Flat Panels

Black: 0.024
White: 25.24
Full-On/Full-Off Contrast Ratio: 1,052:1

All of the measurements here were taken in the Movie mode, through an HDMI input, and with the set adjusted for the most accurate picture in a darkened room.

The Vizio’s full-on/full-off contrast ratio is limited, as are all the sets here, apart from the top two scorers. In its Vivid mode, the Vizio was the light cannon of the group, generating a peak white output of 135 foot-lamberts.

As delivered, the set was at its best with its White Balance control set to Normal. But even there the color temperature hovered around 6000K. Delta-E ranged from 12.7 to 16.5 across the measurable brightness range. (Delta-E is a figure of merit that indicates how close the color temperature comes to the ideal white point of D6500. The lower the number the better. Experts generally recommend a maximum of between 3 and 4 for results that are visibly indistinguishable from lower values). However, after calibration, the Delta-E was good, ranging from 0.5 to 2.23 from 20 IRE to 90 IRE, increasing to 4.6 at 100 IRE).

The Vizio’s color gamut, as shown by the white triangle on the CIE chart with the Color Enhancement off, was solid. It was a near match to the ideal Rec.709 HD color gamut (the black triangle) apart from slightly displaced magenta and cyan secondaries.

As seen in the accompanying Video Test Bench table, which includes primarily HD and a single SD test (scaling from 480p to 1080p), the Vizio turned in the best video processing results of the group, including a passing grade on the M:I:III Vatican wall and stairs tests (chapters 7 and 8). It also passed a separate test for 1080i horizontal resolution (chroma and luma) through a component input. But it was the only set to show artifacts in Titanic (a 480i, non-enhanced, letterboxed DVD).—TJN