HDTVexpert — A Full House (printer friendly version)

AVV MMP reviews five new LCD and plasma monitors
from Sony, LG, Barco, Pioneer, and NEC

by Peter H. Putman, CTS HDTVexpert Home

In the market for a plasma or LCD monitor? Last time I checked, there were over 60 different models available from 20 to 63 inches in size, packed with a bewildering array of features and connectivity. Some are branded with the manufacturer’s logo, while many others are ‘private label’ products, wholesaled from one of the big plasma or LCD factories in Japan, Korea, or China.

Many questions will come to your mind as you browse through plasma and LCD monitor spec sheets. How well do these panels show video? What kind of brightness and contrast performance can they deliver? What signals will they accept? Do they offer digital video interfaces? How about network interfaces?

For this review, I chose a cross-section of plasma and LCD monitors ranging from 42” to 61”. Five models were procured, with two from the fast-growing LCD monitor camp, and three from the well-established plasma monitor crowd. All of them are true multimedia monitors, with the capability to show both analog and digital PC and video signals.

Sony Electronics arranged for me to look at the PFM-42X1, a 42” (diagonal) plasma monitor with 1024x768 non-square pixel resolution. It was supplied with a table stand and comes standard with an internal 7W stereo amplifier and optional speakers. It will list for $5,899.

LG Electronics shipped over their L4200A, a 42” LCD monitor with 1280x768 pixel resolution. It also came in with a table stand, but doesn’t have an internal audio amplifier. List price right now is $8,499.

Barco sent up the Solaris LC40M, a 40” LCD monitor that also features 1280x768 pixel resolution and includes a unique internal 40 GB hard drive media server. A table stand was provided, but there’s no on-board audio amplification. You’ll find it lists for $10,500, or $8,400 without the server (model LC40).

Pioneer submitted their 4^th-generation 50-inch plasma, the PDP-504MX. It also offers 1280x768 pixel resolution and rests atop a small but strong pair of legs. The internal audio amplifier is rated at 2 watts per channel and speakers are optional. List price is $12,500.

Finally, NEC talked me into inspecting the PX-61MX2A, their latest 61-inch offering and one of the larger plasma monitors around. It has a unique three-piece table stand and the on-board audio amplifier system is rated at 9 watts per channel with optional speakers. The list price tag on this big boy is $16,495.

OUT OF THE BOX

All of the monitors in this review can be considered ‘plug and play’ and include both analog and digital video connections, but the number and type of connections varies. Each model provides the basics – a 15-pin d-sub jack and a DVI input jack, ostensibly for connection to a PC or media server.

Composite, S-video, and three-wire (YPbPr) component video inputs are standard on the LG, NEC, and Barco monitors, while Pioneer requires you to add the PDA-5004 video expansion card to get any of them.

Sony takes a minimalist approach with a single 15-pin d-sub jack that pulls double duty for showing PC and component video signals (the latter requires a breakout cable for BNC or RCA connections). Composite BNC, S-video, and DVI-D jacks sit alongside.

Barco’s Solaris LC40M has the built-in media server with a LAN interface, so it can be dropped into a network quite easily. No such option exists on the LG and NEC monitors, but there are aftermarket LAN plug-in cards available for Pioneer plasma monitors.

Sony offers network interfacing for the PFM-42X1 through the external NSP-100, EBS-N100, and EBS-N200 server/players, but as of now there is no available direct plug-in card for a network interface (although Sony does make one for their 50” plasma).

The DVI-D interface on each monitor (except for the PX-61MX2) is compatible with the DVI-HDCP copy protection system, which means you can hook up so-equipped DVD players and DTV set-top receivers to any of these displays.

You’ll find the NEC input jack field particularly friendly; it is situated on the side of the PX-61MX2 and is very easy to access. Plus, it offers six different input jack types from RCA and BNC to DVI and d-sub. Barco and Pioneer also use BNC jacks, while LG and Sony don’t.

