Amazing HDTV. There are some imperfections noted though:
While the color, black level and overall image was excellent, the LN-T4081’s performance fell short in a number of areas, including its handling of 480i signals. The Silicon Optix HQV DVD produced a score of 0 out of 10 for the “jaggezze” test, with straight diagonal lines producing unwanted artifacts seen as a saw tooth pattern at the top and bottom of the lines. The set also failed the 3:2 pulldown test when fed standard definition 480i signals. Fortunately, with the advent of upconverting external set-top boxes (cable, satellite, surround sound receivers, scalers) and DVD, HD DVD and Blu-ray players with good processing, an HDTVs ability to effectively upconvert 480i has become less important, though I would preferred that the 408i passed these tests.
Another shortcoming is the set’s tendency to occasionally cause fast moving objects to “ghost,” producing a second faint image next to the main one. This can be seen in the photos of the cars bellow. This artifact appeared whether or not the Motion Plus circuit was activated, which indicates that the problem may be with either the panel itself, or with another circuit, and not with the set’s motion blur reduction capabilities. With actual program material, the anomaly was present only occasionally and from a viewing position far closer than the maximum optimum distance of about 6 ½ feet for a display of this size.
The final shortcoming was with the set’s viewing angles. As one moves about 20 degrees off center, blacks appear lighter, whites darker and colors become less saturated. This effect is more pronounced than I have seen with Samsung’s S-PVA panels using conventional CCFL backlights. Perhaps the LEDs have lenses with their own optical properties? These “issues” were minor and far outweighed by all of the set’s positive picture attributes.
