Samsung Launches 8500 Series LED-backlit LCD HDTVs
I think it’s safe to say we’re past the point where contrast ratio measurements mean anything to any of us. Take Samsung’s 8500 series of LED-backlit LCD HDTVs which have a claimed 7,000,000:1 contrast ratio – that’s more contrast than the OLED sets we’re promised are still coming!
The 8500-series is available in either 46in or 55in (measuring just 1.6in thick) with, it should surely go without saying, 1,920 x 1,080 pixel panels. Despite having claimed with the 8000-series (see: the UE46B8000 that edge-lighting was as good as direct lighting the latter method is employed this time around – with local dimming employed to hit that impressive contrast ratio claim.
Staying on the image front, Samsung as adorned the 8500-series’ panels with a 2ms response time and 200Hz processing powered by Samsung’s Auto Motion Plus technology, with a number of tweaks available for users to adjust judder and motion blur should they so desire.
Four HDMI ports, a Component input and an optical audio input are featured catering for a decent number of external sources. Both wired and wireless network connectivity is present in the 8500-series, and the TVs are DLNA compliant, though two USB ports are also present if network-playback of media is unviable. Yahoo! widgets can use the network connections to enable access to services such as Flikr, weather reports, news feeds and – sigh – Twitter.
No UK pricing as yet, but the 8500-series should launch in August and given the previous range’s cost, £2,000-odd and up doesn’t seem like an unsafe guess this generation.
| Author | Hugo Jobling |
| Published | 30th Jul 2009 |
Link:
Press release.
Philips Brilliance X-Line Lightframe 22" monitor review
Enter Philips’ new ‘therapeutic’ 22″ monitor
According to the press release, Philips’ Brilliance Lightframe monitor “stimulates your visual senses for improved concentration and promotes an overall feeling of well-being.” How is it supposed to do this?
Simply put, the monitor’s bezel has a blue light-up surround. It’s a bit like the company’s Ambilight televisions, only the colours don’t change.
Has it at all improved my concentration or promoted an overall feeling of well-being? Well, I’m writing this review on a machine with a normal monitor, and yet I’m constantly distracted by the giant glowing blue thing to my right, as if it was Dr Manhattan’s dangly bits.
So no, you couldn’t really say my concentration has improved. In terms of well-being, imagining Dr Manhattan’s luminous member in my peripheral vision is making me feel a little uneasy.
Philips’ other grand claim is that it reduces eye fatigue. This isn’t an ailment I’ve suffered from, simply because I don’t ever look at anything that doesn’t have a screen on it. If I was constantly switching between looking at my PC and trying to identify the pilot of a passing jumbo, I might suffer from eye fatigue, but currently it doesn’t affect me.
The blue surround of the Philips monitor is cool enough though, and I’m guessing the colour was selected because it looks like sky on a sunny day. It’s as if Windows 7 had become a rectangular, static cloud to frame my desktop.
The panel (or interactive cloud) is absolutely glorious to boot. Philips has included SmartImage, which uses digital signal processing to make the colours look just right, and apparently this increases the contrast ratio to a whopping 12,000:1.
I tried FEAR 2 – possibly the blackest game there is – and all the different shades of grey were properly identifiable, right down to the hues on that especially freaky chick’s bumcrack.
There’s a dinky little button with which you can set the colour scheme to the environment you’re working in: Office Work mode dims the screen a tad, Image Viewing and Entertainment modes enhance the contrast, and Economy mode is suspiciously similar to Office Work mode. It’s certainly handy being able to switch between them at the press of a button.
The Brilliance Lightframe comes in at about £50 more than other similarly-sized screens, and it seems like quite a premium for something you could achieve by setting your desktop background to sky blue and shrinking your windows.
But that’s beside the point, obviously. I’m not convinced that it would work for gamers though. Maybe if Philips creates a monitor that makes it look as though flames are creeping up the side of the screen and the devil himself is about to come crawling out, then it may well be worth considering.
Philips Brilliance X-Line Lightframe 22" monitor review
Enter Philips’ new ‘therapeutic’ 22″ monitor
According to the press release, Philips’ Brilliance Lightframe monitor “stimulates your visual senses for improved concentration and promotes an overall feeling of well-being.” How is it supposed to do this?
