Photos by Tony Cordoza

Like a souped-up Aston Martin needs a stretch of open road, the high-definition TV (HDTV) format and progressive-scan DVD need big screens to really strut their stuff. Large rear-projection TVs (RPTVs) can blow viewers away with crystal-clear images, and the latest designs are slimmer than ever — allowing you to balance your craving for massive movies with your desire to save on precious floor space.


Toshiba 57HX83

Aside from being slim, TVs that use new technologies like DLP (Digital Light Projection) and LCoS (liquid crystal on silicon) don’t require periodic maintenance — there are no cathode-ray tubes (CRTs) to keep aligned — and you don’t need a dark viewing environment to get good pictures. But classic tube-based RPTVs enjoy advantages of their own, including significantly lower prices — which is why we’ve included all three technologies in our roundup.

In order of their technological seniority, the 57-inch Toshiba 57HX83 ($2,700) uses those classic tubes, the 50-inch RCA Scenium HDLP50W151 ($3,999) uses DLP, and the 55-inch Philips Cineos 55PL9773 ($4,200) uses LCoS. All share wide 16:9 aspect ratio screens, Hollywood-compliant (read: copy-protected) digital connections, and the ability to show off the finest details of DVD movies and HDTV. While each one can give the local cineplex a run for its money, the model you prefer will depend largely on your viewing habits, budget, and sense of living-room style. Let’s see how far down the road each set takes us.

Toshiba 57HX83
Even though it hides a trio of red, green, and blue CRTs behind its screen, the Toshiba Cinema Series 57HX83 is outfitted with enough technical gadgetry to impress James Bond. But you wouldn’t guess it by looking at the exterior. Befitting its status as the most . . . ah, experienced member of the group, its overall look isn’t as aggressively high-tech as those of the other two. The 57-inch (diagonal) screen, surrounded by a thin black border, rests atop a gray field of cloth that conceals the speakers.

Just don’t expect this behemoth to hide in the corner. At nearly 2 feet deep, it’ll protrude a good bit from the wall behind it, and its integrated base means you can’t use a custom stand. Thankfully, Toshiba provides coasters to make moving the 204-pound TV less of a hassle.

The rear panel includes every important connection except a VGA computer input. A DVI (Digital Visual Interface) jack ensures compatibility with new high-definition tuners, satellite receivers, and DVD players, while a pair of wideband component-video inputs provides more high-def and DVD connection options.

I had a little trouble using the wide-bodied remote control — I was constantly stretching for the aspect ratio and menu buttons — but otherwise the layout felt natural enough, and a cool blue backlight illuminates every button. The handset can also operate up to five other components.

Selecting inputs with Toshiba’s remote was easier than with many other TVs, which make you toggle through selections, but I still had to call up a separate menu and hit the number key corresponding to the input I wanted. The same process is used to select one of the set’s five display modes: Natural (for standard 4:3 programs, complete with tube-saving gray bars to either side), Full (for widescreen DVD and HDTV), and Theater Wide 1, 2, and 3 — none of which work with HDTV programs but are designed to eliminate those gray bars with regular 4:3 programming. I preferred Theater Wide 3, which stretched the image slightly and cropped the top and bottom a bit. It’s the best such “compromise” mode I’ve seen in a widescreen HDTV.

Toshiba’s straightforward menu system made using the TV’s numerous features a breeze. In addition to a custom video memory for every input, you can apply one of three picture presets — Sports, Standard, and Movie. The set converts standard interlaced programs to either 540p (progressive-scan) or 1080i (interlaced), and its dual-view mode, which places two images side by side on the wide screen, works with both standard- and high-definition sources.

