Zenith L23W36 23" Widescreen Flat-Panel HD-Ready LCD TV (Silver/Gray)

The Benefits of HDTV Standard TVs (SDTVs) display a maximum of 480 lines using the interlaced scan method, which creates a picture with alternating lines of information. Enhanced-definition TVs (EDTVs) display a maximum of 480 lines using the progressive-scan method, which creates an image using consecutive lines of information for a crisp, flicker-free picture. High-definition TVs (HDTVs) display a maximum of either 1,080 interlaced lines or 720 progressively scanned lines for the sharpest possible image.

The set receives NTSC broadcast signals for off-air viewing, while its ample inputs accept feeds from cable/antenna, HDTV set-top boxes, satellite dishes, and of course your personal computer. Pictures render in extremely detailed, 16:9 aspect-ratio 1,280 x 768 resolution, which is perfect for HDTV broadcasts and progressive-scan DVD outputs and video games. You also get high brightness (450 cd/m2) for a vivid picture even in light-drenched environments. Inputs include high-resolution component-video, S-video, computer RGB, RF, and composite-video/analog stereo audio.

Super In Plane Switching (Super IPS) technology (made by Zenith's parent company, LG Electronics) delivers unprecedented horizontal and vertical viewing angles of 176 degrees--virtually equaling those of CRTs--all the while ensuring better, clearer pictures from off-center seating positions than previously possible with an LCD. Super IPS uses a switching mode that treats light passing through the display at an angle virtually the same as light passing straight through the display. As a result, the set renders brightness, contrast, and color much more evenly, regardless of where you sit.

Picture in picture (PIP) lets you watch two channels at once, imposing a full-color inset picture in a corner of the main picture. A three-line digital comb filter enhances resolution by removing blurred edges between colors and reducing dot crawl (tiny, moving dots of color along a sharp color separation in a vertical line, as in a depiction of a character's striped T-shirt).

The set also uses Faroudja's DCDi Processor, which upconverts standard video signals (480i) to progressive-scan 480p signals, eliminating the jagged edges along diagonal lines. Progressive-scan signals create a picture using twice the scan lines of a conventional pictures, giving you higher resolution and sharper images while eliminating nearly all motion artifacts.

Parental control with V-Chip (a programmable feature that uses the U.S. standard content-advisory system to exclude viewing of specific programs or program types) helps you keep young eyes off mature content. Other features include Dolby Virtual Surround processing for simulating surround sound from the set's two 7-watt speakers, an onscreen graphic equalizer for tailoring the sound to your preference, and a long, 50,000-hour estimated lamp life.

More about DCDi
DCDi (Directional Correlational Deinterlacing) eliminates the jagged edges (also known as "jaggies" or "the staircasing effect") that appear when standard interlaced video is deinterlaced and viewed on a progressive-scan display.

This animation is an interlaced representation of a tomato in motion. DCDi technology eliminates the jagged vertical edges that are inevitable when interlaced video is viewed on a progressive-scan display.

Moving film to digital video is a complex process, wrought with inherent limitations. The most notable visual artifacts (an artifact is an unintended visual flaw created by some underlying technical process) are jagged edges. This undesirable effect is now proactively eliminated, during playback, by angle-correlated vector interpolation algorithms.

Typical motion video processing relies on something called intra-field spatial interpolation to generate the missing lines of video from interlaced sourced material. This approach successfully suppresses motion artifacts; however, moving images and diagonal edges (actually, all edges which are not strictly horizontal or vertical) create jagged edge artifacts. While missing lines are successfully generated, the information generated does not exactly match that of the edges of the object originally filmed.

DCDi takes the idea of interpolation to a much higher level. It interpolates based on how objects are moving in a scene, basing its calculations on the "big picture" instead of relying on a limited mathematical model. More specifically, it identifies all of the moving edges in a scene while adjusting the angle of interpolation at each pixel so that the interpolation always follows the edge instead of crossing it. This revolutionary approach not only eliminates jagged edges, but also achieves something that has not been available in affordable systems until now: true-to-life looking images from an interlaced source.

What's in the Box
TV, swivel stand with tilt, and a user's manual.