Five low cost $1,500 and under 1080P Flat Panels Face off HEAD TO HEAD

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Five low cost $1,500 and under 1080P Flat Panels Face off HEAD TO HEAD

(September 2009 Home Theater Magazine pages 20-36)

In the September 2009 Home Theater Magazine on pages 20-36 is a very in depth article comparing 5 different brands of low cost HDTV's between $900-$1,500. This very in depth article had a panel of several professional reviewers that rated the 5 different brands of HD displays in terms of black level, shadow detail, color, resolution, value, and the ultimate final score of "OVERALL PERFORMACE".

In the Home Theater face off only 4 out of the 5 TV's were set to disable the 3:2 pulldown process since the 5th TV had a lot less brightness and a noticeable flicker issue when trying to display 1080P/24 material at multiplies of the original frame rate.

The 4 best TV's tested with the true 1080P/24 refresh rate feature turned on is the following displays:

1. Sony KDL-40V5100 LCD (Best performing LCD with true 5:5 pulldown) $1,500
2. LG 42LH40 LCD (Second best performing LCD with true 5:5 pulldown) $1,400
3. VIZIO SV420M LCD (Third best performing LCD with true 5:5 pulldown) $900
4. Toshiba 42ZV650U LCD (Fourth best performing LCD with true 5:5 pulldown) $1,300


Official Home Theater Face off Results when the Panasonic Plasma is viewed at 60HZ with 3:2 pulldown

1. Panasonic TC-P42G10 Plasma (Best picture quality overall, but only 60HZ viewing mode could be used with 3:2 pulldown during the face off) $1,300
2. Sony KDL-40V5100 LCD (Second best performing TV with true 5:5 pulldown) $1,500
3. LG 42LH40 LCD (Third best performing TV with true 5:5 pulldown) $1,400
4. VIZIO SV420M LCD (Fourth best performing TV with true 5:5 pulldown) $900
5. Toshiba 42ZV650U (Fifth best performing TV with true 5:5 pulldown) $1,300

During the face off according to the Home Theater magazine review the Panasonic TC-P42G10 Plasma had a noticeable flicker that was so annoying to watch at 48HZ that the Panasonic display needed to be placed in the 60HZ 3:2 pulldown mode for all viewing and testing during the face off. Also the 48HZ mode greatly reduced the output brightness so it needed to be turned off to be more comparable to the brighter LCD displays. Even though the Panasonic 48HZ mode could not be used for this face off, overall the Panasonic produced the best overall picture quality even at 60HZ since it was the winner of the face off. The Sony KDL-40V5100 was a close second. The advantage of the plasma off angle viewing, color quality, and resolution pulled the Panasonic ahead in points enough to win the face off. The Sony KDL-40V5100 LCD beat the Panasonic in terms of deeper black levels. The amazing thing is that this Sony display is a standard LCD screen without Local Dimming LED backlighting. The picture quality gap between LCD and plasma is closing a lot faster with Pioneer now out of the picture. This Sony standard LCD display beat the Panasonic plasma in the area of black levels. Panasonic needs to start improving on their plasma technology since possible LCD's with LED backlighting might win a future face off. Back in Feb 2009 the Sony KDL-55XBR8 outperformed the Panasonic TH-50PZ800U. If Sony comes out with a new and improved 2009 LCD with Local Dimming LED backlighting display it might even beat the picture quality of the Panasonic V10 plasma series. Click here for Feb 2009 Face off results

Personally I do not like watching BLU-RAY's at 60HZ since camera pans add 3:2 pulldown judder to the image and the image looks more like video instead of a natural film quality look. For those that want the picture quality improvements of plasma with flicker free 1080P/24 refresh rates I would strongly recommend the Panasonic TC-P50V10 model that is 100% flicker free at 96HZ. The Panasonic 50 inch V10 list price use to be $2,199.95 but Panasonic just recently reduced it to $2,099.95. When on sale you can find the 50 inch V10 for under $2,000 at Best Buy or mail order companies.

For those consumers that would pefer to spend $1,500 or less on a TV and do not want to watch BLU-RAY's at 60HZ then the Sony KDL-40V5100 mentioned in the face off would be a excellent choice. The Sony 120HZ LCD properly handles 1080P/24 with no flicker issues and it even has deeper blacks when compared to the Panasonic TC-P42G10.

