Sharp Aquos LC-40E67UN LCD HDTV Review - Blacks & Whites

Blacks & Whites Summary
• Deep blacks • Whites are a little pale compared to other LCD HDTVs • Some problems scaling lower resolution signals to fit the screen • Testing done using DisplayMate Software
	Tour & Design	Page 3 of 18	Color Accuracy

Black Level (8.0)

We measured the deepest black that the LC-40E67UN could produce at 0.1 cd/m2, which is a very decent score for an LCD screen. Most LCDs favor brightness over the black level, but this one takes the opposite approach, which means that the black level is very decent compared to other LCD HDTVs.

Black Level

Compare the Sharp LC-40E67UN to other HDTVs
Vizio VO370M 37 inches	LG 37LH30 37 inches	Toshiba Regza 40XV645U 40 inches

Peak Brightness (7.2)

At the other end of the scale, we measured the brightest white that this display could produce at 217.82 cd/m2. That's a decent, but unspectacular measurement; other LCD HDTVs have produced much brighter whites. What this means is that the whites on screen won't be as bright as others, and that the images won't look as good as brighter TVs in bright light. So, don't use this display near the hot tub unless you are a fan of midnight bathing.

Peak Brightness

Compare the Sharp LC-40E67UN to other HDTVs
Vizio VO370M 37 inches	LG 37LH30 37 inches	Toshiba Regza 40XV645U 40 inches

Contrast (7.38)

The ratio between the deepest black and the brightest white is the contrast ratio, and this represents the range of blacks and whites that the display can reproduce at the same time. For this display, the ratio is 2178:1, which is a very decent ratio. Again, it is not the best that we've seen by a long way, but it is above average.

Contrast

One thing to note here is that we disabled features such as Active Contrast, which try and extend the contrast ratio by turning the backlight down on dark scenes. Our method of measuring the contrast ratio is also different from the manufacturers: they typically quote bigger numbers obtained by measuring the black level with the backlight turned down. Because that is not how people use these displays, we don't use that method; we measure both black level and peak white with the backlight turned up to maximum. 

Compare the Sharp LC-40E67UN to other HDTVs
Vizio VO370M 37 inches	LG 37LH30 37 inches	Toshiba Regza 40XV645U 40 inches

Tunnel Contrast (9.75)

Televisions seldom get to display just white or black screens; most images contain both. In this test, we look at how a display manages this; do the blacks on the screen get brighter as they are surrounded by more and more white?  The answer for the LC-40E67UN was no; we found that the blacks remained mostly constant, even when just 5% of the screen was black and the rest was white. So, if you are a fan of documentaries about polar bears, their deep black eyes should still look good and black on this display.

Tunnel Contrast

Compare the Sharp LC-40E67UN to other HDTVs
Vizio VO370M 37 inches	LG 37LH30 37 inches	Toshiba Regza 40XV645U 40 inches

White Falloff (9.97)

The flip side of this coin is the white falloff. Do the whites on the screen remain just as bright if there is a small bit of white on there, or if there is a lot? For the LC-40E67UN, the answer is yes again; we saw very constant whites whether there was just a small amount of white on show, or if the entire screen was white. So with your polar bear documentaries, the Icebergs they live on will remain bright white if they are big or small.

White Falloff

Compare the Sharp LC-40E67UN to other HDTVs
Vizio VO370M 37 inches	LG 37LH30 37 inches	Toshiba Regza 40XV645U 40 inches

Uniformity (6.25)

We saw some issues with the LC-40E67UN in our tests of uniformity, where we look at how uniform the screens are with both black and white screens. On a black screen, there were some blotchy patches of lightness on the screen that gave the display a motttled look. On a bright white screen, the left and right edges of the screen were distinctly paler than the center, although the transition between the two areas was smooth. This is a good thing as sudden jumps are much more noticeable than more subtle changes.

Greyscale Gamma (7.30)

The way that the display handles the process of going from black to white is called the gamma: if the gamma is too high, the image will turn into a grey mess.  If it is too low, it will look too dark as the grey details get lost in the black. The ideal we look for here is a gamma of between 2.2 and 2.3, but the LC-40E67UN was a little outside this at 2.65. That's not a huge problem, but it is a little higher than we like to see.

Greyscale Gamma

Compare the Sharp LC-40E67UN to other HDTVs
Vizio VO370M 37 inches	LG 37LH30 37 inches	Toshiba Regza 40XV645U 40 inches

Resolution Scaling (5.72)

The LC-40E67UN is a 1080p screen, but it won't always have the luxury of being fed a 1080p signal. Instead, it will have to deal with the lower resolution signals that many devices output. So, we test how well all HDTVs can take these signals and process and scale them to fit its screen.

480p (6.25)
Devices such as standard definition DVD players with HDMI outputs usually output 480p signals, and the LC-40E67UN did a reasonable job of displaying these. In our test sceens, we saw fairly sharp text and no major issues with glitchy or jagged edges. The image is overscanned (by about 4%) and this can't be disabled, but this is pretty normal.

720p (5.4)
This display did a less impressive job of rendering a 720p signal; for one thing, the image was more overscanned than we usually like to see at around 6% on the horizontal and 5% on the vertical, which could means some elements at the edge of the screen are cropped out. This overscan can be removed by changing over to the Full Screen mode, but it is a pity that there is no option imbetween the two. But there were still some glitches in the Full Screen mode; in a test screen filled with a herringbone pattern, we saw an odd blocky pattern that was not present in the original image.

1080i (5.5)
A 1080i signal (such as one produced by a cable or satellite box) has the same resolution as a 1080p one, but it is interlaced, with the image being transmitted in alternate frames. This can cause some HDTVs problems, and we did see some glitches on this one. Although it had no problem rendering our test screens as still images, any movement on the screen (such as an icon moving on a computer screen) caused the entire image to jump and flicker.  This problem was less apparrent when watching video, but there were still some issues with jerky motion (see our motion tests here).

Compare the Sharp LC-40E67UN to other HDTVs
Vizio VO370M 37 inches	LG 37LH30 37 inches	Toshiba Regza 40XV645U 40 inches