REVIEW
					NOW PLAYING ON ELEVEN SCREENS Video System's 2002 Plasma and LCD Monitor Round-Up
					by Peter H. Putman, CTS Pete Putman, CTS Big, flat widescreen images from 24" to 50". In-your-face HDTV clips. Several hundred feet of wires. Two matrix switchers. Three DTV tuners. A pair of DVD players. Not enough BNC to RCA adapters. This year's edition of the Plasma and LCD Round-up had it all, and more. In fact, I had so much product that I had to spread out the review period over a few months because of space and AC power limitations in my studio! The end result was a comprehensive test of flat-screen technology that rivaled the old InfoComm Projection Shoot-Out in complexity. In a new twist, I decided to include a couple of LCD monitors, reflecting the growing importance of active-matrix LCD imaging for video and static images. Until recently, it was difficult to produce flat-screen LCD monitors in sizes much beyond 25", but three companies are working hard to push that barrier well beyond to 30" and even 40" screens in the near future. Still, the stars of this show for the sixth year were nine plasma monitors ranging in size from 37" to 50", and they (along with the LCD entrants) received one of the most thorough workouts I have ever administered to a group of electronic displays. Along the way, I got to know each of these monitors quite well, delving into menus and analyzing numerous test patterns and video clips to see just what made each monitor 'tick'. PUTMAN'S ELEVEN This is really an eclectic bunch of monitors. Sony's PFM32C1 was the smallest plasma monitor entered. It measures 32" diagonally with a 16x9 screen and is a featherweight at 49 pounds. Panasonic's TH-37PWD4 is a unique product due to its on-again, off-again status in the Panasonic product line the past two years. It's a 16x9 monitor with 852x480 pixel resolution that weighs about 55 pounds. Hitachi's CMP4121HDU is a 42" high-resolution monitor with 1024x1024 non-square pixels and Alternate Lines of Scanning (ALiS) imaging, and tips the scales at 77 pounds. NEC Technologies entered their PlasmaSync 42MP4, a high-resolution monitor with progressive scan (as opposed to the ALiS system). It features 1024x768 non-square pixel resolution and weighs 65 pounds. Zenith Electronics is a newcomer to the Round-Up and sent along the P42W22, a 42" SDTV (852x480 pixel) monitor that comes with matching speakers and measured 72 pounds at the weigh-in. Pioneer's PDP-433CMX rounded out the mid-size category with its unique 43" 16x9 screen. It also uses 1024x768 non-square pixels for high resolution and weighs just under 70 pounds. The 50" category was well-represented, starting with Fujitsu's PDS-5003 16x9 screen. It has a native pixel count of 1366x768 and is one of the heavier monitors at 99 pounds. NEC's PlasmaSync 50MP2 is another 16x9 50" offering, this time with 1365x768 pixels and a weight of 98 pounds. Finally, Sony sent along their PFM50C1 50" design, a 95-pound widescreen with 1365x768 pixel resolution. In the LCD category, I managed to scare up a couple of entrants. Samsung Electronics shipped me the unique SyncMaster 241MP, a 24" 16x9 monitor with an amazing 1900x1200 pixel resolution, a built-in NTSC tuner, and matching stereo speakers. It fits out at just under 50 pounds. Sharp Electronics was represented by the 42 pound, 30" 16x9 LC-30HV2U, another combo display with 1280x768 pixel resolution, built-in NTSC tuner and matching speakers. Both products are also sold into the consumer marketplace. INS AND OUTS All of the review monitors have a wide range of signal connectivity options. As you can see from the specification tables, each one will accept RGB computer signals from VGA (640x480) to XGA (1024x768), and some will also handle SXGA and higher. Every model tested also supports the 480p, 720p, and 1080i ATSC formats as YPbPr signals, but the Hitachi monitor won't accept 720p as RGB - it assumes the signal must be a 4x3 SVGA source and no aspect ratio or horizontal/vertical image correction is possible. Ditto the Sharp monitor, which just won't recognize 720p or 1080i at all in the RGB format. According to Sony and Panasonic specs, all of their monitors will handle 575i/p as well as 1080p/24 segmented frame progressive-scan. Not having a 24p source handy, I was unable to verify these claims. Want DVI input? The PDS-5003 and PS50MP2 give it to you standard, while the PDP-433CMX provides DVI access with an accessory PD-5002 video plug-in card that is also required for any component