The Short Form

Price $4,399 / nuvision.com / 877-738-7641

Snapshot

Outstanding image quality carries the day in this pricey, LED-driven DLP.

Plus

•Highly accurate, well-saturated color •Bright, dynamic picture with solid blacks •Excellent out-of-the-box performance •No rainbow effect or lamp replacements

Minus

•Expensive next to the competition •Small, user-unfriendly remote

Key Features

•1,920 x 1,080-pixel screen •LED light engine based on Luminus Devices PhlatLight •Built-in ATSC tuner •SRS Tru-Surround XT, TruBass, and Dialog Clarity audio processing •Inputs: 2 HDMI, 2 component-video, 2 composite-/S-video, composite-video (convenience); 2 RF antenna/cable; RS-232; stereo audio (for HDMI in) •49.6 x 36.5 x 14.9 in; 95 lb

Test Bench

With the 52LEDLP's Movie and Warm color-temperature presets, grayscale tracked slightly to the blue side of the 6,500-K standard. User-menu adjustments brought it to within ±140 K and typically within 70 K from 20 to 90 IRE. The set's primary color points were very accurate; color- decoder tests showed a -10% error on red and a -17% on green, but these colors looked natural on program material. The NuVision cleanly resolved 1080i and 720p test patterns but exhibited high-frequency noise via the component inputs. It handily passed the jaggies deinterlacing tests on the Silicon Optix HQV DVD and HD DVD discs, though 1080i content via HD DVD and Blu-ray occasionally exhibited noticeable jitter on horizontal lines that disappeared when the same content was delivered as 1080p. Full Lab Results

PERFORMANCE Spinning the Blu-ray Disc of the high-peaks thriller Vertical Limit, I was quickly impressed with how well the NuVision transitioned among the movie's varied outdoor environments. From the sun-washed desert to the snow-capped Himalayas to the whiteout conditions atop K2, the 52LEDLP never missed a beat, maintaining excellent picture quality and color accuracy across a wide range of demanding scenes.

In the opening shots of climbers on a rock wall in the Southwest desert, a brown-and-orange cliff bathed by the yellow sun was offered up with vivid contrast and highlights that came across like natural illumination. The green-and-yellow climbing rope popped out from the rocks, and I noted that the red of the climbers' slings looked red - with no hint of orange, a common foible of many sets. And the 52LEDLP delivered superb clarity as well, showing the stubble and the sun-worn wrinkles on the tanned face of one of the climbers, along with the many crags and undulations in the rock.

Dramatic helicopter views of the snowy Himalayas were also vivid and natural. So, too, were shots of the colorful tents and clothing of the climbers and Sherpas at K2 base camp, displaying saturated shades of purple, aqua, blue, red, and brown. And a close-up of a Pakistani military cannon unloading shells at the Indian border was striking for the realistic look of the fire shooting from the tip of the cannon and the purity of the blue sky behind. Even with the Deep Black menu option turned off, blacks in dark scenes - such as the big pre-climb party under the stars at base camp - were nice and solid. And shadow detail was also excellent, if a notch below the best I've seen.

Broadcasts originating in HD video were equally startling, with the best-looking shows - such as Sound Off with Matt Pinfield on HDNet - displaying notable detail. When Matt interviewed Meat Loaf, I caught every mark in the texture of the aging rocker's face, and even the fine stitching in the lapel of his black blazer. The 52LEDLP also did well with DVDs pumped in at 480i or 480p; the set's tendency to minimize inherent noise in the signal - rather than exacerbate it - was welcome after several other TVs I've tested recently.

BOTTOM LINE Even putting aside its high price, the NuVision 52LEDLP 52-inch 1080p DLP HDTV could use some refinement on details such as the remote and the user interface. But the picture is what really counts, and this set's bright, dynamic image and natural color are among the best I've seen. You can argue about whether it's worth $2,000 more than its competition. But you can't deny that the folks at NuVision know what they're doing.

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