Red-carpet-ready HDTVs: Flat panels with high-style designs
Do you value cosmetics over picture quality? We've got a list of TVs you'll love.
- Although still awaiting his Oscar for Best Picture Reviewer, David does hold certifications from the Imaging Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Standards and Technology on display calibration and evaluation.
At CNET, the overall scores on our HDTV reviews are calculated based on three subratings: Design, Features, and Performance. To the chagrin of black-level and color-obsessed videophiles, we place a fair amount of weight (30 percent) on Design because, frankly, normal people do care what their TVs look like when turned off.
If you care a lot, then this list is for you. It contains the six best-designed 2011 HDTVs we've reviewed; Performance and Features be damned. In the case of a numeric tie in Design we've ranked the better design higher.
The clear winners so far in 2011 are from Samsung, which decided to slim down its LED/LCD bezels to create a nearly all-picture look on its D6400 and D8000 LCDs. The latter has a bezel measuring just 0.2 inch wide, and in a true example of "less is more," it scored a perfect 10 in Design. The company's D7000 plasma also took home a 9, smacking down the others in its category with another thin bezel and cabinet.