TEST BENCH

Primary Color Point Accuracy vs. SMPTE HD Standard

With the TC-46G10's THX picture preset selected, its grayscale tracking measured +/- 51 K of the 6, 500-K standard from 20 to 100 IRE. This is excellent out-of-box performance for a TV. However, we also measured a slight green bias at all IRE points - something that doesn't show up on the graph. The set's 28. 8-ftL maximum brightness in THX mode is low compared with other flat-panel TV s we've tested, which routinely get calibrated to a 35 - to 40- ftL brightness level. After making adjustments in Custom mode with the TV's Warm 2 color temperature setting selected, the set's grayscale tracking matched that of the THX mode, and maximum brightness was a more satisfying 40 ftL. Gamma averaged out to 2.25 (THX) and 2.0 (Custom).

Color decoder tests revealed a -20 % red pull and +10% green push in THX mode. With Custom selected, red was off -10% and green +2.5 %. The THX preset delivered primary color points that were basically in alignment with the SMPTE HD color specification, although secondary colors were less accurate. In Custom mode, both the red and green primaries were moderately oversaturated.

Overscan - the amount of picture area hidden behind the edges of the TV's screen - measured 0% for 1080i and 1080p-format high-definition signals when either the THX mode or HD Size 2 display preset was selected. The TV displayed full resolution pictures with 1080i-format test patterns, but looked slightly soft on 480i (DVD resolution) ones viewed via the component-video input. HD upconversion performance was very good, with the TV passing both the film and video resolution and jaggies tests on the HQV Blu-ray Disc. When we switched to DVD upconversion tests, the 46G10 didn't perform as well. It showed a considerable amount of jaggy artifacts on the Flag sequence, and also tripped up on the assorted film cadence sequence.