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What We Think
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| A solid-performing bigscreen HDTV that delivers crisp 1080p pictures at a great price. |
While I wouldn't call HP's DLP svelte, its cabinet is only 19 inches deep, and side-mounted speakers add just a few inches to the overall width. The TV's matte-black finish both looks good and helps cut down on light reflections. A basic set of controls (power, menu navigation, and up and down for channel and volume) is located out of the way on the TV's right-hand side. The unit I tested came with HP's $500 matching stand — a sturdy, open-front piece that echoes the TV's rounded edges and provides ample space for storing components or a speaker.
A unique feature of HP's rear-projection TVs is the front-panel input array — no need here to tinker in the cramped cavity behind the TV. You simply pop open a door below the screen and run cables to the jacks. A conduit in HP's stand lets you run the cables directly up into the set for a tidy hookup, and there's even a light that automatically turns on. The full suite of inputs includes two sets each of HDMI and component-video jacks, a CableCARD slot, and a VGA port for a computer. A distinct feature of this TV is that it's one of the very few available that can accept a true 1080p-format signal via its HDMI input, so if you're preparing to lay down cash on a Blu-ray Disc player, take note.
The TV's sleek, contoured remote control lacks a backlit keypad, but it has a clean, clearly labeled button layout, with the most important ones orbiting a central control pad. To switch inputs, you press the Source button and scroll through an onscreen list of options. Hitting Source twice calls up a picture grid showing every active video device connected to the TV — useful for finding your way around if you've neglected to label the inputs in the setup menu with corresponding names like DVD and Cable. The Aspect button allows you to switch between the TV's display modes; options here let you stretch standard 4:3 pictures to fill the TV's wide screen and zoom in on letterboxed (2.35:1 aspect ratio) HDTV movies to eliminate black bars.
SETUP The HP md5580n's excellent built-in HDTV tuner grabbed all the digital channels we can capture in the S&V labs' crowded urban environs. Hitting the Guide button on the remote let me browse a list of received channels, and I could continue viewing the currently tuned program in a large inset window while scrolling through other options. Unfortunately, the guide itself is bare-bones and lacks any type of program-listings grid — a serious setback if you're using CableCARD. Even the free but flawed TV Guide Onscreen program guide we often complain about would be better here.
HP's easy-to-navigate setup menu provides solid picture-adjustment options without including an excess of tweaky, arcane features. Its four picture-quality presets can be adjusted independently for each input, and the TV will remember your settings. I selected the "purist" Studio preset with Warm color mode, which turns off most ancillary processing and offers the closest match to the industry-standard gray color temperature. Color balance was still a little too red out of the box, but I easily fixed that with a fine-tune of the user-accessible red, green, and blue gain controls (see "test bench") — no need to enter service menus. Playing around with HP's noise-reduction presets, I was very impressed by their ability to smooth out grainy-looking DVDs and HDTV programs without eliminating picture detail. On many TVs, these settings tend to make pictures look soft.
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The Short Form
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| $3,500 / 38 x 60.25 x 19 IN / 119 LBS / hp.com / 888-999-4747 |
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Plus
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| •Excellent detail and color with HDTV •Unique design with full front-panel A/V inputs •Great price for a 1080p bigscreen HDTV |
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Minus
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| •Some loss of black depth in dark scenes •Slightly pale reds after adjustment •Onscreen guide lacks program listings |
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Key Features
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| •1,920 x 1,080-pixel resolution DLP 58-inch display •Built-in digital cable-ready tuner •Front-panel A/V input system •inputs CableCARD slot; 2 HDMI, 2 component-video, 3 composite- and S-video, all with analog stereo audio; 2 RF cable/antenna; VGA with minijack analog stereo audio; analog stereo audio (for DVI-to-HDMI connections) •outputs composite-video, coaxial digital audio, analog stereo audio •Price $3,500 |
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Test Bench
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| After modest user-menu calibration, the HP md5880n's grayscale tracking was ±200 K from 20 to 100 IRE, which is very good performance. Picture geometry was slightly off, with some vertical bowing visible on video test patterns but not on regular programs. A –10 red color decoder error on both the HDMI and component-video inputs encouraged me to increase the set's color saturation — at the modest expense of some accuracy in the green. Screen uniformity was excellent at viewing angles up to 30° — an unusually wide viewing window for a rear projector — and so was picture resolution, with every line in a 1080i-format multiburst test pattern visible through all high-def inputs. Full Lab Results |
One thing that did come through dramatically in that scene was the deep black tone of Jolie's vinyl outfit, likely helped by HP's inclusion of a mechanical aperture in the light path that improves contrast. However, the HP's black rendition tended to vary according to the overall brightness of the image. In a dim poker-game scene that takes place in a bar's backroom, the deepest shadows looked dark gray as opposed to the rich black of Jolie's getup in the dominatrix scene. Even so, there was quite a good amount of shadow detail visible — enough to reveal various objects cluttering the wall.
