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To test today, we are using a LaCie calibration gun along with specific software to measure the readings.
We measured the Gamut out of the box and the 248X3LFH returned a reading of 2.12, a good default setting. When manually tweaking to 1.8, the panel returned a 1.85 result, which is quite good.
Colour response was very positive, measuring a very minor pink cast across the image area. We could remove this with some tweaking, although panel linearity wasn't perfect. We measured 97% coverage of sRGB.
The colour accuracy is good for a TN panel, although the off axis performance was a little lacking on both vertical and horizontal lines. Philips rate viewing angles as 170° horizontally and 160° vertically although our sample seemed a little worse.
Black Definition was average at best, and we recorded a deviance around 10% in the center of the panel, rising to 25% at the extreme edges and 30% in the corners. Most of the time this isn't too noticeable, although we have seen more consistent coverage in the last year.
Watching the bluray copy of sci-fi space film SunShine highlighted the inconsistent black variance. Our sample had a patch around half way down the screen, just off center to the left. Not really noticeable to the naked eye in the majority of situations, but with specific material I could see it.
In real world terms, I would have liked the blacks to be deeper. SmartContrast helped to negate this a little, although it could exacerbate low level noise with specific video content.
White purity was average at best, measuring around 10 percent in the middle of the screen. Our equipment recorded a slightly darker patch off center to the left, although this was not really noticeable to the naked eye, even with bright, outdoor scenes. I could notice a little ‘pooling' with some images on bright media content however, especially in the corners. Uniformity of the panel was above average although I noticed some bleed close to the corners. Colour fluctuation is held well across the panel, and we recorded around 1.5 percent variance via the R channel.
For gaming, the screen is measured at 2ms. I didnt notice any motion blur or artifacting and tested the SmartResponse setting. This seemed to have a slightly negative effect on the image to my naked eye, so I left it disabled.
SmartKolor (yes, with a ‘K') artificially boosts colour saturation which can give flat images a better contrast ration. I have to admit that I preferred the image with this disabled.
SmartTxt can improve the quality and sharpness of on screen text if you are having problems with fine type. I found this setting didn't really work great, sometimes lowering the quality of colour images next to the text.
SmartContrast (no ‘K' on the C with this one) will enable a 20,000,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio which is said to enhance video content. To my eyes the images appeared very artificial when this was enabled.
I didn't like any of the Philips ‘tweaks' with this panel, so I would leave them all disabled.
We measured a maximum contrast ratio of around 800:1 with a maximum brightness setting of 332 cd/m2. Native white point was measured slightly higher than 7000K.
Power consumption is better than the industry standard, taking only 17 watts at the socket when we calibrated the settings. With all options maximised, the 248X3LFH demands 22 watts.
