Product: Light Boxes
Manufacturer: Roundup:
Wired Rating: 0
New LED-illuminated LCD TVs use a lot less juice than old-school sets. Even better, they’re super bright and razor slim. We’ll take four.
Sony Bravia KDL-52EX700
Smart menus and deep customization options tame the slew of picture controls, inputs, and online media sources on this 52-inch Sony, leaving you free to enjoy the supersharp image. If you do manage to tear yourself away, a presence sensor notices when your two-minute fridge run becomes a marathon phone call and turns the set off. When you return, it automatically starts up again.
WIRED Edge-lit panel scrooges on power yet scorches your retinas with its bright picture. Two-ish grand buys a ton of TV.
TIRED Despite the matte screen, we caught massive surface glare. Dark-room viewing revealed minor black-level flaws. No printed manual.
$2,200, sony.com
Samsung UN46C6500
This 46-inch Samsung is the TV you can’t stop watching—even when it’s turned off. Just over an inch thick and trimmed with a narrow aluminum bezel, the 6500 is practically all screen. Switch it on and the edge-lit panel provides a startlingly bright image that can stand up to any sun-filled living room. Nitpick: The color balance reminded us of a high school cafeteria burger—a little off but delicious anyway.
WIRED Snappy menus look as good as the set, making it easy to navigate the ample connected-TV apps. Chrome base stands out from the gloss-black crowd.
TIRED One measly component video port? Big-buttoned remote looks like it came with baby’s first TV.
$2,100, samsung.com
LG Infinia 55LE8500
More tour guide than temptress, this 55-inch set is nearly as pretty as the Samsung. But it’s the brain you fall in love with. Unlocking the superpowers of high-end sets can be complicated, but LG’s helpful onscreen wizards assist with calibration and other tasks. And because it sports a full array of LED backlights, you’re going to want this sucker dialed in. Its ability to dim or brighten diodes behind any of the panel’s 240 zones boosts contrast but can also cause halos around bright objects.
WIRED Bezel buttons magically appear when you need them. More ports than Micronesia.
TIRED Backlight halos get really annoying. Polycarbonate front is easy to clean but picks up fingerprints like Kojak. Pricey.
$3,800, lg.com
Toshiba 55UX600U
Gearheads will love how this 55-incher lets them geek out on everything from closed-captioning fonts to the ratio of backlight to ambient light. Those who just want to plug in and veg out, though, may be frustrated by the menus’ postgraduate reading level. We spent almost as much time tweaking settings as we did watching movies. But once we got the set all set, the rewards were sweet.
WIRED Backlighting sans halos. As connected as a 13-year-old, with wireless access to Pandora, Flickr, Picasa, Vudu, Twitter, Wikipedia, and more.
TIRED Menus are misery to use. Poor remote-control button layout. Ugly Wi-Fi dongle sticks out the side. The manual is 100 PAGES LONG.
$2,400, toshiba.com