video and HDTV playback. Connector options are all over the place. Sony's 'minimalist' approach gives you a pair of 15-pin VGA jacks on both the 32" and 50" monitors, with separate BNCs for composite in/out and a DIN S-video jack. The 15-pin cables will require breakouts for three-wire component formats, but you can quickly jump from RGB to YPbPr formats for either input from the remote control. Panasonic, Sharp, and Samsung all opted for RCA jacks to connect component video sources. On the Samsung and Sharp monitors, you get two such inputs for wideband component video in addition to a separate 15-pin VGA jack (found on the rear of the Samsung and front of the Sharp's remote video I/O box). Panasonic provides 5 RCA jacks which can be configured for RGB or YPbPr input, and you also get a 15-pin VGA jack. Zenith has the least amount of connector options, with one RCA composite jack, one S-video jack, one three-RCA component input, and one 15-pin VGA jack. In contrast, the 50" NEC monitor has RCAs for composite and component video as well as a rack of 5 BNC jacks and a 15-pin connector plus DVI. NEC's 42" offering is a little lighter, but not much as it simply drops the DVI input. Hitachi's monitor provides both BNC and 15-pin jacks for component and RGB sources, while Pioneer's monitor (when equipped with the PD-5002 card) has one of everything - BNCs, RCAs, 15-pin, and a DVI jack. Fujitsu's I/O lineup also features a rack of BNC jacks, composite and S-video inputs, and a 15-pin jack for computer sources. Each monitor has a built-in audio amplifier, and they range high and low when it comes to output power. The Samsung, Zenith, and Sharp monitors came with accessory speakers that are sufficient for small-room viewing and styled nicely to match each monitor. The Zenith speakers had the best audio performance, and not surprisingly, they are the largest. But for more critical audio playback, go with an outboard system. As a bonus, both the Samsung and Sharp LCD monitors have integrated NTSC tuners. This makes them full-blown HDTV-ready TVs (HDTV reception still requires a separate tuner). All you need to do is connect an antenna or your cable feed to the rear-panel F jack, and use the auto-tune feature to set up channels. The Samsung monitor even has a low-noise RF preamplifier for weak signals. Video quality is average and highly dependent on the quality of the RF sources. MENUS AND REMOTES As usual, there is no consistency to the design of menus and their navigation. Fujitsu is still using a somewhat crude-looking menu with a lot of sequential navigation to get at functions like auto sync (should be a top-level menu or button on the remote), and you only get one user color temperature setting for any and all inputs. Their remote, though, is plain vanilla and provides direct access to video or RGB sources. It has pretty good range, too. NEC's menus and remotes are very easy to use and provide a wealth of adjustments - but no numerical increments for any settings! You will have access to the monitor's drive and bias controls for red, green, and blue, which can be saved in a memory setting. I'm not sure why NEC decided to drop their auto sync button from the PS42MP4 remote while keeping it on the PS50MP2 remote, though. These baton remotes are easy to use and have good range. Hitachi's remote control is not the best design I've seen. It has small buttons and its range isn't too good. The Hitachi menu settings are easy to navigate, but the white balance setting has a real quirk: You must leave either red, green, or blue channels set to 255 to adjust the other two. Why anyone would do this is a mystery to me! The color temperature setting is good for both video and RGB sources. Pioneer's remote brings up their new, improved menu which initially covers the entire screen, but drops down when a parameter is being adjusted. Once you get into service mode (which requires a few button pushes and power up/down cycles), you will have access to RGB drive and bias, plus numerous other operating goodies. Unlike the other monitors, the Pioneer creates a new signal set-up memory for every new input. The supplied remote is small, very minimal, easy to operate, and has good range. Sony's remote control shows they've been listening to end-users. Numerous menu functions have been brought out directly the remote, including H&V size and position, RGB/YUV signal format selection, brightness, contrast, and chroma. It's a well-laid-out remote design with large buttons and good