Friday, May 8, 2009

There is still motion blur and jutter on LCD TVs

Those of you who have read my blog know that I recently bought a Samsung Luxia UN55B7000.  This is the recently acclaimed LED LCD HDTV which supposedly defines the state of the art in LCD flat screens at this moment in time.  It is also 1.2 inches in total thickness, a fact cause the fashion critics to stand up and praise God. 

Almost 3 full weeks have elapsed since I made my purchase.  It will be 21 days as of tomorrow.  I purchased my Unit on April 18.  What have I learned?  Many things, in truth, but none more important than this:  There is still motion blur and jutter on LCD televisions.  There is also flat-cold ghosting and after-imaging on fast moving objects in movies.

Anyone who says otherwise is a Goddamn fucking fork-tongued liar.  Direct that filthy lying sonofabitch to my blog so I can insult the shit out of him.

You can't get away from it.  120Hz works for sports like Football and Basketball.  120Hz motion smothing does not work on Blu-Ray movies.  It does wacky things to 24fps movies.  You won't like it.  You will shut it off.  I guarentee it.  The first time you see the lips of an actor out of sync with the sound-track, you will hate this feature.  You will be pissed.

Folks, blurring and ghosting are not (and never have been) issues with DLP technology.  There is a very precise and logical, physical, scientific explanation for this fact.  Let me tell you about it.

LCD is an acronym signifying Liquid Crystal Diods.  There are approximately 2 million Liquid Crystal Diods in a rectangular array on any 1080P LCD television.  Each one of those 2 million Liquid Crystals changes its color osculation in response to an electrical signal sent to it by the video processor.  It takes a bit of time for an LCD to change its osculating frequency (and therefore color) in response to a new electrical signal.  We call this delay between signal change and osculating frequency change "Refresher Rate" or "Refresh Time".  LCDs carry an important measure quote called "Refresher Rate".  This figure is quoted in Milliseconds.  All LCDs featuring 120Hz technology have a refresher rate of 4ms.

Believe it or not, that is hella-slow.  DLP is radically faster.

DLP is a different kind of technology.  DLPs are based on a light gun powered by a 150 or 180 watt bulb.  This gun is located at the back of your 10 to 19 inch deep DLP HDTV.  It is a type of projection technology, not unlike CRT or the projectors you see in movie theater.  It is identical to the digital theater projection systems you see in high-end movie houses like the Archlight, or the Mann Chinese Theater in Hollywood.  It is merely rear-screen projection rather than front-screen projection.

The DLP shoots photon waves of light at your screen, and paints the picture in colored light.  How fast is this in comparison to LCD?

Last time I checked, the speed of light is a universal physical constant and is quoted at 299,792,458 meters per second.  How long does it take a beam of light to travel about 13 inches or 33cm from the bulb to screen?  Last time I checked that works out to 1.10076 E-8.  I think that's just about 11 nanoseconds.  Last time I checked a nanosecond is defined as 1 E-9 s.

So we are talking about the difference between 4ms and 11ns.  We are talking about the difference  between 4.0 E-3 vs. 1.1 E-8.  That is 5 orders of magnitude, and 363% multiplied on top of that just for good measure.  That means my new LED LCD is 3.63 E+5 slower than my old DLP.  In English that means my new LED LCD is 363,384.79758 times slower than my old DLP.

When I said DLP is radically faster, I meant radically faster.  I bullshit you not.

That means that there is no fucking motion blur on any fucking DLP.  That means that there is no fucking ghosting or after images on any fucking DLP.  You can shove that fact up you fucking ass and bleed to death rapidly it if you are DLP detractor.  The problem that afflicts LCDs does not apply or pertain to DLP in any way shape or form.  By its very scientific nature, DLP completely avoids this problem.  Asking how DLPs control motion blur is like asking how you rewind your DVDs before returning them to Block Buster.  The question is illogical because the problem does not exist.

Are you ready for some whipped cream on top?  My old DLP cost $2000 about 2 years ago.  This new LCD cost about $3000 just 20 days ago.

Are you ready for the cherry on top of the whipped cream?  My old DLP was 6 inches larger than my new LED LCD.  It was a 61 inch behemoth.  This one is just 55 inches.

For this reason I am disappointed in my purchase.  All-in-all, it is still pretty good television, but it is not as good as the best DLPs on the market today.  Although the clarity and detail are magnificent, motion is more important.  We call them motion pictures for a reason.

I am very glad that my mother covets my new LED LCD with great lust.  She is seeking a family discount price on a used purchase as I write this.  I think I am going to sell it to her... just the second that the Mitsubishi WD-82837 comes out in June.