Simply put, the monitor’s bezel has a blue light-up surround. It’s a bit like the company’s Ambilight televisions, only the colours don’t change.
Has it at all improved my concentration or promoted an overall feeling of well-being? Well, I’m writing this review on a machine with a normal monitor, and yet I’m constantly distracted by the giant glowing blue thing to my right, as if it was Dr Manhattan’s dangly bits.
So no, you couldn’t really say my concentration has improved. In terms of well-being, imagining Dr Manhattan’s luminous member in my peripheral vision is making me feel a little uneasy.
Philips’ other grand claim is that it reduces eye fatigue. This isn’t an ailment I’ve suffered from, simply because I don’t ever look at anything that doesn’t have a screen on it. If I was constantly switching between looking at my PC and trying to identify the pilot of a passing jumbo, I might suffer from eye fatigue, but currently it doesn’t affect me.
The blue surround of the Philips monitor is cool enough though, and I’m guessing the colour was selected because it looks like sky on a sunny day. It’s as if Windows 7 had become a rectangular, static cloud to frame my desktop.
The panel (or interactive cloud) is absolutely glorious to boot. Philips has included SmartImage, which uses digital signal processing to make the colours look just right, and apparently this increases the contrast ratio to a whopping 12,000:1.
I tried FEAR 2 – possibly the blackest game there is – and all the different shades of grey were properly identifiable, right down to the hues on that especially freaky chick’s bumcrack.
There’s a dinky little button with which you can set the colour scheme to the environment you’re working in: Office Work mode dims the screen a tad, Image Viewing and Entertainment modes enhance the contrast, and Economy mode is suspiciously similar to Office Work mode. It’s certainly handy being able to switch between them at the press of a button.
The Brilliance Lightframe comes in at about £50 more than other similarly-sized screens, and it seems like quite a premium for something you could achieve by setting your desktop background to sky blue and shrinking your windows.
But that’s beside the point, obviously. I’m not convinced that it would work for gamers though. Maybe if Philips creates a monitor that makes it look as though flames are creeping up the side of the screen and the devil himself is about to come crawling out, then it may well be worth considering.
Panasonic TX-P46Z1 review
Now that Pioneer’s mighty Kuro range is heading for the great digital dustbin in the sky, the way would appear to be clear for Panasonic to take over at the top of the plasma TV pack.
And at first glance, the new TX-P46Z1’s fearsomely comprehensive spec and astonishingly svelte proportions should put it in a strong position to do just that.
World’s slimmest plasma
Panasonic still prefers to use plasma tech for its larger TVs, and with good reason – the TX-P46Z1’s black levels and contrast performance outgun many an LCD rival.
Besides, when you can cram a plasma TV chassis into something as slim as this – and at just 25mm deep (bar the odd projection or two) this is the world’s slimmest plasma TV – then what’s to complain about?
With THX approval (for optimum performance) and NeoPDP 600Hz motion processing (for maximum pub kudos) it’s got plenty to shout about in the picture-enhancing department, too.
Wireless wonder
The Panasonic’s other big selling point is it features wireless video distribution. This comprises two boxes: a sender, which looks just like a conventional set-top-box, and a bolt-on wireless video receiver, which clips to the back of the TV.
Just hook up all your source components into the sender box and you’re sorted: it’ll readily send video up to 1080p/24fps into the TV without a fuss, and we found it worked seamlessly throughout our tests.
The only bugbear is that the bolt-on wireless module adds quite a lot of depth to the TV’s slim chassis – surely it’d be neater and more elegant to have it built-in?
Expensive performance
In action, there’s much to admire here. The Z1’s motion tracking is stable and realistic, and TV pictures from both the Freeview and Freesat tuners are stable and clear, especially if you dial up some off-air HD via the latter source.
Sound is gutsy too, although if you’re spending this much money on a television, you really ought to budget a few extra quid for a home cinema system too.
The only real problem is price. We’ve seen TVs that appear sharper, or which are, at the very least, equally as crisp to behold – and they cost appreciably less than the money Panasonic is chasing here.
