Flat Panels

Black: 0.013
White: 28.0
Full-On/Full-Off Contrast Ratio: 2,154:1

For the picture settings used in this review, go to www.HomeTheaterMag.com. All of the measurements here were taken in the Preference picture mode using an HDMI input with the set adjusted for the most accurate picture in a darkened room. Note that I started in the Movie picture mode, which exhibited no edge enhancement, unlike starting in the Preference mode. The mode automatically switches to Preference if you change any of the Movie mode preset settings.

The measured black level is much better than most conventionally backlit LCDs can manage, leading to a perfectly respectable peak contrast ratio. I set the backlight for a comfortable peak-white level in a dark room, but there’s plenty of room to increase it in the presence of ambient light.

Resolution via HDMI was fine, but the component input was somewhat rolled off. Both 1080i/p and 720p exhibited no overscan in the Native aspect-ratio setting, but 480i/p cropped 3.5 percent on the top and bottom and 4 percent on the sides, more than most TVs I’ve seen recently.

With Color Temperature set to Warm, the gray scale was still quite blue. Using only the B and G Drive controls in the user menu, I got the gray scale much closer to the D65 target, although the low end tended toward green. The service-menu calibration controls allowed me to get the gray scale even closer to D65 across the brightness range.

Out of the box, the green point in the color gamut was way off, as were the cyan and magenta. Using the ColorMaster system, I brought cyan and magenta to their targets, and I got green much closer. But looking at real program material revealed that this setup introduced a lot of noise and weird contouring, and the colors looked all wrong, so I turned off ColorMaster and evaluated the set with the unaltered color gamut.—SW