In This eNewsletter:
• The "Non-Flat" Alternatives by Thomas J. Norton
• Blu-ray Follies Continue, HD DVD Shines On by Shane Buettner
• DVD: Rome by Thomas J. Norton

By Thomas J. Norton

When I wandered into my local Best Buy last week I was confronted with more flat panel displays than I've ever seen in one place outside of the annual CEDIA and CES industry love-fests. The store layout had been redesigned since my last visit, and the entire back wall was covered with rows of sets seemingly suspended in space, from eye level to nosebleed height. A subsequent visit to a local Circuit City suggested that store is also in the middle of a similar change.

What's happening, of course, is that the big fall buying season is fast approaching, and none of the big chains want to be left in the dust. Flat panels are now dominating the market. Indeed, there are many buyers who think that all HDTVs are flat panels.

Not so fast there, Bunky. We presented a summary of the state of flat panel displays in our July 2006 eNewsletter, but the other alternatives are not yet dead. The single tube, direct-view CRT is still an important player, though (with a few notable exceptions) it subsists mainly at the low end of the market. The old, reliable rear projection design, however, is still very much alive.

But the modern version of the rear projection set is very different animal from the classic three-tube CRT rear projector, although a few CRT models are still available. The new sets are designed around a pixel-based imaging chip or chips, supplemented by a projection lamp, suitable optics, and a mirror that directs the magnified image onto the screen, as in the old CRT rear projectors. Because the imaging element is the size of one (or three) large postage stamps, these displays are frequently referred to as microdisplays, a term we will use for them through the rest of this piece.

Three different technologies are currently used for the imaging elements in microdisplays: DLP, LCD, and LCoS. Currently DLP RPTVs use a single so-called Digital Micromirror Device (or DMD) from Texas Instruments, along with a mechanical, rotating color wheel. LCD uses three small LCD chips, one each for red, green, and blue. LCoS, including Sony's implementation, which is called SXRD, also uses three chips. LCoS is a variation of LCD, but according to its proponents offers a number of advantages compared to LCD. Among the more important ones are more closely spaced pixels and a faster response time.

Precisely how each of these designs operates is a story for another day. What we are interested in here is what advantages and disadvantages they offer.

Microdisplays are often less expensive than flat panel designs of the same screen size (this is less true of LCoS-based displays, but that is changing rapidly). The price advantage of microdisplays increases with screen size, with these rear projection designs significantly cheaper at 60-inches (diagonal) and larger.

Microdisplays also offer manufacturers greater design flexibility than flat panels. They can choose among the several options available in TI's DMD chips, the brightness of the lamp, the configuration of the color wheel and individual filters, optics, and the design and size of the screen. They can also include elements in the optical path to improve various aspects of the set's performance. One key example of this is an iris, which can be fixed, variable, or dynamic. (The latter changes its aperture in response to the content of the image to deepen the set's reproduction of black and increase its contrast ratio.)

The growing interest in 1080p sets provides microdisplays with another advantage. For the time being, 1080p isn't as widely available in flat panel designs as in microdisplays, and when it is, it's generally expensive, available only in 50" or smaller screen sizes, or both. The entire 1080p issue, including how different manufacturers achieve this resolution, is a whole other subject for another eNewsletter. But if you want 1080p now, and want it in a bigger screen size at less than stroke-inducing prices, you should seriously consider the microdisplay option.

What are the disadvantages of microdisplays? The size issue is obvious. Most modern designs are far smaller and lighter than those vintage CRT models, but they are still relatively deep and can't be hung on the wall. But manufacturers are working furiously to make them slimmer. You'll probably start to see the result of these efforts in a year or so. Two manufacturers, RCA and InFocus, did offer slim, hang-on-the-wall DLP rear projection designs—two versions of the same design, actually—a couple of years ago. But both sets crashed and burned in the marketplace, primarily because of their premium prices.

Apart from the size issue, microdisplays use high gain screens that look noticeably dimmer when viewed from seating positions significantly off axis (flat panel LCDs have suffered from poor off-axis performance in the past as well, but many newer models are now satisfactory in this respect). They also require periodic replacement of an expensive (roughly $250-$400) projection lamp—perhaps as often as once a year for a heavily used set. This may change, as manufacturers develop other light sources, such as LEDs and lasers, to replace the now ubiquitous lamps.

In general, the specific advantages and disadvantages of the different microdisplay technologies aren't as significant as the characteristics they have in common, though the proponents of each would certainly disagree. Two years ago it was easy to say that DLPs offered deeper blacks, more uniform color, and better color convergence than their three-chip LCoS and LCD counterparts, but suffered from the visible "rainbow artifact" produced by their rotating color wheel, an artifact non-existent in the competition. To a certain extent, those distinctions are still true. But further advances in LCD and LCoS designs, particularly the use of a properly designed iris to improve black levels, are starting to level the playing field.

