2011 HDTV Shootout Day 2 - Q & A

HDTV Shoot-Out channel is intended to broadcast the annual HDTV shootout event hosted by Value Electronics. This event pitched every major consumer electronics manufacturer's flagship HDTV offering and compared their picture quality in order to crown the king of HDTV. Key note speakers included highly respected industry experts, Imaging Science Foundation certified calibrators, videophiles and audiophiles.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• TV
• HDTV
• PDP
• Flat Panel
• LCD
• Plasma
• LED
• ISF
• Home Theater
• Big Screen
• Blu-ray
• LG
• Panasonic
• Pioneer
• Samsung
• Sony
• Sharp
• Value Electronics
• Hi-Def
• HD
• 1080p
• Wide Screen
• 16:9
• Kuro
• Bravia
• 240Hz
• Elite
• Viera
• THX
• PRO-60X5FD
• PRO-70X5FD
• 60PZ950
• PN59D8000
• TC-P65VT30
• UN60D8000
• XBR-55HX929

[cuttingedg3]

BackLit LED's solve the poor viewing angles when they use IPS panels is Sharp going to implement IPS into the ELITE's?

[MrKwameR]

@HDTVShootout I saw 1080p on a 2009 Samsung 63in plasma, and it was so lifelike and perfect, I often wonder why more people aren't delirious with their HDTV's, at least with bluray......but my point is, I don't think any significant improvement can occur as increasing the contrast will probably be an increase in unusable brightness, or be ultra expensive panel "tinting" seen on the old Kuro plasma's.

[HDTVShootout]

@MrKwameR I don't know what to tell you in terms of future improvements for both LCDs and Plasmas. But according to our Pros, the Elites (aside from the color decoding issues) have only matched the performance of the Pioneer KRP-500M (the US. model) which is a two years ago product. Also, remember the Pioneer "Extreme Contrast Concept Model" from CES2008. I believe both Panasonic and Sharp have the tech but it's not economical to produce it yet.

[MrKwameR]

@HDTVShootout it just seems to me, that as soon as someone made a full array LED with enough zones to ensure excellent screen uniformity, then it's really game over unless "meaningful" improvements could be made to any other picture quality aspect of the TV.....so isn't it reasonable to assume that next yrs model/s from Elite won't be much better as it's already at such a high level?

In essence, has LED peaked in the form of the "Elite"?{for PQ}.

[MrKwameR]

@HDTVShootout yep, and on the assumption the colour decoding can be fixed via firmware, we'd have the best flat panel on the market, so I'm curious how they could improve the 2012 model/s, as I don't think a higher contrast ratio would be noticeable, colour decoding would be fixed, video processing is already extremely good.....so how could they improve upon this model in a meaningful manner?

[HDTVShootout]

@MrKwameR Let me clarify, all the pros preferred either the Samsung or Panasonic Plasmas over the Elite only because of 1, the color decoding issue of the Elite; 2, the viewing limited angle of any LCD as compare to a Plasma.

If the Elite fixed the color decoding issue, it would have been the unanimous winner of the shootout and the best flat panel on the market today regardless of price.

[HDTVShootout]

@MrKwameR In the latest LCD development, I believe all manufacturers have used LED (edge or back lit) on their higher end set whereas CCFL are only used in budget sets. Therefore, the screen uniformity on the LED sets are better than CCFL in general.

[MrKwameR]

@HDTVShootout regarding the Sharp Elite.....wouldn't it be fair to say that a LCD can't get any better in real world terms, for example, despite the HUGE contrast advantage, you said your pro reviewers preferred plasma, so it seems as though another model with an even lower black level isn't what you want for your 10/10 HDTV.

If the Sharps colour problems are fixed, what meaningful improvement could they make to the TV?

[MrKwameR]

@HDTVShootout one other thing I was curious about regarding screen uniformity....do you think that the best edge lit LCD has equal or better screen uniformity than the best CCFL LCD?

[HDTVShootout]

@MrKwameR Those words you described between LCD and Plasma are more generalization for the lower end and older generation products in my opinion. At these higher-end sets, these arguments of LCD vs. Plasma are not as applicable. However, two fundamental limitations of the two technologies still apply, namely limited viewing angle of the LCDs and brightness limitation on the plasmas.