http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/19/hdtv-tests-pit-fantasy-land-specs-against-real-world-performance/ Engadget Comments for HDTV tests pit fantasy land specs against real world performance -- guess what happens http://www.engadget.com/media/feedlogo.gif http://www.engadget.com en-us Copyright 2012 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/19/hdtv-tests-pit-fantasy-land-specs-against-real-world-performance/http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/19/hdtv-tests-pit-fantasy-land-specs-against-real-world-performance/May 19th 2010 1:19AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/05/19/hdtv-tests-pit-fantasy-land-specs-against-real-world-performance/http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/19/hdtv-tests-pit-fantasy-land-specs-against-real-world-performance/May 19th 2010 1:27AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/05/19/hdtv-tests-pit-fantasy-land-specs-against-real-world-performance/http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/19/hdtv-tests-pit-fantasy-land-specs-against-real-world-performance/
Not completely true, I think the best way is to look at them side by side, for best comparison, e.g. at your local Best Buys :)]]>May 19th 2010 1:31AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/05/19/hdtv-tests-pit-fantasy-land-specs-against-real-world-performance/http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/19/hdtv-tests-pit-fantasy-land-specs-against-real-world-performance/May 19th 2010 1:47AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/05/19/hdtv-tests-pit-fantasy-land-specs-against-real-world-performance/http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/19/hdtv-tests-pit-fantasy-land-specs-against-real-world-performance/Because comparing a bunch of TV's under bright fluorescent lights all in torch mode is really a good test as to what picture quality will be like when you get it home. /s]]>May 19th 2010 1:47AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/05/19/hdtv-tests-pit-fantasy-land-specs-against-real-world-performance/http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/19/hdtv-tests-pit-fantasy-land-specs-against-real-world-performance/
Alas, it happens on all LCDs, so i just needa deal with it till we get to OLED (and get the right hardware behind it) so that we have stupid fast response time and amazing contrast on everything. (It's nice not being able to find the edge of the screen in a dark room)]]>May 19th 2010 2:25AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/05/19/hdtv-tests-pit-fantasy-land-specs-against-real-world-performance/http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/19/hdtv-tests-pit-fantasy-land-specs-against-real-world-performance/May 19th 2010 2:28AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/05/19/hdtv-tests-pit-fantasy-land-specs-against-real-world-performance/http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/19/hdtv-tests-pit-fantasy-land-specs-against-real-world-performance/May 19th 2010 2:32AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/05/19/hdtv-tests-pit-fantasy-land-specs-against-real-world-performance/http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/19/hdtv-tests-pit-fantasy-land-specs-against-real-world-performance/Your local Best Buy isn't even sending them an HD signal. In fact, I've never seen a TV properly set up in an electronics store. Your local bar on the other hand...]]>May 19th 2010 10:48AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/05/19/hdtv-tests-pit-fantasy-land-specs-against-real-world-performance/http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/19/hdtv-tests-pit-fantasy-land-specs-against-real-world-performance/May 19th 2010 12:01PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/05/19/hdtv-tests-pit-fantasy-land-specs-against-real-world-performance/http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/19/hdtv-tests-pit-fantasy-land-specs-against-real-world-performance/May 19th 2010 1:32AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/05/19/hdtv-tests-pit-fantasy-land-specs-against-real-world-performance/http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/19/hdtv-tests-pit-fantasy-land-specs-against-real-world-performance/You know us mainstream consumers too well.......who are you]]>May 19th 2010 1:47AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/05/19/hdtv-tests-pit-fantasy-land-specs-against-real-world-performance/http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/19/hdtv-tests-pit-fantasy-land-specs-against-real-world-performance/May 19th 2010 1:35AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/05/19/hdtv-tests-pit-fantasy-land-specs-against-real-world-performance/http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/19/hdtv-tests-pit-fantasy-land-specs-against-real-world-performance/
Please don't strobe the backlighting. I thought flickering displays died with CRTs, but I guess not. My CRT has awful flickering at 60Hz, and at 75Hz I can't see it but it still causes eye strain. Only 85Hz doesn't strain my eyes, but then I can't use 1280x1024, and the picture gets a little blurry.