The best buying advice I can give is not to get hung up on specifications, which are often useless, or the advertising-trumpeted benefits of this or that technology. First decide on your budget and the form factor you demand. If you must have hang-on-the-wall convenience, look for the best flat panel you can afford. If not, your options can be widened to include a microdisplay and, budget and space permitting, perhaps a larger screen as well.

Not to blow our own horn, but a thorough, honest review of a video display will tell you more about its quality than camping out for a week in a big-box retailer, with their rows of TVs set on torch mode. Those stores can give you valuable hands-on exposure to a set's operation and cosmetics, but won't show you diddly about its true performance.

If you can, also find a good specialist dealer who demonstrates sets in subdued lighting. A dealer who will let you bring in your own program material, including perhaps a setup disc like Digital Video Essentials so that you can insure that the user controls, at least, are set up properly (out of the box, they almost never are). A dealer who will let you take your time, perhaps over multiple visits. Many such dealers are being driven out of business in this price-sensitive market. If you find one, cherish him. He may charge a few bucks more, but like the specialist audio retailer who takes pride in his demonstration facilities (another vanishing breed) he's earned it.

Shopping for the best video display for you involves research and legwork. Evaluate your own situation honestly. Make up a short list of the displays that have been well reviewed and fit your needs. Find a good dealer with facilities that let you judge them properly. You wouldn't buy a house or a car in a rush, would you? So why give short shrift to a purchase to which you will devote thousands of dollars and thousands of hours of quality viewing time.

By Shane Buettner

In spite of all the posturing by the HD DVD camp over the last couple of years, the door was wide open for Sony and Blu-ray when it prepared to launch in June. Toshiba hadn't even gotten close to its plans to launch in 2005 with an avalanche of titles by Christmas. In the summer and fall of 2005 Warner and Paramount jumped shipped announcing they would also support Blu-ray, giving Sony's format a seemingly insurmountable lead with respect to studio support. Although Toshiba did manage to get out a $500 HD DVD player at launch, the players are plagued with slow response time and ergonomic bugs. The software has come out at a pace that can generously be described as a trickle. And yet as I write this, Blu-ray's launch is stalled in first gear for at least another month.

First, rather than wait until its own player was ready, Sony moved forward in launching Blu-ray software with only Samsung's BD-P1000 player on the market. In last month's eNewsletter I wrote how myself and virtually everyone else was less than bowled over with what we were seeing from Blu-ray on the Samsung player. Well, we found out one of the reasons why.

On July 20th it was revealed that the Samsung player had in fact shipped with an inherent defect. The noise reduction feature in the Genesis chip set used in the player's video processing suite was inadvertently switched on at a high enough level to soften the image, and ostensibly cause other artifacts that were clearly contributing to Blu-ray's poor showing. And before anyone could ask how this could happen, Samsung dropped the bomb that while a firmware fix is in the works, it won't be available until September!

Holy holding patterns Batman!

Ever intrepid, Sony and Lion's Gate are plugging along and releasing more and more Blu-ray titles throughout the summer—in spite of the fact that there will not be properly working player to play them on until at least September! In addition to Samsung fixing its player at that time we should also see players from Panasonic and Pioneer Elite, followed by Sony's own in late October.

So, thus far while Blu-ray appears to be serving as a model for how not to launch a format, HD DVD is looking more and more like the little format that could. While it's only got three studios behind it, two of those studios, Warner and Universal, are pushing hard. While Warner has something over twenty HD DVD titles available as I write this, the studio has gone on record as stating it will have as many as 50 more out by the end of the year, including a day and date with DVD release of The Sopranos: Season 6 in November. Universal says its number of HD DVD titles will reach a total of 60 this year, and while Paramount isn't stepping up with big numbers, they have just announced that the Tom Cruise vehicle Mission: Impossible 3 will debut on October 30th on DVD, HD DVD and Blu-ray.

But numbers aside, HD DVD is setting a performance benchmark by providing consistently outstanding picture and sound quality. On top of the overall quality, just about every other title is mind-blowing, best HD I've ever seen type of stuff. Ergonomic foibles aside, we can forgive a lot when the performance reaches this level. Right now, we're waiting to see if Blu-ray can make a game of it.

