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A big player in the display market, NEC recently left us in the possession of what can only be described as a monster of an LCD. Aimed squarely at the public display market the LCD4000 is a 40in beast that uses active matrix TFT technology, typically found in your standard flat panel display, in order to produce an image. This presents the user with some key advantages over plasma display panels (PDP) that are commonly used for screens of this size or greater.

First, there’s the question of plasma burn. A plasma screen uses many tiny fluorescent lights to form the image. As many of you will know, these lights contain a plasma gas consisting of free-flowing ions that collide with one another releasing energy in the form of photons. This energy, which chiefly manifests itself as ultraviolet light, goes on to stimulate phosphors coated within each sub-pixel in a similar fashion to the process found in a CRT. Each sub-pixel produces red, green or blue light that together form a pixel in the PDP.

Now, as with CRTs, the phosphors can burn-in over time thereby reducing the effective brightness of the display. The matter is made worse when static images are displayed on the screen. Try leaving your CRT TV on for an hour or so with say, a DVD movie paused on a single frame. Turn off the DVD player and you’ll see remnants of that paused image because the phosphors have been over excited. This is why DVD players and for that matter the computer operating systems come with built-in dynamic screen savers to help reduce permanent phosphor burn.

So, because LCDs use a transmissive process rather than an emissive one, the LCD4000 avoids the burn-in issue altogether, which effectively increases the life of the unit. This makes the LCD4000 an ideal alternative to PDPs, especially if you plan to use it to display static public information in environments such as airports, exhibitions, trading floors and the like.

Other advantages that the LCD4000 has over plasma displays include power consumption and noise. PDPs inherently use more electrical juice than LCDs, sometimes by as much as two and half to three times. An offshoot of increased electrical expenditure is one of heat and many PDPs have to use internal fans to keep things cool. Consequently, they tend to be noisier than LCDs, making the LCD4000 a quieter prospect for those wanting to buy a large screen for a home cinema system. Granted, many PDPs now come with temperature monitors that control variable-speed fans when certain temperatures are reached, but the idea of whirring fans is certainly a point to consider. All these factors inevitably lead to a lower total cost of ownership over the life the unit, which is typically twice as long as PDPs.

It’s also worth noting that LCDs tend to weigh less because of these issues. Fans and heat dissipation influence the design of the chassis and the electrical components used in a PDP resulting in greater weights. The LCD4000 weighs in at 27.5kg and that includes the two feet that make up the stand. In comparison you’re looking at anything up to a 40% weight increase for a similar sized PDP. And as weight may be a factor when suspending the unit from walls, the LCD4000 may well have the edge over a PDP. Around the back you’ll find multiple 200 x 200mm VESA mounts for this purpose, along with two carrying handles too help lift it into position.

Ok. So NEC has produced a large 40in TFT display that has many advantages over a plasma display. But what is it like to use? Well I have to say that I was very impressed. The widescreen 1,280 x 768 native resolution may not sound very high, but when compared to the 852 x 480 resolution found on many 42in plasma screens, it’s pretty impressive. You also have to bear in mind that the LCD4000 is designed to be viewed from a distance so an increase in screen resolution will make everything smaller and difficult to read. It was, nonetheless, an enjoyable experience to click on Windows icons literally twice the size of what I’m used to on my 17in monitor.

Moving on to the more rigorous tests in Displaymate, I found little at fault with the LCD4000. The colour scales were evenly stepped and the vibrancy of this LCD was truly remarkable for such a massive screen. Colours are rich and true, and although you’d expect the emissive properties of a plasma screen to show smoother colour transitions, I’m willing to lay money on the LCD4000 performing just as well, if not better than many plasma screens. Plasma screens also tend to look more pixelated because it’s harder to produce numerous tiny fluorescent bulbs. In contrast, transistors can be fabricated to a much smaller scale, generally resulting in a more detailed picture. In this respect, the LCD4000 proved to be good a performer, rendering detail in our test photos with a high level of finesse. The same can be said of the brightness level and contrast. Both worked together to produce very vivid images with strong blacks and pure whites. The only downside I noticed was some ever so slight light leakage when displaying a completely black screen. However, this was only noticeable at the screens peripheral edges.

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