120 Hertz and All That Jazz

It hasn’t been that long since JVC left the rear-projection business. Its LCOS designs were among the best on the market—which is appropriate for a company that still makes LCOS front projectors.

Given the explosion of LCD sales, one might expect LCD manufacturers to simply ease up on technology development. The average consumer seems quite pleased with LCD's image quality, so why change anything? It is to the manufacturers' credit that they continue to strive for improvement, to create a picture that both everyday users and videophiles can appreciate. Thus far, they've focused their efforts on two performance areas: motion and black level.

Price: $1,400 At A Glance: Superb adjustability • Outstanding color • Mediocre contrast and black level

Black Is Back

As you no doubt know by now, LCD HDTVs command the lion’s share of the flat-panel market, outpacing plasma by a wide margin. This is due, at least in part, to the fact that LCDs are generally brighter than plasmas, which draws more attention on the showroom floor. They also consume less power, which makes them the greener choice.

As most home-theater enthusiasts know, THX has a long history of certifying audio products to conform to certain standards of performance in order to reliably replicate the content producers' intended experience at home. This was a natural outgrowth of the company's original mandate to do the same thing for mixing stages and commercial cinemas.

2D Performance
3D Performance
Features
Ergonomics
Value

Full LED backlighting with local dimming, when properly implemented, is the gold standard for achieving the best black levels in an LCD HDTV. But such a set also requires a lot of gold to acquire. LED edge-lit designs, needing fewer LEDs and less complex processing, cost less. While LG makes fully LEDbacklit local-dimming sets (its LM9600 Nano designs), the company’s premier, edge-lit LM8600 offerings also include local dimming. Local dimming, even in an edge-lit set, is usually better than none at all, but it’s less comprehensive and in theory less effective than the fully backlit variety. We reviewed the 55LM9600 Nano back in our September 2012 issue. But the 55LM8600 now lays down a strong challenge to its pricier sibling.

Living on the Edge

So far, three manufacturers have released 3D HDTVs that use passive polarized glasses rather than active shutter glasses: VIZIO, Toshiba, and LG. All three use technology developed by LG. In our June issue, we took a close look at VIZIO’s 65-inch entry, so this month, it’s perhaps appropriate that we go straight to the source and dive into LG’s first passive-glasses 3D HDTV.