Lesser Known HD-Ready LCD TVs

Any introduction to this article is likely to contain market information that’s inevitably redundant; and stuff about leading and not-so-leading brands in the marketplace, both popular and unpopular. So I’m going to skip all of that and get straight to the point, which is: mega-retailers don’t stock all brands, and there are plenty of niche brands available at small shops that do business down the road.

Now don’t expect to run into unknown Chinese or Korean brands in this feature. The brands I’m going to review are well-established in their own right; it’s just that they can be termed as an alternative to the mainstream. So Sony, LG, Samsung, Sharp etc. can take a backseat for now; here are four alternatives to consider.

Incidentally the models we considered are all ‘HD-ready’, meaning 1366 x 768 is the capacity of the panels and not 1920 x 1080. Of course, full-HD videos can be played; only they will be resized.

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BenQ VA371Rs 56,000

BenQ, a consortium of ten companies, manufactures a wide variety of electronics products from mobile phones to PC peripherals. And that includes LCD TVs too, in case you didn’t know. We reviewed the VA371 LCD TV, a 37-incher that looks very promising.

The body is a blend of metallic silver and black. The silver frame cradles the dense black bezel and 37 inch screen, while the front panel, below the screen, has decals indicating the various features on offer: mainly stuff like HD-ready etc.

The speakers are placed below in a silver panel and grille. The TV stand is permanently fixed, so swiveling around is not possible, but physical setup is a breeze. It features a WXGA (1366 x 768) panel, 8 ms response time, and 500 cd/m2 brightness.

The good points of the TV are its color saturation levels; flesh tones being a good gauge to check this. Landscapes looked very beautiful, though just a bit noisy. Motion scenes rendered better than expected. What was lacking was dynamic level in the images. Some dark scenes didn’t come out accurately.

The price is quite reasonable, and the looks are not bad, so this is a firm contender in the market.

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Hitachi 37 LD9000TARs 87,999
It’s quite surprising really. Hitachi is a brilliant company; well known globally, but for some reason consumers here haven’t really warmed to the company. We checked out the 37 LD9000TA, a classy TV with dollops of quality.

There’s a very smooth black bezel for the TV, with nice straight-edged corners. The speaker panel is a contrast to the frame with its light aluminum finish, sporting a mild luster enhances aesthetics. There are some connections on the side, while the main set is at the back, providing two component-ins, one HDMI, PC in etc. The panel is WXGA, while the contrast ratio is 10,000:1.

The performance proved spectacular. Color and motion image rendering were impressive too. Contrast and brightness were not too far behind, so basically the TV is as good as any of the (high-end) Bravias out there. Slight noise and jaggies were present, but then nothing’s perfect. The price too is high-end at Rs 87,999, so the TV is aimed at the higher segment of the market.

Toshiba Regza 37A3000Rs 89,000

I just reviewed this one; the memory is still fresh in my mind. It actually is still connected in the lab, so re-running the test wasn’t much of an issue. The Toshiba Regza is very popular in the LCD market, and will surely gain momentum on our shores this year, in all probability.

The main thing about the TV design is the stand: it is designed in a most creative way due to its arc shape. The two ends jutting out make it look like some Pixar 3D artists latest project. The bezel is black, with a silver strip along the sides all around, which is visible in profile. Setup takes time though, as the stand is not factory fixed.

The unit has 3 HDMI inputs, a major plus point. Besides this, the contrast and brightness aren’t specified, we just know that the panel is WXGA (all of them are, mostly).

Performance wise, this one is a kicker in the departments of clarity and motion rendering. Color gamut is wide and accurate, with very little noise and other artifacts. The contrast and brightness proved very accommodating; it displayed dense scenes very well, though not spectacularly.

This one too is expensive at Rs 89,000, so check it out if your wallet permits.

Conclusion
This list obviously doesn’t end here, there are more brands that we can review and categorize as and when we get them. For instance, there’s Vu technologies. We are expecting their unit to come by in sometime soon, Then there’s our own Videocon, Onida etc. So for now check these three out, and expect more brands to follow in the near future.