After making a few adjustments, I dove into the latest 007 DVD, Die Another Day. The early-morning surfing scenes at the start made an immediate impact with their deep

blacks and fine gradations of shadow. I could make out the differences between dark tones in the camouflage wetsuits even when the spies were dwarfed by the midnight-blue waves. Later, during a bedroom tryst between Bond and Jinx (Halle Berry’s character), the display perfectly preserved the shade of her skin in the dim bluish light. I also appreciated being able to pick out facial details, including arch-thug Zao’s diamond studs, through the fog that enshrouds him and Bond as they meet on a bridge that crosses the Korean DMZ.

In the scene where the Icarus satellite unfolds in space, the ridges of the parabolic antenna looked solid thanks to the TV’s 2:3 pulldown processing — a feature intended to ensure smooth images from film-based DVD programs. Color rendition was very good, and the infamous slow-motion stare-fest where Jinx emerges from the ocean revealed her well-saturated orange swimsuit and brown skin, among other things. During the icy car chase, however, I did catch one characteristic common to tube-based TVs. As I moved from one side of the couch to another, the fields of white shifted in intensity, with the center of the screen looking a bit brighter than the edges.

I noticed similar variations in brightness — on different ice fields, of course — when I slipped a 1080i high-definition tape of the animated movie Ice Age into my D-VHS VCR. In a cave scene that comes after the mammoth and his cohorts are trapped by an avalanche, the edges of the quivering ice shards looked the tiniest bit softer than on the other two sets. That’s not to say the Toshiba’s high-def image looked indistinct by any means. The details of fur and claws reflected in the ice slide were all visible, and the shadows in the cave paintings looked deep and realistic.

If you can live with its bulk and the knowledge that you’re not buying the latest technology, Toshiba’s 57HX83 will deliver jaw-dropping image quality, especially in movies with lots of dark scenes.

PDF: Features Checklist
PDF: In The Lab

RCA Scenium HDLP50W151
As I was reading the spec sheet of the RCA HDLP50W151, I felt like I was getting a lecture from Q himself. This 50-inch (diagonal) set uses Texas Instruments’ second-generation Mustang HD2 DLP chip, which has a resolution of 1,280 x 720 pixels. The chip consists of thousands of tiny mirrors that move in increments to create pictures. RCA designed the TV’s exterior to complement those futuristic innards. Burnished aluminum highlights the lustrous silver-and-black cabinet, and the front buttons are bathed in a fully dimmable blue light to appear even more distinctive. This tabletop TV deserves to sit atop a high-tech stand, and its 92-pound weight makes light work of lifting. Best of all, it measures only 16 inches deep.

You’ll find a complete assortment of jacks on the rear panel, including a DVI input, a pair of DTV Link-compatible FireWire ports for high-def recording, two wideband component-video inputs, and an Ethernet port. That’s right, this TV has a limited built-in Web browser that works with the remote or an optional $49 keyboard (I’d have preferred a VGA input for a computer). Since it has a built-in HDTV tuner, the Scenium also features an optical digital audio output and composite A/V outputs that can send standard-resolution versions of high-def programs to a recorder — a first in my experience.

RCA’s ultramodern remote control was my favorite of the three. Once I got past its diminutive buttons, I really liked the smart layout, manageable size, and blue backlighting. I programmed the top keys to directly access different inputs, and since it’s a learning model the remote can operate just about any A/V component.

Only three display modes are available: Normal (to view 4:3 programs with gray bars), Stretch (horizontally stretches 4:3 programs), and Zoom (crops all sides and is ideal for letterboxed programs). Unfortunately, none of them work with 480p or 1080i sources, so I recommend a progressive-scan DVD player with aspect ratio control for use with this TV.

Like the Toshiba, the RCA has a separate custom memory for each video input, and there’s a trio of global picture presets called Vibrant, Natural, and Cinematic. There are also three color-temperature selections, including a Warm setting that just about nails the NTSC standard (see “In the Lab,” page 96, for details). Other options include defeatable edge enhancement and a picture-in-picture (PIP) function that works only with standard 480i sources.

