankfully, the latest DLP designs - for both business and pleasure - seem to have muffled the wheel. Mostly what you hear is the fan.

As to azryan's critiques of my columns, they're at http://www.greengart.com/askavi.htm - judge for yourself.

-avi

[This message has been edited by Avi (edited July 15, 2002).]