ViewSonic VG2427wm
Product Summary
The good: The ViewSonic VG2427wm includes a decent host of ergonomic options, three USB ports, and great game and movie performance.
The bad: The ViewSonic VG2427wm’s chassis feels hollow and fragile; its OSD lacks useful options like presets.
The bottom line: The ViewSonic VG2427wm has a good assortment of ergonomic options and great performance, but its asking price is just a bit too high to recommend.
Specifications: Display Type: LCD display / TFT active matrix ; Diagonal Size: 24 in – Widescreen ; Max Resolution: 1920 x 1080 ;
Price range: $328.99 – $439.78 check prices
- Reviewed on: 07/21/2009
The ViewSonic VG2427wm gets points for a good assortment of ergonomic features–including screen height adjustment, 180 degrees swivel, and 25 degrees tilt. It also includes three USB ports and great movie and game performance. Yet, even with these attributes, we find it difficult to recommend the ViewSonic at its slightly higher than average asking price of $367. In contrast, the $300 Dell SP2309 with its 2,048×1,152-pixel resolution and the $250 Dell G2410 with its stellar performance are better buys. Also, we felt the ViewSonic’s hollow and fragile-feeling chassis makes its price even harder to swallow.
Design and features
The 24-inch ViewSonic VG2427wm has a matte screen and a plain, black matte finish chassis. The base panel measures just more than an inch in depth, with a full depth of 2.6 inches with the ventilation system and connection options (that’s average compared with other 24-inch models). The bezel measures a smallish 0.75-inch on all sides and the screen height is adjustable by 5.25 inches. When the screen is at its lowest point, there are four inches between the bottom of the bezel and the desktop. The panel swivels left and right 180 degrees and tilts back 25 degrees, but there is no pivot option for portrait mode.
The circular footstand measures 9.75 inches in diameter. When the panel is extended to its highest point, the display wobbles a considerable amount when knocked from the sides. It wobbles dramatically less at its lowest point.
Connection options include DVI and VGA, but it doesn’t support HDMI. Next to the video ports are two USB downstream ports and one upstream port. All the ports are fairly easily accessible to the right of the display’s neck. On the back of the display’s stand are two vertically aligned hooks that hold the power and video cords for keeping them tidy. The stand is removable for mounting the display to a wall VESA-style. However, you’ll have to supply your own mount.
The onscreen display button array, which is designated by a blue LED light in the middle of the bezel’s bottom, consists of two numbered buttons and up and downs arrow controls. Navigating the OSD is painless thanks to the simple interface. Press the “1″ control for initial access, use the arrow controls to navigate, and press the “2″ control to select an option. You also use the arrow button to adjust attributes. There are no presets included, but the OSD has controls for contrast, brightness, and color. The color options give you the capability to choose color temperature, SRGB mode, or to customize the Red Green and Blue settings manually.
The OSD also includes a Dynamic Contrast setting that, once switched on, makes the screen automatically darken depending on its current luminance. Eco mode is another feature, where you can choose from the settings, Standard, Optimize, and Conserve. Each setting adjusts the brightness automatically.
Along the top back of the panel are the built-in speakers. The volume is adjustable via the OSD, but it sounds muffled even at its highest setting and it lacks bass. Also, when the volume was cranked, the sound got tinny.
The ViewSonic VG2427wm’s 16:9 aspect ratio supports a “Full HD” native resolution of 1,920×1,080 pixels. This continues the trend of more and more monitor vendors moving toward 16:9 from 16:10 because high-definition content–in particular 1080p movies–can fit onto a 1,920×1,080-pixel screen without distorting the image.
Manufacturer’s specifications:
Resolution: 1,920×1,080 pixels
Pixel-response rate: 2ms
Contrast ratio: 1,000:1
Brightness: 300cd/m2
Connectivity: DVI-D, HDMI, VGA
HDCP compliant? Yes
Included video cables? DVI, VGA
Backlight: CCFL
Panel Type: TN
Aspect Ratio: 16:9
Performance
We tested the ViewSonic VG2427wm with its DVI connection. The display posted a composite score of 90 on CNET Labs’ DisplayMate-based performance tests, coming a few points behind the Dell G2410′s 97. The ViewSonic tested well all-around, but didn’t excel at anything in particular. Its biggest problem was with distinguishing between very dark gray and black.
