LCD TV Reviews

The dark side is stronger.

As we round the corner toward 2007, the big names in LCD are bringing their next-generation models to market. While some models experiment with new technologies designed to improve LCD performance, all seem to have one thing in common: They cost a lot less than their 2005 predecessors. It's hard to believe that, this time last year, I was reviewing 32-inch HDTVs and HD monitors priced at around $3,500. As I examined the new Samsung 32-inch LN-S3251D, which has a wee-little asking price of $1,800, I couldn't help but wonder which, if any, corners Samsung cut to help that price fall so far and so fast.

• $4,299
• 46" LCD
• 1920x1080
• Key Connections: Dual HDMI and component inputs, RGB/PC on 15-pin DSUB

Features We Like: Full 1080p, accepts native1080p signals, selectable color gamuts, Sony's latest and greatest (DRC version) 2.5 video processing, ambient light sensor adjusts panel light output to match room light, OTA HD tuner, built-in speakers, optional colored bezels, and more!

Two years ago you would have paid over $10,000 for a large, widescreen flat panel LCD display. And "large" might well have meant 32" diagonal. The picture would have been bright and crisp, but a pale reflection of the overall image quality available from still-plentiful CRT direct view sets. Its resolution would have been 1280x720, tops, or one of those bizarre resolutions like 1365x768 that are still featured in many flat panels.

<UL CLASS="square">

<LI>Price: $2099</LI>
<LI>Technology: LCD</LI>
<LI>Resolution: 1366x768</LI>
<LI>Size: 40"</LI>
<LI>Inputs: One HDMI, two component, one each composite and S-Video, one RGB on 15-pin DSUB </LI>
<LI>Feature Highlights: Over-The-Air and cable HD tuners, Picture-In-Picture, built-in DVD player, built-in speakers, tabletop stand.</LI>

<UL CLASS="square">
<LI>$9,995</LI>
<LI>Technology: LCD</LI>
<LI>Resolution: 1366x768</LI>
<LI>Size: 40"</LI>
<LI>Inputs: One HDMI, one non-HDCP compatible, four RGBHV/component, two each composite and S-video, one RGB on 15-Pin DSUB</LI>
<LI>Faroudja deinterlacing w/DCDi, separate video processor/switcher, dynamic black enhancement, attractive wood veneer back panel, tabletop stand</LI>
</UL>

SIM2 has proven over the first ten years of its existence that it's a company remarkably adept at keeping pace with the rapidly changing home theater display market. Starting in CRT front projection, this Italian company has rapidly assimilated into the digital display world with triumphs of both form and function, offering outstanding DLP front and rear projection TVs with gorgeous pictures and aesthetics to match. The wait for SIM2 to jump into the flat panel market ended with the introduction of the $10,000 HTL40 LINK.

Start clearing room on your desktop.

Video editor Geoffrey Morrison is a car guy. Me, I drive a Camry. It's 10 years old, and it does everything I need it to do. But I certainly appreciate the difference when I sit behind the wheel of, say, a BMW. That's kind of how I felt when I test drove Samsung's latest SyncMaster LCD monitor, the 244T.

Good looking from almost any angle.

Sony is arguably the most powerful brand name in television. The Trinitron is the premiere picture-tube technology known to two or three generations of TV buyers. But what has Sony done for us lately? In front and rear projection, the company has mustered SXRD, a visually credible version of silicon-based liquid-crystal technology. Only in flat panels, the subject of this review, has Sony yet to earn a commanding role.