Filmmaker DJ Caruso reviews five new flat-panel televisions, analyzing their picture quality, sound, and ease of use to tell us which deserve a starring role in your living room.
About Our Expert
DJ Caruso is never satisfied: “I don’t finish a movie; I just run out of time and the studio takes it away.” The latest project from the director of The Salton Sea (2002), Taking Lives (2004), and last year’s Disturbia — each a movie with a distinct visual style — is the high-tech thriller Eagle Eye, starring Shia LaBeouf and Michelle Monaghan (out now). The duo receive cryptic phone calls drafting them unwillingly into a terrorist plot. “It’s my version of a paranoid 1970s thriller set in modern times,” Caruso says.
Mitsubishi lt-46149
Caruso felt the 120-Hz technology in this 46-inch TV kept overstepping its bounds: “I had to shut it off.” He said it caused the set to drop frames during the Spidey-versus-Venom battle in Spider-Man 3, diminishing the film’s organic quality. “The picture was too clean,” he assessed. But impressive audio saved the day for the Mitsubishi, which (like the sound bars on page 142) uses 16 small speakers to simulate surround sound. “You don’t expect that kind of visceral rumble from a television,” he marveled. [$3,200; mitsubishi-tv.com]
Sony Bravia KDL 40 Z4100
According to Caruso, the Bravia boasted a crisp, natural-looking display with 120-Hz technology and “incredible contrast.” At first, audio and video were out of sync — “Spider-Man 3 on Blu-ray just skipped,” he said — but a reset fixed the problem, so it was likely an anomaly. More irksome was a convoluted audio setup, though Caruso did eventually praise the Bravia’s clear vocals and decent bass. And for those hanging a TV: The Sony, like every set here, easily attached to the stand (premiermounts.com) used in testing. [$2,200; sonystyle.com]
EXPERT’S PICK: LG Scarlet 47LG60
Caruso says this eye-catching 47-inch set best replicates the silver screen, thanks to incredible contrast. And unlike some other flat-panels, LG’s version of 120-Hz tech actually improves the image and doesn’t wash it out. In the “Daily Bugle” scene in Spider-Man 3 (on Blu-ray), Caruso said, the LG “seemed to enhance black levels,” improving detail and color. Caruso did lament that the settings guide, while intuitive, covers the whole screen. “I couldn’t see the effects of my changes,” he explained. [$2,700; us.lge.com]
Vizio SV470XVT
Vizio is gunning for the high end with its new LCDs, but its bargain basement roots showed through when matched against this group. The 47-inch set’s image was good, cleanly displaying full hi-def via HDMI inputs. Caruso was also impressed with the color reproduction in the opening car chase sequence of his own Eagle Eye, but the Vizio’s subpar contrast let “subtle details fade into the background.” Worse, the settings lacked key controls and build quality was low: When Caruso cranked the volume, the set rattled slightly. UPDATE (10/15/08): After our review went to press, we learned that Vizio had provided us with a pre-production unit, which the company says would not have been built as well as a production unit. As a result, the rattling and build quality issues may not be applicable. We’ll try to get a production unit and update again with our findings. [$1,700; vizio.com]
Samsung LN52A750
A hint of scarlet in the plastic bezel around the screen adds style, but depiction of fine detail is the 52-inch Samsung’s killer app. “Every visual effects house that I go to shows its stuff on a Samsung LCD,” says Caruso. Plus, the 120-Hz circuitry didn’t destroy the film-esque look of older movies as other TVs did. “You could see the grainy texture in films from the ’70s, like when Richard Dreyfuss stops on the railroad crossing” in Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Caruso’s only big gripe: a highly reflective screen and bezel. [$3,200; samsung.com/us]
This article originally appeared in the October 2008 issue
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