HD PICTURE QUALITY. HD picture quality was very good. It did an excellent job displaying the finest detail of HD content. Color accuracy was very good, with flesh tones in particular, looking natural. Color temperature was slightly on the warm side, lending images a reddish tone. Lack of contrast gave images a somewhat flatter appearance with little depth. Brightness level was only fair, dimmer than most, not the best choice for a brighter room. Depth of black level was below average, with darker scenes in particular looking hazy, with little contrast. In scenes with subtly shaded light-to-dark areas, such as a sky during sunset, the model did a very good job producing a smooth transition without distinct, coarse bands. There was slight display non-uniformity that created brighter cloudy areas most noticeable on very dark scenes (or in the black bars of a letterboxed movie). We routinely see this issue with LCDs and severity can vary from model to model.
VIEWING ANGLE. This Element has a wide viewing angle overall, better than that of most TVs. It will provide the same picture quality, with fewer problems than most TVs, for typical viewing conditions—say, if your family is seated across a long sectional or in chairs off to the sides. The picture did show some dimming from the sides but not to any point we found distracting. With dark scenes this model didn't fare quite as well. When viewed from the sides, the depth of black levels varied depending on the vertical position of the viewer's head. As we moved closer to the screen this limitation became even more apparent, especially if seated on the floor looking upward where black levels brightened significantly.
MOTION BLUR. This Element TV has only fair motion performance, with significant blurring on our motion tests. This is typical of LCD TVs with the basic 60Hz frame rate. This model does not include a blur reduction feature. The visibility of blurring on typical program content is often subtle and may not bother most people, but keen-eyed viewers may detect some loss of texture and detail on scenes with movement.
SCREEN REFLECTIVITY. Though not as mirror-like as on some models, this screen surface is glossy and therefore susceptible to reflections from a nearby lamp or window. It does a good job reducing glare from ambient light and maintains contrast in a brighter room environment.
SOUND QUALITY. This model has fair sound quality with below average performance. It's acceptable for typical programming, but shortcomings become obvious with movie soundtracks and music. Bass was lacking, treble lacked detail, and the overall sound was closed in. The speakers produced a good volume range so this model should play sufficiently loud in typical room environments, but quality does degrade at the highest settings a little audible distortion and. If sound quality matters to you, you might want to add a soundbar or other external speaker system.
INTERNET FEATURES. This TV provides basic Internet functionality with a limited selection of applications via its "Streaming" portal. Movie streaming services include Netflix and YouTube. Includes built-in, a virtual assistant, which allows you to use natural speech to ask questions, launch applications, and search programming.
CONNECTIONS. This model has three HDMI inputs and one "component/composite shared" input (which means you can only use one type or the other at a time). It also has one USB port, an optical digital audio out, a headphone out, an Ethernet port, a VGA video input, WiFi wireless networking; Casting, which allows you to send streaming content from your mobile device to the TV via your home network. The cable connections on the rear panel are recessed with side or bottom-facing ports, so wires don't protrude beyond the display's depth.
WHAT'S INCLUDED. A printed user manual. A quick start guide. A remote control with batteries.