On the Sony, LG, Pioneer, and Barco monitors, you’ll have to make connections from the underside of the monitor. Connections to the Solaris LC40M media server are on the side of the monitor and include a mouse, keyboard, PCMCIA, and Cat-5 LAN connection.

MENUS AND REMOTES

Everyone does remotes and menus differently, granting you more or less access to service adjustments. LG’s monitor provides the least amount of control, particularly in video mode. If you want to set up your own white balance, you can’t do it with a video signal – only with a PC signal in the RGB format.

The Solaris LC40M, on the other hand, provides the usual detailed Barco menus and a full range of adjustments, including precise white balance controls, sync adjustments, and picture gamma settings. Ditto NEC’s PX-61MX2, with full access to a wide range of integrator-level tweaks and picture gamma presets.

Sony’s PFM-42X1 also has an excellent menu structure with lots of user adjustments for image parameters and plenty of memories to go along with them. Pioneer offers two menus – the main menu will let you do most picture tweaks and provides white balance adjustments to RGB signals. A series of ‘secret word’ button pushes brings up the hidden and more detailed integrator menu for all kinds of image tweaks.

The NEC, Pioneer, and Barco monitors can be configured as part of a tiled display by selecting the matrix type (usually 2x2) and the position of that monitor in the tile from a special menu. Video and PC images are then automatically re-mapped across the entire tiled display, a set-up that can fool you if you are using only one monitor and the tile feature is enabled. (The review PDP-504MX arrived this way from InfoComm, and it took some time and a few phone calls to Josh Kairoff at Pioneer to exit this mode!)

Many key menu functions are brought directly out to the remote controls. Barco provides direct input selection, access to the ‘big five’ image adjustments (brightness, contrast, color saturation, tint, and sharpness), plus aspect ratio. Sony’s remote features direct access to any input, brightness, chroma, horizontal and vertical image position and size, and aspect ratio. There’s also a key to toggle between RGB and YUV color spaces.

The NEC remote isn’t as complex. It toggles through available signal inputs in groups (DVD/HD, VIDEO, RGB/PC) and lets you select aspect ratio and enable the auto picture setup function. Pioneer’s remote is almost as limited, with five buttons for input access, aspect ratio, and auto set up plus several inputs for picture-in-picture functions.

LG’s L4200A monitor is so new that the review remote came with Korean lettering – it had been previously used at InfoComm. Still, I managed to find the English language menu and determined by trial and error that the LG remote uses a scrolling input menu as well as traditional scrolling menus for image adjustments, picture gamma, and aspect ratio. It’s more of a consumer-level remote, but gets the job done.

If you are interested in using any of these displays as a set piece for a video shoot, be advised that you can set the white balance all the way down to 3200K to match tungsten studio lights on all but the L4200A. The Pioneer and Barco monitors have a built-in one-touch setting for such applications, while it will take some tweaking with a color analyzer to get the Sony and NEC where you want them.

Since all of these monitors have 16:9 aspect ratio screens, they include a variety of cropping and aspect ratio corrections for different source material. In RGB mode, you’ll usually get a full screen representation (stretched 4:3), a 4:3 or 5:4 ‘normal’ modes, and sometimes a pixel-by-pixel (or dot-by-dot), actual size mode.

With video sources, you can select a non-linear stretch for 4:3 sources, an anamorphic stretch for widescreen DVDs, and a variety of zoom modes for subtitles and letterboxed (widescreen in a 4:3 format) material. NEC goes one step further with a unique 2:35:1 screen adjustment in their menu, which may be unnecessary since any widescreen DVD mastered in this format is already letterboxed and needs only to be stretched to fit the width of the screen, not squeezed vertically. (But it was a nice gesture, nonetheless.)

Taken together, the Barco and Sony menus and remotes are the fastest to navigate and operate. Pioneer and NEC were about even in terms of user friendliness – neither provides much functionality from their remotes, although you don’t need to know the ‘secret word’ to get into NEC’s integrator menu. But NEC still doesn’t provide numeric readouts for image parameter settings, while Pioneer, Barco, and Sony do – and numeric readouts are a must for reference when calibrating any flat panel display.