DVD: Rome

Six disc boxed set. Kevin McKidd, Ray Stevenson, Max Pirkis, Ciarán Hinds, Kerry Condon, James Purefoy, Nicholas Woodeson, Polly Walker, Lindsay Duncan, Tobias Menzies, Indira Varma, David Bamber, Kenneth Cranham, Karl Johnson. Directed by: Various. 2005. 1.78:1 (16:9). Dolby Digital 5.1 (English), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround (Spanish and French). 12 Episodes. Not Rated. HBO Home Video 92848. $99.98

Picture: ****
Sound: ****
Film: ****

War! Blood! Intrigue! Treachery! Ambition! Sex! Murder! And that's just the first episode. If this sounds like The Sopranos in togas, that's not surprising. Rome has already been dubbed that, and much more.

But we might also list the attractions of this HBO series, available now in this 12-episode first season package, as Acting! Plot! History! And that would be just as valid a description of this show as the first list. For the history buff the release of this series is one of the major DVD events of the year. But it's also compelling drama even if you think Spartacus was one of Caesar's assassins. (What, you say? Caesar gets whacked? Sorry to spoil it for those of you who slept through junior year history.)

The story covers the last years of the Roman Republic, from Caesar's campaigns in Gaul to his assassination in 44 B.C. I'll fess up here that I'm a big-time history junkie. And while I'm no expert on the period, the fact that I can name the first five Roman emperors, in order, probably puts me in some sort of weird company. While there are probably enough liberties taken here with the facts to trouble a real expert (Cleopatra, for example, comes along, burns a hole in your TV screen for a few scenes, then disappears), they are likely far fewer in number than in most filmed historical dramas.

The biggest liberty taken, for me, is the compression of events. Nothing happened fast in the ancient world. The time from the death of Caesar's daughter to his return to Rome from Gaul, when he crossed the Rubicon (see, you've now learned where that expression came from!) was five years. And it was another five years until his death. A lot of boring stuff probably happened in the intervening years, which the show's creators wisely left out.

The result is a tightly plotted saga that moves fast when it has to, but isn't afraid to linger over important, character-driven drama. While there is an ample supply of court intrigue and misadventures at the top, it's two humble soldiers who give Rome its heart. It's as much their story as Caesar's.

The series reportedly cost a bundle to make, but it was worth every penny. Sure, the sets and production design are great, but it's the actors—all of them—who truly bring Rome to life. Special honors to Ciarán Hinds as Caesar, who gives a complex, nuanced, performance that deserved (but didn't receive) Emmy recognition. Is he a hero or a villain? You're never quite sure. Only two seasons are currently scheduled, and Season Two, which reportedly will be broadcast early in 2007, won't be quite the same without him.

But don't go here if you're looking for a lot of action. Yes, there's war, but it's covered mostly from the campaign tents. Spartacus this isn't. And neither is it Gladiator, though one of its key scenes does feature some very brutal gladiatorial combat.

Rome was originally broadcast on HBO in high-definition, and it looked sensational. While these DVDs can't match that level of detail, they're still superb, with pristine images from beginning to end. I can see where high-definition would improve matters, but the tendency of television productions to concentrate on close-ups results in images here that are nearly always pleasingly crisp. And the vivid colors and many dark scenes in the production also hold up extremely well. I saw no obvious artifacts in any of the 12 episodes. (Yes, I made it through the whole set, even though I had seen at least half of it in HBO's original airing- it's that compelling. And I'll watch it again when it ultimately comes out in high-definition, though no HD DVD or Blu-ray release has yet been announced.)

My DVD player did freeze up once during the multi-hour saga. But I could not repeat the problem, so I can't blame it on the disc.

Don't expect spectacular audio here. This just isn't that kind of show. But it earns a top rating because the dialog is always natural and the score is beautifully recorded. The music does sound unusual at first, but fits the drama perfectly. It's always appropriate and never intrusive or overblown. The one sonic element that made me sit up and take notice, however, was the aggressively struck drum that punctuates the scene in which Caesar celebrates his victories in the episode "Triumph." Chilling, particularly as it precedes the garroting of one of Caesar's key captives, Vercingetorix, the king of the Gauls.

While this production is not rated, treat it as a hard R. Some of the violence is very graphic, and there is enough sex to qualify some episodes as soft porn. These two elements were the only ones to which I had some objections. While they usually paid off later as important plot points, they also often looked like a grab for ratings. I've had the same issue in the past with other original HBO offerings.

The set is also loaded with extras. Every episode has either a selectable audio commentary or interactive pop-up title cards that provide additional historical details throughout the action. In addition, there are shot-by-shot analyses of two key scenes and, on the sixth disc, two additional extended "Making of" features and a photo gallery. The package also includes a printed "Character Guide" insert. Sometimes you really can't tell the players apart without a scorecard.

Rome had some competition last year when ABC broadcast its own swords and sandals miniseries, Empire. Though well acted and produced, and nicely transferred to video, don't be misled into substituting that much cheaper and shorter DVD release. Rome is the real deal.