The VG2427wm achieved a brightness score of 266 candelas per square meter (cd/m2)–shy of ViewSonic’s claimed 300 cd/m2 max. The Dell G2410 achieved a lower brightness with 234 cd/m2, but was closer to Dell’s 250 cd/m2 claim. On our dark screen test, the ViewSonic exhibited some backlight bleed through on the top and bottom edges of the screen. Our Kill Bill Vol. 1 DVD test yielded apparent ghosting on the ViewSonic and colorwise, the Dell wins with much more balanced and accurate colors. The ViewSonic’s color looked slightly washed out in comparison.
Unreal Tournament 3 looked great and had vibrant colors running at a 1,920×1,080-pixel resolution. We saw no signs of input lag, blurring, or streaking during fast movement.
The optimal viewing angle for a monitor is usually directly in front, about a quarter of the screen’s distance down from the top. At this angle, you’re viewing the colors and gamma correction as they were intended. Since most monitors are made to be viewed only at that angle type, picture quality at nonoptimal angles can vary. Like most monitors, the ViewSonic VG2427wm uses a TN panel, which gets overly bright or overly dark when viewed from nonoptimal angles. When we viewed the Asus from the sides or below, the screen appeared to darken only a couple inches from optimal. From the sides and below, text is still readable until viewing from about 70 degrees. Of course, when viewed from the optimal angle, we had no problems.
In the power consumption tests, the ViewSonic VG2427wm drew 39.37 watts in its Default/On mode–compared with the Dell G2410′s much lower 23.22 watts. The ViewSonic’s standby mode drew 0.42 watts compared with the G2410′s 0.48 watts. Based on our formula, the VG2427wm would cost $12.04 per year to run, compared with the G2410′s $7.26 per year. Putting the VG2427 in the Conserve Eco mode brings its price down to $6.94 per year.
(Longer bars indicate better performance)
(Longer bars indicate better performance)
(Longer bars indicate better performance)
Find out more about how we test LCD monitors.
Service and support
The ViewSonic VG2427wm comes with solid coverage including a three-year warranty that covers parts, labor, and the backlight. The company offers 24-7 toll free technical support and support via e-mail. However, there is no Web-chat support like some other vendors offer. Navigating ViewSonic’s Web site and finding drivers and the user manual was easy.
Toshiba Regza 37RV635DB 37in LCD TV Review
Toshiba has a reputation for producing feature-packed LCD sets at relatively affordable prices, and it continues that tradition with the RV635 series. This range is among the first to incorporate Toshiba’s Meta Brain, which isn’t a character from a 1950s sci-fi movie as the name suggests but an all-powerful single-chip processing solution.
But before we get to that, let’s take a second to drink in this 37in set’s lovely looks. Clad in the gloss black finish currently fashionable among LCD TVs, the set oozes class without really pushing the boat out. Under-screen speakers keep things nice and compact, while the Toshiba logo below the screen lights up when the set is switched on, which will no doubt split opinion but we think it makes an eye-catching embellishment. It’s perched on a fetching swivel stand too.
And if you want lots of connections, you’ve come to the right place. The back panel is equipped with three HDMI inputs for your HD kit, as well as component video, PC and two SCART inputs. More connections can be found on the side, including a fourth HDMI input (impressive at this price), a CAM slot for adding pay TV channels and a USB port, which lets you view JPEG photos from a flash memory drive using the Media Player feature.
But let’s get back to Meta Brain, the umbrella term for a group of processing technologies that sets out to deliver the best possible image quality no matter the source. Among them is Resolution+, which upscales SD pictures to HD resolution and brings them closer to HD levels of sharpness by enhancing edge detail and textures. It’s worked brilliantly on previous Toshiba sets and we’re hoping for similar levels of success here – and as an added bonus, Resolution+ can now be applied to hi-def pictures as well as SD ones (previous sets disabled it when they detected a 1080p source) so we’re eager to see the results.