The following are word for word quotes from the September 2009 Home Theater face off written by Thomas J. Norton

"Our last Home Theater Face Off (February 2009) leaned heavily toward larger, high- end sets. The challengers this time around cover the popular 40-to-42-inch (diagonal) range. While they’re hardly cheap, they’re less likely to break the old piggy bank."

"The LCD sets here all use conventional CCFL (fluorescent) backlighting. They also operate at a 120-hertz refresh rate, with optionally selectable frame interpolation. The Toshiba takes this wrinkle a step further with its own variation on 240-Hz operation."

"The five sets were arranged in a row with a gentle arc and camouflaged to conceal the brands and models. The panelists shifted seats and viewing distances frequently during the test to judge various aspects of each set’s performance."

"The smoothing that interpolation provides can make film-based sources look like video, and there are mixed opinions of the process, even here at Home Theater. I switched this feature off during the group test and only demonstrated it to the panel members after they had completed their ratings."

Click here to read the compete Introduction to the Face off article at the Home Theater website

1. Panasonic TC-P42G10 ($1,300):

"The set will display sources up to 1080p/60p. For 1080p/24 material, a 24p Direct selection in the menu lets you choose either 48-Hz playback (2 x 24 frames per second, with no 3:2 pulldown) or 60 Hz. In the latter mode, the set converts 24-fps sources to 60p by adding 3:2 pulldown. We used the 60-Hz setting on the Panasonic for this review, as it provided significant added brightness. It needed this to match the brightness of the other sets as closely as possible. It also eliminated an image flicker that’s visible when 24-fps sources are displayed at a 48-Hz refresh rate"

"Others also noted the set’s lack of motion blur, although one panelist felt that the motion was slightly more juddery than the others. This might be traceable to the fact that the Panasonic was running at a frame rate of 60 Hz with 3:2 pulldown, as noted above."

"Excellent blacks and shadow detail"

"Superb off-axis performance"

"The Panasonic was clearly the judges’ favorite, and everyone rated it first or second. It pulled in first-place finishes in the composite scores (including ties for color and shadow detail) in three of the four main performance categories. It finished second only in black level and not by much."

"Everyone on the panel liked the Panasonic’s blacks, although some favored them more than others."

"Only one judge was a bit luke-warm, offering faint praise. “Pretty good black level for this bunch of sets,” he wrote, “but I’d still prefer darker.” No doubt, this was a recovering Pioneer KURO junkie."

"The Panasonic also topped the group in its resolution."

"Conclusions"

"There’s not a lot to say here, since the Panasonic nearly ran away with this Face Off. Only the Sony issued a strong challenge. In the raw scores, the Panasonic grabbed nearly 10 percent more points than the second-place Sony, 28 percent more than the third-place LG, and 43 percent more than the Toshiba. It was also the clear value leader."

"If you don’t need the extra brightness that an LCD can provide and you do most of your serious viewing in a room with subdued lighting, this could be your new flat-panel set."

Click here to read the complete Panasonic plasma review at the Home Theater website

2. Sony KDL-40V5100 ($1,500):

"Plasma-like blacks and shadow detail"

"Good color and resolution"

"As the most expensive entry in the group, as well as the smallest—though not by much in either case—a lot was expected of the Sony."

"The Sony does have a useful lineup of features; some were useful, others not so much. More importantly, its black-level performance and shadow detail surprised almost everyone when I revealed the sets’ identities."

"Sony’s Motionflow is the company’s 120-Hz technology. It worked about as well as any similar feature I’ve seen, although I’m not a fan of this sort of processing, particularly for movies. It does smooth out motion, which some viewers might find useful on sports or other video-based programming."

"The Sony accepts 1080p/24 material and displays it by either repeating each real frame four times to reach the display’s refresh rate of 120 Hz (in other words, 5:5 pulldown). Or, with Motionflow engaged, by inserting four interpolated frames for each real frame. It does the same with 1080p/60 (either a native 1080p/60 at the input or upconverted from 1080i or a lower resolution to 1080p by the set’s internal processing). However, in this case, it inserts a single interpolated frame instead of four to reach the set’s 120-Hz refresh rate."