Just because 75Hz flickering bothers me doesn't mean I need a 75Hz refresh rate. If the phosphors were more persistent, 60Hz or lower might be good enough, but then there would be more ghosting. I guess that's a tradeoff CRTs have to make. Since LEDs have essentially no persistence, it's possible that strobing at 120 Hz or more could still cause eye strain. The strobing probably isn't visible, and it might not cause eye strain, but why risk it?]]>May 19th 2010 1:48AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/05/19/hdtv-tests-pit-fantasy-land-specs-against-real-world-performance/http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/19/hdtv-tests-pit-fantasy-land-specs-against-real-world-performance/Strobing is visible by most at 200Hz. Extremely bad idea.]]>May 19th 2010 10:50AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/05/19/hdtv-tests-pit-fantasy-land-specs-against-real-world-performance/http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/19/hdtv-tests-pit-fantasy-land-specs-against-real-world-performance/May 19th 2010 1:52AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/05/19/hdtv-tests-pit-fantasy-land-specs-against-real-world-performance/http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/19/hdtv-tests-pit-fantasy-land-specs-against-real-world-performance/
But I agree the spec inflation is getting ridiculous.]]>May 19th 2010 1:52AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/05/19/hdtv-tests-pit-fantasy-land-specs-against-real-world-performance/http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/19/hdtv-tests-pit-fantasy-land-specs-against-real-world-performance/May 19th 2010 11:55AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/05/19/hdtv-tests-pit-fantasy-land-specs-against-real-world-performance/http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/19/hdtv-tests-pit-fantasy-land-specs-against-real-world-performance/May 19th 2010 2:09AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/05/19/hdtv-tests-pit-fantasy-land-specs-against-real-world-performance/http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/19/hdtv-tests-pit-fantasy-land-specs-against-real-world-performance/
And also there is common practice of having two identical bluray players connected to a tv to show how a cheap HDMI lead is worse than an expensive one. However what they do not show is that the settings of the TV are different for each HDMI input. Obviously they would otherwise be proving that the Quality of HDMI makes no difference to the picture quality. The number of people I know of that have been conned into purchasing £50+ HDMI leads is amazing!]]>May 19th 2010 5:06AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/05/19/hdtv-tests-pit-fantasy-land-specs-against-real-world-performance/http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/19/hdtv-tests-pit-fantasy-land-specs-against-real-world-performance/
What is a "Lead"?]]>May 21st 2010 4:35PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/05/19/hdtv-tests-pit-fantasy-land-specs-against-real-world-performance/http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/19/hdtv-tests-pit-fantasy-land-specs-against-real-world-performance/May 19th 2010 2:10AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/05/19/hdtv-tests-pit-fantasy-land-specs-against-real-world-performance/http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/19/hdtv-tests-pit-fantasy-land-specs-against-real-world-performance/
http://www.lagom.nl/lcd-test/contrast_ratio.php]]>May 19th 2010 2:10AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/05/19/hdtv-tests-pit-fantasy-land-specs-against-real-world-performance/http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/19/hdtv-tests-pit-fantasy-land-specs-against-real-world-performance/May 19th 2010 2:10AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/05/19/hdtv-tests-pit-fantasy-land-specs-against-real-world-performance/http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/19/hdtv-tests-pit-fantasy-land-specs-against-real-world-performance/May 19th 2010 4:46AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/05/19/hdtv-tests-pit-fantasy-land-specs-against-real-world-performance/http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/19/hdtv-tests-pit-fantasy-land-specs-against-real-world-performance/May 19th 2010 2:30AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/05/19/hdtv-tests-pit-fantasy-land-specs-against-real-world-performance/http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/19/hdtv-tests-pit-fantasy-land-specs-against-real-world-performance/
Mine is 2 yrs old, but all the new stuff is still inferior. Long live the King. BTW, have a guess where the pioneer geeks who did the Kuro went? they produced this http://panasonic.com.au/products/details.cfm?objectID=5124 for Panasonic, but it's only in the Commercial range. ie. not in shops. An ISF tech will come to your house to calibrate it too.]]>May 19th 2010 8:55AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/05/19/hdtv-tests-pit-fantasy-land-specs-against-real-world-performance/http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/19/hdtv-tests-pit-fantasy-land-specs-against-real-world-performance/May 19th 2010 9:24PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/05/19/hdtv-tests-pit-fantasy-land-specs-against-real-world-performance/http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/19/hdtv-tests-pit-fantasy-land-specs-against-real-world-performance/May 19th 2010 2:59AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/05/19/hdtv-tests-pit-fantasy-land-specs-against-real-world-performance/http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/19/hdtv-tests-pit-fantasy-land-specs-against-real-world-performance/
In other, old news: Plasma > LCD for TV pleasure]]>May 19th 2010 3:15AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/05/19/hdtv-tests-pit-fantasy-land-specs-against-real-world-performance/http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/19/hdtv-tests-pit-fantasy-land-specs-against-real-world-performance/May 19th 2010 3:40AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/05/19/hdtv-tests-pit-fantasy-land-specs-against-real-world-performance/http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/19/hdtv-tests-pit-fantasy-land-specs-against-real-world-performance/
And agree with Bahumbug: Plasma is definetly > LCD for TV pleasure.]]>May 19th 2010 3:49AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/05/19/hdtv-tests-pit-fantasy-land-specs-against-real-world-performance/http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/19/hdtv-tests-pit-fantasy-land-specs-against-real-world-performance/
User reviews and tech sites provide useful information as well, but seem to have varying standards (or as this article may have suggested, lack of industry standard). You can find any answer you are looking for on the internet so beware. I purchased a 52" Sharp panel in Feb. of last year that CNet suggested against. It blew everything out of the water at every store I went to for two months before I bought it and continues to melt my face to this day.