range. The menu structure has been completely overhauled from older Sony products and has a nice transparency feature, but the layering of some functions (like RGB drive and auto sync) requires a few too many button pushes for me. 10 memories for image and sync settings are standard. The Zenith remote is quite simple. Unfortunately, so is the menu, which doesn't allow any access to RGB drive or bias - that's only through a service menu. The response of the remote was inconsistent at times, even when held near the IR sensor. Zenith's menu is also quite simple, with a limited range of adjustments. It is easy to navigate and set-up and has variable background transparency. Three different picture memories can be set up and saved. The Samsung remote was the most persnickety to use. It has exceedingly small keys, is not intuitive at all, and requires a lot of sequential menu selection - one of my major pet peeves. The range of the remote seemed to get better the further away I got from the monitor. The actual menus are quite simple and somewhat limited in function. For example, you won't have any control over RGB drive and bias in video mode; only drive can be set in RGB mode. Essentially, you get one picture setting memory per input. Sharp's remote wins the most confusing award. This multi-function remote has over 50 buttons on it and is designed to control not only the LC-30HV2U, but your DVD player, a cable or other set-top box, and a VCR as well. Fortunately, the menus are much simpler and employ Sharp's familiar tile-down design first seen on Notevision projectors. Functions like gamma and aspect ratio selection are tied to specific buttons, but color temperature must be set from the menu. There's no adjustment possible for white balance in video modes - only with RGB signals. IMAGE CONTROL Depending on the particular signal source you are watching, you'll be able to change its gamma and also its aspect ratio with each of these monitors. Most of the models tested provide at least two aspect ratio modes with RGB signals ('normal' or dot-by-dot, plus a widescreen expansion mode) and some go even further with a 'zoom' mode, such as NEC, Sony, Sharp, Samsung, and Panasonic. Video aspect ratio selections are pretty much the same from monitor to monitor, although the names are different. In all cases, you can select a 4x3 or 'normal' image, plus zoom that image up in size to fill the screen with widescreen letterboxed video. A 'expand' or 'full' mode takes anamorphic material from DVDs and other sources and provides the correct 16x9 expansion. Other modes include things like 'stadium' (NEC) and alternate wide zooms that accommodate closed captions. The Panasonic entry also is supposed to have an automatic aspect ratio selection mode that will jump back and forth between 4x3 and 16x9 material, depending on the signal detected. It worked so well that I could not get the TH-37PWD4 to switch to 4x3 mode with a 480p DVD source, even though the program content was 4x3 to begin with! Samsung's SM241MP also gets confused at times with input signals. Because it maps to 1200 vertical pixels, you actually have to select a 1:1 map to show 1080i HDTV correctly! Of course, this then results in progressively-smaller images as you move to 720p and 480i/p sources, which must then be restored in a second zoom mode. Connecting DTV sources to the second component input minimizes this problem to some extent, but I'd prefer a software setting to do all of this mapping automatically. The Sony and NEC monitors often jumped into 16x9 mode when they detected a 480p signal, particularly after showing 720p or 1080i HDTV. A quick push of the aspect ratio button solved this problem, though. The Pioneer, Hitachi, and Sharp monitors were a bit more intelligent about it and usually found the right aspect ratio the first time out. Picture gamma and color temperature settings varied widely. Pioneer provided the best combo or each, letting you pre-set bias and drive for every input signal and topping that off with six preset white balance selections, including one near 3200 degrees for use on video sets. Ditto Sony, who provides 3 presets plus three user settings and three gamma selections. NEC offers three preset color temperatures and one global PRO setting (drive and bias), plus three gamma options. Panasonic has three gamma settings as well and three white balance presets, any of which can be altered with the red and blue drive and bias controls. (Why no access to green???) Fujitsu provides