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Televisions<br />
Under 38 Inches<br />
Yesterday’s Big Poppa is today’s budget flatscreen. With prices dropping<br />
faster than Glocks at a busted-up sit-down, even $650 can buy a lot. —C.C.<br />
HP LC3272N<br />
$800 • hp.com<br />
Our DVD movie looked great on this<br />
affordable contender from HP, marred<br />
only by harsh whites and oversaturated<br />
colors. Both problems are correctable,<br />
but you will sacrifice some clarity. A<br />
grainy picture from our Blu-ray movie, on<br />
the other hand, proved that noise reduction<br />
was a no-show. And its utilitarian,<br />
industrial case design left us thinking<br />
more of TPS reports than Harry Potter.<br />
WIRED Simple menus make setup<br />
and source selection a breeze. Cheapest<br />
model to offer three HDMI inputs.<br />
TIRED Poor HD source-conversion<br />
shows candy-cane-like moiré distortion<br />
in some 1080i sources.<br />
LG 37LB4D<br />
$1,500 • lge.com<br />
TruMotion Drive, LG’s name for this<br />
TV’s 120-Hz refresh rate, transforms<br />
angled-edge jaggies into arrow-straight<br />
lines and renders glass-<strong>sm</strong>ooth motion.<br />
Though the set’s whites are a bit stark,<br />
its spectacularly clear and detailed<br />
overall picture belies the 720p resolution.<br />
It delivers top-shelf performance,<br />
for which you pay a top-shelf price.<br />
WIRED Three HDMI ports. Sidemounted<br />
USB and A/V inputs are<br />
blissfully easy to reach.<br />
TIRED LG’s noise reduction looks<br />
OK, but you can’t adjust it to correct<br />
sources with more or less noise.<br />
Not for the faint of wallet.<br />
Philips<br />
32PFL7332D/37<br />
$1,160 • philips.com<br />
Our test movie looked passable on this<br />
32-incher, but the set bombed every<br />
category of our video-processing tests.<br />
Jagged diagonal lines were more prevalent<br />
than on any set we tested. Worst of<br />
all, its dynamic contrast feature darkened<br />
the picture, further diminishing<br />
detail. Brightening it with the set’s simple<br />
picture controls was easy but produced<br />
a lame, low-contrast image.<br />
WIRED Two-channel Ambilight rocks.<br />
TIRED Noise reduction: ineffective.<br />
Processing: hacky. Picture: dim. 32-inch<br />
LCD: a lot of coin when the best image of<br />
all gets projected on the wall behind it.<br />
Polaroid 3211-TLXB<br />
$699 • polaroid.com<br />
Watching this 32-incher is like slowdancing<br />
with your first prom date: solid<br />
performance, quite a few bumps. The<br />
set’s heavy-handed noise reduction<br />
caused annoying flickering, and its uncorrectable<br />
red-biased tint made everyone<br />
look sunburned. The picture was sharp,<br />
however, with lots of contrast. And<br />
unlike most thin TVs, the onboard speakers<br />
sound decent, with clear highs.<br />
WIRED Downward-pointed rear<br />
jacks simplify cable routing, and picturebook<br />
connector labels are visible from<br />
above. Inexpensive.<br />
TIRED Prepare to spend a lot of time<br />
tweaking color settings.
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