ExtremeTech: plasma, LCD HDTV shoot-out

[jagabo]

Not perfect but a good read for those looking for information about plasma and LCD technologies.

http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,2845,2349236,00.asp

Some highlights:

after extensive testing, measurements and analysis we found that the units delivered their best picture quality with all of their much-hyped advanced features, which are essentially marketing gimmicks, turned off. In particular, all of the settings that dynamically process the image were disabled, such as Dynamic Backlight, Dynamic Contrast, Dynamic Black, Dynamic White, and Dynamic Color. They all reduce picture quality and accuracy and introduce ugly image artifacts.

Unfortunately, most of the specs are actually marketing tools rather than a set of scientifically objective tests and measurements.

The Sony and Panasonic units required very little effort to nudge into excellent agreement with the HDTV Rec.709 standard... The calibrations for both units were so close that it was frequently impossible to visually tell them apart. Except… when viewing the Sony LCD slightly off angle, or when there was dark content, or when there was significant motion in the picture... (jagabo: ie, most of the time!) The differences were amazing and astonished everyone that came to see and compare them side-by-side.

The Samsung unit... most distinctive features were Dynamic LED backlighting together with zoned LED Local Dimming. We turned these features off because they introduced intensity scale errors and ugly halos in scenes with dim content.

Brightness and Contrast Ratio... The values published by most manufacturers are now so outrageous that they are close to absolute nonsense, and it's getting worse.

you may see brightness specs of 1000 cd/m2 or more, which if true would be dangerous to view indoors without sunglasses.

for LCDs the Viewing Angle where there is noticeable picture degradation is a mere ±10 degrees... the "sweet spot" for seeing an accurate picture on an LCD HDTV is only one person wide

In the next article in this series we will discuss Response Time and Motion Blur.

[jagabo]

The followup was finally posted:

http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,2845,2356409,00.asp

This one mostly covers motion blur on LCD displays. Some highlights:

Response time specifications are not a scientifically accurate or meaningful indicator of picture blur.

the motion blur we measured with moving test patterns on the top-of-the-line HDTVs was over 40 ms

the proprietary motion enhancement processing technologies provided in most HDTVs actually just introduce ugly motion artifacts into the image

After extensive side-by-side objective testing with moving test patterns, moving photographs and live video we found that there was no visually detectable difference in motion blur performance for current mid to top-of-the-line LCD HDTVs, regardless of their Response Time, 60- or 120 120-Hz refresh rates, strobed LED backlighting, or motion enhancement processing.

motion blur was simply not visually detectable in real live video content during our extensive side-by-side testing

[MOVIEGEEK]

From the article:

As a result, our bottom-line recommendations are: If you stick with the mid- to top-tier models from the reputable brands, you should ignore response time specifications, not worry about LCD motion blur, and not spend extra for 120-Hz or higher refresh rates, strobed LED backlighting, or advanced motion blur processing.

Thus proving what I've said about 120/240Hz HDTV's, it's a marketing gimmick.
BTW: I always turn off all "Dynamic" controls and calibrate manually.
https://forum.videohelp.com/topic339250.html#2027566
https://forum.videohelp.com/topic376001.html#2026064
https://forum.videohelp.com/topic375468.html#2023127

[jagabo]

BTW: I always turn off all "Dynamic" controls and calibrate manually.

Same here.

As noted elsewhere, I would prefer smoother motion than 24 fps film but the artifacts generated by motion vector interpolation are more annoying than the jerkiness of 24 fps.

By the way, 120 Hz TVs are fully capable of 24 fps display -- they show every frame 5 times (5 * 1/120 = 1/24).