Welcome to the TLVEXP 2013 recommended display list. 
This is a list of the TVs and projectors that have caught my attention this year and would not hesitate to recommend that people look into if they are in the shopping mood.
There are two main categories, the flat panel displays and the projectors. Both entry level and higher end displays will be presented. The primary criteria for these recommendations will be how well these displays calibrate versus how they might look out of the box. Some of these actually don’t look so good out of the box so no one is going to get away with doing nothing. People will still have to throw some test patterns up there with a disc …
[important]Plasma Display[/important]
Best – This years plasma models have split into two distinct camps or paths. Panasonic and Samsung have both improved the black levels of their sets again, but with Panasonic being traditionally ahead of Samsung in this department, there are no changes there in the ranking. The year to year changes in the models this year are much greater than in previous years.
Samsung decided to add something else to the mix this year by making their displays far brighter than before without compromising the image quality. It should be noted that both manufacturers made their sets brighter this year, but Samsung is significantly more so. It can now compete easily against the LED/LCD camp. The criteria for best is divided into two groups. One for light controlled viewing conditions and the other is general purpose use. Panasonic is the choice for light controlled viewing and the Samsung is the choice for general purpose use.
It should be noted that in a room with ambient lighting, the black levels on both the Samsung and the Panasonic look the same. Ambient light has the ability to make black look blacker than it really is. So with the black level issue equalized, the Samsung gets the nod for being brighter. The Samsung bezel continues to be a dark charcoal color which helps to make its black levels seem blacker than they really are. The extra brightness or light output does not really extend to the Movie mode on the TV, but rather is found in the Standard and Dynamic mode areas. Use the standard mode to the general purpose day mode. The Normal color temp can be made to look identical to Warm 2 that is used in the Movie mode.
It should be noted that just because the Samsung is superior for general purpose use, it does not mean that the Panasonic units are unacceptable for the same use. It is like one person getting 95% on an exam and another getting 85%. The 85% person is not exactly failure material. He did not get 45% … he got 85%.
In a room with ambient lighting, the differences in performance between the VT and the ZT series disappear. If I were getting a 65″ plasma, I’d probably want to save the $1000 price difference and get the VT series since any environment short of black rooms and complete darkness makes the better black levels of the ZT vanish. Add to that, people are not watching when both TVs are side by side. Both sets also calibrate well.
Panasonic TC-PxxVT60
Panasonic TC-PxxZT60/65
Best on a Budget – The Panasonic ST60 series gets the nod for best set on a budget. Its performance is really identical to the VT series even with fewer calibration controls. This set has great calibration potential. And again, any ambient room light equalizes the differences in black levels between the ST and VT and ZT series.
Panasonic TC-PxxST60
[important]LED/LCD Display[/important]
Best – I’m not in the mood to put any of those 2160p (4K) sets on the list for best LED/LCD because the Sony units that I have seen and played with (55″/65″/84″) so far just haven’t impressed me. Real 3840×2160 material certainly looks good on it, but the upconversion on BD material just does not look as good compared to a native 1080p set like the Samsung. Edges have a way of looking blurry, say a person walking in a garden. Motion resolution on these sets is not good at all, dropping even 8 megapixel images down to something slightly better than 1080p.
The Samsung F8000 series continues to offer a lot of calibration controls and they just work right. The only real down side is that the viewing angles are still lacking against the Sony units and the LG units.
I’ve also played with a number of the new Panasonic LED/LCD units now and they have the same viewing angle benefits as the LG units, but cloudy blacks bring them down. General lack of enough calibration controls is also a black mark against them and unlike the Sony sets that seem to calibrate just fine without these extra controls, the Panasonic units need them more and they are absent.
[important]Projectors[/important]
JVC has a projector in their line up this year that has most of the features of the THX certified units, but lacks the THX certification. The unit is still a great performer. But with all JVC units using that quasi 4K e-shift feature, watch out as it does add a level of edge enhancement to the image similar to what the sharpness control might do in most sets. The film setting in the MPC area usually minimizes the effect, but not entirely.
Best Higher End ($5000 and up) – JVC DLAX9 200-Inches 1080p 3D THX ISF Certified Front Projector – Black
Best Mid Class ($2000-$3000) – Epson 5020UB Home Cinema 3D HDMI, 1080p 3LCD Projector (White)
JVC DLA-RS45 Home Theater Projector 1080P HDMI
Best on a Cheap Budget (Around $1000) – Epson PowerLite Home Cinema 8350
Epson
Best Bang for the Buck – Try a used JVC RS2 / RS20 / RS25 / RS35 / RS10 / RS15. These can be found selling for $1000 to $2000 range and represent a great entry level starting point since their black level performance is still better than the latest Panasonic and Epson LCD projectors out there selling for $3000-$4000. You will give up the 3D part in return for superior performance. When buying used, please factor in the cost of a new bulb ($300). Marry some of these units with something like a DVDO iScan Duo High Definition Video Processor
It is a good idea to take this article with the information that is provided in this other article I wrote on the weaknesses of the various TV technologies that are out on the market today.
