HDTV Lounge

The ViewSonic N3751w is a 37-inch LCD HDTV that has some great features and comes in at a great price. The N3751w will currently cost you just over $1000, comes with three HDMI inputs, component and PC VGA inputs. Having three HDMI inputs is a real advatnage for the future. This is probably one of the reasons ViewSonic call the N3751w “future proof”, although it does not feature the full 1080p resolution. PcMag have taken a look at the N3751 and say the N3751w’s native resolution is 1,366 by 768 pixels, and PC sources using the TV’s VGA input or HDMI input were able to use the near 1:1 resolution of 1,360 by 768 pixels that resulted in crisp imagery without any signs of image overscan.

Looking at results of the HQV benchmark-test DVD, the N3751w produced one of the worst scores I’ve recorded from an HDTV to date. Poor deinterlacing performance resulted in significant and distracting jagged-edge artifacts, and the test confirmed that the TV’s video-noise reduction functionality was nonexistent. The N3751w would certainly benefit from the processing offered by a decent upconverting DVD player, but such a player would do nothing for regular television programming. On HQV’s new HD DVD test, the jagged edges continued to persist in the 1080i diagonal-filter tests.

The ViewSonic N3751w is a tease. It offers an amazing contrast ratio, but it lacks the ability to produce a convincing picture in a darkened environment. It provides a trio of useful HDMI connections, but it offers only a single component-video input.