TEST BENCH

Both the LG's Warm and the Westinghouse's Color 1 color temperature presets measured relatively close to the 6,500-K NTSC grayscale spec. The Sony's Warm1 setting measured reasonably close to the target at the low end but drifted toward blue with an increase in brightness. It was also deficient in green at both ends of the grayscale. After calibration, the Sony's color rendition improved dramatically, and grayscale was excellent. (Calibration needs to be performed by a qualified technician, so discuss it with your dealer before purchase, or contact the Imaging Science Foundation at imagingscience.com or 561-997-9073.) Grayscale tracking on the other sets was average, measuring ±400 K on the LG and ±500 K on the Westinghouse.

Color-decoder error in the preferred viewing modes was minimal on both the Sony and Westinghouse, measuring ±5% at worst. The LG also measured in that range via its HDMI input, although the error on its component-video connection was considerably worse, measuring -20% green. Interestingly, the same level of error could be seen on the Sony when its Normal Color Space mode was active. Selecting the Wide mode resulted in much more accurate color, only -5% red. The Sony also showed poor white-field uniformity, with pink colorations visible on both white and light gray full-field test patterns.

Picture overscan, which defines the loss of picture information behind the edges of the frame, averaged around 3 to 4% for the digital and analog component-video inputs on both the Sony and Westinghouse - about average. Overscan was 5% on the LG. The Sony and LG both provide enough pixels on their screens to theoretically display 720p-format HDTV programs at full resolution, while the Westinghouse has enough to fully display 1080i-format programs. But achieving that resolution depended on which input was selected in some cases, with both the LG and Westinghouse looking considerably softer when the component-video connection was used. The LG was the only set of the three that lacked 2:3 pulldown - a form of video processing that results in smooth pictures when showing film-based images via a standard (480i) input.