Reviews

Recently, with the help of Cleveland Plasma, I've had the opportunity to write reviews of some of the very latest displays to post on the AVS Forum.

If you are looking for in depth technical analysis, feel free to check them out, and see below for rankings!

Samsung B7100

Panasonic G10

Samsung B550/B860

Panasonic V10

LG 55LH90

Sharp LC-52LE700UN

LG 60PS60

Samsung B8500

Chad B's totally subjective comparisons and rankings:

"pop" and impact: 1 to 10 points

When a movie scene contains a mixture of bright objects and dark objects, the inter field, or ANSI, contrast ratio, is a measurement of the difference between the darkest blacks and the brightest images when both are displayed at the same time.  High inter field contrast is essential to providing a punchy image with a high "wow" factor.  I take both light output and darkness of blacks into consideration here.  A set with poor performance in this regard may look washed out and bland with regular program material, even if it does well with MLL.

Color: 1 to 10 points

I place most emphasis on accurate fleshtones with this test, though other things come in to play as well, such as neon greens or tinted blacks.  A display has to have a combination of measurably accurate colors and subjectively natural colors to do well.

MLL: 1 to 7 points

This is the set's minimum luminance level; determined by how deep the blacks appear to be with a 0% signal in an entirely dark room.  A truly dark fade to black in a movie is an awesome experience, and contributes a sense of power and "wow" factor.  Sets with either an active iris or an active backlight usually perform better with this test, but sometimes at the expense of inter field contrast.

Viewing angle: 1 to 7 points

This shows how well the image holds up for viewers not seated directly in front of the screen.  To a varying degree, LCD sets tend to have less color and contrast to the sides or above and below. 

Versatility: 1 to 7 points

This shows how well a display is able to handle any room in the house.  All displays look their best in a light controlled room, but what happens when the curtains are open during the day?  A number of factors come into play here: light output, glare, and panel darkness.  Also, if a display has seperate picture memories for day and night mode, that often helps it perform better in this test.

Shadow detail: 1 to 5 points

This tests how well you can see dark images.  For example, dark suits may turn into a black blob, with no detail visible. On the other hand, dark images may look too washed out without a sense of depth.

Stability: 1 to 5 points

Some sets may show visible pumping as their backlight, iris, or ABL (automatic brightness limiter) changes with the picture content.  It may also cause shadow detail to fluctuate from scene to scene.

Resolution and detail: 1 to 3 points

Most 1080P sets do very well with this test, so it's really just a test of if it is perfect or merely very good.  A "dot by dot" or pixel perfect aspect ratio helps here.

Smoothness / naturalness: 1 to 3 points

Some displays add a sence of graininess, dither, or texture to the picture, which can cause a "dirty screen" or "silkscreen" effect.

Miscellaneous issues: up to -7

Problems such as convergence, flicker, motion artifacts, geometry, etc.

Rated sets are ones that I have either owned, reviewed, or calibrated enough of in different situations to have a good handle on their performance.  In most cases, the ratings will be the same for a different size set in the same model group.  All ratings are for after a thorough Chad B calibration.

"pop" color MLL

viewing

angle

versatility

shadow

detail

stability resolution smooth issues total

Samsung

B7100

6 10 6 2 5 3 2 3 3 -2  (14) 38

Panasonic

G10 (3)

5 5 5 7 4 4 5 2 2 39

Samsung

B550

3 8 4 7 2 3 5 3 3   38

Samsung

B860

3 10 4 7 3 (6) 3 5 3 3   41

Panasonic

V10 (13)

5 10 (16) 5 7 4 4 5 3 (5) 2 45

LG

LH90

7 (1) 10 7 4 7 4 4 3 3 -2(10) 47

Sharp

700UN

7 3(4) 5 (2) 4 5 4 3 3 3 37

Pioneer 9G

Elite Kuro(18)

10 9 7 7 5 5 4 3 1 (7) 51

Pioneer

9G Kuro

9 7 7 7 3 5 5 2 1 (7) 46

Sony

60XBR1(11)

2 5 4 6 5 5 1 2 2 -1 (9) 31

Sony

34XBR960

8 9 7 7 2 5 5 1 2 -7(8) 39

Panasonic

800u (12)

2 9 4 7 1 3 5 2 2 35
LG PS60 3 7 4 7 1 4 5 3 3 -1 (15) 36
Panasonic S1 (17) 5 4 5 7 4 4 5 2 2   38
Samsung B8500 10 10 7 2 5 3 4 3 3   47

1) would be a 9 or 10 with more local dimming zones

2) would be a 7 with advanced power save on

3) Custom mode, since THX mode appears not to have been fixed by firmware updates

4) measures perfect, but fleshtones don't look natural; or I can make fleshtones look more natural but with the measurements suffering

5) 3 with 1080P/24, 2 with 1080i

6) picks up lots of glare just like the B550, but has a darker looking screen under high ambient light conditions

7) colors look grainy the closer you get to it

8) convergence, geometry, and purity issues vary from sample to sample but are always there

9) very slight convergence, geometry, and focus issues may or may not occur

10) occasional motion issues and occasional halo effect when viewing in dark room

11) also applies to other sizes; also applies to XBR2 and a2000 series SXRD

12) THX mode

13) THX mode, except Custom mode in bright environments

14) Some cloudiness, or uneven illumination, to the set's blacks

15) Poorly implemented calibration adjustments

16) After THX mode firmware fix

17) Cinema mode

18) Includes 500M and 600M with patched firmware