LCD TV Set Fall Preview

Ergonomics

This is the area where Acer's lack of experience shows most. The remote control is adequate, but the OSD leaves a lot to be desired. It shows evidence of beginner's mistakes, such as a menu that takes up 75% of the screen surface and doesn't get out of your way when you adjust the contrast or brightness. That makes it impossible to see right away what effect your adjustments have on the picture. You have to try an adjustment at random and check to see what it does afterwards.

Connectivity

Manufacturers have made some earnest efforts where connectivity is concerned - so much so that the AL2671W, with its VGA, DVI and composite inputs, is only average in that department, whereas beforehand the mere presence of a DVI input would have made it stand out. In short, this set is simply but completely equipped.

Relatively Faithful

The Acer AL2671W didn't stand up too well to our calibrator test.

We'll recall that this graph shows the difference between the desired color shade and the one actually displayed.

• If DeltaE >3, the color displayed is significantly different from the theoretical one, meaning that the difference will be perceptible to the viewer.
• If DeltaE <2, LaCie considers the calibration a success, with a slight difference remaining, but one that will be all but undetectable to the user.
• If DeltaE < 1, the color fidelity is excellent.

As it is fairly easy to see, it was difficult or impossible for the display to render the darkest shades correctly.

At first glance, the black level is too high, especially for a 26" set, but the excessive brightness (400 nits) explains that in part. The resulting contrast is appreciable nonetheless.