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  • Tour & Design

  • Performance: Summary

  • Performance: Blacks & Whites

  • Performance: Color

  • Performance: Motion

  • Performance: Viewing Effects

  • Remote Control

  • Audio

  • Connectivity

  • Controls & Menus

  • Formats & Media

  • Power Consumption

  • Conclusion

  • Tour & Design
  • Performance: Summary
  • Performance: Blacks & Whites
  • Performance: Color
  • Performance: Motion
  • Performance: Viewing Effects
  • Remote Control
  • Audio
  • Connectivity
  • Controls & Menus
  • Formats & Media
  • Power Consumption
  • Conclusion

Tour & Design

The front of the JVC LT-32P679 is relatively simple. The display is surrounded by a gloassy black bezel. Below the bezel you find the HDTVs two speakers, which flank a plastic panel that holds the JVC logo. This panel folds down to reveal a built-in iPod dock that JVC calls a TeleDock.

**Back**

The back of the JVC LT-32P679 is where you'll find almost all of the ports, arranged in two groups on the right side.

**Left**

On the left side you'll find the on-TV controls and the only port not found on the back, a USB port.

 

**Right**

There is nothing found on the right side of the JVC LT-32P679.

**Stand/Mount**

The JVC LT-32P679 sits on a stand that needs to be attached when you receive the HDTV. You'll also find four mounting points on the back of the HDTV, which can be used to mount it on the wall using an appropriate mounting kit.

**Controls**

The controls found on the left side of the JVC LT-32P679 are, from top to bottom, Input, Menu, Ch+, Ch-, Vol+, Vol- and Power.

**Remote**

The JVC LT-32P679's remote is typical of JVC remotes, which means its a large and rather ungainly slab of plastic.

**In The Box***(4.0)*

The JVC LT-32P679 ships with a power cord, remote and batteries. It does not ship with an HDMI cables, which is a shame. It does inclue several adaptors for the TeleDock port that will allow various iPods to sit more securely. Getting the JVC LT-32P679 out of the box is relatively simple, although you will need to connect the base yourself. We found that the HDTV is small enough that a single person can take care of it, unlike larger HDTVs where you'll definitely want some help to get it out of the box.

**Aesthetics***(5.0)*

The JVC LT-32P679 is a relatively staid HDTV styled all in black. Like most HDTVs it will blend quite easily into the background. Definitely not a stylish center piece of your home theatre it won't stand out as the ugliest piece either.

Performance: Summary

The JVC LT-32P679 did not impress us in our testing. We found that it performed adequately in some areas and we were actually impressed by the solid black level and excellent tunnel contrast and white falloff performance. It flat out flunked our greyscale gamma test, however, and we found the viewing angle limited and motion was not handled particularly well.

**Calibration**

When an HDTV comes out of the box it is rarely ready for you to get the best picture. As such we take the time to calibrate the HDTVs we test to ensure that we are testing the best performance it can provide. You can pay a professional to come to your home and calibrate your HDTV for you, or you can use the settings we found below. In order to obtain these settings we use DisplayMate, the same professional sofware that many television manufacturers use.

We do need to talk about a major issue we ran into while calibrating the JVC LT-32P679. On most HDTVs the Picture control allows you to adjust the whites and the Brightness control allows you to adjust the blacks. On the JVC LT-32P679, however, we found that there was an interplay between these two controls, which seemed to indicate some active processing on the part of the HDTV. We had turned off all of the special features so those were not to blame, so this seemd to be some kind of processing that could not be turned off. We even spoke with JVC about the matter, but they could not shed any light on the matter.

The result is that we were not able to calibrate for our ideal white and black levels. Instead we had to choose compromise levels, which allowed us to see whites at a lower level than we would have liked and blacks at a higher level than we would have liked. This did have an impact on some of our results, when we believe that this happens we will point it out.

**Video Modes**

The JVC LT-32P679 has four different video modes that are called Video Status under the Picture menu. Below is a summary of what each mode does.

**Dot Pattern**

What can we say, we're geeks, so we used a 20x microscope to take a close look at the actual pixels of the JVC LT-32P679. To the right you can see a photo of what the pixels look like when displaying white. As you can see it is made up of red, blue and green LEDs, each set of three makes up one pixel on the display. Different colors are created by adjusting the amount of each color produced. We didn't notice any problems with the pixels on the JVC LT-32P679.

