Crave

DisplayMate's testing lab during the LCD evaluation.

(Credit: DisplayMate)

I've been testing LCD monitors consistently for the past two years. In that time, I've run various tests designed to evaluate a monitor's response time. I've used games, movies, and the occasional scientific test to confirm if a manufacturer's claimed response time is accurate.

To be perfectly honest, I have a very difficult time seeing motion blur in movies and games. In fact, I'm not sure I've seen it any repeatable evidence of it on a modern monitor during a game or movie.

So it should go without saying that DisplayMate's recent findings on LCD response times come as no big shock to me. The findings come via an article by DisplayMate founder Raymond Soneira.

Here are Soneira's major conclusions based on tests conducted by DisplayMate on LCDs from major manufacturers.

1. A manufacturer's claimed response time specifications are not a scientifically accurate or a meaningful indicator of picture blur.

The motion blur DisplayMate measured on the HDTVs tested was more than 40 milliseconds. According to the article, this is more than a factor of 10 greater than the manufacturer's published specifications.

2. LCD manufacturers have made a big deal about refresh rates in the last couple of years with the jump from 60Hz to 120Hz and now 240Hz. CNET's own David Katzmaier suspected that benefits with the jump to 240Hz were dubious already, but here's more evidence to back it up.

Samsung's UNB8500 series costs a bundle.

(Credit: Sarah Tew/CNET)

If you watch football or read CNET, chances are you've noticed ads for Samsung's so-called LED TVs. The company has released three series of these super-thin LED-based LCDs so far this year, the 6000, 7000 and 8000 models, but it's saved the best for last. The fourth series is dubbed UNB8500, but you can remember it best as the king of LCD--for now.

Unlike the other three Samsung models, which use LED elements arranged along the edge of their screens, the company's two 8500 models employ a full array of local dimming LEDs behind the screen, yet maintain an ultraslim profile. As a result this expensive HDTV handily outperforms its brothers and, yes, every other LCD-based display we've ever tested. It still can't match the best plasma, the legendary and discontinued Pioneer Kuro, and its off-angle picture leaves plenty to be desired, but people who claim the sweet spot in front of a Samsung UNB8500 will be treated to the most impressive flat-panel picture quality of the year.

Read the full review of the Samsung UNB8500 series.

Samsung UNB8500 series--photos

The well-equipped Vizio VF552XVT takes aim at the best HDTVs available when it launches in November.

(Credit: CNET)

The Via line of HDTVs from Vizio, due this January, promises the most comprehensive suite of interactive features yet seen on any HDTV, including a Bluetooth remote control with a keyboard. The two largest models will also pack LED backlighting with local dimming, the holy grail of LCD picture quality. These highly desirable features, combined with Vizio's customarily aggressive pricing, propel the flagship Vizio TVs past their counterparts from major brands like Samsung, Panasonic, and Sony--at least on paper.

Designed foremost to compete against current Internet-enabled HDTVs, the three "Via" (Vizio Interactive Apps) models are available in 42-inch, 47-inch, and 55-inch varieties. Here's a quick rundown:

Key features of the Vizio Via 2XVT series:

• LED backlight with local dimming (47- and 55-inch models only)
• 240Hz processing
• Bluetooth remote with full QWERTY keyboard
• Integrated 802.11(n) Wi-Fi
• Support for Adobe Flash for the Digital Home
• Yahoo widgets engine
• 42-inch SV422XVT: $1,199 MSRP | 47-inch SV472XVT: $1,699 | 55-inch XV552XVT: $2,199
• Available in January

As CNET noted earlier, the Bluetooth keyboard remote and built-in Wi-fi will be firsts among interactive TVs, which typically require cumbersome virtual keyboards for text entry and expensive extra dongles or third-party solutions for wireless connectivity. Since few people have an Ethernet cable next to their televisions, Wi-fi makes setup much more convenient, while the keyboard on the remote should make accessing and using the TV's "Apps" as easy as sending an e-mail on a BlackBerry.

(Credit: Vizio)

Vizio promises to have more such applications on the Via platform than any other current maker, and the list is impressive indeed. ... Read more

The Toshiba SV670U is one of the least-expensive LED-based LCDs with local dimming.

(Credit: Sarah Tew/CNET)

At the high end of the LCD TV cost spectrum sit models equipped with LED backlighting. Whether edge-lit or local dimming, these sets command a price premium and deliver somewhat better energy efficiency and markedly better black level performance than standard LCD TVs.

But with black levels on par with plasma comes a price in the form of blooming, subpar off-angle performance and, in the case of the Toshiba flagship SV670U series, an overactive backlight. On the flip side, it still delivers those inky blacks, along with accurate color and solid video processing.

The Toshiba SV670U can get you into the LED game for less, and for LCD-over-plasma fans who crave black levels, that's reason enough to consider one.

Read the full review of the Toshiba SV670U series.

Toshiba SV670U series -- photos

LG's LED LCD performed very well in our tests.

(Credit: Sarah Tew/CNET)

With every new technology release, LCD tries to catch up to plasma in the picture quality race, but never seems to succeed. The biggest potential equalizer attached to LCD's engine is LED backlighting with local dimming, a technology first marketed widely by Samsung two years ago that's slowly spread to other brands' flagship LCD TVs since.

LG's 2009 entrant is the LH90 series, and it closes the gap considerably compared with the best plasma displays. The LH90 models evinced superb black level performance and LG's characteristically accurate color--helped in large measure by the company's best-in-class user-menu adjustments. This is easily the best-performing LG TV we've tested, and despite a few flaws it's a worthy member of the flat-panel elite.