Switching over to a Discovery HD Theater documentary called Sunrise Earth, I was confronted with static shots of sea anemones and common periwinkles. Usually, I don't have the patience to watch this kind of video wallpaper, but the HP's excellent picture detail made the whole thing spellbinding. The set showed an extraordinary range of orange and brown tones in a shot of seabirds nesting in a coral cavity. And an image of an algae-strewn pool revealed remarkable depth as the light reflected from its surface and bounced off of the surrounding rocks.
Another HD doc — this one a European travelogue of Madrid — looked equally stunning on the HP md5580n. As the tour guide strolled purposefully across the Plaza Mayor, there was a wealth of detail visible in both the stones lining the plaza and the intricate buildings lying just beyond. I occasionally saw a slight jittery effect in horizontal building crevices during camera pans but when I switched to regular high-def movies or sports, I barely noticed this effect at all.
BOTTOM LINE I found a lot to be excited about while looking at the HP md5880n 58-inch DLP HDTV. The set's 1080p-resolution picture captures the full detail of HDTV programs. And its natural color, cool design, and innovative features — including future-proof 1080p input capability — make it one of the strongest options available in rear-projection HDTVs. When you take into account the reasonable $3,500 price, things only get that much more interesting. If you're shopping for an HDTV at this size, the HP md5880n should be at or near the top of your list.
TEST BENCH FOR WEB
FULL LAB RESULTS:
Color temperature (Warm/Custom mode before/after calibration)
Low window (30-IRE): 5,681/6,595 K
High window (80-IRE): 5,672/6,590 K
Brightness (100-IRE window before/after calibration): 37.9/33.4 ftL
The HP md5880n 58-inch DLP HDTV's Warm color-temperature preset showed a distinct red bias during testing, but the red, green, and blue gain controls in its user-accessible Picture menu let me adjust the grayscale tracking to more closely adhere to the 6,500-K standard. Afterward, grayscale tracking was ±200 degrees Kelvin from 20 to 100 IRE, which is very good performance. (Calibration needs to be performed by a qualified technician, so discuss it with your dealer before purchase, or call the Imaging Science Foundation at 561-997-9073.)
Like many rear-projection TVs, the HP md5880n's maximum light output (with brightness and contrast cranked up) measured very high — about 124 footlamberts with the Normal preset selected. Accordingly, the pre-calibration brightness figure listed above was taken in a dim environment after I adjusted the brightness and contrast controls with test patterns.
Picture geometry was slightly off, with vertical bowing visible on crosshatch patterns. That effect was rarely apparent on regular programs, however.
Color decoder error measured –10 red through both the HDMI and component-video inputs — a dip that made me want to increase the set's color saturation even at the expense of some accuracy in the green. I eventually settled on a compromise setting that provided decent color saturation with relatively accurate green. Overscan was 2% for both the HDMI and component-video inputs with the TV's "Studio" display mode selected and was about 4% when the regular widescreen 16:9 mode was active. Screen uniformity was excellent at viewing angles up to 30º — a pretty rare achievement for a rear-projection TV. The HP md5880n's picture resolution was also excellent, with every line in a 1080i-format multiburst pattern coming through via both its HDMI and component-video inputs.
If you liked this article, you might enjoy the following:
Special Report: DLP vs. LCoS
HP Pavilion 65-inch DLP HDTV
HDTV Resource Center
HDTV Buyer's Guide
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