ON THE TEST BENCH

For my tests, I connected a variety of analog RGB and video signals to each display. Composite video, S-video, and component interlaced (480i) video came from my Panasonic RP56 DVD player, as did 480p DVD video. The RP56 has a Faroudja FLI2200 de-interlacing and motion correction chipset in it that few flat-panel monitors can match in terms of performance.

For 720p and 1080i video, I used a Samsung SIRT-165 set-top receiver (with component and DVI HDCP output), a Motorola DCT6200 digital cable receiver (also with component and DVI HDCP output), and JVC’s HM-DH30000U D-VHS recorder/player.

Test PC signals came from my nVidia Gforce4 Ti200 video card, capable of up to 1280x1024 pixel resolution and DVI-D support. I also generated test patterns from Extron’s VTG300 (PC and widescreen formats) and AccuPel’s HDG2000 (720p and 1080 patterns).

The correct way to test plasma and LCD monitor performance is to calibrate each monitor for widest grayscale, not highest contrast or brightness. Plasma monitors incorporate a brightness limiting circuit anyway to guard against image burn-in and premature fading, so the grayscale approach is the best way to do an apples-to-oranges comparison.

After grayscale calibration and adjustment of red, green, and blue drive and bias to D6500 white balance, I took brightness and contrast measurements with a Progressive Labs CA-1 color analyzer. With a full white screen, the two LCD monitors easily held sway at 245 nits (Solaris LC40M) and 220 nits (L4200A). These numbers were largely unchanged when I switched to a small area white test pattern.

The three plasma monitors reined back their light output with a full screen white image, ranging from a low of 58 nits (PDP-504MX) to a high of 95 nits (PFM-42X1). Switching to a small-area white field turned the tables in a hurry, though. The PFM-42X1 clocked in at a mind-boggling 389 nits, with the PX-61MX2 (230 nits) and PDP-504MX (228 nits) right behind.

In terms of contrast, plasma usually wins out due to its much lower black levels, and Sony’s PFM-42X1 didn’t disappoint here. It set a new record for peak contrast in my reviews while using the ANSI standard 16-block checkerboard pattern, delivering readings of 648:1 average and 2007:1 peak. NEC’s PX-61MX2 didn’t do quite as well, but still turned in respectable numbers with 200:1 ANSI and 358:1 peak readings, ahead of Pioneer’s 146:1 ANSI and 208:1 peak measurements.

A closer look at black levels reveals the disparity– Sony’s lowest reading was .18 nits (that’s CRT-level performance!), while the best NEC could do was .56 nits, more than three times as bright. Pioneer’s lowest black level reading was a bit better at .54 nits, but it couldn’t match the NEC in peak brightness.

Black levels are the ‘Achilles Heel’ of LCD monitors. LG’s L4200A produced an ANSI contrast reading of 61:1 with a peak reading of 73:1, but Barco’s Solaris LC40M did a bit better with measurements of 190:1 ANSI and 204:1 peak. Why? Because its black levels were half that of the L4200A (1.25 nits vs. 2.6 nits).

In terms of white balance, only the L4200A couldn’t hold a consistent grayscale at low color temperatures, running quite ‘cold’ between 10000 degrees Kelvin (degrees K) and 24000 degrees K. The other monitors made a much tighter race of it, tracking very closely to the desired D6500 color temperature across a 16-step grayscale.

The Solaris LC40M amazed me at how well it could ‘hover’ around D6500, with a total swing of 360 degrees. That’s just not something LCD displays are known for and rivals a good CRT display.

Among the plasma monitors, the PDP-504MX did the best job of maintaining consistent white balance from low grays to full white, staying within 210 degrees K. While the PFM-42X1 and PX-61MX2 performed acceptably, their color shifts were much higher with swings of 740 degrees (Sony) and 620 degrees (NEC).