Performance: Blacks & Whites

**Black Level***(7.60)*[

](https://reviewed.usatoday.com/televisions/content/How-We-Test.htm#blacklevel)

The black level of an HDTV is very important as it will contribute to realistic images with deep blacks and is a key contributor to contrast level. We measured the black level on the JVC LT-32P679 at 0.12 candelas per meter squared (cd/m2). This is a very good score for an LCD HDTV, which don't do as well on this test as Plasmas. The reason is that LCDs produce black by blocking light from their backlight, and they can never get it all, whereas Plasma TVs can actually turn off the light they emit for each pixel individually. Still, as we said, we were very pleased with the JVC LT-32P679's black level given its an LCD HDTV. It should produce deep blacks.

**Peak Brightness***(7.21)*[

](https://reviewed.usatoday.com/televisions/content/How-We-Test.htm#peakwhite)

This is the converse of black level, for peak brightness we are looking at the brightest white that the JVC LT-32P679 can produce. We measured peak brightness at 218.42 cd/m2. This is not very bright, especially for an LCD HDTV, which often produce peak brightness above 300 cd/m2. The JVC LT-32P679's poor peak brightness is directly related to the compromises we made in our calibration, which you can read about in our Performance: Summary section. If you wish you can get the JVC LT-32P679's peak brightness all the way up to 390 cd/m2, but this will seriously impact the HDTVs ability to produce accurate images on the screen. As it is the JVC LT-32P679's brightness level may not be impressive, but it is right about the 200 cd/m2 that we consider ideal for most conditions, so it shouldn't be too much of an issue.

**Contrast***(7.04)*[

](https://reviewed.usatoday.com/televisions/content/How-We-Test.htm#contrastratio)

Contrast is the ratio between the brightest white and the deepest black. The JVC LT-32P679's contrast ratio was 1820:1. This is about average, we've seen signficantly worse from other HDTVs, but we've also seen better. In this case the JVC LT-32P679 was helped out by a very good black level, but hurt by the less than impressive peak brightness. The end result is a reasonable score, but nothing that overly impressed us. One thing we should note is that if you compare our contrast ratio to the ones published by manufacturers you'll see a significant difference. The reason is that manufacturers tend to cheat by comparing the brightest white with settings pushed to maximum and the deepest black with the backlight completely off. Since doing either of these things will ruin your viewing experience we don't use this method. Instead we look at the contrast ratio based on calibrated settings that are meant to produce the best picture for the viewer.

**Tunnel Contrast***(9.84)*[

](https://reviewed.usatoday.com/televisions/content/How-We-Test.htm#tunnelcontrast)

Black level and peak brightness are all well and good, but the reality is that black and white don't tend to exist by themselves on a real HDTV. As such we look at what happens to blacks as more of the screen is taken up by white in our tunnel contrast test. Ideally the black level should stay constant regardless, and this is exactlly what we found on the JVC LT-32P679, as you can see below.

The black level stayed relatively constant no matter how much white we put up on the screen. This is excellent to see and will ensure that you should get deep blacks no matter what else is on the screen.

**White Falloff***(9.33)*[

](https://reviewed.usatoday.com/televisions/content/How-We-Test.htm#whitefalloff)

This is the converse of the previous test. Here we look at what happens to peak brightness as we put more and more black on the screen. As with our Tunnel Contrast test we were impressed at how well the JVC LT-32P679 held up here as the white level only deviated by a single candela per meter squared no matter what we did to the amount of black on the screen. You can see this indicated more clearly by the chart below. That flat white line is exactly what we want to see, and its what we got with the JVC LT-32P679.

**Uniformity***(6.0)*[

](https://reviewed.usatoday.com/televisions/content/How-We-Test.htm#uniformity)

Ideally an HDTV will stay smooth and uniform when displaying black or white. We found that the JVC LT-32P679's had a few problems in this area, however. With a white screen we noted some dimness at the corner and a few scattered blotches of dim areas. These are not overwhelmingly obvious but are apparent when looking at an all white screen. We saw less blotchiness with an all black screen, but we also saw some significant brightening at the edges and corner of the display. It could be worse, but it also could be significantly better.

**Greyscale Gamma***(2.08)*[

](https://reviewed.usatoday.com/televisions/content/How-We-Test.htm#greyscalegamma)

Update: We have rescaled our scoring system for this test, the original score was 0.0

The JVC LT-32P679 basically failed this test. The greyscale gamma curve maps what happens as the display goes from black to white. Below is the graph of the JVC LT-32P679's performance in this test. Ideally the curve should run right along the blue line, smoothly shifting across the greyscale. You can see quite clearly that the JVC LT-32P679 did not follow this curve, instead deviating significantly.

