Full-On/Full-Off Contrast Ratio: 13,617:1

With a full black test pattern on the screen, the LED edge lighting very nearly shuts down completely. Using our Klein Instruments K10-A colorimeter, which can read lower light levels than any other instrument available to us, I measured a black level of 0.0003 ft-L and a peak white level of 31.32 ft-L, for a full-on/full-off contrast ratio of 104,400:1. However, even a small, white pause bug in the corner of the screen will trigger the black level on the entire screen to rise to a higher, but still very good, level. The full-on/full-off contrast ratio was measured under these more realistic conditions: a peak white level of 31.32 ft-L and a black level of 0.0023 ft-L.

With the Smart LED function turned off, the full-on/full-off contrast ratio drops to 2,167:1 (with a poor black level of 0.0167 ft-L); I had to engage a pause bug here as well to get a usable, real-world reading.

The 2D pre-calibration RGB Balance was taken in Movie mode, at 32 ft-L peak brightness and with Warm2 Color Tone selected. The pre-calibration gray-scale Delta E values averaged a very good 1.61, with a maximum of 2.42 at 100%. After calibration, using only the 10p White Balance controls, the gray-scale Delta E averaged 0.84, and although the high increased slightly to 3.6 at 100%, it never exceeded 1.3 from 20% to 90%.

(Delta E is a figure of merit that indicates how closely a display adheres to the Rec. 709 HD color standard for gray scale or color gamut. Experts generally agree that levels below 3 to 4 are visibly indistinguishable from perfect.)

In the Rec. 709 color gamut setting, the color gamut’s pre-calibration color Delta E averaged a respectable 3.64. After calibration, it averaged an exceptional 0.63.

With the Dynamic Contrast on Low and the Gamma control on –2, the gamma averaged 2.22, with a low of 2.17 at 20% brightness and a high of 2.27 at 40%.

Before calibration, the 3D gray-scale Delta E averaged over 15, primarily due to a lack of blue, and the color Delta E 4.99. After calibration, with the Dynamic Contrast on Low, the gamma set to –2, and the Backlight on 14, the gray-scale Delta E averaged 1.12, the color Delta E 1.29, and the average gamma 2.18.—TJN