I was lucky enough to receive an invite to the dealer's preview conference last month and saw all the new lines. The updated Mosel/Tulip series has the flagship LA52M811B which does 1080p, claims 15,000:1 ratio and lists for 400K.
I was so impressed by the 52" Tulip that I pretty much ignored the hostesses/models who were giving the crowd the product song-and-dance. After the tour (format was a gallery walk-through), the guy beside me said he couldn't concentrate because of the short skirts and cleavage. When I confessed to not noticing, he laughed and asked if most PinoyDVD members were similarly obsessed with their hardware. I said "yes".
Anyway, the one thing I saw in this launch that I hadn't seen before was a side-by-side comparison of the different model lines so that the audience could closely compare image quality and the effect of the different feature settings. This gave me a chance to scrutinize each series. Since the Bordeaux Plus has been talked about to death in another thread, I'll focus on the M81 line. In front of me were 3 units: an M81 (Tulip), an R81 (Bordeaux Plus), and the entry-level S81. All were connected to Blu-ray players and set at their highest resolutions.
The Tulip's 15,000:1 contrast ratio combined with its "Movie Plus" mode and "Super Clear" panel made a big difference. Black levels are fantastic and contrast is superb - better IMHO than Samsung's Q91 and C91 plasmas that were also on display. "Movie Plus" is Samsung's deinterlacing feature for minimizing motion judder by interpolating the new position of objects onscreen, particularly during fast action sequences. It works for the most part, but I would've wanted to spend more time trying different discs. Overall, while the images had a 3dish eye-popping quality to them, the experience still didn't quite have the filmic-feel of my trusty DLP - but that could be just me sour graping since at Php400K for the 52" model, the M81 is currently out of reach.
Compared to the R81 and S81 units beside it, the M81 is simply in a class by itself. It's an excellent display and easily one of the best panels out there - top of the heap according to other reviewers - but I can't validate that since a dealer's event hardly qualifies as an ideal review environment. Now if I can only get Samsung to park one of these things in my house for a week...