RCA HDLP50W151

DIMENSIONS 39 1/4 inches wide, 47 inches high, 16 inches deep WEIGHT 92 pounds PRICE $3,999 MANUFACTURER Thompson, Dept. S&V, 10330 N. Meridian, Indianapolis, IN 46290; www.rca.com; 317-587-4450

As if all that weren’t enough, RCA’s engineers threw in the Guide Plus+ program guide complete with infrared (IR) blasters, so the set can control a VCR and cable box to automatically schedule recordings. The built-in HDTV tuner proved very capable, and I was able to plug the cable directly into the back of the set and receive all of Time Warner Cable’s local high-definition channels. (You may not get the same results with your cable system.) The RCA tuner grabbed the local Fox digital broadcast even in the depths of our testing room, a feat that Samsung’s late-generation SIR-T160 tuner couldn’t duplicate.

When I cued up the opening scene of Star Trek: Insurrection with my DVD player in interlaced mode, the RCA’s 2:3 pulldown processing did a good job of making diagonal lines and edges on the upturned boats and the tops of buildings look solid. But when I switched back to Die Another Day, the telltale ridges in the Icarus satellite still looked a bit jagged. Of course, there’s no need to worry about the TV’s performance in this area if you have a good progressive-scan DVD player.

The Jinx/Bond bedroom scene makes a compelling reference for how well a TV reproduces black. In this case, deep shadows came across as dark gray instead, punctuated by tiny motes of greenish video noise. I also noticed distinct contours in some areas that should have appeared as even fades from one color to the next. When Bond infiltrated the facial-reconstruction clinic, for example, a pan away from a security camera to a mural depicting Cuban revolutionaries crossed a brown wall in the background, and I saw bands of color instead of a nice even gradation. The level of detail in the mural was excellent, however, and I could make out shiny flecks of earth in the wall.

Most people wouldn’t notice the “rainbow effect” that can occur on DLP displays, but I did see it occasionally. When Bond is incarcerated by MI6 following his Korean ordeal, a spot of glare on the hospital floor grew rings of red, green, and blue. The rings appeared more often where dark and light areas of the picture were next to one another and when my eyes moved quickly from one section of the screen to another. Turning on a dim light behind the set and decreasing contrast reduced their incidence, however, and it didn’t wash out the picture as much as it would have on a tube-based TV. RCA’s bright DLP set actually thrives in environments with some ambient light.

The white snow fields in Ice Age revealed remarkably even light output across the RCA’s screen, with the image retaining its intensity even when I watched from the extreme corners of the room. In this area, its performance was as good as that of a direct-view CRT set. But the colors of the animals’ hides were a little washed out.

With its boatload of features and excellent connectivity, the Scenium is ready for the future. Sure, it has a few video glitches, but they’re countered by solid performance in real-world lighting conditions. If you truly want to feel like part of the future, RCA’s HDLP50W151 is as close to a time machine as current HDTVs get.

PDF: Features Checklist
PDF: In The Lab

Philips Cineos 55PL9773
Reminiscent of Bond’s sleek, silver Aston Martin V12 Vanquish, the 55-inch (diagonal) Philips 55PL9773 looks downright gorgeous. The company’s designers went all out, wrapping a thin silver border around the screen, making the set only 56 1/2 inches wide, and mounting it atop a short base that blends perfectly with the swivel stand. (The cabinet underneath is an extra $499.) Depth is only 17 1/2 inches, and the whole thing weighs just 84 pounds.

At the heart of the 55PL9773 beats a single 1,280 x 720-pixel LCoS chip, the first of its kind in a TV set (Toshiba’s own LCoS set uses a three-chip design). The individual pixels are applied to a silicon wafer instead of LCD’s glass substrate, eliminating gaps between pixels, which can be visible onscreen. Snooping around the backside, I found a full suite of input jacks, including DVI and a pair of wideband component-video inputs for HDTV sources and a VGA input for computers.

