It would be pretty hard at this point to predict the life of some of these sets. For just about all the types like LCD/DLP/Plasma, they probably won't fail in a way that is repairable. Keep in mind with the 100,000 hour DLP and the 4,000 hr bulbs, that would be about 25 x $300 = $7500 in bulb replacements.

I would guesstimate the average family does 4-6 hours a day on their set, unless its in a common area where it could be on throughout the day. At the predicted rate of bulb life I guess a person would be looking at averaging about 2 years on a bulb. I sure hope they get the price under control by then.

As for Prima I think it's reputation is currently at the bottom level of the plasma makers, although sometimes those reputations are not accurate. I've seen some of its cousins (Maxent) that looked pretty nice, especially for the price.

I guess only time will tell as to how long these sets last and how long before I replace it.
BTW - Our Future Shop deal got better because they threw in a matching Samsung stand ($500) for the set in a price match with Best Buy. But now our 30 days are up to get better deals.

Regards

Going to get the Panasonic 50DL54. I really like the insane 2500:1 contrast ratio on the HD2+ chip.

I believe that is one of the most impressive DLPs around. Excellent colour and contrast. If I were in the market for one I would snatch up the panny in a heartbeat.

To be honest, the Samsung HLP 5063 is very attractive, but the issues with it make me wary. Also, its using the HD3 chip, which produces a worse image than the HD2+.

I saw the panny 50 right next to the 5063 at FS in Ottawa. No contest for HD material. The hd3 is not true 720p, and can't resolve the same amount of detail. It appears soft and lacking side by side with HD3. I imagine that it might do better on lower quality feeds...like 480p dvds with marginal MPEG encoding or SD video. I would take the sharper, more contrasty picture any day.

The only thing I don't like about the panny 50 is its 'wings': the extra foot of width thanks to the side-mounted speakers.

I find I get occasional headaches watching dlps (now that I have two friends who own one...and who like to have movie nights), otherwise I would consider owning one. And I have also noticed more posturization on them than competing LCDs.

To be honest, I prefer the technology of LCD-based sets. The only real compromise is black level (or contrast). However, it seems to me that LCD's do have a wider colour gamut...and it shows sometimes. For example, I notice that the Hitachi 50V500 produces excellent and subtle variation in skin tones...something that I find lacking on some DLPs. And the black level is at best only marginally different from DLP on that set.

Its all about picking your poisin. The first company that can deliver CRT contrast and fill factor with LCD flat panel sharpness, lack of burn in, and eliminate screen door effect on a single set (3" thick) will blow the market for the competition out of the water. I think the latest sharp lcd 1080p flat panels are coming close...higher resolution, better black, and a cure for stuck pixels and we would have a winner.

Cheers,

Mike Flynn

indeed, it would be interesting to see how to save changes.

Neild, to answer your question about pixel perfect - so long as as the in and out res are 1280x720 under main win size it appears to be pixel perfect, and is quite sharp. However with this there appears to be overscan in the optical engine that you cant really change in the menus without reverting back to scaling (maybe crack open the set?)

I have seen the green push in the shadows you guys refer to, its quite annoying. Trying to equalize it out in my video processor (htpc with H3DII card that has a RGB equalizer in software for the IRE levels). Albeit I would rather adjust RGB gain and bias in the service menu first, and then go to the equalizer as a last resort.

Another thought I had, has anyone cracked open the set to take a look at the light engine/path? I wonder if its possible to drop a CC filter and maybe ND filter in there. I have done this with my FP setup and have had really good results.

-pd



quick question, i would have to adjust the in n out res of the main win size in the service menu?

With the newer ATI/NVidia drivers, and or Powerstrip in my case, I send 1280x720 to my unit over both RGB/DVI without any problems (not simultaneously, just did one and the other for testing). Of course you have to tell the display to use DTV vs PC mode as it doesnt want to recognize anything higher than 1024x768 in PC mode.

