LCD TV Reviews

Black: 0.011
White: 26.24

Full-On/Full-Off Contrast Ratio: 2,385:1

The measurements here were taken in the Custom picture mode, through an HDMI input. The Backlight was on Minimum, the Picture control on 75, the Brightness control on 50, and the Gamma on 0. The Power Saving and Light Sensor (the latter automatically changes the set’s brightness in response to room lighting) were both off.

The Sony’s black level was uneven across the screen. It also drops over time if a full black image is displayed on the screen. The above-black level was taken at the center of the screen before any drop in level occurred. After about 7 seconds, the black level dropped to 0.004 foot-lamberts, but this drop won’t be relevant to most program material.

Because of the black-level uniformity issue, I also measured black at the left and right sides of the screen, which were 0.019 ft-L and 0.015 ft-L respectively. In the Vivid mode, the set produced a peak white output of 98.55 ft-L.

Out of the box, in the Warm 2 color temperature setting, the Sony measured remarkably close to the ideal D6500 white point across the board. Calibration improved matters a bit at the bottom end of the brightness range, but the change was marginal. We always recommend that you get a professional calibration, particularly on a set like this one, since we can’t determine whether all samples of the set will come off the line as close to correct as ours. The color gamut (with Live Color off) was also very good. It was a little oversaturated in spots (the measured result is the white triangle on the CIE chart, the Rec.709 HD color gamut standard by the black triangle). Still, it wasn’t oversaturated to a degree likely to be visible to the eye.—TJN