The Philips remote control looks like a foil-wrapped candy bar with buttons. Its rubberized keys felt really nice, but they don’t have any sort of backlighting. The remote has fewer buttons than the others, resulting in more frequent trips to the onscreen menus, but it can control up to five other devices. Switching inputs meant scrolling through all six choices, and there’s no way to skip unused inputs.

The undisputed champ for sheer variety of display modes, the Cineos offers seven ways to resize standard 480i programs, but it can’t resize progressive-scan or HDTV material. Notable options include a 4:3 setting that places either black or gray bars to the side of the image, a Movie Expand 16:9 mode that stretches and crops a little, and an Automatic mode that senses black bars and immediately zooms the image to fill the screen. I was pleasantly surprised when a trailer for Gigli appeared and J Lo suddenly grew a foot taller.

Since the animated menu system shows only a few options at once, I soon became frustrated navigating among the set’s controls. The manual picture settings include only one global custom memory, so I couldn’t tailor brightness, contrast, and color for different inputs. Six picture presets are provided, however, and another three options labeled Active Control are said to dynamically adjust certain settings depending on picture content and ambient lighting. There are also three color-temperature presets, defeatable noise reduction and color enhancement, and two settings intended to smooth out 480i images — Pixel Plus and Movie Plus.

Phillips 55PL9773

DIMENSIONS 56 5/8 inches wide, 38 1/8 inches high, 17 1/2 inches deep WEIGHT 84 pounds PRICE $4,200 MANUFACTURER Philips, Dept. S&V, 64 Perimeter Center E., Atlanta, GA 30346; www.philipsusa.com; 800-531-0039

Cueing up Pierce and Halle for one final spin, I got the sense that LCoS is still a technology in its infancy. Blacks were not as deep as with regular tube sets. I also noticed video noise on the DMZ bridge as Zao emerged from the fog. Another glitch occurred during a pan over a Korean flag and a MASH-style camp. A moving horizontal line appeared briefly in the image, cutting it in two so the flagpole appeared disconnected for a second. The line resurfaced during the scene in the Cuban clinic, and occasionally with HDTV sources. My tests also revealed 2:3 pulldown processing that wasn’t as good as it should have been — the ribs in Icarus appeared somewhat jagged when I used a standard DVD player.

On the other hand, the Philips delivered highly detailed closeups and extremely bright whites. Jinx’s form emerging from the sea shone with glistening droplets, and the incredible light of Icarus bathing the crowd in reflected sun was conveyed with blinding impact. Many details looked razor-sharp, including the edges of the tiny blocks of background that appear when the Aston Martin’s invisibility camouflage begins to fail. The picture also maintained even brightness at wide viewing angles.

The 55PL9773 excelled with the high-def images from Ice Age. My reference scene came alive with the ultra-smooth reflections of the mammoth and the sabertooth as they raced down the slide — the mammoth’s fur looked like it could cut glass. Textures in the cave wall and the paintings seemed real enough to touch, while the undulations of the melting ice in the volcano sequence were breathtaking. Aside from some noise in the darker sequences and a couple of rainbow effects when I shifted my eyes, this D-VHS tape looked as good as I’ve ever seen it.

For its first year on the job, LCoS has assembled an impressive pedigree as well as a few issues — including grayish-looking blacks. The Philips 55PL9773’s high style and impressive high-definition picture will probably seal the deal for many folks, but video purists may want to wait until Philips irons out some of its kinks.

We’ve seen a wide range of technologies, features, and designs in these three widescreen TVs, and all have their strengths and weaknesses. While the tried-and-true CRT may be destined for replacement, it still delivers the most consistently pleasing images. But DLP, LCoS, and other chip-based systems aren’t too far behind, and their prices will continue to fall as they become more popular. Whether it hides something old or something new behind the screen, any of these HDTVs will give you the kind of large-scale images that deserve to be called “high-definition.”

PDF: Features Checklist
PDF: In The Lab