five gamma settings and three color temperature modes plus one set of RGB drive adjustments, while Hitachi has three each gamma and white balance settings. You can also set up a global User color temperature menu. Samsung's menu provides four gamma settings plus a standard choice, but you won't have any access to white balance with video signals - only in RGB mode, where you lose the ability to set gamma. Sharp's approach provides white balance in RGB mode only, but there are five gamma settings and even a black boost mode for enhanced detail. Both the Sharp and Sony monitors also have a 'red boost' to enhance flesh tones, which I usually left off. IMAGE QUALITY TESTS This year's image quality and sync tests were comprehensive. Signals sources included a Sony DVP-S7000 480i DVD player and a Panasonic RP56 480p DVD player (the latter is equipped with Faroudja's FLI2200 de-interlacing chipset), as well as a pair of Samsung DTV set-top receivers for OTA 8VSB reception, the SIRT-150 and brand-new SIRT-151. For HDTV, I put my brand-new JVC HM-DH3000U D-VHS player into service, as it outputs 480p, 720p, and 1080i from pre-recorded tapes in my library. RGB signals were fed from my 866 MHz Pentium IV with Diamond Viper 550 card (good to 1280x1024 pixels), as well as an Extron VTG200 test pattern generator. Additional test patterns came from an AccuPel HDG2000, which can output 43 different 720p and 1080i test patterns for contrast, grayscale, and bandwidth. The whole mess was switched by a pair of Extron matrix switchers - the older 128HX (12 in, 8 out RGBHV) and a newer 16x16 Component Plus model. (No, 16x16 wasn't enough to handle everything!) There's no question that the image quality of both plasma and LCD monitors is getting better with each year. In terms of the basic performance indexes - brightness and contrast - these monitors can hold their own with anyone. Most of the plasma monitors arrived here with contrast set way too high (in what I call 'torch' mode) and I had to throttle them way back to get the best-looking grayscale on each monitor. Although LCD monitors are not susceptible to burn-in, their grayscale performance is also degraded by having the contrast set too high which usually crushes white levels as well as low blacks. Some quick set-up with Pluge and grayscale patterns from the Video Essentials DVD (for 480i/p), the HDG2000 generator (for 720p and 1080i), and DisplayMate software (for RGB inputs) got all of the monitors into a much better state of mind. Top honors for contrast performance with an optimum grayscale went to Panasonic's TH-37PWD4 (not surprising, given Panasonic's showing the past two years). It turned in an average reading of 608:1 and a peak reading of 779:1 which was bettered only by the Fujitsu PDS-5003 at 799:1 peak. Both monitors use glass from Matsushita as well as the Plasmaco-designed low drive system to produce better black levels, which measured on average .2 to .3 nits for both models. Several other monitors blew by the 200:1 mark, including NEC's 50MP2 and 42MP4, Zenith's P42W22 (it had good blacks, too) and Hitachi's CMP4121HDU. Once again, Pioneer's formed pixel structure resulted in lots of light output, but higher black levels as well (typically .6 to .8 nits) and a correspondingly lower contrast measurement. Both of the Sony monitors did just a bit better in this area, with black readings in the .5 to .6 nits range. It was no contest among the LCD monitors, where Sharp's LC-30HV2U bested the Samsung SM241MP with a 185:1 average and 259:1 peak reading - double or more what the Samsung product could deliver. The difference was lower black levels on the Sharp panel (.7 nits versus Samsung's 1.1 nits). No doubt Sharp's new Advanced Super View pinwheel LC alignment had something to do with it. All of the plasma monitors have some sort of automatic picture level (APL) control for scenes with high luminance levels, but Fujitsu's seemed to be not working, or working very slowly. As a result, the PDS-5003 had the highest white screen luminance levels in both 16x9 and 4x3 modes of any plasma monitors and its 95.1 nits measurement in widescreen mode topped the second-place finisher, Sony's PFM50C1 by 13 points. Neither, however, were as bright as the Samsung (104 nits) and Sharp (130 nits) LCD monitors. In terms of grayscale tracking, the best performers were NEC's PS50MP2 and Sony's PFM32C1. Selecting the correct gamma for each of these monitor helped considerably, as dynamic or image boost modes tended to yank