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We were unimpressed by the JVC LT-32P679's viewing angle and found that the display reflected a lot of light, which can be very annoying.
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Viewing Angle (4.62) 
One important factor for HDTVs is the angle at which the images on the display are visible. To test the viewing angle we check to see at what angle the contrast ratio falls below 50%. On the JVC LT-32P679 this occured at 22.5 degrees from the center line, for a total viewing angle of 45 degrees. This is not very impressive, the average for HDTVs we've reviewed thus far is 37.71 degrees from center, so you can see that the JVC LT-32P679 fell well short of this. It's not the absolute worst we've ever seen, however.
We were also unimpressed by how well colors held up as you got to wider viewing angles with the JVC LT-32P679. In particular we noticed that colors seemed smeared and cartoonish as you got to wider viewing angles.
Note: We made a smaller error in our formula for this score and have updated it. The original published score was 4.51.
Reflectance (4.0)
Despite having a matte display the JVC LT-32P679 had some serious issues with reflectence. When shining a bright LED light at the screen we could make out every single LED on the light and the glare took up half the screen. It did a better job with lights coming in from the angle, you really need the light to be almost directly in front of the HDTV to notice the glare effect. But when you do get a galre it's going to be terribly annoying.
Video Processing (1.0)
As with most HDTVs the JVC LT-32P679 offers a variety of special picture controls that claim to do various things to improve what you are watching. In our calibration process we turn these options off as they tend to interfere with proper calibration. Here we do look at them to see whether they do anything.
| Processing Type |
What They Claim |
What We Saw |
Color Management
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Allows you to compensate for dull colors...
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No change
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Dynamic Gamma
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Allows you to see more detail in very dark or bright areas...
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Slightly brightened dark parts of the screne
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Smart Picture
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Allows TV to adjust brightness level automatically...
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No change |
Digital VNR
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Adjusts digital noise reduction
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No change |
MPEG NR
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Noise reduction for analog channels
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No change |
As you can see we didn't see any major impact with any of these settings. This is pretty typical, rarely do these options actually provide you with an improved viewing experience.
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