Video Asylum

Posted by TGT (A) on October 30, 2006 at 09:40:22

I took the High Definition plunge with these two LCD native1080p sets about two weeks ago (the 40in lives in our bedroom). In short, they are everything I hoped HD would be. The quality of the picture appears to limited only by the quality of the source.

While watching the best HD content (e,g., the Discovery Channel HD, live sports, Leno and Letterman) I have the impression that the picture simply can’t be improved upon. Images are crisp and detailed, colors are life-like and saturated.

I had two concerns before I bought these sets. The first was motion artifacts in live sports, something I read LCD sets are at risk for. Haven’t seen them and I’ve watched a lot football games during the last two weeks.

The second was video processing artifacts. These sets convert all non-1080p content to 1080p, and for me that’s everything because I don’t have HD DVD, or Blue Ray. Again the sets do nothing to call attention to this process. Analog Standard Definition is fair to good, digital SD is good to very good. Some digital content is almost as good as on my old CRT.

My source is cable via HDMI.

Until recently, I thought I would buy a plasma HDTV. However, while at Best Buy last summer I just happen to see a XBR1 or previous version of these sets and was really impressed. The picture seemed a bit more vibrant than on the plasmas and though the plasmas may have been more accurate I preferred the LCD. I also learned that the plasmas generate a fair amount of heat and consume almost twice as much power. The clincher was when I was told the XRB1 would be out in a 1080p version in a couple of months.

This shouldn’t make a difference but the latest Consumer Reports rates the KDL-40XBR2 and a JVC LCD as best in picture quality.