LCD TV Reviews

Full-On/Full-Off Contrast Ratio—1,269:1;
ANSI Contrast Ratio—768:1

Measured Resolution with the Leader LT-446:
480: 480 (per picture height)
720p: 720
1080i: Out to the limits of the 1,366 by 768 panel

DC Restoration (poor, average, good, excellent): Excellent

Color Decoder (poor, average, good, excellent): Good

Measured Color Points:
Red Color Point: x=0.631, y=0.334
Green Color Point: x=0.274, y=0.600
Blue Color Point: x=0.146, y=0.067

The top chart shows the LC-37D40U's gray scale relative to its color temperature at various levels of intensity, or brightness (20 IRE is dark gray; 100 IRE is bright white). The gray scale as set by the factory, in the Mid-Low color-temperature mode, measures very cool with the darkest images, becomes too warm with slightly warmer images, and then evens out for the rest of the gray scale. Despite a seemingly comprehensive service menu, no color-temperature adjustments exist.

The bottom chart shows the gray scale (or color temperature) relative to the color points of the display's red, green, and blue color filters. These are somewhat off those specified by SMPTE. Red slightly undersaturated, blue is slightly greenish-blue, and green is rather bluish-green.

Using a full-field 100-IRE white (17.76 foot-lamberts) and a full-field 0-IRE black (0.014 ft-L), the contrast ratio was 1,269:1. Using a 16-box checkerboard pattern (ANSI contrast), the contrast ratio was 768:1. The set achieved the best contrast ratio with the backlight set to –16. It achieved the brightest image with the backlight set to +16. In this setting, the Sharp LC-37D40U produced 122 ft-L with a 100-IRE frame and 0.118 ft-L on a 0-IRE frame. The contrast ratio in this mode is 1,034:1.—GM