DLP 4 Me!!!

I've found that generally Amazon.com is the best for variety, quality of reviews, and most of all, prices.  Here are some pointers about shopping at Amazon.com:

• Amazon doesn't charge sales tax to most states.  And for small items, the shipping is free if your order is more than 25 bucks. Given the fact that their prices beat most other internet stores, you just can't go wrong.
• When viewing an item, you probably need to Add to Shopping Cart to see the price. This is because the price is below the manufacturers minimum advertised price. A lot of other web sites do the same thing.
• Often Amazon lists products from other vendors.  The listing appears the same as Amazon products but it says something like "Offered by (store name)."  Sometimes the same product switches between Amazon-supplied to another vendor within the same day, when Amazon runs out of stock or 3rd party vendors change their prices.  So pay close attention.  The biggest difference you'll find is shipping rates and sales tax policy.  Always pay attention to who is actually selling you the item and what the rates will be.  The DLP sets listed on Amazon.com are usually shipped from Amazon, Vanns, or OneCall.  I've found that the shipping from OneCall is the best in terms of quality. If you are lucky, you can get free shipping on your big TV, believe it or not.
• Amazon also lists used or refurbished items associated with new items.  I would generally avoid those, especially for DLP sets.

There are a few other good places to shop for DLP sets, such as directly with OneCall, or other stores like J&R.  I'll list the banners here for easy reference...

Samsung is the leader in DLP sets.  They were the first ones to make them and now they are on 4th generation.  There are other manufacturers of quality DLP sets such as Panasonic, Mitsubishi, and others.  Since they all use the same imaging chips from Texas Instruments, its quite likely that Samsung competition will (or have already) caught up in terms of quality of picture.  So the choice is yours.

Now on to the Samsung models....

There are 3 types of Samsung models.  Regular, Thin Bezel (called Tantus), and Pedestal (Captain Kirk).  All of them have the speakers underneath the screen which makes it easier to fit into most available spaces.  The Regular ones have about 1" frame around the screen and they generally use the HD3 chipset. The Tantus models generally use HD2+.  The Pedestal models are generally regarded as the best, but some people don't like the futuristic look. 

The first 'Captain Kirk' model was Samsung HLP5685W HDTV-Ready DLP Rear-Projection TV. It was well-regarded as the best of the best. It has now been succeeded by the Samsung HL-R5688W 56" DLP HD-Ready Projection TV with Digital Cable Ready Tuner.

Both of those have 56" diagonal viewing area.  There was a lot of demand for a smaller version of the original and along came the Samsung HL-P5085W 50" Widescreen HD-Ready DLP Television with PC Input which has now been succeeded by the Samsung HL-R5087W 50" DLP HD-Ready Projection TV with Digital Cable Ready Tuner (which is also listed under Samsung HL-R5087W 50" DLP HD-Ready Projection TV).

For those with limited space, you probably want to take a close look at Samsung HL-R4266W 42" DLP HD-Ready Projection TV with Digital Cable Ready Tuner.  It is the 5th generation and is less than 40 inches wide.

Here is the list of all Samsung models at Amazon.com.

I didn't have enough space for 50" or 56" screen so the model I bought is Samsung HLP4674W 46" HD-Ready DLP Projection TV.  The product info (pdf file) is here.  There is a long story behind this model, they originally promised to have it released in April 2004 and it didn't hit the shelves until mid Nov 2004. All the while, there story was changing regarding specs etc.  So they have upset a lot of loyal customers.  There is a possibility (based on info from Samsung reps) that the first batch of HLP4674W to hit the shelves are different (not as good) as the ones that are coming a few months later.  I am not sure if that happened.  I bought mine on tax day 4/15/05 for $2732 through Amazon.com, shipped from Vanns. I paid $30 for shipping through Amazon.com instead of free from Vanns but that allowed me to use my Amazon.com Visa which earned me about $85 in cash back.  They provided me with a tracking number for shipping with some company I never heard of (Oh yeah, I think it was Conway) and when it arrived, the corner of the box looked like it was dropped (and the styrofoam inside was broken) but I accepted delivery anyway.  I guess that wasn't too smart, but it has been working fine ever since.

More info to come so check back later.