AUTOSYNC TESTS

A true ‘plug and play’ monitor should be able to correctly size and sync up a wide variety of compatible PC and video signals. I tested this function using the fine “H” text pattern on the VTG300, as it creates lots of pixel clock errors.

Pioneer’s PDP-504MX won top honors here, correctly recognizing and setting up 24 of 25 test signals (it choked on a high scan rate UXGA pattern). The Barco, Sony, and NEC monitors were close behind with 23 correct setups, while LG’s L4200A brought up the rear with 20 correct setups.

IMAGE QUALITY TESTS

Here’s where the rubber meets the road. I used everything from grayscale and multiburst patterns to clips from the Video Essentials DVD and recorded D-VHS tapes to see what these displays could do.

Each monitor had its component video inputs swept for bandwidth with 720p and 1080i multiburst patterns. NEC’s PX-61MX2 did best here with picture detail present out to 37.5 MHz. None of the remaining monitors could do better than 18.5 MHz, unless they were switched into RGB or DVI mode, where there was a dramatic improvement in bandwidth.

Don’t expect 480i video to look all that great on any of these panels. Plasma and LCD displays are inherently progressive-scan displays and progressive content is what they like to see at their inputs. All of the review monitors looked much better when I fed ‘em 480p video from the RP56 DVD player. (You may find outboard video scaling and de-interlacing of 480i (or 576i) sources a good idea, depending on the quality of your source material.)

None of the review monitors had a really good composite video decoder or de-interlacing circuit, with plenty of cross-color and cross-luminance artifacts seen on a Zone Plate test pattern. Switching to S-video or component formats will clean up that problem in a hurry, so stay away from composite sources if you can help it.

Pioneer’s PDP-504MX won my vote for best overall video quality, even though it had higher black levels than the PFM-42X1. The PDP-504MX had the cleanest grayscale (free of false contours), best white balance, and little video noise with any source. In contrast, there were false contours galore on the Sony, including a whopper at 20% gray and other reddish bands seen from 10% to 30%

NEC’s PX-61MX2 had less false contours, but exhibited a subtle reddish color shift at several levels of luminance. LG’s L4200A had numerous false contours but none as marked as the Sony, while the Solaris LC40 exhibited fainter contours in two or three places.

PC images always look better than video images on plasma and LCD monitors. Even though LG’s L4200A lacks white balance adjustments for video signals and had the highest black levels in this review, it is a top-notch, glare-free RGB display under normal to high room lighting.

The same holds true for Barco’s Solaris LC40, which cranks out bright, crisp images under any lighting. Sony’s PFM-42X1 can keep up with these two LCD guys most of the time, but not when displaying graphics using white or very light backgrounds. I also noticed the color green to be exaggerated on the PFM-42X1, as if there was too much yellow mixed in.

As good as it looks, the PDP-504MX could use more horsepower. I accessed the integrator menu but was unable to set brightness levels any higher, so this monitor will be challenged with high ambient light levels. NEC’s PX-61MX2 is in the same boat, as it also doesn’t have a lot of nits to spare. Control the ambient light environment, however, and you will be much happier with picture quality on both monitors.

(One note on the Solaris’ internal 40 GB server: While I didn’t exercise it much for this review, I was able to network it easily to my desktop PC and download several PowerPoint files to it as well as some JPEG photos. This server can also daisy chain to other ‘plain vanilla’ LC40s in a digital signage network.)

CONCLUSIONS

There were a few surprises in this review. I was (and am still) amazed at the color consistency of the Solaris LC40, not to mention the sheer brightness and high contrast of the PFM-42X1. LG’s industry-first 42-inch LCD monitor is a good start, but needs more menu and adjustment options to get better pictures out of it.

Pioneer’s video quality still rules the day (their plasma monitors are usually among the best overall performers from year to year), but they need to figure out a way to get their black levels down and improve contrast. As for NEC, they don’t have too much competition in this screen size, and I like their combination of connector options and detailed menus, which are very integrator-friendly.


