RCA HDLP50W151

August 11th, 2004 | by Dennis Barker

Evaluation

Image quality is quite good!  Originally, RCA had been in the LCoS (Liquid Crystal on Silicon) camp with a similarly designed 1-chip model, but it didn't perform very well.  Nor was its picture quality very good either.  Well, its first DLP offering is truly amazing.  For RCA, they have seen the future and it's DLP.  And, for them, it is certainly the right choice.  DLP is an exciting technology offering picture quality on-par with the best rear projection CRT sets out there, but at a quarter of the girth.  According to RCA, this set is the first in a new family of DLP display products.  Currently, this set has a bigger brother — the HDLP61W151 — that is 61-in. widescreen model.

HDTV images from CBS were simply awesome from both over-the-air antenna and Cablevision.  HD offers unparallel image quality to begin with.  CBS shows like C.S.I. Miami, Navy NCIS, C. S. I.: Crime Scene Investigation, Without A Trace, or The Handler, for example, looked especially realistic and gritty with newly found clarity.  PBS continues to show travelogues for the most part in HD, which looked stunning as well from Cable.  On the satellite front, HD-Net is always is my first choice to watch HD images because there is such a variety of programming from sporting events to movies to travelogues.  And, I can say that they looked especially compelling on RCA's HDLP50W151.  According to HDNet, their programming “captures viewers with the stunning visual images and colors that only 1080i HDTV can offer.”  And, it does!  Of course, films on HBO-HD (like The Road to Perdition) and Showtime HD's original series Jeremiah looked especially compelling also.   

Another test for any new HDTV is how they display images from a high-end progressive scan DVD player.  For this evaluation, I used my current reference player — the Marantz DV8400 which is DVI-enabled.  Images produced were very natural and life-like.  By using DVI, all images were passed from player to television completely uncompressed staying in the digital domain.  Different types of programming was watched to get a good feel as to how different films looked on this television display ranging from restored classics like “Casablanca” to “The Adventures of Robin Hood” and “The Mark of Zorro” to more recently released films such as “The Matrix Reloaded” to “The Italian Job” and “2 Fast and 2 Furious.”  Whether the images were in black & white or 21^st century color, the images displayed were crisp and simply stunning looking as good as 35mm film showing very little color noise.  Of course, I should note that the blacks could be a tad darker.  However, this is an inherent problem with all light-engine televisions.  It should be noted that it was not as objectionable as some light-engine sets currently in the marketplace.

Conclusion

To sum it up, the RCA Scenium HDLP50W151 is an excellent display device that is very attractive and reasonably priced for an integrated HDTV set.  At a suggested retail price of $3,999 (probably less than $3,500 street), it offers new DLP display technology featuring integrated HDTV tuning.  It's also housed in an attractive cabinet that can easily fit sit onto a base with storage, or can be placed into a wall unit.  It has all of the right connections presently needed for any upscale Home Theater and then some.  Since it includes 2-way 1394, the set can easily be tethered to an HD-level DVHS VCR or HD PVR (such as RCA's new DVR10) for the recording of pristine HD images.  The HDLP50W151 (or its identical, but larger 61-in. sibling — HDLP61W151) is strongly recommended for repeated viewings.