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Arcam DV79 and Samsung DLP - your thoughts please

Hi - Am looking to upgrade my very trusty and still quite beautiful Mitsubishi 35" CRT and Cal Audio 2500 DVD player. Goal is of course HD playback from satellite and an improved DVD experience.

For the TV I am looking hard at the Samsung HL-R46, a DLP device which because of its trim bezel will fit into the existing space (40 1/2" wide). I know the blacks aren't quite there compared to a CRT so I would like to hear from anyboy who has made this type of change... BTW The other choice is one of the Sony CRTs.

While the primary signal source will be the Direct TV satellite and a off air antenna, I would like to upgrade the Cal and move to HDMI. The reviews of the Arcam DV79 are pretty close to spectacular - given that the Samsung does some signal processing, should I care that the Arcam does not output 1080i? What else should I be considering in the under $2K range?

BTW I will run HDMI to the display and an Toslink to my B&K. After this is in I may consider changing out the B&K for the Arcam 300 - anyone done that? Have seen a few posts suggesting that the B&K remains the better unit but nobody ever talks about how good a B&K sounds... Besides the satellite and the DVD, I also use a SB2 (Squeezebox 2) to play my digital audio library

Thanks in advance for all your help

best,
ck
ckorody

Showing 1 response by bruceomega

bruceomega
118 posts
 
Ckorody,

FWIW, the new higher resolution Samsungs are 1080p, not 1080i. Ironically, they can only accept a 1080i input via HDMI, although they can accept 1080p via VGA.

I haven't had a chance to see the 1080p sets myself, but the reports at www.avsforum.com are very encouraging. Based only on the avs comments, I would opt for a larger screen size than the 42" - 46" you are considering and get a 1080p set.

Thanks
Bruce
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