LCD TV Reviews

Black: 0.029
White: 27.8
Full-On/Full-Off Contrast Ratio: 959:1

All the measurements here were taken in the Movie picture mode through an HDMI input, with the set adjusted for the most accurate picture in a darkened room.

The peak-white and black-level measurements were taken with the backlight control turned off. When the backlight control was set to Mega DCR, the black and white levels both dropped, which resulted in a peak contrast ratio of 905:1. The OPC setting dropped the black level more and the peak-white level less, resulting in a peak contrast ratio of 1,347:1. Still, I preferred the picture with the backlight control turned off.

Outputting 720p from the Samsung BD-P1200 Blu-ray player resulted in severe ringing in the overscan pattern. There was no ringing at 480p, but the image was very soft, with tons of jaggies. In fact, I couldn’t read text on the screen. In the Wide Viewing mode, luma bursts showed full resolution out to the limits with 1080p HD.

The Normal color-temp preset was closest to correct, with a slight tendency toward blue. Starting from the Custom color-temp preset, I was able to get the high end of the gray scale closer to correct. However, using the single set of RGB controls provided, I was unable to dial in the gray scale at all brightness levels.

The primary and secondary color points were very close to correct out of the box, which is a good thing, since this TV has no color management system.—SW