	PRODUCT REVIEW: A FULL HOUSE
	AVV MMP reviews five new LCD and plasma monitors from Sony, LG, Barco, Pioneer, and NEC by Peter H. Putman, CTS HDTVexpert Home In the market for a plasma or LCD monitor? Last time I checked, there were over 60 different models available from 20 to 63 inches in size, packed with a bewildering array of features and connectivity. Some are branded with the manufacturer’s logo, while many others are ‘private label’ products, wholesaled from one of the big plasma or LCD factories in Japan, Korea, or China. Many questions will come to your mind as you browse through plasma and LCD monitor spec sheets. How well do these panels show video? What kind of brightness and contrast performance can they deliver? What signals will they accept? Do they offer digital video interfaces? How about network interfaces? For this review, I chose a cross-section of plasma and LCD monitors ranging from 42” to 61”. Five models were procured, with two from the fast-growing LCD monitor camp, and three from the well-established plasma monitor crowd. All of them are true multimedia monitors, with the capability to show both analog and digital PC and video signals. Sony Electronics arranged for me to look at the PFM-42X1, a 42” (diagonal) plasma monitor with 1024x768 non-square pixel resolution. It was supplied with a table stand and comes standard with an internal 7W stereo amplifier and optional speakers. It will list for $5,899. LG Electronics shipped over their L4200A, a 42” LCD monitor with 1280x768 pixel resolution. It also came in with a table stand, but doesn’t have an internal audio amplifier. List price right now is $8,499. Barco sent up the Solaris LC40M, a 40” LCD monitor that also features 1280x768 pixel resolution and includes a unique internal 40 GB hard drive media server. A table stand was provided, but there’s no on-board audio amplification. You’ll find it lists for $10,500, or $8,400 without the server (model LC40). Pioneer submitted their 4^th-generation 50-inch plasma, the PDP-504MX. It also offers 1280x768 pixel resolution and rests atop a small but strong pair of legs. The internal audio amplifier is rated at 2 watts per channel and speakers are optional. List price is $12,500. Finally, NEC talked me into inspecting the PX-61MX2A, their latest 61-inch offering and one of the larger plasma monitors around. It has a unique three-piece table stand and the on-board audio amplifier system is rated at 9 watts per channel with optional speakers. The list price tag on this big boy is $16,495. OUT OF THE BOX All of the monitors in this review can be considered ‘plug and play’ and include both analog and digital video connections, but the number and type of connections varies. Each model provides the basics – a 15-pin d-sub jack and a DVI input jack, ostensibly for connection to a PC or media server. Composite, S-video, and three-wire (YPbPr) component video inputs are standard on the LG, NEC, and Barco monitors, while Pioneer requires you to add the PDA-5004 video expansion card to get any of them. Sony takes a minimalist approach with a single 15-pin d-sub jack that pulls double duty for showing PC and component video signals (the latter requires a breakout cable for BNC or RCA connections). Composite BNC, S-video, and DVI-D jacks sit alongside. Barco’s Solaris LC40M has the built-in media server with a LAN interface, so it can be dropped into a network quite easily. No such option exists on the LG and NEC monitors, but there are aftermarket LAN plug-in cards available for Pioneer plasma monitors. Sony offers network interfacing for the PFM-42X1 through the external NSP-100, EBS-N100, and EBS-N200 server/players, but as of now there is no available direct plug-in card for a network interface (although Sony does make one for their 50” plasma). The DVI-D interface on each monitor (except for the PX-61MX2) is compatible with the DVI-HDCP copy protection system, which means you can hook up so-equipped DVD players and DTV set-top receivers to any of these displays. You’ll find the NEC input jack field particularly friendly; it is situated on the side of the PX-61MX2 and is very easy to access. Plus, it offers six different input jack types from RCA and BNC to DVI and d-sub. Barco and Pioneer also use BNC jacks, while LG and Sony don’t. On the Sony, LG, Pioneer, and Barco monitors, you’ll have to make connections from the underside of the