PC Magazine April 11 2006 - The Home of the Barries

F I R S T
26
HANDS-ON TESTING OF NEW PRODUCTS • go.pcmag.com/first looks
28 T-Mobile SDA
28 T-Mobile MDA
32 Motorola SLVR L7
32 Cingular 2125
41 Fuji FinePix E900
Low-Cost LCD TVs
THE MAGAZINE
WORLD’S LARGEST
COMPUTER-TESTING
FACILITY
BY ROBERT HERON
Most of us would love to own a big, thin HDTV, but the prices
are just too high. Or are they? We hit the pavement and found
three LCD TVs that retail for less than $1,000, a reasonable fi gure
for those making that fi rst leap to high-defi nition. All three
TVs have a similar screen size (around 32 inches, diagonally),
a maximum resolution of 1,360-by-768, and a built-in NTSC TV tuner and
speakers. One of these three could be your ticket to HDTV viewing heaven.
Proview RX-326
The 32-inch
Proview RX-326
($949.99 list) is an
LCD TV that offers
high-defi nition resolution
at an affordable
price. It produced some
of the most eye-pleasing
imagery we’ve seen on a
TV at this price.
The lack of an overthe-air
HD tuner technically
makes the RX-326
an “HD-ready” TV, but an
NTSC tuner is provided for
standard-definition analog
reception. The LCD panel
used in the RX-326 offers a
native 1,366- by 768-pixel resolution.
Though home theater
PC users can drive the RX-326
using either HDMI or VGA
input, only the VGA input
eliminated overscan (extension
of the edge of the picture
beyond the active portion of
the display) without requir-
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PC MAGAZINE APRIL 11, 2006 www.pcmag.com
ing adjustments in the video
card’s driver control panel.
Viewing the RX-326 from
more than 20 degrees off
center in any direction made
colors look noticeably faded.
Other similarly priced LCD
TVs typically start to fade at
around 30 degrees.
In the lab, the RX-326’s
warm-color temperature
preset produced colors that
42 Pentax *ist DS2
42 Canon PowerShot SD450
44 Creative Zen MicroPhoto
46 Saitek A-250
46 i.Sound Max
THE RX-326’S SIMULATED SURROUND SOUND mode is effective
at making a sound fi eld that seems to come from all directions.
came closest to the standard
used in film and video production.
Unlike the Vizio
L32 or the Westinghouse
LTV-32w1, it didn’t suffer
from degraded color quality
when using component
video input. We measured
the RX-326’s contrast ratio
at 595:1 (ANSI checkerboard
test pattern), just above average
among LCD TVs.
48 Maxtor OneTouch III Turbo
48 Iomega XL Desktop Hard Drive
50 Velocity Micro Vision GX
52 Kodak EasyShare Photo Printer 500
52 Konica Minolta PagePro 1400W
On the HQV benchmark
DVD, the RX-326 failed to
engage 3:2 pulldown properly
for fi lm-based video (24
frames per second), producing
visible moiré artifacts
and losing detail. But the RX-
326’s adjustable noise-reduction
function was a rare fi nd
for an LCD TV at this price,
and it eliminated most noise
without signifi cant blurring .
The RX-326 offers HD
resolution at an affordable
price. The Vizio L32 has more
input options and the Westinghouse
LTV-32w1 offers
more comprehensive image
controls, but our eyes
preferred the image quality
and A/V input performance
of the RX-326.
Proview RX-326
$949.99 list. Proview, www
.proview-usa.com. llllm
Vizio L32
Barely sneaking in under
the $1,000 price point,
the 32-inch Vizio L32
($999.99 list) is one of
the least expensive LCD
TVs currently offering
high- definition resolution.
The L32’s bright and even
picture isn’t without some
minor fl aws, but it represents
a good value.
The L32’s 31.5-inch panel
offers a native resolution of
1,366 by 768 pixels (16:9 aspect
ratio). VGA input came closest
to the native resolution at
1,360 by 768 pixels and eliminated
overscan.
An unfortunate similarity
that the L32 shares with
the Westinghouse LTV-32w1
is poor component video
when compared with digital