"In my own time with these sets, the Sony’s black level and natural punch impressed me in a way that I never expected from an LCD without an advanced and expensive technology like LED backlighting with local dimming."

"The judges definitely agreed. “Best black level on axis and best shadow detail of the bunch,” wrote one judge, although he was a bit bothered by the way bright scenes washed out as he moved off axis. He also observed that the Sony had more video noise than the others in dark scenes. But none of this kept him from giving it solid 10 scores for both black level and shadow detail."

"Conclusions"

"The Sony came in a close second in the judging. Two members of the five-judge panel voted it first overall, and two rated it second. No one really disliked it. I can’t say how I might have voted had I been participating blind, but I like to think I would have placed it on top, given my partiality to serious viewing in a darkened room and the resulting need for great black levels. As I noted earlier, the Sony also won raves for its performance with the lights on—although that was a very short part of the test and not included in the scoring."

"This Sony may not have grabbed a victory here, but it’s still a clear winner."

Click here to read the complete Sony 120HZ LCD review at the Home theater website


3. LG 42LH40 ($1,400):

"Korean-based manufacturer LG began as a Lucky Goldstar and evolved into a Life’s Good maker of a wide range of consumer electronics goods. It’s now one of the biggest makers of flat-panel televisions on the planet, if not the biggest."

"As with all the LCD sets here, the LG operates at a refresh rate of 120 Hz. With a 1080p/24 input, if you turn off TruMotion 120Hz (LG’s motion-smoothing, frame interpolation feature), the set performs 5:5 pulldown on the 24-Hz input, adding four repeated frames to reach the display’s refresh rate of 120 Hz. With TruMotion 120Hz turned on, the LG interpolates the added frames."

"With a 1080p/60 input (or a lower-resolution input upconverted by the set to 1080p/60) and TruMotion 120Hz off, the set adds a single repeated frame to each real frame to get to 120 Hz. With TruMotion 120Hz on and an input with 3:2 pulldown, it recognizes the 3:2 cadence, converts the signal to 1080p/24, and then interpolates four new frames for each real one. However, if a source has 2:2 pulldown, it pulls it down to 30p and then interpolates three new frames to reach 120 Hz."

"The LG turned in terrific scores for color (where it finished in a first-place tie with Panasonic) and resolution. It tied for second place in shadow detail, but two sets also tied for first in that category, and the second-place scores were well below the first-place ratings."

"Conclusions"

Altogether, the LG turned in a respectable but not star-making showing. Its strength was in its color, no doubt due to its remarkably flexible calibration controls. Its biggest weaknesses, which it shared with two other sets in the group, were its blacks and shadow detail."

"These problems were not as obvious when I briefly turned on the studio’s overhead fluorescent lights after the formal scoring was over. This means that you’ll be unlikely to see them in a brightly lit showroom. Perhaps not at home, either, if you rarely watch the set with the room lights dimmed—or turned off."

"We’re anxiously waiting to see what LG has in store in its upcoming local-dimming sets. They should greatly improve on these issues (although for a price), giving the company’s accomplishments in other aspects of image quality a chance to shine."

Click here to read the complete LG 120HZ LCD review at the Home theater website


4. VIZIO SV420M ($900):
"Coming from nowhere just a few years ago, this relatively new television manufacturer has managed to muscle its way into the ranks of the market leaders by selling its sets largely through major discount warehouse retailers like Costco."

"As with all the LCD sets here, the Vizio operates at a refresh rate of 120 Hz. And as such, it offers its own aptly named motion-smoothing feature: Smooth Motion. It has two separate adjustments: Smooth Mode Effect and Real Cinema. If the set receives a 1080p/24 input with the Smooth Mode Effect control off, it repeats each frame four times (5:5 pulldown) in order to reach the displayed 120-Hz refresh rate. With Smooth Motion Effect on (in any of its three active modes—Low, Middle, or High) and the Real Cinema control set to Smooth, the set also adds four new frames for each real one. In this case, the frames are interpolated. Oddly, if Smooth Motion is on and the Real Cinema control is set to Precision, the Vizio first converts 1080p/24 to 1080p/60 and interpolates a single added frame to reach 120 Hz."