color temperatures all over the place at the high and low end of the color spectrum. Neither of the LCD monitors could be calibrated to D6500, with the SM241MP getting a little closer at 50% gray (6390 degrees vs. Sharp's 6700 degrees readings). The NEC 42", Hitachi, Panasonic, and Pioneer monitors tracked around D6500 pretty well except at the extreme low and high end of the luminance scale where color temperature varied by as much as 2500 degrees. Out of the box, the TH-37PWD4, P42W22, PDP-433CMX, and PFM50C1 came closest to having a D6500 factory preset for middle gray. That means you could use each monitor without a lot of tweaking for color temperature, if you needed to. False contours are usually the downfall of any flat-screen display, and they were in abundance on all but two monitors. Panasonic's entry was cleanest with an abrupt transition at .3 nits (basically the low end of its grayscale) and nothing else to speak of, while Fujitsu's monitor showed several slight contours at .3, 1.4, 2.7, and 4.8 nits. However, the PDS-5003 showed false contours at the high end of the grayscale, particularly with RGB or YPbPr 720p and 1080i video. This phenomenon was first reported to me by the folks at DemoGrafX and I saw it at the HPA Technology Retreat this past February. It's not a luminance level where you'd expect to see a contour, but it does exist - watch footage of a setting sun or a intense spot of light, and it pops right out at you. Pioneer's entry showed well in this category, but its black levels are so much higher (.6 - .7 nits) that it avoids some of the usual false contour 'potholes'. The NEC 50" monitor was a bit worse than the 42", as its contours also appeared with color shifts (the 'signature' that a given plasma glass matrix came out of the NEC factory). The Hitachi and Sony monitors were a little worse than the rest of the pack, while the Samsung and Sharp LCD monitors were pretty clean - about 3 slight contours between them, all below 40% gray. VIDEO QUALITY Once you set up these monitors correctly, you'd be amazed at the color saturation and video quality many of them can deliver. I invited Cliff Plavin of Progressive Labs to come in and take color coordinate measurements for each display, using that data to create calibration files for my FSR Color Analyzer and thus get the best possible grayscale. My favorites for video quality were the Sony PFM-32C1 due to its exceedingly small pixel pitch (this product should do well in the home theater market), Panasonic's TH-37PWD4 for its super-low black levels and near-CRT image quality, the NEC PS42MP4 for a good, contrasty and film-like image with nice colors, Zenith's P42W22 for a smooth presentation and a surprisingly good de-interlacer and motion compensation circuit, and Fujitsu's PDS-5003 with its saturated colors and deep blacks (high-luminance false contouring notwithstanding). Sony's PFM50C1 looked pretty darn good with an outboard 480p source, but its own internal scalar left too many granular artifacts on the screen for my liking. Hitachi's CMP4121HDU had a nice smooth image particularly with HD, but false contours and a little too much noise with NTSC sources dropped it a notch. Pioneer's PDP-433CMX had great color saturation and image detail, but its 3:2 correction circuit got mixed up on occasion when switching from 30 fps video to 24 fps film and back again. It was not much of a contest in the LCD arena, where the Sharp monitor bested the Samsung for image clarity. The color temperature was a bit more pleasing to the eye on the Samsung (Sharp couldn't go below 8930 degrees K in video mode), but the LC-30HV2U just looked crisper with everything from component DVD to 1080i HDTV. I'm sure the higher contrast had everything to do with this outcome. One note: Every one of these monitors looked better with 480p video coming to them from the Panasonic RP56 DVD player, even the PDS-5003 with its Advanced Video Motion processor which is good in its own right. The flag-waving sequence from Video Essentials tells the story, though - the RP56 did the best job of smoothing out the interlaced scan artifacts and correcting for motion. A good-quality outboard video scalar is still the way to go with any flat screen - for now. AUTOSCALING TESTS Not too much to go into here, except that results were much closer than I expected. The top performer - with some reservations - was Samsung's SM241MP. This might no be much of a surprise considering the monitor has a native resolution of 1900x1200 