Each year for the past ten years, video enthusiasts, media and television manufacturers gather in Scarsdale, NY to determine which TV deserves the title of the year's very best television. It's called the "Flat Panel TV Shootout" (or simply, the "TV Shootout") and it's the brainchild of Robert Zohn, founder and president of Value Electronics. The tenth annual TV shootout will take place on August 16th and 17th at the Value Electronics showroom.
I've attended the last three of these, and they're always both fun and educational. Rarely do we get to see the flagship displays from the top brands in electronics all displayed side by side, each professionally calibrated to ensure a level playing field. So the chance to do so, with a combination of both test patterns and real world content, has proven an invaluable resource in forming my own opinions about the relative merits of different technologies and design approaches.
UPDATE: 2014 TV Shootout Results Are In!
This year, with Panasonic's exit from the plasma business, we're not likely to see any plasma displays (though last year's champion, the Samsung F8500 series plasma is still a current model). But Robert promises that we'll see a wide selection of contenders: mostly LED-lit LCD TVs (aka "LED TVs") but with at least one OLED model in the mix. Also, we'll see an assortment of High Definition (1080p) and Ultra High Definition (2160p) TVs on display as well as both curved and flat panels.
Unlike manufacture-hosted showcases (which we attend pretty frequently), the TV shootout does not play favorites. Robert picks the models based on the current buzz and reviews and usually pulls the evaluation samples from his own inventory. The sets are then painstakingly calibrated by professional ISF-certified calibrators, including David MacKenzie, Kevin Miller and Dewayne Davis.
This year special guests will include legends of the Consumer Electronics industry Dr. Larry Weber and Joe Kane. Dr. Weber is an American electrical engineer/inventor and leader in the display community known for pioneering Plasma Display Panel technology. Joe Kane specializes in the science of electronic imaging and is working on developing the specs and test materials for Ultra HD. Each will make presentations on the state of the display industry.
"Our Shootout has proven to be a ‘must attend' event among true video enthusiasts and industry leaders each year, demonstrating how the premium TVs perform and compete with each other," said Zohn. The event will be live streamed over the internet with an archived recording saved for later viewing.
All attendees are invited to vote on their favorites, looking at specific elements of picture quality including contrast ratio, peak brightness, black level, color accuracy, color saturation, detail and motion resolution. This year, energy efficiency will also be measured and published for each set, though this will not contribute toward the sets' overall scores.
Those interested in attending the event should contact Robert Zohn via e-mail at rzohn@valueelectronics.com.
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