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After completing our adjustments, we sat down to compare the HP against a few like-size displays we had on hand: the Samsung LN-T4665F LCD and a pair of plasma TVs, the Panasonic TH-50PX77U, and our reference Pioneer PRO-FHD1. We chose to watch the Blu-ray version of Flyboys using a Samsung BD-P1200 set to 1080i resolution.
It didn't take long to notice the HP's inability to produce a deep shade of black. Compared to the other displays, its letterbox bars were quite a bit lighter, as were the shadows and dark areas in the film. When Jean Reno lectures the 'boys at night inside the tent, for instance, the shadows in the background and the night sky itself appeared lighter, an effect that made the whole scene appear more washed out than on the other displays. We were also disappointed with the LC4776N's detail in shadows--the equipment stacked along the edges of the tent and the folds in the fabric, for example, looked muddier than on the other displays, and we didn't see as much definition in dark sections close to black.
Color was a somewhat better story with the HP LC4776N, mainly due to its relatively accurate grayscale. When Jennifer Decker talks to one of the 'boys, for example, her pale skin looked relatively realistic, although it was still a tad too ruddy when compared to the other displays. That's a symptom of the set's inaccurate color decoding, which tended to push red. Colors like the gold of her dress and the green of the turf appeared a bit less saturated than on the other displays, partly a result of the light-black levels and partly because we reduced the color control to achieve more-accurate skin tones. We did appreciate the HP's solid primary-color accuracy, although its green was a bit bluish, which made trees and grass appear a bit too dark in some cases.
Screen uniformity was another area where the HP fell short of most LCDs we've tested, including the Samsung, to which we compared it directly. The LC4776N shared that display's lighter sides compared to the middle, although the brightness difference was more drastic, and thus more noticeable, on the HP. We also noticed narrow vertical sections that appeared very slightly brighter than the background in all but the brightest flat fields. We saw evidence of these brightness variations, among other places, in pans and camera movement, such as when the camera pushes over the steely-gray fuselage of a biplane. They weren't as noticeable as the worst backlight uniformity problems we've seen, but still relatively severe.
We also noticed that the HP introduced its share of false contouring. During the scene in the movie theater, for example, the flashing light cast by the projector evinced distinct lines on the HP, while the other sets showed a more natural gradation in brightness.
The HP LC4776N can handle 1080p sources, both at 24 frames per second and 60 fps. As we mentioned above, its lack of a dot-by-dot aspect ratio mode means it can't display 1080i and 1080p sources without scaling, which also means it can't display every line of a 1,920x1,080 test pattern. The image did look as sharp as the Samsung's, however, and for that matter it was almost impossible to discern extra detail between the 1080p HP and the 1,366x768 Panasonic from our 7-feet seating distance. The HP failed both of the HQV tests on HD DVD for proper deinterlacing of 1080i content, but again we had a hard time noticing any adverse effect on detail during the film.
We did notice some strange flicker in other content, namely Jorge Posada's horizontally striped shirt in a special Yankees-centric episode of American Chopper on DiscoveryHD, however. Although we didn't see this flicker elsewhere outside of test patterns, we believe it's the fault of the HP's video processing (it didn't appear at all on the other displays), and suspect it would appear on other content as well.
To test standard-definion performance we turned to our trusty HQV test suite on DVD, and the HP turned in a mediocre performance. It had no trouble passing the full resolution of DVD, but when faced with moving diagonal lines it did little to smooth out their jagged edges. It was able to pass the 2:3 pull-down detection test, eliminating moire from the grandstand relatively quickly. Its biggest failing, however, was during the many noisy, low-quality shots of sunsets, skies, and flowers meant to test noise reduction. The HP has no noise reduction control, and it really could have used one; compared to the other displays, even when their NR controls were turned off, the image on the HP crawled with more motes of noise.
With PC sources, the LC4776N turned in a disappointing performance, especially considering that HP is the No. 1 PC maker on Earth. While our computer desktop did appear when we gave its VGA input a 1,920x1,080 signal, it didn't fill the screen--there were black bars to either side, as if we were watching 4:3 video, no matter which aspect ratio selection we chose. It was also scaled incorrectly: text looked soft, and the desktop was horizontally squished and didn't fit on the screen in either dimension. (Update 05/16/07): After speaking with HP's resresentatives, we discovered that the set is not designed to accept 1920x1080 progressive sources via VGA, despite that resolution being listed in the user menual under a table called "PC compatibility chart." The company told us that 1360x768 is the recommended resolution via VGA, and when we tested it that resolution did fill the screen properly. Since that resolution is much lower than the panel's native resolution, text and other fine details didn't look perfect. We did not test the PC compatibility of the panel's HDMI inputs, although HP claims their performance is better than VGA.
| TEST | RESULT | SCORE |
| Before color temp (20/80) | 6,473/6,146K | Good |
| After color temp | N/A | |
| Before grayscale variation | +/- 285K | Good |
| After grayscale variation | N/A | |
| Color of red (x/y) | 0.643/0.326 | Good |
| Color of green | 0.266/0.584 | Average |
| Color of blue | 0.146/0.057 | Good |
| Overscan | 4% | Average |
| Black-level retention | All patterns stable | Good |
| Defeatable edge enhancement | Y | Good |
| 480i 2:3 pull-down, 24 fps | Y | Good |
| 1080i video resolution | Fail | Poor |
| 1080i film resolution | Fail | Poor |
| HP LC4776N | Picture settings | ||
| Default | Calibrated | Power Save | |
| Picture on (watts) | 273.65 | 274.34 | N/A |
| Picture on (watts/sq. inch) | 0.29 | 0.29 | N/A |
| Standby (watts) | 0.93 | 0.93 | N/A |
| Cost per year | $83.67 | $83.88 | N/A |
 | |||
| Score (considering size) | Average | ||
| Score (overall) | Poor | ||
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