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High Scores for HD

As they have on practically every TV we've evaluated recently, our high-definition test programs looked best on these sets, DVD movies looked fairly good, and standard-definition content looked pretty bad. The TVs we examined earned similar scores in our tests for high-def and standard-def content, but the Samsung LN-R328W got markedly better scores for its display of DVD movies. Among the five sets, its color-accurate picture stood out.

Sharp's Aquos LC-32D6U earned the top mark in our high-definition tests (albeit by a razor-thin margin over the Samsung and HP), and it beat the field by a good margin in tests involving standard-def content. The HP LC3200N and the JVC LT-32X776, respectively, ranked third and fourth overall in image quality, with consistently average scores; some images were a tad dull on both sets. Dell's W3201C scored somewhat lower on high-definition and DVD content, mainly because its picture looked oversaturated and dark, even after calibration.

We calibrate and test sets in their standard picture modes (so as to establish a level testing field). However, each set provides additional modes, and some of these improved the picture dramatically, depending on the type of content. The Sharp Aquos LC-32D6U exhibited the most benefit; facial tones were far more natural in the set's dynamic mode than in its default standard mode.

Both Sharp's Aquos LC-32D6U and HP's LC3200N offer the same basic color controls, but the HP also lets users tweak hue, saturation, and image-value settings for six different colors. You could drive yourself nuts trying to get a perfect picture using such fine controls, but you can save settings you like to different picture modes and then automatically apply them to different inputs.

The JVC has relatively few color controls, which it presents in a large, old-fashioned opaque-background menu that hides much of the picture you are trying to adjust. The Dell W3201C's menus, in contrast, are far more attractive; though they, too, overlay the picture, you can change their transparency to make more of what you're adjusting visible. Meanwhile, the Samsung set has a mode in which you can see on one side of the screen how the picture looks before adjustments and on the other side how it looks afterward; that's easily the best arrangement.

All of these sets use LCD panels, so you need to be concerned about viewing angle. We observed definite color shifts depending on where we sat in front of every one of the sets; some of our judges even preferred the image quality that they got when seated at a slightly off-center angle.