LCD TV Reviews

Vizio E601i-A3 LCD HDTV HT Labs Measures

HT Labs Measures

Full-On/Full-Off Contrast Ratio: 4,700:1

The measurements were taken in the Movie picture mode.

For the above result, the Backlight control (small c) was set to 48, the Contrast to 60, the Brightness to 51, and Adaptive Luma and Backlight Control (capital C) both off. The mea- sured peak white level under these conditions was 32.9 foot-lamberts, and the black level was 0.007 ft-L—the latter one of the best readings we have yet seen from an LED-lit LCD set without local dimming. Increasing the Backlight control to its maximum, with the other settings unchanged, produced a peak white level of 73.8 ft-L. In the Vivid picture mode’s default settings, the peak white level mea- sured 90.9 ft-L.

Delta E is a figure of merit that indicates how close the color comes to the D65 HD color standard. Values below 3 are generally considered visually indistinguishable from ideal. Pre-calibration, the set’s gray-scale Delta E averaged 3.75, peaking at 6.27 at 100 percent brightness. The pre-calibration color Delta E averaged 4.53, with red the biggest offender at 7.11. As noted in the review, how- ever, our sample’s pre-calibration color was, by eye, quite respectable. Post calibration, the average gray- scale Delta E dropped to 0.88, with a maximum of 2.43 at 100 percent brightness and no value higher than 0.96 at 80 percent or below. The post-calibration color Delta E averaged 2.26, with red, at 5.24, the only color above 2.78. You can see from the post-calibration CIE chart that the red was the furthest off. Nevertheless, the set’s color, visually, was outstanding. (Though the set has no color manage- ment system, color gamut improvements were possible by careful adjustment of the set’s Color and Tint controls; the main benefits were in color luminance, while the actual color positions remained unchanged on the 2D CIE chart.)

Post calibration, the gamma averaged 2.19, though with a slight downward tilt from 2.3 at 20 percent brightness to 2.05 at 100 percent. Recommendations for optimum gamma vary somewhat but gener- ally range from 2.2 to 2.4.—TJN

COMMENTS
andrew.reid.lutz's picture
Submitted by andrew.reid.lutz on November 26, 2012 - 11:06am

Mr. Norton,

I am a long-time HT subscriber. I always turn to HT's recommendations to help me decide on important purchases. I recently bought this TV and am very satisfied. Thanks for your article.

Could you please post a breif summary of the settings used to acheive your measured results. Did you use any additional calibration techniques other than the typical end-user menu controls?

thanks,
Andy Lutz

michanmldr's picture
Submitted by michanmldr on January 29, 2013 - 7:16pm

As Mr Lutz (above) requested, I too would love to have the final settings that Mr. Norton used to test this product as I've just purchased it largely on his review.

In the magazine article there is an "Editor's Note" that states: "As usual, you'll find Tom's final settings attached to our online version of this review."

I could not find them. Could you please point Mr. Lutz and me in the right direction?

Eric Larsen

ckkp07's picture
Submitted by ckkp07 on January 30, 2013 - 10:32am

I could not find the settings as well. I too would like to have the final settings that Mr. Norton used to test this product. I purchased this TV on Black friday and was very skeptical as to the picture quality.

While the black levels were not quite as nice as my SONY BRAVIA ® XBR-52HX909, I was still very impressed with the color and accuracy. That said, I would like to tweak the settings a bit more and any help is appreciated.
Colin P.

michanmldr's picture
Submitted by michanmldr on February 2, 2013 - 3:41pm

Here's what I received when I wrote directly to the editor:

Vizio E60li-A3 LCD HDTV

Settings

Unit-to-unit sample variations, the viewing environment, and the source might render these recommendations less than optimum. They are provided only as a potentially useful starting place.

The settings here that are most likely to translate reliably from one sample to another are those involving specific features with only a few selections, such as Gamma and Noise Reduction. The ones most likely to be subject to sample variations are video controls offering a wide range of adjustment, such as white balance (grayscale) and color management (where available). Even relatively small differences in the common control settings, such as Contrast, Brightness, and Gamma, can shift the measure white balance, though the resulting visible change may be innocuous. Production line tolerances can do the same. We do not provide settings or access codes for service menus. Random alterations of such controls without detailed knowledge of what they do may corrupt a set's firmware. This will likely require extensive in-shop repairs not covered under the warrantee. Only an experienced calibrator familiar with the specific brand of set, and a clear understanding of which controls to use and which to avoid, should attempt Service menu calibrations. In any case, no service menus were used or needed in calibrating this set.

We strongly recommend that you find the optimum basic video settings for your sample by using one of the many available display setup DVDs, such as Digital Video Essentials (DVD) or DVE HD Basics (Blu-ray). These will help you to set the basic controls correctly, brightness, contrast, sharpness, and sometimes color and tint. Experimenting with the more complex color calibration and other controls in the user menus will do no harm; the changes may be easily reset. But tuning a set "by eye" using these controls is no substitute for a full calibration, which is best left to a trained and properly equipped technician such as those certified by the Imaging Science Foundation (ISF) or THX.

2D
Picture Mode Movie
Backlight 48
Brightness 51
Contrast 60
Color 44
Tint 0
Sharpness 2
Size and Position Default
Color Temperature Custom
Red Gain 158
Green Gain 138
Blue Gain 63
Red Offset 126
Green Offset 127
Blue Offset 128
Advanced Picture Settings
Smooth Motion Effect Off
Real Cinema Mode Off
Noise Reduction Off
Color Enhancement Off
Adaptive Luma Off
Film Mode Auto
Backlight Control Off or DCR
Ambient Light Sensor Off

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