EDIT: Upon further tweaking, testing and use of this LCD TV I can confirm it does NOT have banding issues. The problems lay in how well it would mix colour gradients but thankfully with a little tweaking I think I've solved the issue. Go through the thread for numerous pics as proof.
Firstly, I must say, the styling on this thing is grand. Much more luxurious then some of the other LCD manufacture designs, what with the glossy piano black. My house mates all said they preferred the design to my Bravia. Also, I am really very impressed with the picture quality.
The SD is the best I've ever seen from an LCD, much better and cleaner then from my Bravia 32" KDL-32S2030. At times, if you get a good freeview reception, from the distance I watch it, it can look 'upscaled DVD' quality! The image is incredibly Sharp and very clean. Colours are nice, though not as vibrant as the Bravia's, however that is met by stunning white's and blacks. The black levels on this thing are the best I've seen. Especially with the 'Black' feature On.
Negatives are that the viewing angles are pretty damn poor. Much worse then my Bravia, you move out of perfect viewing and you get fairly noticeable colour differences, the image still looks very clear, just not accurate (colour/contrast wise). Another big negative for me was that the TV does not accept 1080p via VGA or Component, very annoying as I cannot run my 360 in 1080p, not that 720p or 1080i looks bad I haven't tried DVI-HDMI with PC yet, though I've heard you can get 1080p this way. (better be the case or this set is going back!). Also. why is it the Component and VGA image options are so dulled down? When connected via VGA you get none of the TruD options, nor do you when using component. This annoyed me greatly.
Anyway, some pics: (taken with mobile phone, so not the best quality)
SD pics: (digital freeview)
Xbox 360 pics. (ignore the note, I took these pics to prove I had a 360 on another forum).
Banding.
Now the reason I made the thread. To discuss banding. I think, this LCD suffers from slight banding. I very rarely notice it, but there definitely is some, just not enough to significantly bother me. What I'm interested to know is, if the banding is only subject to the VGA and component connections. The VGA playback on this LCD is poor, when connecting my 360 via VGA, colours looked considerably more washed out then with Component.
Also, is banding where different gradients don't mix well? To my knowledge most monitors and LCD's get a tiny bit of banding. My Dell 2407FW manages them very well, for example whilst posting this the blacks mix with the purple really well, not so well on my 37XD1E. Do you guys have any programmes, sites, images etc that I could test banding with?
Here are some examples.
Notice the top orange bar. Banding?
[image=http://img227.imageshack.us/img227/7035/5ab0.jpg]
Whilst conencted to VGA was when I saw the worst banding. Though it isn't so clear in the photo's it is more evident in real life. I wonder if this has anything to do with max resolution being 1280x(?) and having to be stretched to fit the screen? I shall have to test DVI-HDMI later today I suspect.
Anyway, your own views, thoughts and input would be greatly appreciated.
Am I being overly nit-picky perhaps?
Thanks
Naim
Firstly, I must say, the styling on this thing is grand. Much more luxurious then some of the other LCD manufacture designs, what with the glossy piano black. My house mates all said they preferred the design to my Bravia. Also, I am really very impressed with the picture quality.
The SD is the best I've ever seen from an LCD, much better and cleaner then from my Bravia 32" KDL-32S2030. At times, if you get a good freeview reception, from the distance I watch it, it can look 'upscaled DVD' quality! The image is incredibly Sharp and very clean. Colours are nice, though not as vibrant as the Bravia's, however that is met by stunning white's and blacks. The black levels on this thing are the best I've seen. Especially with the 'Black' feature On.
Negatives are that the viewing angles are pretty damn poor. Much worse then my Bravia, you move out of perfect viewing and you get fairly noticeable colour differences, the image still looks very clear, just not accurate (colour/contrast wise). Another big negative for me was that the TV does not accept 1080p via VGA or Component, very annoying as I cannot run my 360 in 1080p, not that 720p or 1080i looks bad I haven't tried DVI-HDMI with PC yet, though I've heard you can get 1080p this way. (better be the case or this set is going back!). Also. why is it the Component and VGA image options are so dulled down? When connected via VGA you get none of the TruD options, nor do you when using component. This annoyed me greatly.
Anyway, some pics: (taken with mobile phone, so not the best quality)
SD pics: (digital freeview)
Xbox 360 pics. (ignore the note, I took these pics to prove I had a 360 on another forum).
Banding.
Now the reason I made the thread. To discuss banding. I think, this LCD suffers from slight banding. I very rarely notice it, but there definitely is some, just not enough to significantly bother me. What I'm interested to know is, if the banding is only subject to the VGA and component connections. The VGA playback on this LCD is poor, when connecting my 360 via VGA, colours looked considerably more washed out then with Component.
Also, is banding where different gradients don't mix well? To my knowledge most monitors and LCD's get a tiny bit of banding. My Dell 2407FW manages them very well, for example whilst posting this the blacks mix with the purple really well, not so well on my 37XD1E. Do you guys have any programmes, sites, images etc that I could test banding with?
Here are some examples.
Notice the top orange bar. Banding?
[image=http://img227.imageshack.us/img227/7035/5ab0.jpg]
Whilst conencted to VGA was when I saw the worst banding. Though it isn't so clear in the photo's it is more evident in real life. I wonder if this has anything to do with max resolution being 1280x(?) and having to be stretched to fit the screen? I shall have to test DVI-HDMI later today I suspect.
Anyway, your own views, thoughts and input would be greatly appreciated.
Am I being overly nit-picky perhaps?
Thanks
Naim