The chart above takes the curve and plots it exponentially since our eyes tend to notice exponential differences rather than discrete levels. Below you can see the actual Gamma curve. Ideally this curve should be slightly concave and completely smooth from top to bottom. You can see that instead it's bumpy with almost no concave near the top.

What this means in practice is that the JVC LT-32P679 is very unpredictable as it makes changes from black to white. Change does not occur smoothly and occasionally you'll have sudden jumps. This is likely due to the same problem we saw when calibrating the HDTV. There seems to be some kind of dynamic adjustment betwen the blacks and whites that can't be turned off. The result is a zero in this section.

**Resolution Scaling***(7.27)*[

](https://reviewed.usatoday.com/televisions/content/How-We-Test.htm#resolutionscaling)

With the plethora of different video formats that are fed to an HDTV its important to see how it handles these different signals. The JVC LT-32P679 did a reasonable job with all three of the non-native formats we fed it, with the significant issue that we saw overscanning in all cases. In fact we saw the overscanning even at the native 720p resolution, and there's no way to get rid of this. What this means in practice is that you're going to lose between 4-5 percent of a picture both vertically and horizontally, a serious problem.

480p**(7.8)**

480p is the resolution used by standard definition television and DVDs. Feeding the JVC LT-32P679 a 480p signal text was clearly visible and resolution was good, but we did notice that we lost about 4% both vertically and horizontally to overscan.

1080i**(6.75)**

Most broadcast HD television comes through in 1080i resolution. For a 720p HDTV like the JVC LT-32P679 such a signal needs to be downscaled to fit on the resolution of the HDTV. The effect was that text was only legible at 10 point font or above, below that it became so small and crammed together it was difficult to read. Resolution was good, but we did notice some interlace effects that created some banding and colors in our moire pattern test. We also saw the same overscanning problems that the HDTV is plagued with as we lost about 5% of the signal both vertically and horizontally.

1080p**(7.25)**

Also known as 'full' HD, 1080p signals are currentliy the best quality video you can get and generally are only available from Blu-Ray discs. As with a 1080i signal the JVC LT-32P679 needs to downscale it since it is a 720p HDTV. We saw the same issue with text being legible at only 10 point as we saw with the 1080i signal, but did not notice the banding and slightly green cast on the moire patterns. We did lose about 5% of the signal both vertically and horizontally, however.

Performance: Color

**Color Temperature***(6.53)*[

](https://reviewed.usatoday.com/televisions/content/How-We-Test.htm#colortemperature)

Whites on HDTVs can vary depending on the intensity of the color, ranging from brightest white to black. What you want from your white is for it to stay stable regardless of the intensity. You don't want to see it get a bluish or yellowish cast as the intensity varies. Below you can see the graph of the JVC LT-32P679's performance in our color temperature test. Along the x axis are all the intensities of white and along the y axis are the measured color temperatures at each intensity.

As you can see the JVC LT-32P679 shows some significant variation in color temperature, especially as the intensity of the white goes down. To judge how serious this variation is we look at another chart, displayed below. Here we look at all of the data points on a graph of color. Any data point that falls within the red circle is not significant enough to be visible by the human eye. Points outside the circle are visible by the human eye.

You can see from this chart that the vast majority of variation in color temperature for the JVC LT-32P679 were not visible to the human eye. Those that are were mostly related to significant shifts in color temperature as whites approached black, as we saw on the first chart above. This variation was very significant and what it means to the viewer is that daker greys will appear with a strongly bluish cast. It this extreme variation in the dimmer whites that contribute the most to the JVC LT-32P679's relatively poor performance in this test.

**RGB Curve***(7.06)*[

](https://reviewed.usatoday.com/televisions/content/How-We-Test.htm#rgbcurves)

All the colors displayed by your HDTV are made up of combinations of Red, Blue and Green, so how accurately these are displayed is very important to how well your HDTV displays all colors. In this test we look at how accurately the JVC LT-32P679 displays incoming signals for a range of intensities of Reds, Blues and Greens. Our test produces the following curves for each of the three primary colors.