Another string to Meta Brain’s bow is Active Vision II processing, which works to improve the four key areas of the picture – contrast, colour, movement and detail. AutoView also falls under Meta Brain’s jurisdiction, which analyses room lighting and content and adjusts the LCD backlighting accordingly to deliver the optimum viewing experience. On the latest XV series sets, Meta Brain also governs Dolby Volume but this feature isn’t found here.
Anyone who baulks at their electricity bill every time it drops onto the doormat will appreciate this set’s Eco Panel, which eats up much less power than Toshiba’s regular LCD panels. The key is that the panel is so translucent that only half as much power is needed to illuminate it. This is not only good for your electricity bills but it’s also kinder to the environment, and the ‘Full Power Down’ option (or the off switch) means you don’t have to leave it in standby overnight either.
The panel is 1,920 x 1,080 Full HD of course, plus the 50,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio, 450cd/m2 brightness and 5ms response time figures sound healthy enough. Other features include a self-explanatory Game mode, an Exact Scan mode for 1:1 pixel mapping and 1080/24p support for Blu-ray playback.
The 37RV635DB’s operating system has also been given a fresh lick of paint, and now the onscreen design is a lot clearer and easier on the eyes. And we mean that literally – the menu graphics seem much softer than the pin-sharp displays on previous Tosh sets.
It is, however, supremely easy to use, with sensibly sequenced submenus and clever use of funky icons to break up the barrage of text. The EPG and digital TV displays are attractive and the supplied remote boasts an intuitive layout and large buttons that make it easy to find any function. We like the addition of a ‘Quick’ button that provides easy access to key tweaks.
Talking of which, there are more picture adjustments on offer than we expected for the money, going beyond the usual colour, brightness and contrast settings, which means you can calibrate the picture to quite an accurate degree. Sound tweaks are limited but the Bass Boost mode might come in handy.
As for performance, the Toshiba’s picture quality is impressive – as long as you’ve got Resolution+ turned on. Watch high-definition material like The Curious Case of Benjamin Button on Blu-ray without it, and the picture is softer than we normally like our HD sources to be. Yes it has an unmistakably hi-def quality, but it’s nowhere near as sharp or well-defined as it could be.
But turn it on and the picture snaps into focus, emphasising the delicate facial detail and subtle textures within the movie’s beautiful scenery. Edges are harder, and there’s an extra depth to the picture that makes it much more compelling.
The same goes for standard definition material from DVD or the built-in Freeview tuner, which look exceptionally crisp and detailed with Resolution+ activated. Switch it on and off and you can see the dramatic improvements it makes. On the downside, it can emphasise noise in the picture on particularly bad quality material (so avoid ITV3 and VHS) but give it a decent source and the results are astonishing.
Reading about the set’s extra translucent Eco Panel didn’t fill us with confidence over the set’s black level capabilities, but it does a pretty good job at reproducing dark objects, making them look reasonably dense and three-dimensional. That said, there is a touch of misty greyness evident in some dark areas that can compromise the cinematic quality of film material, but it certainly won’t have you marching the set back to the shop in disgust. And with colours, the set has the processing dexterity to handle subtle blends and strong hues within the same frame without making either look unnatural.
Sonically the set doesn’t do justice to loud action movies, lacking the bass clout and width to make a real impact, but if that’s what you’re after use a proper home cinema system. The Tosh is much more comfortable with calmer dialogue-based material, where it delivers clear, forthright voices and music without straying into harshness.
This Panasonic plasma screen offers THX certification so you know the images are about as good as they can get
Panasonic’s widget TV platform is VieraCast, in line with its range of Viera LCD and plasma screens. The TX-PV42V10 is a classy-looking 42in plasma using Panasonic’s NeoPDP panel – a new technology that reduces the thickness, weight and energy consumption of the panel but retains brightness.
Besides an Ethernet port for networking, the TV has four HDMI ports (one side mounted), SD card reader for multimedia files, digital audio output and tuners for analogue, Freeview and Freesat. The remote control is tidy, as is the onscreen menu.
The media server function accesses content from computers sharing your network, but only digital photos or videos in MPEG2 and DivX-based formats will work That means no audio formats or myriad of other video types. Direct playback of AVC-HD is possible from SD card as well as DivX.
