LCD TV Reviews

Extended Test Bench

With its Game picture mode (see text) and Low color temperature setting selected, the LC-80LE844U measures slightly cool with bright images and slightly warm with mid-tones. Darker images are close to the D6500 standard.  Only a 2-step (high/low) color temperature calibration is offered in Game mode. Using the 10-step calibration option in Movie mode didn’t result in significantly better color temperature tracking. After calibration, the LC-80LE844U measured closer to D6500 but still dipped slightly warm in the mid-tones.

Spectracal’s CalMan Professional monitor calibration software was used during the calibration and measurement process. See the PDF below for a complete report with detailed pre- and post-calibration results.

Neither the Movie nor the Game mode can produce accurate colors out of the box. Green is severely undersaturated in Movie, as is red, though to a lesser extent. All primary and secondary colors are oversaturated in Game mode. Though Sharp’s color management system allows for some adjustment, I was unable to produce a completely satisfactory result: The image looked farther from accurate than the graphs on our calibration report imply.

With the LC-80LE844U’s backlight set at -16 and all contrast-ratio-enhancing settings turned off, it produced 0.005 footlamberts (ftL) with a black screen and 13.18 ftL with a full white screen, for a contrast ratio of 2,636:1. With Auto Contrast turned on and Power Saving set to Standard, black level dropped to 0.0015 ftL, while maximum light output stayed the same for a dynamic contrast ratio of 8,787:1. Maximum brightness was achieved with the AC and PS off, and the Backlight at +16. In this mode, the LC-80LE844U produced 0.032 and 85.99 ftL, for a contrast ratio of 2,687:1.

The LC-80LE844U can display every pixel of a 1080p image in its Dot for Dot mode. — G.M.