-pd

my question is.. is there a limit as to how high i can set the res like the way you described? can i go higher than 1280x720 ?? what are your thoughts on this.

i have a 22 in crt for my pc and i'm usually at 1600x1200 so that's what i'm used to, what are your recommendations?

thank you for any help you can offer

Arggg... I loved this TV till I actually started throwing HD content at it. In my experience there is overscan on any of the inputs when running at 720p. I have hooked up an HTPC with DVI, RGB, and component; a HD Tuner card over RGB; and an HD Tuner set-top over DVI and compnent, and they all have about 6.5% overscan on them. I can reduce the overscan quite a bit with the HTPC using the new nvidia drivers or powerstrip, however you can't do such things with a HD reciever. There must be a way to fix this. In the service menu, I can resize the main PIP window, which resizes the display until you switch resolutions, input or turn off the set. Does anyone know if a tech can fix this, or am I stuck with overscanned HD with this set?

Am I just missing something in the service menu? Is there a way that I can adjust the size of the picture? I don't have a programmable universal remote, so I am stuck with the stock service menu b options.

Has anyone had their LCD panel fail? Mine's gone into a very strange display - colours are oversaturated, pixelated, but not at full brightness. Colours aren't smooth anymore, it's like it's using a small subset of the possible colours. Time for warranty service, I guess.

I know this thread is a bit old, but I've managed to royally screw up my gamma settings on my TV. Yes, I should not have been mucking around w/the service menu, but I did.

If I could ask a big favor from someone who has this TV (LG or Zenith) and has the all-in-one remote to copy their gamma settings and post them.

From the all-in-one remote, press "SET 0 1 8" (or maybe STAR 0 1 8), then move down to GAMMA and press the right arrow. After about 2 seconds, you'll see a gamma chart with that looks something like:

16 X X X
32 X X X
48 X X X
...
256 X X X.

Press exit on the remote to exit this menu. Take my advice, don't change any of them unless you copy default values first!

All my X's are garbage now. I know there are a lot of numbers, but I'd REALLY REALLY REALLY be grateful for any help.

Thanks!

I'm in the same predicament with regards to the gamma settings :(

If there is any kind LG owner out there willing to post the info, it would be GREATLY appreciated.

Thanks,

MM

You guys should only need the complete 256-bit data for r,g,b, it will fill in the rest automatically with the correct colors.

I'd post mine, but mine are a bit fudged up, so if someone could post theirs...well three people will be helped out!

This thread has been inactive for a while now, hope some owners of this TV are still reading this.

1. Went into the service menu and noticed my bulb is about 4400 hours now. Has anyone changed it themself? Where do you access it? I took off the fan filter but didn't see anyway to take the fan out easily. Also, what is a good source to get a low cost bulb?

2. The bottom of my picture has developed a horizontal purple band about 2 inches thick. When I called a local service person they were guessing it was a defective engine and could cost upwards of $1000 to fix. Has anyone else experienced this?

Thanks

To fix the DVI-DTV mode, we're going to have to figure out how to image is aligned onto the display. I'm sure something in the DTV mode signal instructs the projector where to place the image... some sort of relative-size and offset. I don't think its going to have anything to do with the RGB settings we're used to fiddling with.

Perhaps there's a way to do it in the Radeon video driver? I looked deep in the bowels of my Catalyst Control Panel but found nothing.

why not clone output. dual monitor and then resize your screen to fit the 44" for when its clipping

Here's a good source of info about this TV from the manufacturer's service site:

http://www.zenithservice.com/index_b2c.jsp

Here's a very informative thread about this TV.

Looks like it had some design flaws and that owners are best advised to clean the filters often and make sure it's getting adequate cooling.

It also sounds like the light engine can be repaired through shims if someone has the time & patience:

http://www.tv-forums.com/forum/TV_Equipment_C4/Projection_TV_Forum_F24/Zenith_44_Rear-Projection_LCD_TV_E44W46LCD_P4629-7

I have had this set for almost four years now with no problems at all. I just got the light warning light on the front panel. The bulb timer in the service menu says almost 10K hrs. How do you reset the timer or change it so it shuts the light timer warning light off. I realize that I will need a new bulb soon, but the annoying light at the bottom of the tv is driving me crazy while I wait for this light to go out.

If you go to the LG or Zenith site, there are links to the lawsuit filed for the defective lamp assembly. You have to call a couple 800 numbers, but according to the settlement they have the option to repair or replace the defective TV's. Of course I just went back to the site and it gives me an error message. Even Zenith web sites don't work. Here's the 800 number. 1-800-228-1757. Good luck..