Watching images
VieraCast has a good menu of widgets. The main options are YouTube, EuroSport and Google’s Picasa photo hosting site. Videos can be expanded to full-screen, albeit in low quality so far.
Several menu spaces were vacant at the time of writing but there’s potential here because the browsing speed is faster than the Philips or Samsung equivalents. Text entry is via responsive numerical keys on the remote.
Panasonic TVs usually impress from the off, but this took longer. It’s one of the few TVs with THX certification and there’s a pre-calibrated mode set to meet this set of criteria for optimum picture quality. Oddly, you can’t adjust colour temperature in THX mode.
For HD, we achieved good results using a different picture preset, then altering that to switch off overscanning (meaning no scaling from source to screen), setting colour temperature to Cool and delving into ‘Other Settings’ to deactivate Intelligent Frame Creation processing. IFC analyses motion and inserts extra frames to remove judder; the drawback is that it makes films look artificial and detail can get distorted.
Compared with the superb 1080p Blu-ray playback, 1080i HDTV images look slightly softer than they did on the Samsung LE40B651. Audio quality is also as solid as flatpanel TVs get.
Samsung LE40B651 review
The LE40B651 allows you to view your Twitter feed but the lack of proper internet limits its functionality
Samsung’s LE40B651 Series 6 LCD TV is gorgeous. The bezel around the screen has a distinctive crystal effect with a red tint.
The remote control is large and cluttered but the onscreen interface is coherent. Connectivity is respectable: four HDMI inputs and two USB ports. One of these can be used with Samsung’s £50 optional wireless ‘dongle’ if you are unable to plug in an Ethernet cable.
Internet@TV
Samsung’s term for net tellies is Internet@TV, available in many of its newer sets. It’s a well laid out system, mostly populated with Yahoo! widgets for webmail, news and other information. A better fit for TV browsing is the Flickr photo-sharing site and a Twitter application.
It stores one Twitter account but switching users means typing logins from scratch. Writing Twitter updates, even those under the 140-character limit, is slow, owing to the sluggish onscreen keyboard; mobile phone style via number keys would be better. For this reason Twitter on TV is fine for passive following rather than participation but it will not access weblinks in messages.
Nor does the TV let you to browse the internet at large. Later this year YouTube joins the line-up. The media streaming feature streams MP3 and WMA music, JPEG pictures, MPEG4 and WMV movie files. It doesn’t appear to handle DivX over the network but it plays directly from a USB thumb drive.
The TV also has about 200MB of storage for preloaded content including pictures and miscellaneous information, which can be added to via USB. The best thing about the Samsung is the picture quality – after a bit of tweaking. You get the kind of control over judder and blur reduction that’s missed on the Philips and Panasonic, which overcook the image when the processing is unleashed.
HDTV and Blu-ray 1080p images are clear, with deep blacks that challenge plasma for impact. Its high-contrast performance is capable of going very bright, yet it’s energy efficient, registering about 100W of use. Standard-def images can look pasty but, given the 40in screen, they are OK. Audio quality is customisable to an extent, but still a bit flat.
Philips 32PFL9604 review
The 32PFL9604 uses Philips’ Ambilight to great effect
Having produced some of the best TVs at this size in the past year, Philips is making the most of its glowing reputation with this feature-packed, aluminium-clad 32in TV. While the inclusion of Ambilight and wireless web browsing are the headline acts, the 32PFL9604 has got much more up its sleeve.
Features
It’s exceptionally well connected, with Net TV being Philips’ first foray into internet features. Unlike most sets that offer a ring-fenced platform on a wired ethernet connection, the 32PFL9604 can access the Net TV portal using Wi-Fi and even browse the internet at large.
Further digital niceties come in the form of DLNA networking (wired or wirelessly) from a PC, a USB port that plays video files and a stunning five HDMI inputs.
It all helps create a unique TV, but the engine room is elsewhere. On board is Philips’ Perfect Pixel HD processing, which includes separate circuitry to improve contrast (Perfect Contrast), get rid of blur (100Hz Clear LCD) and lose judder (HD Natural Motion).
A staple of Philips TVs is Ambilight, which appears here in its Spectra 2 guise. It projects a dynamic light show onto surrounding walls that mimics the changing colours on screen.
