LCD TV Reviews

Full-On/Full-Off Contrast Ratio—1,527:1; ANSI Contrast Ratio—1,226:1

Measured Resolution with the Leader LT-446:
480: 470 (per picture height)
720p: 680 (pph)
1080i: Out to the limits of the 1,366 by 768 panel

DC Restoration (poor, average, good, excellent): Excellent

Color Decoder (poor, average, good, excellent): Good

Measured Color Points:
Red Color Point: x=0.633, y=0.330
Green Color Point: x=0.271, y=0.599
Blue Color Point: x=0.144, y=0.064

The top chart shows the 40D1's gray scale relative to its color temperature at various levels of intensity, or brightness (20 IRE is dark gray; 100 IRE is bright white). The gray scale as set by the factory, in the Warm color-temperature mode, measures very warm with dark images and cooler but still warm with brighter images. After making adjustments using the Photo Research PR-650, the gray scale measures better, but the brightest images are still warmer than D6500, the accurate color temperature. The darkest images were too far off the black body curve for a color temperature before calibration. After, they were significantly cooler than the rest of the gray-scale range.

The bottom chart shows the gray scale (or color temperature) relative to the color points of the display's red, green, and blue color filters. These are somewhat off those specified by SMPTE. Red is slightly undersaturated. Blue is slightly oversaturated and very slightly greenish-blue. Green is somewhat bluish-green.

After calibration and using a full-field 100-IRE white (125.2 foot-lamberts) and a full-field 0-IRE black (0.082 ft-L), the contrast ratio was 1,527:1. Using a 16-box checkerboard pattern (ANSI contrast), the contrast ratio was 1,226:1. The best contrast ratio was achieved with the backlight set at 50. The best black level was achieved with the backlight set at 0. This setting produced 61.2 ft-L with a 100-IRE field and 0.042 ft-L with a 0-IRE black. This resulted in a contrast ratio of 1,457:1.—GM