Consumer Reports, the monthly advertiser-free publication of the non-profit Consumer's Union, has issued its seasonal recommendations for HD sets and for the most part, LCD units and brand names come out on top.
In its December 2006 edition, CR rates all categories of sets (notably LCD, plasma and rear projection) and as in previous years, higher price points did not necessarily lead to higher recommendations. Rankings were based on lab tests of several video/audio factors and features.
LCD
Taking top honors in the LCD category for 40-inch screens were:
• JVC LT-40FN97
• Sony Bravia KDL-40XBR2
• Sony Bravia KDL-V40XBR1
For 37-inch LCD, the top three nods went to:
• Sharp Aquos LC-37D9OU
• Magnavox 37MF231D/37
• HP LC376ON LCD
32-inch rankings at the top were:
• Toshiba 32HL66
• Sony Bravia KDL-V32XBR1
• JVC LT-32X787
The top two choices in the 40-inch class (JVC and Sony), and the top selection in the 37-inch group (Sharp) all rated "Excellent" for HD picture quality.
PLASMA
Ranking highest for 50-inch plasma sets were:
• Panasonic TH-50PX600U
• Fujitsu Plasmavision P50XTA51UB
• LG 50PC1DR
In the 42-inch slot, the publication reserved its highest accolades for:
• Panasonic TH-42PX600U
• Fujitsu Plasmavision P42XTA51US
• HP PL4260N
(No plasma sets tested rated "Excellent" for HD picture quality.)
REAR PROJECTION
Toshiba takes the top 3 spots based on various sizes, with its 62-inch 62HM196, the 56-inch CinemaSeries 56MX96, and the 56-inch 56M66. The fourth pick, Samsung's HL-S5687W--along with the other three in this category--all rated "Excellent" for HD picture quality.
RELIABILITY
CR also rated brands and technology types for reliability.
LCD brands with "promising reliability" in alphabetical order included: JVC, Magnavox, Panasonic, Philips, Samsung, Sanyo, Sharp, Sony and Toshiba. The only LCD brand noted with "more repairs than average" was Dell.
For plasma "promising reliability," brands included Fujitsu, Hitachi, Panasonic, Pioneer, Sony and Toshiba. Two brands with more than the average number of repairs were Philips and Vizio.
For microdisplay projection (where 10 percent or less of newer sets required repairs), Panasonic (LCD) and Sony (LCD and LCoS) have promising reliability; RCA (DLP) and JVC (LCoS/D-ILA) do not.
