Unlike an iPod or a cellphone, an HDTV includes numerous and sometimes very advanced adjustments that can directly improve its performance. Using those controls properly can have more impact on picture quality than any other factor.
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What We Think
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| Despite the amazing controls, the free calibration, and the image quality, this LCoS newcomer is very expensive next to its competition. |
Now, in an unprecedented move, newcomer Brillian offers a free professional calibration with its 65-inch 6580iFB03, a giant rear-projection HDTV that uses high-resolution 1080p LCoS (Liquid Crystal on Silicon) display technology similar to Sony's SXRD and JVC's HD-ILA. Even so, at $7,999, this is one awfully expensive TV.
For a set with such flashy specs and girth, the 6580iFB03 is pleasantly unassuming. The big screen has just over an inch of silver-and-gray frame around the top and sides, creating a classic all-picture look. Below is a gray housing that contains speakers, buttons, and a flip-down front-panel door with a set of A/V inputs. While the remote has a cool-looking soft-button membrane screen whose legends change for each device under control, I prefer hard-button remotes that let me feel my way without having to look.
SETUP The Brillian 6580iFB03's input selection is notable for having just one digital video input: a DVI connector. It's compliant with HDCP copy protection and works with HDMI sources like HDTV set-top boxes and HD DVD or Blu-ray players with the addition of a DVI-to-HDMI adapter or cable. It's even compatible with 1080p native signals. But, given that digital video inputs usually outperform analog ones, I really would have liked at least a second digital input.
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The Short Form
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| $7,999 MSRP / 60 x 44 x 21 IN / 122 LBS / www.syntaxbrillian.com / 800-706-0154 |
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Plus
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| •Excellent picture quality •Includes professional calibration •Accepts 1080p/60 fps sources via DVI •Incredibly detailed picture controls |
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Minus
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| •Expensive •Only one digital input |
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Key Features
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| •65-inch 1920 x 1080 resolution LCoS display •Inputs: 1 DVI, 2 HD component-video, 1 SD component-video, 1 VGA •Soft-button universal remote •Price $7,999 |
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Test Bench
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| In the Night mode with the Cinema gamma preset and Warm color temperature, the Brillian 6580iFB03's color temperature came commendably close to the 6500K standard. After calibration, results were excellent. Its contrast ratio and average black levels measured as good or better than those of any LCoS TV I've tested. Geometry, uniformity, and color decoding were also excellent, although the set did fail to resolve every line of a 1080i multiburst test pattern. I can report notable differences between two test samples of the 6580iFB03. The first exhibited a very faint starburst pattern detectable on uniform gray and color fields, which proved to be from a mirror installation issue and wasn't apparent in a second sample sped to our lab. (See the Web for more details.) The second sample, however, delivered less depth of black, less accurate color, and inferior uniformity compared to the first, which was said to be due to rushed calibration of the TV at the factory. My observations are based on the first sample, which Brillian assures me is typical (minus the mirror problem) of units in the field. Full Lab Results |
While many other top-of-the-line HDTVs offer lots of control over the picture, the Brillian 6580iFB03 takes it to a whole new level. Each input enjoys three fully adjustable picture modes — Day, Night, and Custom. Adjustments include three preset gamma modes and 30(!) fully customizable ones; three preset and one custom color-temperature setting per picture mode; RGB brightness and contrast; adjustable color space per input resolution; horizontal and vertical position controls, and much more. Numerous setup-friendly options include a setting to display only red, green, or blue colors; a menu that returns directly to your last selection by default; adjustable menu time-out; and input skip. I had a great time playing with all the controls and was able to achieve near-perfect calibration.
PICTURE QUALITY For my DVD evaluations I chose the beautiful Memoirs of a Geisha disc. The Brillian 6580iFB03 handled the difficult dark portions, such as the nighttime scenes at the beginning when young Chiyo (Suzuka Ohgo) is taken from her home and brought to Kyoto, very well. The shadows in her seaside shack appeared suitably deep, and I could make out the folds and patterns of Hatsumomo's (Li Gong) kimono as she stands in the shadowed doorway, the spotlight on her face. The shadows also appeared clean and relatively free of noise. Overall, the Brillian's performance with dark scenes was excellent — as good as any 1080p HDTV I've tested.
Taking Brillian's advice, I swapped outputs on our upconverting DVD player, changing from digital to the set's specialized 480i component-video input. While in most aspects the images looked very similar, I noticed false contouring via the 480i input — subtle concentric lines of indistinct color that appeared in areas of sky or fog, or, in one case, in the shadowed face of one of the geishas. So I stuck with the digital input.
Steady shots of the Kyoto sky were everywhere in the film, and while some LCoS sets have problems with uniformity in skies and other flat fields, the Brillian 6580iFB03 did not. As the camera pulls back from a temple and pans up into the overcast sky, for example, the clouds appeared evenly white. Darker areas again looked relatively uniform compared to their appearance on many rear-projection sets, with even brightness and no discoloration across the screen.
The Brillian brought out the colors of Sayuri's (Ziyi Zhang) big debut dance, delivering the icy blue of the light in the snow and the orangish reds of the paper lamps, while keeping the various skin tones on the faces of the spectators nice and neutral. Later, during Sayuri's visit to the Baron's estate, her pale, painted face under the sunlight looked as delicate as porcelain. The set didn't over- or under-accentuate any colors, allowing the images to appear rich and fully saturated.
Keeping with the Japanese theme, I looked at a few scenes from The Last Samurai on HD DVD for some high-def tests. Details throughout the film, such as the thin stalks of wheat in the fields, the leaves of the ferns in the forest, and even the fine brush strokes in the Japanese character behind the title looked crisp and clear, a testament to the Brillian's high resolution. According to my test patterns, the set couldn't resolve every line of a 1080i source (as many 1080p sets can), though I couldn't detect that while watching the film.
On the minus side, I found a few oddities with the Brillian's DVI input. For example, every time I switched to DVI from another input, the entire image would flash a few times before settling down. Brillian said this was normal for their TV as it searches for a signal, though I've never seen it before. I also noticed some flicker along horizontal edges while watching through the DVI input, mostly on still images like the HD DVD disc's menu text and the program guide in my satellite receiver. It went away when I switched to component video. And the DVI port also lacks color and tint controls. Although in theory digital video signals don't need color and tint adjustments, they're still nice to have since source quality varies so widely. I missed them on The Last Samurai, for example, where I wanted to tweak skin tones a bit.
BOTTOM LINE The impressive adjustability of the Brillian 6580iFB03 65-inch LCoS HDTV is a great boon for both pros and interested amateur calibrators, and this HDTV's overall image quality puts it among the best 1080p sets I've tested. Unfortunately, it costs a good deal more than its included calibration should warrant, and its single digital input is shortsighted for such an expensive set and could be an issue in some systems. With this effort, Brillian has shown it can compete with the big boys on picture — but it's got a ways to go on value.
Full Lab Results
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