On a perfect display each of these curves would be smooth and slightly curved from the bottom left to the top right. You can see that the JVC LT-32P679's performance does not match this ideal. In particular all three colors start to lose the ability to differentiate between different intensites at the higher range, with blues performing the worse in this area as evinced by the flat top. Both reds and greens have their problems as well however as they begin to flatten at higher intensities.

What this means in practice is that you'll lose detail in colors at higher intensities with the JVC LT-32P679. For example we have a photo of a marching band wearing bright red uniforms. On the JVC LT-32P679 these uniforms appeared flat and lacked detail. In addition we also noticed some significant banding in the greyscale on the JVC LT-32P679. For example in a photo of a grey foggy sunrise you can easily make out obvious bands of light. This is an obvious interplay of the errors we saw in all three of the primary colors as greys are produced as a combination of very intense red, green and blue.

We should note, however, that this is only a problem at higher intensities of color. Across most of its color range the JVC LT-32P679 did a reasonable job of reproducing without any major jagged spikes or flat points that indicate a place where changes in intensity don't produce a change in color. Thus the JVC LT-32P679's score in this section is below average, but not the worse we've ever seen from an HDTV.

**Color Gamut***(5.46)*[

](https://reviewed.usatoday.com/televisions/content/How-We-Test.htm#colorgamut)

In this test we look at the range of colors that the JVC LT-32P679 is able to reproduce. Below you see a chart that indicate both the JVC LT-32P679's measured color gamut and the international standard (called the ITU Recommendation .709). Ideally an HDTV would match the international standard exactly.

You can see that the JVC LT-32P679 does not match the standard. In particular there's significant error in the greens. You should also note that the white point, indicated by a small circle in the middle of the color gamut, is also slightly off. This is likely related to the problems we had in properly calibrating the JVC LT-32P679 as we discussed in our Performance: Summary section. Since the JVC LT-32P679 did not allow us to accurately calibrate for both blacks and whites we had to choose a mid point that means both are slightly off. The practical impact is that both greens and whites will look slightly different than what was intended by the producers of video content.

Performance: Motion

**Motion Smoothness***(5.5)*[

](https://reviewed.usatoday.com/televisions/content/How-We-Test.htm#motion)

To test motion smoothness we look at various test patterns as they move across the display. With the JVC LT-32P679 we noticed some significant blurring in almost all of our test patterns. In particular we noticed a lot of jaggedness and striping in blacks and whites, which was excentuated by an interlace effect when dealing with a 1080i signal. The JVC LT-32P679 also had trouble with human faces in motion as they ended up looking somewhat cartoonish and distorted. We were not impressed by the JVC LT-32P679's ability to display motion smoothly.

**Motion Artifacting***(7.5)*[

](https://reviewed.usatoday.com/televisions/content/How-We-Test.htm#motion)

Artifacts like ghosting can appear with motion. When feeding the JVC LT-32P679 a 1080p signal we detected no major artifacts. We did find that when dealing with a 1080i signal, which is generally what you'll get from broadcast television, we did see some ghosting effects when dealing with solid blocks of color.

**3:2 Pulldown & 24fps***(6.0)*[

](https://reviewed.usatoday.com/televisions/content/How-We-Test.htm#3:2pulldown)

3:2 pulldown or Telecine is a process used to make signals appear more like film. To see how the JVC LT-32P679 handled this we fed it a signal that used 3:2 pulldown and looked at various test patterns. We did detect some issues when we looked at blocks of alternating white and black lines where we noticed significant jaggedness, however this was less of an issue when we looked at more realistic scenes. We also checked to see if the JVC LT-32P679 could handle video produced at 24fps, which is also used to produce a fim-like look. Unfortunately the JVC LT-32P679 did not support this feature so be sure to turn it off on our DVD or Blu-Ray player.

Performance: Viewing Effects

**Viewing Angle***(4.62)*[

](https://reviewed.usatoday.com/televisions/content/How-We-Test.htm#viewingangle)

One important factor for HDTVs is the angle at which the images on the display are visible. To test the viewing angle we check to see at what angle the contrast ratio falls below 50%. On the JVC LT-32P679 this occured at 22.5 degrees from the center line, for a total viewing angle of 45 degrees. This is not very impressive, the average for HDTVs we've reviewed thus far is 37.71 degrees from center, so you can see that the JVC LT-32P679 fell well short of this. It's not the absolute worst we've ever seen, however.

We were also unimpressed by how well colors held up as you got to wider viewing angles with the JVC LT-32P679. In particular we noticed that colors seemed smeared and cartoonish as you got to wider viewing angles.