Read the review of the LG LH90 series.

LG LH90 series

The LED-backlit VF551XVT by Vizio is now delayed and more expensive than when first announced.

(Credit: Vizio)

According to information from a lineup sheet first posted on engadgetHD, and confirmed by a Vizio spokesman, the company's highly anticipated VF551XVT, previously scheduled for release this month, will be delayed until September.

The 55-inch HDTV is also going to be $200 more expensive. That new price is likely to provide differentiation between the VF551XVT (now $2,199, up from $1,999) and the current VF550XVT (still $1,999), which we reviewed earlier this year and will remain in the company's lineup.

When it finally arrives, we expect the VF551XVT to handily outperform its less-expensive 55-inch brother. That's because it uses local-dimming LED backlight technology, which on other so-equipped LCDs delivers significantly improved black-level performance. The Vizio was one of three of our nominees for Best of CES in the TV category, thanks to its extremely low price, at least for an LED-backlit display.

The $200 price hike likely won't faze the anticipation LCD lovers awaiting the VF551XVT's release, but the delay could mean that impatient buyers shopping for models in that size range lose patience and pull the trigger on another set, like the 54-inch Panasonic TC-P54G10 plasma.

The company also announced other new models, including an Eco-friendly lineup and a couple of 240Hz replacements for the SV0XVT series. We'll have full details after Vizio's June 23 press event, but in the meantime engadgetHD covers the essentials.

The LG LH55 series does cut blur, but its picture quality falls short of other 240Hz LCDs.

(Credit: Sarah Tew)

At CES this year, LG made a big deal out of its 240Hz technology, claiming it bested similar blur-busting tech from other LCD makers. The LH55 series represents the company's least-expensive HDTV equipped with a 240Hz refresh rate, and when it comes to that feature, as usual, we weren't particularly impressed. The results were similar to those seen on other 240Hz displays--reduced blur that was difficult for us to really discern, although test patterns prove it's there--but we were a bit annoyed that you have to engage the smoothing effect of dejudder if you want to reduce blur.

In its favor the LH55 brings a boatload of other picture quality adjustments to bear, most of them leading to excellent color accuracy, but its overall picture is hampered by lighter black levels, among other minor problems. If you can handle those issues, are sensitive to blur, and enjoy picture tweaks, the LH55 is one of the more tempting LCDs out there.

Read the full review of the LG LH55 series

LG LH55 series photos

Hz so good: The marketing of 240Hz TVs may rely heavily on test patterns.

(Credit: Akihabara News)

Every year it seems there's a new catchy spec in the HDTV realm everybody likes to talk about. A few years back it was 1080p resolution. Then we heard about 120Hz, which is supposed to reduce motion blur in fast-moving images on LCD TVs. Well, this year, the latest and greatest spec is 240Hz, which is supposed to do what 120Hz does, but better.

Not too long ago, our video guru David Katzmaier gave his initial impressions on 240Hz in a post titled "Is 240Hz worth waiting for?" When he wrote that piece, he'd just seen his first 240Hz TV in action and wasn't sold on the new technology. Now that he's reviewed four 240Hz HDTVs and has a fifth review (the LG 47LH55) in the works, he's still not sold, but he admits the verdict isn't totally clear-cut.

Part of the problem is that there's a difference between what your eye sees in everyday material you watch and objective testing done with test patterns. As Katzmaier notes in his post, "Standard LCD and plasma TVs refresh the screen 60 times per second, or 60Hz, which is plenty fast enough to eliminate flicker and create the illusion of motion from a series of still images. In fact, most sources sent to your display arrive at the nominal rate of 30 frames per second, and each frame is repeated once by the television to achieve 60 total fps."

240Hz LCD HDTVs compared

For most people, including me and Mr. Katzmaier, it's very difficult to see the impact that "faster" LCD sets have on picture quality. We spent some time in our AV lab watching various source material from 120Hz TVs and 240Hz models and it's really hard to detect any difference (it's hard to detect any difference between 120Hz and 60Hz models, too). To be clear, I'm referring here to motion-blur reduction because of faster refresh rates, not to dejudder processing, which smooths out motion and makes film-based material shot at 24fps look more video-like. When dejudder is engaged, you can easily spot its impact on the picture. (It's also worth mentioning that the dejudder processing on the 240Hz TVs we tested so far wasn't any better--or worse--than than the dejudder on 120Hz TVs).

Toshiba's 240Hz ZV650U series uses a scanning backlight to fight blurring.

(Credit: Sarah Tew/CNET)

As LCD and plasma vie for popularity and picture-quality bragging rights, one perceived weakness of the LCD camp has provided a reason for TV makers to charge more for step-up models: image blurring. Higher refresh rates like 120Hz and now 240Hz aim to clean up blurring with newfangled technology, and Toshiba's ZV650U series is one of the least expensive of such sets available.

Unlike such sets by Samsung and Sony, the Toshiba ZV650U uses a scanning backlight to reduce blurring--and, in fact, the company is careful to call its technology a "240Hz effect" to differentiate it from true 240Hz models. In most normal program material we find it nearly impossible to appreciate the antiblurring effect, but some people are really bummed by blurring, and for them the new LCDs--or perhaps the nearly blur-free images produced by plasmas--hold appeal.

Unfortunately for this particular Toshiba, high-tech-sounding processing can't overcome lighter black levels and a few other picture quality foibles. On the other hand, for those dead set on LCD who don't mind paying a bit extra for 240Hz, the relatively low price of the Toshiba ZV650U series makes it worth considering.

Read the full review of the Toshiba ZV650U series.

Toshiba ZV650U series photos