Consumer Televisions Reviewed
Models in GREEN
I would recommend, models in RED
I would not recommend.
LG ELECTRONICS RU-27FB30 TELEVISION: In
February 2004 I bought the 27" LG
Electronics model RU-27FB30 television
for $400. CDN on sale (regular price as high as $499. CDN). For
the most part I like this television & will be keeping it, though
it does have some shortcomings. The sharpness control does not work
correctly, the higher you set it the lower the horizontal resolution,
but if you turn it off by setting it at zero, the resolution will
be as high as possible. The sharpness control appears to be an artificial
detail enhancer which does appear to make a picture more detailed,
at the expense of true resolution. I would set the sharpness control
at zero or 20. "Horizontal resolution" was quite good
(500 lines) with component in (not 800 as the LG web site says).
500 lines of "horizontal resolution" is an ideal match
for a high resolution source like a DVD (which is also 500 lines
of "horizontal resolution", or the equivalent of 667 total
lines from side to side). With composite in, the "horizontal
resolution" was somewhere between 400 - 450 which indicates
that the digital comb filter isn't quite as good as some televisions,
but still adequate for most viewing sources. Unfortunately it doesn't
have a Y/C (S-Video) in connection, but I can live with that. If
you feed your television from a device like S-VHS or a satellite
receiver with a Y/C out, then you might miss the fact that this
TV doesn't have a Y/C in connector. All other televisions I've seen
in this price range do have a Y/C connector. Default factory settings
for picture appearance are completely wrong, they should be set
as follows (will vary slightly from unit to unit). Contrast
about 50 - 60 (not the default 100 or you won't have good
shades of gray), Brightness 70 - 75
(higher in a room with bright lights)(brightness adjusts so you
can see the darkest black detail), Color saturation
about 43 for component in or 47 for cable
& composite in (you don't want colors to glow). Sharpness
0 - 20 & Tint 0. I prefer
to turn the VM off (Velocity Modulation feature)
which thickens vertical edge detail for easier readability of graphics.
Color temperature should be at neutral.
For these user settings to take effect, the remote control APC
button (Auto Picture Control) must be set to User.
RGB convergence on this unit was quite good. Geometry was not that
great, as vertical lines often bent at the top of the screen. A
bit too much picture was cropped all around, the ideal is about
3% off each edge. Left edge had 5.5% cut off, right 6%, top 4.5%
& bottom 5%. Using component in I noticed the only potential
serious flaw of this unit, which was flickering of single pixel
vertical lines or areas of 50% black dot pitch, but this wasn't
a problem with composite in. Speakers are on the bottom rather than
the side which makes the unit a little easier to fit on a dresser
or shelf (narrower than other 27" TVs). Sound quality seemed
fine (10 Watts each speaker if you believe sales literature on web
site, or 7 Watts each speaker if you believe the operators guide)
& there were plenty of audio controls (like 5 band graphic equalizer)
(Dynamic Bass Sound on or off) (Auto Volume Leveler) (Auto Sound
Control to emulate a sound character) to adjust audio to your taste.
There is a headphone jack, which I believe all televisions should
have, though there always seems to be a slight buzz on the headphone
audio during quite sections. This model has what LG calls DCTI (Digital
Chrominance Transient Improvement) which is basically a color vertical
edge sharpening circuit (Chroma Rise Time Enhancement) that seemed
to work quite well (it's always on) & apparently it sharpens
the luma (black & white) detail too. The screen is flat. When
the MTS button is set to stereo sound, it takes a bit longer for
sound to lock in when changing channels (slightly annoying). The
remote control has two buttons (auto program & memory/erase
buttons) in the lower left corner which shouldn't be on the remote
because it is so easy to inadvertently press them, these choices
belong in the on-screen menu, not on the remote control. The remote
is not a universal remote that can adjust other TVs or VCRs. Comes
with a 2 year parts & labor warranty.
SANYO DS27530 TELEVISION:
Recently I bought a consumer 27" Sanyo DS27530 television from
Wal-Mart for $285. CDN. Unfortunately this model has extremely low
resolution of 260 lines of horizontal resolution which in my opinion
is substandard for any 27" TV (anything under 332 lines of
horizontal resolution can't give you full quality on an over the
air or cable TV signal). The outside of the box does not list the
low resolution, but it does list the fact that the unit has A/V
& Y/C input jacks, so you assume that the resolution quality
is adequate (it is not). Only once you open the box does the manual
tell the truth about this television being only 260 lines of horizontal
resolution. The Wal-Mart I bought at didn't have printed specification
literature on display until a week afterwards, but when they did,
it incorrectly said that this monitor has 500 lines of resolution
via the AV input jacks (it doesn't). As a video producer, I have
the equipment & resolution
chart
to measure a TV & this unit measured about 275 lines of horizontal
resolution through the AV & Y/C input jacks, not 500 as Wal-Mart
claims. Nowhere in the manual does Sanyo claim that this unit can
deliver 500 lines through the A/V jacks, Sanyo correctly rates the
television as 260 lines of horizontal resolution & that is totally
unacceptable for any 27" TV. I also found that the gamma range
using a stepped gray scale
was not linear, which would tend to make pictures look very contrasty
& midtone shades would look too bright. Don't waste your money
on this model. December 23/2003
PANASONIC CT-27E13 TELEVISION:
Recently I bought a consumer 27" Panasonic CT-27E13 television
on sale from Future Shop for $378. CDN. The model is advertised
as having 600 lines of "horizontal resolution" but it
actually only has about 450 lines of "horizontal resolution".
Manufacturers of consumer televisions typically lie about "horizontal
resolution". The real big disappointment was that the brightness
control ran out of adjustment & couldn't be made bright enough
to show the detail in dark black areas of the picture. This
may make the picture look better to the untrained eye, but it doesn't
let you see dark shadow detail. All North American NTSC televisions
should be able to display the brightness levels between 7.5 IRE
& 100 IRE as shown in the SMPTE
test signal chart
but this Panasonic TV could not do that. Another problem was that
vertical resolution wasn't smooth (looked aliased) & an interlaced
picture with fine lines flickered more than it is supposed to (excess
interlace flickering). The RGB convergence was out a bit in the
upper left corner & straight lines both horizontally & vertically
didn't always appear straight, especially when the picture was high
contrast (a sign of a weak power supply). The picture on a good
monitor should only have 2 - 3% cut off each edge of picture raster,
but this monitor had between 6 - 7.5% cut off each edge of picture
raster. There is a headphone jack which I believe most monitors
should have. This television may look good to the untrained eye,
but I do NOT recommend it because it cuts off the darkest 5% or
more of the black in shadow detail & because it cuts off too
much from the edges. I bought another one from Sears for $350. CDN
on sale (regular about $480.) with identical design flaws, so clearly
this wasn't just one unit that was defective. December 29/2003
By Doug Hembruff.
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