I got a Samsung UE46D6750. In my opinion it had better colors than the other TVs on display and better black than even the plasmas :eek: And they were giving a Samsung android Tablet and some extra glasses for free!
Anyway, the first thing I noticed is that the motion looks kinda weird. I can’t exactly describe what’s wrong with it. Somehow it looks a bit too smooth and crisp. It is especially noticable on Bluray, but it is still there on normal over the air programming, old movies, etc.
This effect is pretty noticeable when you first switch to a LCD TV. Part of it is inherent in the way LCDs work, and part is the “motion interpolation” exacerbating the effect.
Plasmas and CRTs (even HDTVs) don’t have this problem, because they aren’t “pixel holding” display technologies. They pulse the phospors quickly, and the light from a pixel during each drawn frame lasts for much less time than the frame. Each pixel is like a little flashbulb illuminating 60 times a second, but with rest periods in between. That’s what accounts for the familiar “discrete” look of traditional CRTs and plasmas. It’s probably less “natural”, but it’s familiar.
Since LCD pixels are dimmer than phospor-based pixels, they have to hold the pixel “on” for the duration of the entire frame to achieve the desired apparent brightness. But once it’s been held for the entire 1/60 second, there’s not much time to adjust for the brightness of the next frame, and there can be a lag as the pixel tries to adjust in essentially no time.
Motion smoothing techniques double (or quadruple) the frame rate, cutting the hold time in half. This smooths the brightness curve even more, exaggerating the “too smooth” effect. But even if you turn this off, there’s still the problem of hold time and pixel lag inherent in LCDs.
The good news is that whatever level you set for yourself (basic LCD blur, or extra “smoothness”), you acclimate to it in a short time. It’s unnatural at first because it’s not how you’ve gotten used to TV looking your whole life. But after some time, you don’t notice it.
My 47" LG television did this (their setting was called “TruMotion”). Absolutely horrible! I figured out how to turn it off within the TV menu, and all has been well since.