Note: We made a smaller error in our formula for this score and have updated it. The original published score was 4.51.

**Reflectance***(4.0)*[

](https://reviewed.usatoday.com/televisions/content/How-We-Test.htm#reflectance)

Despite having a matte display the JVC LT-32P679 had some serious issues with reflectence. When shining a bright LED light at the screen we could make out every single LED on the light and the glare took up half the screen. It did a better job with lights coming in from the angle, you really need the light to be almost directly in front of the HDTV to notice the glare effect. But when you do get a galre it's going to be terribly annoying.

**Video Processing***(1.0)*[

](https://reviewed.usatoday.com/televisions/content/How-We-Test.htm)

As with most HDTVs the JVC LT-32P679 offers a variety of special picture controls that claim to do various things to improve what you are watching. In our calibration process we turn these options off as they tend to interfere with proper calibration. Here we do look at them to see whether they do anything.

As you can see we didn't see any major impact with any of these settings. This is pretty typical, rarely do these options actually provide you with an improved viewing experience.

Remote Control

**Ergonomics & Durability***(4.6)*

The JVC LT-32P679's remote is the same size and shape as the one we saw on the JVC Procision LT-47X899, which means its large, bulky and not very comfortable. Basically a large slab of black plastic balance at neutral is decent but move your hand up or down the remote to reach other buttons and you find it quickly becomes unbalanced. It's also mode of rather slick plastic and doesn't offer much contouring to make it easier to hold. This means its easier to drop, and although we aren't particularly worried about the durability as it feels solid the increased chance of droppage is a concern. The buttons themselves are made of rather soft rubbery plastic and provide reasonable key travel but not much tactile feedback when pressed. We weren't impressed by the JVC Procision LT-47X899's remote and this holds true with the JVC LT-32P679's remote.

**Button Layout & Use***(5.25)*

The JVC LT-32P679's remote is absolutely covered with buttons. The sheer size of the remote means that those with small hands might need to stretch to reach the volume and channel buttons when holding the remote at neutral, but this shouldn't be a problem for those with larger hands. The directional pad and surrounding menu navigation buttons are within easy reach at neutral. You will need to shift your hand to reach almost any other button including the keypad, input controls and power buttons above and the playback controls below. As we mentioned above shifting your hand along the remote definitely unbalances you so this is not very comfortable. We particularly noticed this when trying to change the channel using the keypad. We were happy with the angle at which the remote can control the TV, this should not be an issue.

**Programming & Flexibility***(6.0)*

The JVC LT-32P679 can be used as a universal remote for your other home theatre devices. There's a helpful table at the back of the manual with the codes for most popular manufacturers and clear instructions on how to program the remote to work with other devices.

Audio

**Sound Quality***(4.5)*

The JVC LT-32P679's two front facing speakers were just about average in terms of audio quality. We detected some tinniness but this was the only serious issue. Those who don't want to invest in a speaker system for their home theater setup should find the audio quality reasonable enough that they won't need to.

**Surround Sound***(3.0)*

The JVC LT-32P679 does offer a simulated surround sound mode with several presets for things like music, movies, etc. We used the movies preset to watch a scene and compared it to the sound quality we got without this simulated surround sound and an entry-level set of surround sound speakers. We found that the biggest change from the JVC LT-32P679's speakers without surround sound was a significant drop in volume level. We also found that some of tinniness we detected without this setting turned on dissappeared. Compared to a real surround sound setup, however, the simulated surround sound on the JVC LT-32P679 just doesn't stack up, not surprising as few ever do. If you really want a surround sound experience we recommend you go out and invest in a set of speakers. Even an inexpensive set will provide a better audio experience.

**Loudness***(8.65)*

We measured the JVC LT-32P679's loudness at 86.5 decibels using a sound pressure meter from five feet away. This should be quite loud enough for most and is just about average, as you can see from the chart below.

Connectivity

**Input Ports***(6.38)*

All of the input ports on the JVC LT-32P679 are found on the back near the right side. They are divided into two groups, at the top right you will find two composite video, three analog audio, S-Vide and two component inputs. Just below this grouping you will find three HDMI inputs and the Antenna/Cable input that supports both digital and analog over the air signals but only analog cable signals. Three HDMI ports is a good number for an HDTV this size, but we do wish there had been a VGA input.