"With a 1080p/60 input (or a lower-resolution input upconverted by the set to 1080p/60) and Smooth Motion turned off, the Vizio adds a single repeated frame to each real frame to reach 120 Hz. With Smooth Motion on, it interpolates a single added frame."

"When the Vizio plays back a 4:3 source in the 4:3 (Normal) aspect ratio setting or a letterboxed source that needs to be played in a zoom setting to fill the full width of the screen, the set can only produce a geometrically correct image when the input is 480i or 480p. When 720p, 1080i, and 1080p inputs are externally upconverted to these resolutions from standard-definition sources, they are squeezed or stretched, and no aspect ratio choice can put them right. (This is not a problem with sources that require a Full setting, such as native HD material and enhanced-for-widescreen DVDs.)"

"The Vizio landed in fourth place overall for black level and shadow detail combined, just marginally behind the LG and in front of the Toshiba. True, the Vizio did tie with the LG for second place in shadow detail. But first place was also a tie, and the spread of the scores between the first tied group of two and the second-place pair was a chasm."

"Three of the panelists saw deterioration in the set’s image quality when they moved off axis. But on the positive side, others noted that the set looked much better overall with the room lights on."

"Conclusions"

"While the Vizio didn’t turn in a great performance overall, remember that it is less than 75 percent of the cost of the next least expensive set in the group. I found it much more watchable than the group’s scores might suggest, and its HD video processing also handily beat out the other players in the group."

"You can do better if you’re willing to spend more, but this is a respectable set at an attractive price. And Vizio is on the cusp of interesting new models, some of which may well compete more aggressively with the other sets here in the $1,300-to-$1,500 range. It’s also about to join the parade of new local-dimming, LED-backlit sets, which should answer the black level and shadow detail issues, but at a price that might keep other manufacturers awake at night."

Click here to read the complete VIZIO 120HZ LCD review at the Home theater website

5. Toshiba 42ZV650U ($1,300):

"Sub-par contrast and black level"

"How did Toshiba put 240-Hz technology into a $1,300 set? By using a pseudo-240-Hz technique. The set has a native 120-Hz refresh rate, but this is supplemented by a scanning backlight that’s said to achieve some of the benefits of 240 Hz."

"The Toshiba can accept 1080p/24 program material. With ClearScan 240 off and a 1080p/24 input, it repeats each real frame four additional times to reach the set’s 120-Hz refresh rate (5:5 pulldown). With ClearScan 240 on (and the Film Stabilization control on Smooth), some of the added frames are interpolated. In either case, the blinking of the scanning backlight creates the effect of two frames for each actual frame, approximating 240-Hz operation. With a 1080p/60 source (or any source that the set upconverts to its native 1080p resolution), a single frame (repeated or interpolated, as determined by the control settings above) is added for each real frame."

"The Toshiba came in last in both subjective and measured black level, and it also placed last in shadow detail. It did take a solid second place in color (two other sets tied for first), where its extensive color adjustments pulled it through. And its resolution landed it at a near-tie for second place with three other sets."

"But a different panelist thought the Toshiba was the worst of all the sets with the Stargate star field scene. He said he saw very little shadow detail in the deepest blacks on other material. He also thought the image fell to pieces off axis. There was also a negative comment on how the Toshiba (and the Vizio as well) lost all detail on Kong’s fur in King Kong (chapter 48)."

"Conclusions"

"The panel results make it hard to be upbeat about the Toshiba. Still, there appears to be a good set in there trying to get out. It’s hard to fault the overall color quality—or the color adjustments that can help a good calibrator get there. While the set’s resolution only drew middling praise, several of the sets were tightly clustered in their scores for this category. I don’t think any potential buyer will be unhappy with the Toshiba’s color or resolution, particularly on mid-level and bright scenes."

"The black level and shadow detail are another matter. But as with Vizio and LG, Toshiba is now introducing sets that will use LED backlighting with local dimming to improve black level and shadow detail. They should be available by the time you read this. Such sets will not immediately filter down to this price range, but they should still be relatively affordable (at press time, the first Toshiba 46-inch LED local dimmer was priced at $2,300). Hopefully this development will answer our concerns."

Click here to read the complete Toshiba 120HZ LCD review at the Home theater website