| For many TV viewers, their dream is for a new 1080p | | | | Color rendition is exactly what it sounds like. It's a |
| flat screen TV. They'd like nothing better than to buy | | | | measure of how well the TV renders color. A set with |
| one, find one, or get one as a gift. It doesn't matter, as | | | | good color rendition will produce rich accurate colors. A |
| long as they get to watch one of these TVs instead | | | | TV with poor color rendition will display weak (or in |
| of the big clunker they're watching now. | | | | some cases, oversaturated), inaccurate ones. Which |
| The fact is that TV technology has cone a very long | | | | would you prefer? As noted above, good gray scale |
| way in the last 10 years, with a huge improvement in | | | | reproduction is one of the foundations of color |
| flat screen picture quality being the most noticeable | | | | rendition, but far from the only component. The TV's |
| benefit. In the early years of flat panel TVs, weather | | | | color decoder, panel construction and quality of it's |
| they were LCD or plasma, picture quality was | | | | power supply all come into play when it reproduces |
| noticeably lacking. Sure, they were thin, you could hang | | | | color. |
| them on your wall, and your neighbors would be | | | | One of the first places flat panel TV manufacturers |
| jealous, but really, their pictures looked pretty bad. | | | | skimp when they're building a TV is the video |
| Times have changed. For all but the most jaded | | | | processing circuitry. There are many reasons for this. |
| videophiles, almost any new flat panel TV ranks just | | | | The main one is cost. Good video processing circuitry, |
| under a gift from God, especially those of the 1080p | | | | such as the Silicon Optix HQV solution, are relatively |
| variety. Even the bottom feeders look ok, and the best | | | | expensive, while there are many other less expensive, |
| are nothing short of spectacular. What separates the | | | | albeit not as capable solutions on the market. In a |
| best flat screen TV from the also rans? | | | | market relentlessly driven to lower retail prices, every |
| As you might have guessed, a great flat screen TV, | | | | dollar counts. TV manufacturers feel they can make a |
| as in the days of TV gone by, will have a better | | | | tradeoff in the video processing capabilities of their |
| picture than its lesser endowed brethren. One of the | | | | sets and few consumers will notice. |
| first performance statistics to be thrown around in ads, | | | | The upshot for the consumer is that sets with poor |
| reviews and by your local TV salesperson is the | | | | video processing will exhibit video artifacts. Some of |
| resolution. All flat panel TV pictures are made up of | | | | the more troubling video problems are moiré |
| tiny, colored dots called pixels. The set's resolution is | | | | patterns, mosquito noise and "jaggies". |
| simply the number of pixels it uses to make the picture. | | | | Moire' patterns are a fluctuating rainbow appearance in |
| Flat panel TVs come in two basic resolutions; 1080p | | | | alternating black and white areas of the picture, such |
| and 720p (which can actually be 768p, depending on | | | | as referee's shirts. This effect can also be seen in |
| the TVs manufacturer). All else being equal, more | | | | other alternating line patterns, such as moving |
| pixels is better. | | | | bleachers in NASCAR events. Thankfully for |
| Ah, but seldom is all else equal. In fact, many other | | | | NASCAR, their seats are seldom empty, as the effect |
| things besides resolution are important when you start | | | | is more pronounced when the seats are empty. |
| looking at picture quality. Some of the more important | | | | Mosquito noise is seen in the transitions between dark |
| things to look at are the set's contrast ratio, black level, | | | | and light areas of the picture and looks like mosquitoes |
| gray scale reproduction, color rendition, and lack of | | | | flying around the transitions' edge. Jaggies are seen in |
| video artifacts. | | | | moving, diagonal lines. Instead of being smooth, they will |
| The contrast ratio is simply the difference between | | | | be jagged, or stair-stepped in appearance. |
| the lightest and darkest black and brightest white the | | | | Another area to examine before making a 1080p flat |
| TV can produce. There are two basic ways this is | | | | screen TV purchase is weather or not the set has the |