**Output Ports***(2.0)*

As with most HDTVs there are only two output ports on the JVC LT-32P679, an analog audio output and a digital audio outptu. Both are found on the back grouped near the top right.

**Other Connections***(0.0)*

The JVC LT-32P679 does not support Wi-F-, Bluetooth, or any other wireless connectivity features.

**Media***(3.0)*

The JVC LT-32P679 offers two  options for connecting media devices to the HDTV. The most prominent, of course, is the TeleDock, which can be used to connect any iPod or iPhone to the HDTV. Note that the dock is not shielded for use with the iPhone so you'll either need to turn it on to airplane mode or be prepared to deal with interference when the radios are transmitting. The second option is a USB port, which will allow you to connect a USB mass-storage device and view pictures on it. For more information about what media playback is like on the JVC LT-32P679 please see our Formats & Media section.

**Placement***(8.0)*

Almost all of the ports on the JVC LT-32P679 are found on the right side of the back, which puts them in easy reach around the left side of the front. This is much more convenient than some televisions that place ports in the middle of the back and we really appreciated this. You shouldn't have too much trouble connecting devices to the JVC LT-32P679 even when it's up against a wall or corner.

Controls & Menus

**Ease of Use***(3.0)*

The JVC LT-32P679's menu system is arranged in a bar with headers that appears at the top of the screen. You use the directional pad to move left and right between the headers. When each is selected a drop down menu appears with all of the available options under each item. Most items can be changed when selected by using left/right on the directional pad. Items with sub menus have a triangle indicating that there are additional items, when you press right while this item is selected the sub menu will appear to the right of the current menu.

We found the interface simple and easy to use, but we do have some issues with the JVC LT-32P679's menu system. The first problem we ran into is the font size of the menus, which is very small. Many users will find it difficult to read from more than five feet away, and those with bad eyesight will probably have to walk right up to the HDTV. Our second problem is that the menu is rather translucent, whcih means you'll be able to see whatever's on the display through the menus, which makes it even harder to read the menus. Thankfully you can change this in the Setting menu, but many people won't realize you can do this and will just suffer with the rather translucent preset.

**Picture Controls***(4.0)*

The Picture menu is the first top-level in the JVC LT-32P679's menu system. There are a lot of items found here, all in a long list. The basics like Tint, Color, Picture, Brightness and Backlight are all near the top. The very first item is called Video Status, and basically allows you to choose between several presets that adjust all the settings for particular situations like Theatre mode. A couple of controls that we would have liked to see that were missing were Contrast and Gamma. The bottom half of the menu has more advanced video features that you can turn on/off. For more infrmation on these options please see our Viewing Effects section.

**Audio Controls***(6.0)*

The Sound menu is the fourth heading in the JVC LT-32P679's menu system. The list of options is not as long as the Picture menu, but you still have a good selection of options. The first two options are only available when watching television and allow you to switch between Stereo, Mono or SAP and select the language you want if in SAP mode. There is an option to turn on the simulated surround sound mode, with various options for music, movie, etc. All the remaining menu options allow you to either choose from one of a variety of presets for the equalizer or choose User mode, which allows you to make manual adjustments to the equalizer.

**Other Controls***(5.0)*

In addition to the Picture and Sound menus the other top-level menus found on the JVC LT-32P679 are Display, TV, Power and Setting menus. The Display menu allows you to change the label for the current input, access the photo viewer and change the aspect ratio.

The TV menu is used to adjust Closed Captioning, access V-Chip functions and control channel and tuner settings.

The Power menu lets you control the sleep timer and choose the illumination settings for both the power indicator and the illumination that appears behind the TeleDock. If you don't like the blue glow from these you can turn it off entirely.

Finally, the Setting menu lets you control miscellaneous options like date and time, language and, thankfully, adjust the translucency of the menu system. Too bad there's not a font size control too.

**Manual***(5.0)*

The JVC LT-32P679's manual is a typical JVC manual, which means you get black and white, no index and the font is rather small. There are larger headers at the top of each page, which does help make things easier to find, but we don't like it as much as the magazine-like color manuals from manufacturers like Vizio.

Formats & Media

**Formats***(5.0)*

The JVC LT-32P679 is a 720p HDTV, which means its maximum resolution is not capable of displaying the highest quality 1080p content, it can however downscale this content if you feed it a 1080p or 1080i signal, something not all 720p HDTVs can do. It can also handle 480p and 480i content, which is what tradition television and DVDs output. The JVC LT-32P679 can display content meant to look like film using the 3:2 pulldown or Telecine process, but it doesn't support 24p content. It also lacks the larger xvYCC color gamut that some higher end televisions support.