monitor. Connections to the Solaris LC40M media server are on the side of the monitor and include a mouse, keyboard, PCMCIA, and Cat-5 LAN connection. MENUS AND REMOTES Everyone does remotes and menus differently, granting you more or less access to service adjustments. LG’s monitor provides the least amount of control, particularly in video mode. If you want to set up your own white balance, you can’t do it with a video signal – only with a PC signal in the RGB format. The Solaris LC40M, on the other hand, provides the usual detailed Barco menus and a full range of adjustments, including precise white balance controls, sync adjustments, and picture gamma settings. Ditto NEC’s PX-61MX2, with full access to a wide range of integrator-level tweaks and picture gamma presets. Sony’s PFM-42X1 also has an excellent menu structure with lots of user adjustments for image parameters and plenty of memories to go along with them. Pioneer offers two menus – the main menu will let you do most picture tweaks and provides white balance adjustments to RGB signals. A series of ‘secret word’ button pushes brings up the hidden and more detailed integrator menu for all kinds of image tweaks. The NEC, Pioneer, and Barco monitors can be configured as part of a tiled display by selecting the matrix type (usually 2x2) and the position of that monitor in the tile from a special menu. Video and PC images are then automatically re-mapped across the entire tiled display, a set-up that can fool you if you are using only one monitor and the tile feature is enabled. (The review PDP-504MX arrived this way from InfoComm, and it took some time and a few phone calls to Josh Kairoff at Pioneer to exit this mode!) Many key menu functions are brought directly out to the remote controls. Barco provides direct input selection, access to the ‘big five’ image adjustments (brightness, contrast, color saturation, tint, and sharpness), plus aspect ratio. Sony’s remote features direct access to any input, brightness, chroma, horizontal and vertical image position and size, and aspect ratio. There’s also a key to toggle between RGB and YUV color spaces. The NEC remote isn’t as complex. It toggles through available signal inputs in groups (DVD/HD, VIDEO, RGB/PC) and lets you select aspect ratio and enable the auto picture setup function. Pioneer’s remote is almost as limited, with five buttons for input access, aspect ratio, and auto set up plus several inputs for picture-in-picture functions. LG’s L4200A monitor is so new that the review remote came with Korean lettering – it had been previously used at InfoComm. Still, I managed to find the English language menu and determined by trial and error that the LG remote uses a scrolling input menu as well as traditional scrolling menus for image adjustments, picture gamma, and aspect ratio. It’s more of a consumer-level remote, but gets the job done. If you are interested in using any of these displays as a set piece for a video shoot, be advised that you can set the white balance all the way down to 3200K to match tungsten studio lights on all but the L4200A. The Pioneer and Barco monitors have a built-in one-touch setting for such applications, while it will take some tweaking with a color analyzer to get the Sony and NEC where you want them. Since all of these monitors have 16:9 aspect ratio screens, they include a variety of cropping and aspect ratio corrections for different source material. In RGB mode, you’ll usually get a full screen representation (stretched 4:3), a 4:3 or 5:4 ‘normal’ modes, and sometimes a pixel-by-pixel (or dot-by-dot), actual size mode. With video sources, you can select a non-linear stretch for 4:3 sources, an anamorphic stretch for widescreen DVDs, and a variety of zoom modes for subtitles and letterboxed (widescreen in a 4:3 format) material. NEC goes one step further with a unique 2:35:1 screen adjustment in their menu, which may be unnecessary since any widescreen DVD mastered in this format is already letterboxed and needs only to be stretched to fit the width of the screen, not squeezed vertically. (But it was a nice gesture, nonetheless.) Taken together, the Barco and Sony menus and remotes are the fastest to navigate and operate. Pioneer and NEC were about even in terms of user friendliness – neither provides much functionality from their remotes, although you don’t need to know the ‘secret word’ to get into