What's the WORST flat panel TV you've seen lately?

Oh man, Arty's response should be a doozy (and I'll find myself agreeing with most of it)!

I recently saw the Phillips "55PFL3907/F7." The performance was laughable. I had to do a double take. Hands down the worst FP I've ever seen in terms of PQ. I was also wildly disappointed with LG LM6700, by far the absolute worst off axis viewing I've ever seen on an FP, and that couple with an awful pedestal and poor black levels make it one of the worst I've seen of 2012
Edited by hoozthatat - 2/22/13 at 6:23pm

Well, when I was looking to purchase a new TV the LG LM6700 looked good (enough for the money) on paper. However when I went to three different stores to look at one, the demo version was non-functional (read: broken) in each store. So, that didn't bode well.

Can't speak to the PQ, but if the thing won't even turn on, then by default the picture looks kind of bad.

Ended up getting a Plasma from a different manufacturer…

The worst plasma i've seen in the last year is the Panasonic X5 series. Seriously bad.

Not what a couple of guys here wanted to hear Randy.

I'm okay with that. Everything's been a bit of a letdown to me compared to a Kuro, truth be told.

Sharp Elite

Just can't get past the cyan color issue. Just horrendous ....

Rick

Wow

own and love the set.

Hysterical! I plan to ditch mine for the same reason.

There are other sets that I have seen that are worse in over all PQ then the X5. However, that being said, Randy can't comment on all flat panels since he never watches LCD's. That would be blasphemy!



Ian

They used to say that about me too if you go back a couple of years. Things have changed and I've gone over to the 'bright side'.

Both great techs, each with its pros & cons.

If you stroll through the Elite Owner's Thread you'll see the issue mentioned sporadically. I think to say however that the issue is so prevalent it's completely worth discarding the Elite as one of the best FPs available today, is a tad too drastic, to say the least. I think, and correct me if I'm wrong, that Mr. Ross was being a little sarcastic.

I agree. I have a Plasma and an LCD.



Ian

Yeah, a little more than a bit sarcastic hooz. I still think the Elite is the one of the best, if not the best, 2K panels available today.

I've said for a long time that the 'cyan issue' has been overplayed by some. It's always been interesting to me that the group that's been least bothered by this has been the group that lives with the 'issue', owners.

I haven't seen any displays from the major manufactures that have jumped out at me because of terrible PQ. I installed a 55" LG this morning that's selling for $699 (Best Buy) and the picture was pretty good after a bit of tweaking. I don't know how much to attribute PQ to the actual screen being used but there are not that many screen manufactures world wide and I think they all probably make a pretty good product in 2012.

I think that's really the point. Many entry level sets often look poor when they are on display. It's amazing how much better my Panasonic C2 looks after tweaking. Choosing the correct picture mode which was cinema in my case, and taking the time to tune both the TV and it's source (ie: BD player, DVR, etc..) properly, is paramount when it comes to achieving the best picture quality.


Ian

A BD player that needs to be tuned to provide a good PQ is not a good BD player.

Rick,

You must be a VT50 man.

For the best results from your player make sure your resolution is set to either auto or 1080p and 24p output is set to on. This will send the native content of your BD's to your TV to do the processing. Some players also have video enhancement options like video clarity which is essentially an edge enhancement feature. Make sure they are off. I have found them to be useless and they can introduce artifacts like ringing. Your video mode should be set to normal for calibrating. Some players like my Panasonic also have a user or custom mode for setting the sharpness, brightness, color and even gamma, but in most cases defaulting to the normal or cinema mode works just fine.


Ian
Edited by mailiang - 2/24/13 at 11:42am

It's common enough. Detractors would say that it's too common in a TV for which you pay $7000 (the 70"). You can calibrate it out to a degree, and it usually only shows up when you're watching the Today Show. ; )

When I attempt to watch 60 HZ LCD it is so bad that I immediately have diarreha, go into convulsions, and vomit!

While I'm having a heart attack it is actually less nauseaus for me to watch a dog eating the vomit than to watch LCD!

The only scene here LCD excels is in the Candy Man movie where they are showing that bathroom in Chicago! You can almost smell the colors!

They say that LCD was actually around when Hitler was alive but he refused to let the SS use it for torture because he said that would be inhumane!

LCD is great at showing bright whites but then the Sharp Quattron also uses yellow and we all know not to eat that yellow snow where the Huskies go!

They say if you show LCD to someone in a casket then you'll have the night of the Living Dead!

I believe it is those zombie people that watch LCD and promote it to the death.



P.S. these are some of my charitable comments about LCD--I won't tell the truth about LCD picture quality because it is so bad that if I were to tell it it would be banned faster than Faces of death!

Just for clarification.


From Websters:


By using the adjustments most effectively on your player, you are doing the same thing.


Tuning, calibrating, it's all just semantics to an old English teacher like me. However, I believe the word was tweaking, which is a bit more subtle when it comes to improving things.


Ian
Edited by mailiang - 2/24/13 at 9:07pm

I'm glad I don't have those symptoms. The Academy Awards looked kick-ass on my display tonight. Last night finally caught Skyfall. Unbelievable picture quality.

Sorry you are not feeling well. Perhaps get off the Plasma Koolaid mixed with Alabama tap water

Rick
Edited by Mr.SoftDome - 2/25/13 at 6:01am

The Panasonic TC-L32C5 I have. Cnet was right about this TV, but I got it for $150 so I can only complain so much. if I hadn't been so cheap I would've gotten a Sony 32EX340.