**Photo Playback***(3.0)*

You can theoretically view photos on the JVC LT-32P679 by connecting a USB mass storage device to the HDTV using the port found on the left side. It is supposed to support jpeg formatted images, but we found that our test jpegs were not displayed, with only placeholders appearing. Photos are displayed in a simple grid and you can play back a slide show. As our test files were not supported we are deducting a point from the score the JVC LT-32P679 would have received otherwise.

You can also view photos on the JVC LT-32P679 from an iPod or iPhone usin the built-in dock, however the procedure is not straightforward. When you connect the device you are not given the option to view photos, however by hitting the PCON button the remote you can control what is displayed from your iPod/iPhone interface rather than using the remote control. From here you can navigate to your photos on the iPod/iPhone and display them on the JVC LT-32P679. This is obviously not as convenient since you'll need to sit right next to the HDTV controlling items on the iPod/iPhone.

**Video & Music Playback***(6.0)*

With a built-in iPod dock the JVC LT-32P679 can play back both music and video content from iPods or iPhones. For music playback you have two options, either play all of your music sequentially or in shuffle mode. You cannot browse the music on the device nor can you control the music playback on the iPod itself. For video content your only option is to play videos sequentially. In both modes you can use the JVC LT-32P679's remote to control playback functions by skipping between tracks using left/right on the directional pad. You can also use the Play, Fast Forward and Rewind buttons on the remote. If you prefer you can also control content from your iPod/iPhone directly by hitting the PCON button. This allows you to access playlists and select specific items, things you cannot do using the JVC LT-32P679's interface. We think the presence of the iPhone dock is an excellent feature, but do wish that you could control playback functions more completely using the remote and on-TV interface.

**Streaming Playback***(0.0)*

The JVC LT-32P679 does not support streaming playback from online sources like Youtube or Hulu.

**DVR***(0.0)*

The JVC LT-32P679 does not have built-in DVR capabilities that allow you to record and play back TV content.

Power Consumption

**Power Consumption***(8.85)*[

](https://reviewed.usatoday.com/televisions/content/How-We-Test.htm#powerconsumption)

To test power consumption we adjusted the JVC LT-32P679's back light to produce a light level of 200 candelas per meter square (cd/m2), which is a reasonable level for both bright and darker situations. We then test how much power is used over six minutes watching a standard TV show. We also look at power consumption when the backlight is turned up to maximum and when it it turned down to minimum.

The JVC LT-32P679's power consumption at 200 cd/m2 was $23.08 over the course of a year for the average American family. This is a reasonable amount for power for an HDTV this size, it's significantly less than what you'd see from a larger HDTV. We also look at power consumption with the backlight turned up to maximum, which in the case of the JVC LT-32P679 means moving from the calibrated level of 98 to 100. The difference is not significant, as you would expect so go ahead and crank that sucker up. You can save almost $15 per year by turning down the backlight to 0, but this makes the HDTV so dim that it's not worth watching.

Conclusion

The JVC LT-32P679 presented us with its share of surprises, both good and bad. On the one hand we found that the HDTV performed surprisingly well in some areas, we were happy with the black level (especially for an LCD), contrast was reasonable and both blacks and whites held up well across intensities. Color quality could have been better. Colors were accurate across most intensities but when you get really bright colors you'll lose a lot of detail. We definitely liked the built-in iPod/iPhone dock, but do wish that it had a slightly better software implementation.

Unfortunately the negatives were quite significant, starting with the calibration process we noted that the JVC LT-32P679 had some behind the scenes processing going on that may not produce the best picture. Specifically we had to make a significant compromise with the blacks and whites so very deep blacks and bright whites will lose significant detail. Nowhere can this be seen more clearly than in our greyscale gamma test, which the JVC LT-32P679 simply failed. We also found the viewing angle lacking, although this may be less of an issue on a smaller HDTV as its probably not going to be the centerpeice of a huge home theatre system. The issues with calibration and greyscale gamma are significant, however, and are reason enough for us to encourage you to take a look at alternatives to the JVC LT-32P679.

Meet the tester

Alfredo Padilla

Alfredo Padilla

Editor

Alfredo Padilla is a valued contributor to the Reviewed.com family of sites.

See all of Alfredo Padilla's reviews

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