pixels, but I say 'with reservations' even though it accepted and displayed 24 of 25 of the test sync rates. Many of them came up as a 16x9 image, and one had a fair amount of noise on it. Sony's PFM50C1 did nearly as well, getting 19 of the test signals right off the bat and correcting 5 others from the menu. NEC's PS50MP2 did almost as well, getting 15 test signals right the first time and correcting the remaining 10 with some menu manipulation. The Hitachi and NEC 42" monitors were also strong contenders here, tied at 21 total usable signals with or without manipulation. Sharp's LC-30HV2U was a bit of an oddity in this test - it either got the test signal right the first time, or the signal was "out of range". Given Sharp's usual performance in my projector tests with their ImageACE scalar, that's not a big surprise. The remainder of the review monitors did very well, with only the Zenith turning in a low score of 16 with 9 signals out of range. It's really more of a consumer monitor, anyway. Buying a plasma or LCD monitor to watch DTV? Be careful - not all of these models have sufficient bandwidth to pass 720p and in some cases 1080i signals. Using the HDTV chroma and luminance multiburst patterns on the AccuPel HDG2000, I was surprised to see only the pair of NEC monitors and the Pioneer 43" design would show all the detail in the 37.5 MHz burst. The Sony 50"and 32", the Zenith, and the Samsung monitors needed some tweaking to bring out a bit more detail at this frequency, while the Hitachi, Sharp, Panasonic, and Fujitsu monitors turned the pattern into a solid gray bar, indicating a restricted signal bandwidth. These monitors did show an 18.5 MHz pattern with sufficient detail, however. AFTERTHOUGHTS If you would like to try an exercise in losing your mind, fill up two small rooms with plasma and LCD monitors for three weeks and spend as many hours as you can during that time period looking at the same video clips over and over, all the while measuring such things as grayscale, color coordinates, bandwidth, and pixel scaling and motion artifacts. Even though I've seen more than enough plasma and LCD imaging for now, I did have some favorites. Despite the clipped bandwidth on the Panasonic, it made some beautiful pictures once we tuned up its grayscale. This monitor with its deep blacks looked particularly good with 480p (a 1:1 pixel match) but needed more signal bandwidth and a better menu. Zenith's P42W22 (despite its grayscale tracking problems) had the smoothest presentation of 480p material of any review monitor. The Zenith is a nice design that could be a lot better with some refinement in a few areas. NEC had probably the most pleasing 42" picture with static images and filmed material, probably due to its small pixel structure and good grayscale tracking. I judged it to have the best-looking picture in the 42"/43" category. Pioneer's monitor was a close second, hampered only by its higher black levels and maybe a bit too harsh an image in terms of contrast. It was a very close call. Hitachi's 42" monitor had a smoother presentation with video and looked better with 720p and 1080i than 480i material, but could use a little improvement in false contour correction and deeper blacks. Sony's 32" offering has a really nice combination of size, pixel pitch, and resolution and was a big favorite - more so than Sony's 50" model, which needed a bit more contrast punch and better image scaling. Fujitsu's 50" monitor does a very good job across the board (again, despite its limited bandwidth and that oddball high luminance false contour artifact) and was my favorite among the 50" entrants. It has the additional contrast snap missing from the PFM50C1 and less false contours and noise than the PS50MP2. Between the LCD monitors, Sharp's 30" gets my nod. This monitor is a true diamond in the rough, and with expanded bandwidth and sync compatibility plus better white balance adjustments, it would be a great product. Samsung's SM241MP is indeed a unique product which performed well in many aspects and has lots of potential, but its user interfaces (menus and the remote) need more work. I also don't know if the market will pay what this monitor costs for a screen that measures only 24" in size - the Sharp is only $1K more but 6" larger, and both look about the same when it comes to showing 720p, 1080i, and XGA (1024x768) computer images. Copyright ©2002 Peter H. Putman / Primedia Business Media. This review appears in the October 2002 issue of Video Systems.