1 2 Next page >
|
Ah, how little time ago it seems that we were being confidently told by more than one manufacturer that LCD was great for small screens but would never really work as a TV technology. Yet here we are today in April 2007 comparing not just three LCD TVs, but three MASSIVE LCD TVs - each a movie-favouring 46in across from corner to corner. This is easily enough to put them into the true home cinema size bracket that was until really only the last few months populated almost exclusively by plasma technology.
Not surprisingly these king-sized LCD TVs all belong fairly high up their relative manufacturers' product trees, and so have been lavished with plenty of TLC to try and make them genuinely capable of tackling plasma on its own big-screen battleground. But will the best efforts of LCD enthusiasts Sharp, Sony and Samsung convince us of LCD's home cinema merits once and for all, or will even these LCD princes leave us wanting more and our thoughts wandering back to plasma again?
 | |
 | |
Price: £1,400
More info: Samsung
Size (on stand): 1129(w) x 788(h) x 320(d)
Weight (inc stand): 35.3kg
Native aspect ratio: 16:9
Claimed max contrast ratio: 6000:1
Claimed max brightness: 500cd/m2
Connections: 2 HDMI inputs, Two Scarts (one RGB), PC input, headphone jack, S-Video input, composite video input, CI slot, 10-to-3 card reader, RF jack, USB input, PictBridge output, Stereo audio inputs
|  |
|
Samsung LE46N73BD
Samsung's entry into this big LCD group test sports looks to die for, with a gloss-black design that's probably the cutest in town right now. The good first impressions grow with the discovery of two HDMIs, a component video input, a PC input, a CAM slot indicating the presence of a digital tuner, and even both USB and 10-in-3 card reading slots for direct playback of JPEG images.
The features are reasonably prolific given the set's aggressive pricing. For instance, a Wide Colour Gamut system using a new phosphor/backlight innovation apparently delivers up to 30 per cent more of the visible colour spectrum.
Samsung's DNIe picture processing is on hand too, improving black levels, colours, motion handling and fine detailing. Plus 10-bit processing claims to help deliver 25.6 billion colours, while a Game mode is available that adjusts the TV's running characteristics to suit console gaming.
In action, the LE46N73BD's incredibly vibrant colours get it off to an eye-catching start, helping pictures look solid and engrossing - especially as a reasonably deep black level response provides the rich colours with a good counterpoint.
The LE46N73BD also does a grand job of portraying all the lovely detail and sharpness of a good high definition source - and unusually for an LCD TV, this sharpness isn't often reduced by excessive amounts of blurring over moving objects. Another surprise given the LE46N73BD's acutely aggressive approach to pictures is how little it exaggerates MPEG blocking noise in digital TV broadcasts.
Our problems with this set are that dark areas look a bit 'hollow' at times, colours occasionally just go too far and become slightly unnatural, standard definition pictures look worse than HD to a degree we're not entirely comfortable with, and the set's speakers are made to sound a bit feeble by your average action movie scene. But we're quite sure this set's luscious looks and appealingly low price will persuade more than a few people to happily overlook its niggly bits.
|
 | |
| |
Plus points
Vibrant colours, good sharpness with HD, pretty, well connected, aggressively priced
Minus points
Bland sonics, average standard definition performance |  |
|
|
|
Sharp LC-46XD1E
Sharp's new 46in LCD TV has one very crucial claim to fame - it houses a 'full HD' native pixel resolution of 1920x1080, ideal for showing the UK's HD sources in their cleanest, most 'HD' fashion. What's more, this high resolution is backed up by the ability to receive 1080p sources, a talent that's still relatively rare in the TV world.
The provision of twin HDMIs also asserts this TV's interest in all things HD, though there's one slight connections glitch as we uncover no dedicated component video input. To get analogue HD video into this TV, therefore, you have to use a provided adaptor and the PC jack - a pain if you want to leave a PC and a component source connected simultaneously…
With a really pretty new gloss black and silver design and a new 'truD' image processing system rounding out the 46XD1E's up-front appeal, here's hoping the set's picture quality doesn't let the side down.
Happily it doesn't - not by a long chalk. HD pictures, in fact, are little short of sensational, as the screen's full HD pixel count delivers a trio of noticeable improvements to HD playback. First, fine detail levels look even more acute than usual, thanks to the extra pixels in the screen. Second, the picture looks extremely clean and free of processing noise, as there's no need for any rescaling of a 1920x1080 HD source to a lower screen pixel count. And finally, colour blends look almost infinitely subtle thanks to the extra pixel density reducing the 'steps' between minute colour tone shifts.
Add to these core full HD benefits sumptuously rich colour tones, some impressively deep and detailed black levels, and some robust sonics, and you've got one seriously talented TV.
In a perfect world moving objects would lose a little less resolution as they move across the 46XD1E's screen. But then frankly you'll probably be so busy soaking up all the good stuff that you won't notice this little flaw anyway!
|
| |
| |
Plus points
Full HD resolution, impressive picture quality especially with HD, great design, fair price
Minus points
No dedicated component video input, slight resolution loss with motion, rather tedious operating system | |
|
1 2 Next page >
|