Ease of use
Navigating the icon-based home page is a cinch, but finding what you want can be long winded. For example, switching the surround sound effect on or off during a movie takes so long that you will need to pause the disc.
We’ve also got issues with its major picture features, most of which are hidden away. The set really should come with a sheet of tips and hints on getting the best picture, especially since most of its excellent settings for Blu-ray and DVDs – HD Natural Motion and 100Hz Clear LCD – are not activated by default and can be tricky to find.
On the multimedia side, the 32PFL9604′s USB slot can play MP3, JPEG and video files including MP4, MPEG and DivX, although the latter takes 15secs to load.
Those same files can be watched from a PC or Mac over a Wi-Fi network by simply entering your broadband router’s WEP key, though loading times can become much longer.
Full Access
The remote for Philips’ 32PFL9604 allows control over the TV’s internet functions
The streamlined remote features a dedicated button to access the Net TV menus, which include icons for various content partners, including YouTube, a weather channel, internet radio and some simple gaming.
Loading times are reasonably fast, but not quite as impressive as Panasonic’s Viera Cast. Manually entering web addresses is a pain, loading times are slow and no favourite sites can be set, but it’s better than nothing.
Picture
The rich colour of The Matrix on BD hits you immediately, enhanced by Ambilight. As a fireball rips through the lobby in slo-mo, the vivid oranges and reds are stunning, as is the appearance on the wall behind the TV of a fierce glow.
Blacks are inky while containing loads of detail, as demonstrated by Neo’s suit in an early scene. Perfect Contrast almost lives up to its name, though we did notice some light leakage from the top of the panel.
Domestic Bliss
The 32PFL9604′s image quality and features list make it ideal for the living room
The helicopter scene atop a building shows off some terrific detail both in close-ups and surroundings, though as Trinity pulls Neo from the floor there are some noticeable artefacts around his shoulders and hair as he moves. The same flickers around moving objects are visible during the final scene where pedestrians walk past Neo as he leaves the phone box.
HD Natural Motion is the reason for this. Set it to its minimum setting and these artefacts become less noticeable, but they don’t disappear entirely. Meanwhile 100Hz Clear LCD removes all but minute traces of blur. All in all, HD pictures are fabulous and unbeatable at this size.
The 32PFL9604 also makes a decent stab at upscaling our DVD of The Last Emperor, though even with MPEG noise reduction switched on there are jagged edges aplenty as the servants move around the Forbidden City, and a lot of picture noise in backgrounds.
It’s a different story with Freeview, where some tennis on BBC2 reveals unusual depth, colour and contrast, with an odd shimmer of the net being the only issue.
With 15W speakers and two mid-bass drivers visible on the rear of the TV, it’s no surprise that the 32PFL9604 serves up rounded audio, though its ‘surround’ mode is best avoided for dialogue-rich films.
The results from Blu-ray are something to behold and with Freeview also much stronger than on rival sets, the 32PFL9604 makes an ideal TV for the living room.
Alienware Lauds Spec-tacular 21in 16:9 Monitor
Alienware does things in a, well… Alienware way so I guess we shouldn’t be surprised at this…
The horrendously complicatedly named ‘OptX AW2210′ is a 21.5in 16:9 monitor and a half. Essentially it sticks to the Alienware demands: high end, extreme and powerful.
The latter may be hard to achieve in an LCD format but the OptX AW2210 does its best to hit these heights courtesy of a 1080p compatible 1920 x 1080 native resolution, 2ms response time and completely nutty 80,000:1 quoted dynamic contrast ratio. Yes, we don’t place much stock with dynamic contrast measurements either but if it hits even one 10th of this then colour us impressed.
As for connectivity, Alienware has again pulled no punches with two HDMI slots and four (yes four) USB ports. Naturally enough older standards get brushed to one side on a monitor like this so both VGA and DVI get kicked to the curb.
We await official pricing and a release date for the OptX AW2210 but it is anticipated to drop under the $300 mark (£182) which would make it a major pull for anyone considering upgrading their 16:10 monitor for something with less horizontal pixels.
Yes, we know it’s you who is tempted and really, we don’t blame you…
Link:
Product Page