As for "blur" ..."jitter"...."jutter"..."judder"....whatever it is that you call it when we see some bit of p.q. loss in high action scenes: It's there. I promise. Some are more sensitive to it than others but it does exist. So again, this was a pretty thorough article with a lot of points to take into consideration. But let "your" eyes be the judge.
Don't be afraid to make your point clear: "I'm about to drop $400-2k at your store. Convince me that here is where I should buy what."]]>May 19th 2010 4:51AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/05/19/hdtv-tests-pit-fantasy-land-specs-against-real-world-performance/http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/19/hdtv-tests-pit-fantasy-land-specs-against-real-world-performance/May 19th 2010 5:04AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/05/19/hdtv-tests-pit-fantasy-land-specs-against-real-world-performance/http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/19/hdtv-tests-pit-fantasy-land-specs-against-real-world-performance/May 19th 2010 5:36AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/05/19/hdtv-tests-pit-fantasy-land-specs-against-real-world-performance/http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/19/hdtv-tests-pit-fantasy-land-specs-against-real-world-performance/
While I love technology and all, it's the marketing BS that companies use that kills my enthusiasm for gadgets just a little bit. ]]>May 19th 2010 5:45AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/05/19/hdtv-tests-pit-fantasy-land-specs-against-real-world-performance/http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/19/hdtv-tests-pit-fantasy-land-specs-against-real-world-performance/May 19th 2010 10:39AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/05/19/hdtv-tests-pit-fantasy-land-specs-against-real-world-performance/http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/19/hdtv-tests-pit-fantasy-land-specs-against-real-world-performance/
I'm not sure if my set is one of the sets targeted in the "spec inflation" accusation, but I know CNET called it the best LCD they tested, and I know that it looks far and away better than my old Sharp Aquos, which had a 10,000:1 contrast ratio!

I'm sure that there is some silliness with the marketing (240 Hz sets, for example), but I do think picture quality has advanced in the past few years and that the highly-speced TV's are noticeably better than lower-speced models.]]>May 19th 2010 2:22PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/05/19/hdtv-tests-pit-fantasy-land-specs-against-real-world-performance/http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/19/hdtv-tests-pit-fantasy-land-specs-against-real-world-performance/
With that enhancement turned off, I'm inclined to believe it makes no difference in blur between 120HZ and 60HZ.]]>May 19th 2010 2:55PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/05/19/hdtv-tests-pit-fantasy-land-specs-against-real-world-performance/http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/19/hdtv-tests-pit-fantasy-land-specs-against-real-world-performance/May 19th 2010 3:33PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/05/19/hdtv-tests-pit-fantasy-land-specs-against-real-world-performance/http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/19/hdtv-tests-pit-fantasy-land-specs-against-real-world-performance/
Spec sheets aren't the be-all and end-all of existence, but they can be very helpful in narrowing the field to the models that are most likely to satisfy you. ]]>May 20th 2010 1:11AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/05/19/hdtv-tests-pit-fantasy-land-specs-against-real-world-performance/http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/19/hdtv-tests-pit-fantasy-land-specs-against-real-world-performance/May 22nd 2010 3:22AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/05/19/hdtv-tests-pit-fantasy-land-specs-against-real-world-performance/http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/19/hdtv-tests-pit-fantasy-land-specs-against-real-world-performance/
Nothing I've seen so far even comes close to the Kuro's, I think they'll be the benchmark for a good couple of years until OLED starts appearing in decent sizes.]]>May 25th 2010 10:55AM