| measured; using a checkerboard pattern, or full on / full | | | | inputs you'll need to connect all your components. For |
| off. A larger number is better, but manufacturers seem | | | | example, you may want to plug in a laptop computer. |
| to come up with endless ways to fudge this number | | | | Some TVs have an HD-15 computer input, as is found |
| to benefit their own TVs. Suffice it to say that if you're | | | | on a laptop, while many do not. |
| looking at two different TVs side by side the one with | | | | Does the set have a sufficient number of HDMI inputs |
| a better contrast ratio will look better. | | | | for connecting digital video devices, such as BluRay |
| Black level is a measure of how little light the set lets | | | | players, DVRs, online movie terminals, or cable boxes? |
| through when areas of the screen are supposed to | | | | Which version of HDMI are the inputs? HDMI 1.3 is |
| be completely dark. In the old days of tube televisions | | | | required to accept the latest high bit rate color formats |
| that was no problem. The way that technology | | | | (of which there is little or no need for yet, but it is |
| worked, if a part of the screen was supposed to be | | | | coming). |
| completely dark, the beam inside the TV tube just | | | | Many flat panel TVs now have network connection, |
| didn't scan it, so no light was produced. | | | | USB ports or card slots to facilitate displaying digital |
| With flat panel TVs, no area of the screen can be | | | | video. Consumers are plugging in thumb drives, USB |
| completely turned off, the black level is a measure of | | | | hard drives, and memory cards to show slideshows of |
| how well the TV can contain (LCD) or reduce | | | | family photos, for example. The proliferation of movie |
| (plasma) the screens luminance. Lower is better for a | | | | download services and terminals will make Ethernet |
| better picture. There aren't too many TV | | | | ports and USB connectivity more important going |
| manufacturers that publish minimum luminance (that's | | | | forward. |
| what tells how little light the TV produces) | | | | One secret of the 1080p flat panel TV world is that |
| specifications for their TVs, so you just have to play it | | | | there are really only a few companies that actually |
| by eye. | | | | build the flat panel portion of the TV itself. For example, |
| Gray scale is extremely important. Proper gray scale | | | | as of this writing, only 3 companies, Panasonic, LG and |
| reproduction is the ability of the TV to reproduce truly | | | | Samsung, produce plasma panels. In the LCD arena |
| neutral shades of gray at all levels of brightness. Many | | | | Sony, LG-Phillips, S-LCD (a Samsung/Sony joint |
| sets tend to trend toward blue, green or red instead of | | | | venture), Hitachi Displays (a Panasonic, Hitachi, and |
| being a truly balanced gray. To make matters worse, | | | | Canon joint venture), and Sharp own large flat panel |
| they will sometimes favor one shade in the lighter | | | | display manufacturing facilities. All the other companies |
| areas of the picture, and another in the lighter areas. | | | | buy their panels from one of these companies. |
| You may think "That's okay, I never watch black and | | | | There is much to think about when evaluating a new |
| white TV shows anyway." Well, in addition to making | | | | 1080p flat screen TV. No matter which set you |
| sure black and white programming looks correct, all the | | | | choose, it will probably be a huge step up from what |
| colors on your TV screen, weather it's LCD or plasma, | | | | you were watching before. That doesn't mean that |
| 1080p or 720p, rely on a properly rendered gray scale | | | | you shouldn't put some thought into making what is, for |
| to be accurate. That's why good gray scale is one of | | | | most people, a major purchase. |
| the most important aspects of an accurate picture. | | | | A little bit of time spent finding the right flat screen now |
| While only some TVs are really good in this regard as | | | | will ensure years of enjoyment from your new TV. |
| they're delivered, the good news is that many TVs | | | | After all, the difference between a good flat screen |
| can be calibrated to be very accurate, by a service | | | | TV and a great one may only be a few hundred |
| technician or an ISF certified custom installer with the | | | | dollars, but the set will be with you for many years to |
| proper equipment. | | | | come. |