Lab Tests - do they really mean anything?

I've been thinking of upgrading my Aiwa DV-370, which I use for non-region 2 discs (I use a Pioneer DV-717 for R2) and have been researching reviews in magazines and on the net.

I'm begining to find the lab tests tend to be at odds with the reviews, for instance the Panasonic S75 is given 5 stars for picture and called gobsmacking in the review, but the lab tests are often average or below average (certainly worse than my Aiwa), what is going on?

I've noticed the lab results for the Pioneer DV-565 are pretty close to the DV-717, but is the picture quality really as good?

 

Thats a difficult one to answer. Obviously some lab tests are more important than others. The Panasonic S75 like a lot of Panasonic dvd players doesn't have the chroma bug that many other players do but that doesn't necessarily make it the best picture. Also some of the test results may only be applicable to composite and s-video like chroma tests. If your using component or scart RGB they don't matter.

Basically the end verdict on picture quality and any comments about it in the review are the most important I would say.

The Panasonic S75 really does produce an excellent picture by any standard and seems one of the best out there for connecting via scart RGB. Its component output can be beaten as it lacks pal progressive but theres not much better for scart RGB use.

People vary in what they call a good picture thats one problem. We've probably all seen tv sets where the colour is turned up high because thats the way they like it. Also many people seem to prefer s-video to rgb because often its artificially sharpened by the tv's sharpness settings and they see it as higher resolution/detail even though its false sharpness.

Thats why when you've made a shortlist of possible purchases you have to view them with your own eyes and no lab results or magazine reviews will give you the full info you require on how it actually performs to you.

In these very forums you get one person who thinks the picture is amazing only to be responded to by another person who has owned the same model and thought it was complete rubbish etc.

If only shops allowed you to take 5 players home to try and return 4 of them the next day. Choosing would be a lot easier.

 

They do indicate the degree of variance between reality and the manufacturers spec.

Mike.