 |
| The 46W4100 performed well in our tests for motion. We saw smooth motion with videos that contained lots of movement, and the display had no problem processing an image with 3:2 pulldown. |
 |
Motion Smoothness (8.25) 
HDTVs don't display static images; things move on the screen. That's why we test motion using a number of industry standard tests and video sequences. Like most of the screens we have tested that use 120Hz processing, the 46W4100 did a good job of handling these; we saw smooth motion in most cases. Sony makes much of their Motion Processing feature, and this did an excellent job of smoothing out the jitters and jumpiness that we often see in fast moving video sequences. There are two levels of processing offered: standard and high, and we found that standard was the better option for most types of video, producing pleasantly smooth, well rounded movement.
Motion Artifacting (8.0) 
The Motion Processing feature of the Sony did have a slight consequence, though; with this set to high, some fast-moving action did take a slightly flat, almost cartoonish look as the display processed it. This effect was present, but much less visible with CineMotion on the standard setting, though, and that's the setting we would generally recommend. Another thing to note is that the video processing adds a slight, but perceptible delay, as the display uses a buffer to hold the frames as it processes them. This isn't a problem for watching TV or a move (the sound is automatically delayed to the same amount), but it can be a problem if you are playing computer games; a delay of a few milliseconds can mean the difference between victory and crushing, pwnd defeat. The 46W4100 deals with this by offering a gaming mode, which removes the processing and displays the video immediately it is received. Another nice touch is that this can be set to on or off for each individual input, so if you have a PS3, XBox or PC connected, you can set this input to gaming mode and it will automatically switch to gaming mode when that input is selected.
3:2 Pulldown & 24fps (8.5) 
3:2 pulldown is a process that tries to restore the film-like look of movies and some TV shows by processing the signal in a way that tries to simulate the look of film that is shot at 24 frames per second (this is often called telecine). Some displays have problems spotting and decoding this effect, but the CineMotion processing of the Sony did not have this issue; we found that it accurately spotted a video signal containing telecine processing, and processed and displayed it well, producing an attractive film-like look to our video samples.
It was also able to take a 24 frames per second video signal and display it on screen, preserving the move in the way that the director intended it to look. We use a PlayStation 3 set to 24Hz output for this test.
|