NEC’s integrator menu. But NEC still doesn’t provide numeric readouts for image parameter settings, while Pioneer, Barco, and Sony do – and numeric readouts are a must for reference when calibrating any flat panel display. ON THE TEST BENCH For my tests, I connected a variety of analog RGB and video signals to each display. Composite video, S-video, and component interlaced (480i) video came from my Panasonic RP56 DVD player, as did 480p DVD video. The RP56 has a Faroudja FLI2200 de-interlacing and motion correction chipset in it that few flat-panel monitors can match in terms of performance. For 720p and 1080i video, I used a Samsung SIRT-165 set-top receiver (with component and DVI HDCP output), a Motorola DCT6200 digital cable receiver (also with component and DVI HDCP output), and JVC’s HM-DH30000U D-VHS recorder/player. Test PC signals came from my nVidia Gforce4 Ti200 video card, capable of up to 1280x1024 pixel resolution and DVI-D support. I also generated test patterns from Extron’s VTG300 (PC and widescreen formats) and AccuPel’s HDG2000 (720p and 1080 patterns). The correct way to test plasma and LCD monitor performance is to calibrate each monitor for widest grayscale, not highest contrast or brightness. Plasma monitors incorporate a brightness limiting circuit anyway to guard against image burn-in and premature fading, so the grayscale approach is the best way to do an apples-to-oranges comparison. After grayscale calibration and adjustment of red, green, and blue drive and bias to D6500 white balance, I took brightness and contrast measurements with a Progressive Labs CA-1 color analyzer. With a full white screen, the two LCD monitors easily held sway at 245 nits (Solaris LC40M) and 220 nits (L4200A). These numbers were largely unchanged when I switched to a small area white test pattern. The three plasma monitors reined back their light output with a full screen white image, ranging from a low of 58 nits (PDP-504MX) to a high of 95 nits (PFM-42X1). Switching to a small-area white field turned the tables in a hurry, though. The PFM-42X1 clocked in at a mind-boggling 389 nits, with the PX-61MX2 (230 nits) and PDP-504MX (228 nits) right behind. In terms of contrast, plasma usually wins out due to its much lower black levels, and Sony’s PFM-42X1 didn’t disappoint here. It set a new record for peak contrast in my reviews while using the ANSI standard 16-block checkerboard pattern, delivering readings of 648:1 average and 2007:1 peak. NEC’s PX-61MX2 didn’t do quite as well, but still turned in respectable numbers with 200:1 ANSI and 358:1 peak readings, ahead of Pioneer’s 146:1 ANSI and 208:1 peak measurements. A closer look at black levels reveals the disparity– Sony’s lowest reading was .18 nits (that’s CRT-level performance!), while the best NEC could do was .56 nits, more than three times as bright. Pioneer’s lowest black level reading was a bit better at .54 nits, but it couldn’t match the NEC in peak brightness. Black levels are the ‘Achilles Heel’ of LCD monitors. LG’s L4200A produced an ANSI contrast reading of 61:1 with a peak reading of 73:1, but Barco’s Solaris LC40M did a bit better with measurements of 190:1 ANSI and 204:1 peak. Why? Because its black levels were half that of the L4200A (1.25 nits vs. 2.6 nits). In terms of white balance, only the L4200A couldn’t hold a consistent grayscale at low color temperatures, running quite ‘cold’ between 10000 degrees Kelvin (degrees K) and 24000 degrees K. The other monitors made a much tighter race of it, tracking very closely to the desired D6500 color temperature across a 16-step grayscale. The Solaris LC40M amazed me at how well it could ‘hover’ around D6500, with a total swing of 360 degrees. That’s just not something LCD displays are known for and rivals a good CRT display. Among the plasma monitors, the PDP-504MX did the best job of maintaining consistent white balance from low grays to full white, staying within 210 degrees K. While the PFM-42X1 and PX-61MX2 performed acceptably, their color shifts were much higher with swings of 740 degrees (Sony) and 620 degrees (NEC). AUTOSYNC TESTS A true ‘plug and play’ monitor should be able to correctly size and sync up a wide variety of compatible PC and video signals. I tested this function using the fine “H” text pattern on the VTG300, as it creates lots of pixel clock errors. Pioneer’s PDP-504MX won top honors here, correctly recognizing