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| The LT-47X899 provides only a limited angle of view, with the screen becoming much dimmer at just a few degrees off axis. It did not have a big problem with reflections, though; the matte screen did not show much in the way of reflections. |
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Viewing Angle (4.95) 
Having the best color, motion and image quality in the world isn't going to help if the image on the screen turns into mush when you are more than a few degrees off center. That's why we test the viewing angle of displays. To do this, we measure the luminance (the brightness) of a white and black screen from a number of angles ranging from 0 degrees (straight on) right down to 85 degrees off the center of the screen, and measure how the contrast ratio between the two holds up.
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The LT-47X899 had only lackluster results in this test; we found that the screen brightness fell off rather quickly as you moved away from the straight-on view. Our score for this is partly based on the angle at which the contrast ratio of the blacks to whites falls by 50 percent, and this happened at just 18 degrees off the axis. And it just got worse from there; by the time we reached 55 degrees, the contrast ratio had fallen to just 180:1, thanks to the peak whites getting much paler and the brights getting significantly brighter.
You should remember that our contrast ratio test differs from the manufacturers; their figures for viewing angles are usually determined by the angle at which the contrast ratio falls to 10:1, which is obviously significantly wider than our test. Our test is more realistic; a 50 drop on contrast ratio will still be watchable, but a 10:1 contrast ratio will look awful.
We also look at how the colors perform as the viewing angle changes, and the JVC did a little better here; we found that colors remained mostly constant, although they did become noticeably paler as the viewing angle increased. Red in particular became very dark and muddy, and many darker colors faded to obscurity very quickly.
Reflectance (6.75)
If you're trying to watch a move in a darkened room, the last thing you want to see is a reflection of the light beside your couch on the screen. The LT-47X899 deals with this issue with a matte layer on the top of the screen, which does a decent job of making the reflections less irritating. Although reflections are still visible, they don't detract overly from the on-screen video, and there are no annoying hotspots. And the screen is bright enough that the image is still visible if you have daylight reflections; as long as you place the TV away from direct sunlight, the reflections should not interfere with your daytime soap opera addiction.
Image Processing (3.5)
The LT-47X899 offers several features in the advanced video menu that claim to help improve the image quality. To test these, we examine each one.
| Feature |
What the manufacturer claims
|
What we saw |
| Color Management |
"Allows you to compensate for dull colors" |
Boosts colors slightly, making them more vivid |
| Dynamic Gamma |
"Allows you to see more detail in very dark or bright areas" |
Slightly increases shadow detail by making darks lighter |
| Smart Picture |
"Allows you to adjust the brightness level automatically" |
No difference seen |
| Digital VNR |
"change the effect of Digital VNR (Video Noise Reduction") |
Can be set to Auto, max, min or off. Max noticeably reduced noise in a poor analog signal, but also made the picture look extremely soft. |
| MPEG NR |
"effects the block noise removal and mosquito NR (Noise Reduction) simultaneously" |
Removed some noise on a poor analog signal, but no visible difference on a commercial DVD. |
| Smart Sensor |
"adjusts the brightness on your TV according to the amount of light in the room" |
Pushes brightnes down in a dark room, and up in daylight |
It's worth noting that most of these have no effect if you are watching a digital source (including digital over the air TV); they only work with analog signals. And most of them had little or no effect; Digital VNR might be useful if you are tied into a poor analog cable system, and MPEG NR might help if you're watching a home movie shot on a bad DVD camcorder. But, as usual, they are just stopgap measures; you w0uld be better served by complaining to your cable company or buying a better camcorder in both cases.
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