Best New 50- to 55-Inch HDTVs
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At the largest screen size we considered (we also scrutinized HDTVs in the 40- to 42-inch range and the 46- to 47-inch range), Samsung again came through with a winning model, albeit in this case a rather expensive one. In a field where every set in our Top 5 earned an admirable image quality score of Very Good, the Samsung UN55C8000 came through with a mark of Superior, making it the only HDTV in our cohort of 18 sets to merit that designation.
The LG Infinia 50PK950 ($1500) and the Sony Bravia KDL-52NX800 ($1900) trailed the other three HDTVs in this category by a fairly slim margin. The LG matched the Vizio in assessments of color fidelity but came up short in the remaining tests, especially those for motion and detail. Unfortunately, the LG's image texture was unusually grainy across all of our tests, too. Imagine watching TV through a subtle filter of translucent sandpaper, and you'll have an idea of the texture problem. The Sony won plaudits for its above-average color but didn't do as well with motion, contrast, or detail; and its edge-lit LED backlighting produced subtle localized shadows in certain areas near the bottom of the screen.
The LG and Samsung HDTVs share the tweak-friendliness award. The LG Infinia 50PK950 comes with 20-point white-balance controls, and the Samsung counters with 10-point white-balance controls (if you don't want to calibrate the LG set at each of the 20 points, you can skip every other point on the scale, for the equivalent of a 10-point white-balance TV). The LG also features a THX Mode in case you don't feel like spending several hours fine-tuning your HDTV's image.
Bizarrely, neither the Samsung nor the Sharp set includes Wi-Fi. If you've already invested this much money in a television, having to pay $50 extra for Wi-Fi so you don't have to see a $3 ethernet cable sticking out of your $3000 HDTV is like having to shell out for power windows on a Porsche--it should be included in the sticker price.
We also had a few problems getting the Sony set's Internet video services working; ultimately, we called tech support to walk us through the process of manually updating the firmware via flash drive, which was a pain. We ran into other glitches with the Vizio set--as it turns out, you can plug whatever you want into one of its three USB ports, but the company won't be adding support for actually playing media from USB drives until a future firmware update arrives.
For head-to-head comparisons of the five highest-ranking 50- to 55-inch HDTVs we evaluated, see our "Top 5 50-, 52-, and 55-Inch HDTVs" chart.
This story, "Best New 50- to 55-Inch HDTVs" was originally published by PCWorld.
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