and setting up 24 of 25 test signals (it choked on a high scan rate UXGA pattern). The Barco, Sony, and NEC monitors were close behind with 23 correct setups, while LG’s L4200A brought up the rear with 20 correct setups. IMAGE QUALITY TESTS Here’s where the rubber meets the road. I used everything from grayscale and multiburst patterns to clips from the Video Essentials DVD and recorded D-VHS tapes to see what these displays could do. Each monitor had its component video inputs swept for bandwidth with 720p and 1080i multiburst patterns. NEC’s PX-61MX2 did best here with picture detail present out to 37.5 MHz. None of the remaining monitors could do better than 18.5 MHz, unless they were switched into RGB or DVI mode, where there was a dramatic improvement in bandwidth. Don’t expect 480i video to look all that great on any of these panels. Plasma and LCD displays are inherently progressive-scan displays and progressive content is what they like to see at their inputs. All of the review monitors looked much better when I fed ‘em 480p video from the RP56 DVD player. (You may find outboard video scaling and de-interlacing of 480i (or 576i) sources a good idea, depending on the quality of your source material.) None of the review monitors had a really good composite video decoder or de-interlacing circuit, with plenty of cross-color and cross-luminance artifacts seen on a Zone Plate test pattern. Switching to S-video or component formats will clean up that problem in a hurry, so stay away from composite sources if you can help it. Pioneer’s PDP-504MX won my vote for best overall video quality, even though it had higher black levels than the PFM-42X1. The PDP-504MX had the cleanest grayscale (free of false contours), best white balance, and little video noise with any source. In contrast, there were false contours galore on the Sony, including a whopper at 20% gray and other reddish bands seen from 10% to 30% NEC’s PX-61MX2 had less false contours, but exhibited a subtle reddish color shift at several levels of luminance. LG’s L4200A had numerous false contours but none as marked as the Sony, while the Solaris LC40 exhibited fainter contours in two or three places. PC images always look better than video images on plasma and LCD monitors. Even though LG’s L4200A lacks white balance adjustments for video signals and had the highest black levels in this review, it is a top-notch, glare-free RGB display under normal to high room lighting. The same holds true for Barco’s Solaris LC40, which cranks out bright, crisp images under any lighting. Sony’s PFM-42X1 can keep up with these two LCD guys most of the time, but not when displaying graphics using white or very light backgrounds. I also noticed the color green to be exaggerated on the PFM-42X1, as if there was too much yellow mixed in. As good as it looks, the PDP-504MX could use more horsepower. I accessed the integrator menu but was unable to set brightness levels any higher, so this monitor will be challenged with high ambient light levels. NEC’s PX-61MX2 is in the same boat, as it also doesn’t have a lot of nits to spare. Control the ambient light environment, however, and you will be much happier with picture quality on both monitors. (One note on the Solaris’ internal 40 GB server: While I didn’t exercise it much for this review, I was able to network it easily to my desktop PC and download several PowerPoint files to it as well as some JPEG photos. This server can also daisy chain to other ‘plain vanilla’ LC40s in a digital signage network.) CONCLUSIONS There were a few surprises in this review. I was (and am still) amazed at the color consistency of the Solaris LC40, not to mention the sheer brightness and high contrast of the PFM-42X1. LG’s industry-first 42-inch LCD monitor is a good start, but needs more menu and adjustment options to get better pictures out of it. Pioneer’s video quality still rules the day (their plasma monitors are usually among the best overall performers from year to year), but they need to figure out a way to get their black levels down and improve contrast. As for NEC, they don’t have too much competition in this screen size, and I like their combination of connector options and detailed menus, which are very integrator-friendly. Copyright ©2004 Peter H. Putman / Access Intelligence Ltd. This article appears in the October 2004 issue of AV Video Multimedia Producer.