LCDs

Full-On/Full-Off Contrast Ratio—1,298:1; ANSI Contrast Ratio—1,065:1

Measured Resolution with the Leader LT-446:
480: 480 (per picture height)
720p: 720 (pph)
1080i: 1,080 (pph)

DC Restoration (poor, average, good, excellent): Excellent

Color Decoder (poor, average, good, excellent): Average

Measured Color Points:
Red Color Point: x=0.662, y=0.315
Green Color Point: x=0.239, y=0.606
Blue Color Point: x=0.141, y=0.081

The top chart shows the AQUOS LC-57D90U's gray scale relative to its color temperature at various levels of intensity, or brightness (20 IRE is dark gray; 100 IRE is bright white). The gray scale as set by the factory, in the Mid-Low color-temperature mode and the Movie picture mode, measures slightly warm with dark images and slightly cool with brighter images. The 20-IRE window was too dark to measure but was visibly somewhat greenish-purple. It seems that the only input that you can calibrate is the DVI input, and, on our sample, the DVI input won't lock to any signal it is given. This probably had an effect on the contrast-ratio measurements—but an extremely mild one.

The bottom chart shows the gray scale (or color temperature) relative to the color points of the display's red, green, and blue color filters. These are off those specified by SMPTE. Red is oversaturated and slightly purplish-red. Blue is slightly oversaturated and somewhat greenish-blue. Green is very blue-green.

Using a full-field 100-IRE white (58.43 foot-lamberts) and a full-field 0-IRE black (0.045 ft-L), the contrast ratio was 1,298:1. Using a 16-box checkerboard pattern (ANSI contrast), the contrast ratio was 1,065:1. The best contrast ratio was achieved with the backlight set at STD. The brightest image was achieved with the backlight set at +16, which produced 98.92 ft-L with a 100-IRE field and 0.079 ft-L on a 0-IRE field (1,252:1). The best black level was achieved with the backlight set at –16, which produced 28.36 ft-L and 0.022 ft-L (1,289:1).—GM