My opinion on 52" LCD TV models

[ericschand]

The following is my opinion on 3 different LCD TV models I have
had experience with in the past 1.5 months.

I went and bought a Sharp Aquos LC52D92U TV. I received it,
and set it up. Wow, what an incredible picture. The colours were
bright and the blacks were...black! Absolutely gorgeous.

However, the drawback was the now infamous "banding" issue.
When I watched a hockey game, there were dark bands that didn't
move on the TV. :( So, I exchanged it for a new one. Once
again, beautiful picture, until I watched hockey. This one was
worse than the first. I could actually get vertigo when viewing
a hockey game.

Alas, no more 92U available. So I switched brands to Samsung LNT5271.

Amazing TV. However, the blacks aren't quite as black. The colours
are nice, but the black levels are not nearly the same as the Sharp.

This TV allows me to set different colour, contrast, brightness, etc
levels for each input. The Sharp did not allow that. This TV, unlike
the Sharp and Toshiba I owned previously, does not list the inputs
and then let you select. It figures out what you have plugged in and
then flips through them. I find that annoying.

The other model I looked at was a Sony 52XBR4. Again, a very nice
TV, however, compared to the other two, the colours looked washed
out. I know another who also bought this TV, and theirs too looks
washed out. It is also the most expensive TV out of the bunch.

IMO, Sharp has the nicest TV overall, if they (or you) can get one
without banding. Samsung is second. Sony is third.

ers

[Bobblehead]

The D92U are infamous for their banding, but also famous for their black levels. Apparently not all the sets have the banding issue, but the ones who do mention it is pretty bad, especially when the screen is a uniform, bright colour (like hockey).

I'm surprised about the Sony. They are widely regarded as one of the best for colour reproduction. I wonder if that set was calibrated correctly?

[Table 5]

Sharp and Samsung crank up their colors so they appear to be more vivid....but believe me, that gets a little hard on the eyes after a while. Typically, manufacturer/stores set their color/contrast setting pretty high (higher contrast tv's in the store tend to wow people and sell better).

If you look at the XBR4, it has a much more settled picture, it feels much more comfortable over longer periods. I don't have one (costs a little too much) but IMO there is no doubt that it's the best picture out of the models you mentioned....or any LCD tv actually.

[jayswin]

Sharp and Samsung crank up their colors so they appear to be more vivid....but believe me, that gets a little hard on the eyes after a while. Typically, manufacturer/stores set their color/contrast setting pretty high (higher contrast tv's in the store tend to wow people and sell better).
.


###. I bought a 42" Samsung plasma in September. Like all Samsung TV's it had three default settings; dynamic, standard and movie. The dynamic setting is the factory one, and the one they use in the store for the display. I went through them at home and thought; 'why would anyone use anything but dynamic, the colors are so vivid, it's awesome'.

Then I read Avs forums for a bit, and read numerous posts with people saying that after a while you'll be using the movie setting and you'll never go back. I thought they were all crazy at the time. After awhile though, I started using it, even though I thought the colors looked to tame and washed out. But now, i absolutely love it that way, and I cringe when I occasionaly put it on dynamic, it actually hurts my eyes.

[browna]

Yeah, we got a new Sony a month ago...and for it, found some manual settings on CNet to make the picture noticeably better.

As T5 says, manufacturers ship these sets with "Torch mode" on, basically meaning brightness rules, as that looks best under various styles sales room floor lighting, and best in comapro to the sets from different manufacturers around them on the sales floor. People still get attracted to brightness first and foremost and/or turned off it a picture looks dull.

Blown away by the picture on the new set, and these settings helped...did a fair bit of research too on the various options (and we got something larger then 53")

And yes, still have my 4 year old 53" Sony 4:3 HDTV available for sale!