The Short Form

Price $2,000 ($2,200 LIST) / hp.com / 800-525-6947

Snapshot

Though its LCD picture quality is outstanding, there's still work to be done on this forward-thinking TV's media functions.

Plus

•Excellent LCD image quality with good blacks and accurate color •Streaming functions move content out of the home office and into the living room •Well-designed MediaSmart interface

Minus

•Sluggish MediaSmart performance

Key Features

•1,366 x 768-pixel LCD HDTV •MediaSmart streaming of photos, video, and music files from PC direct to TV •Works with wired or wireless networks •Supports JPEG, BMP, GIF, PNG, TIF photos; WMA, WMA-Pro, WAV, MP3 music; MPEG-1, MPEG-2, DivX, AVI, DVR-MS, WMV, WMV-HD video •Inputs: 1 HDMI, 2 component-video, 3 composite-video, 1 S-video

Test Bench

The HP's grayscale tracking with Movie and Low presets came very close to 6,500K; service-menu calibration brought it spot on, but even without this most users will be fine with the Low or Mid-Low color-temp settings. Accuracy of primary colors was very good, though the color decoder showed -22% green and +7% red errors; the undersaturated greens weren't troublesome, and the reds were fully tamed by notching down the color saturation. Overscan measured 2.5%, which is average. The HP perfectly resolved 720p test patterns via HDMI and component inputs, but a 1080i multiburst pattern via HDMI exhibited blurring of the finest lines that wasn't detectable in programs. 1080i via component video looked fine. Full Lab Results

SETUP On the HDTV side of things, the HP has a modest jackpack by today's standards. There are two HDMI inputs on the TV proper, though one is chewed up by a jumper that transfers digital video and audio from the networking module. But you get a pair of HD-compatible component-video inputs and S-video/composite jacks.

Along with five picture presets, HP provides helpful controls for color temperature and LCD backlight intensity (lowering this is an excellent way to get purer blacks on an LCD panel). I eventually settled on the Movie mode and Low color temperature, which came within spitting distance of industry-standard grayscale (see Test Bench). The TV also has a sensor on its front that adjusts contrast according to the ambient light; you can even set the upper and lower limits of its swing. I would use it day to day, but turned it off for critical viewing. One small disappointment: On most of the presets, picture adjustments made to one source input were carried over to the others; the exception to this rule is the User mode, which had individual memory for each input.

Setting up the SLC3760N's networking can be intimidating for some, one reason HP is working with dealers to provide installation help for a limited time. Connection to your wireless (802.11a, b, or g) or wired (via Ethernet jack) home network is menu-driven and, thankfully, automated if you have a DHCP-compliant router. Once connected, you run a supplied disc on any Windows XP-driven PC you intend to tap for content, which facilitates downloading of Windows Media Connect software for the streaming of files. The SLC3760N will also recognize any Universal Plug and Play (UPnP)-compliant server on your network, such as the new HP Media Vault the company sent with the TV. The Vault is a sophisticated 500-GB backup drive that you can load with your content so you can actually turn off your PCs and stream files 'round the clock.

VIDEO PERFORMANCE Clearly, any serious home theater enthusiast will want a larger TV if he or she can fit one, but the SLC3760N (and no doubt its non-MediaSmart sibling) is a very respectable LCD. Playing with the Contrast and Backlight controls enabled me to extract fairly deep blacks from the set, and though I had to sacrifice a bit of detail in the very darkest shadows to get it there, there was still plenty of shadow detail to be had. On the Blu-ray version of Click, for example, there's a scene in a dark workshop where Michael Newman (Adam Sandler) first encounters Morty (Christopher Walken), the mad tinkerer who will hand him the universal remote control that will alter his life. As they chat at Morty's bench, illuminated only by a spotlight above, I could clearly see the details of tools on a pegboard in the background shadows behind Morty, as well as the shimmering outlines of tiny key blanks on a rack.