Contrast Ratio
Contrast numbers are the ratio of white colours & black colours on your screen.  If the television says that the white colours are 3000 times bigger than the black, then that is good.  In other words, bigger is better, but be warned that some manufactures exaggerate this number so to get an accurate opinion, look at a few side by side.

Black Levels (Brightness)
A well set-up TV set should be able to display a full range of black through grey, to white, and all the shades in between in order to deliver a reasonable approximation of the range from dark to light, that our eyes register in real life. CRTs and plasmas are acknowledged to have the darkest blacks for general consumer displays. This is important because there is nothing more annoying than having to see greyish blacks when you expect true black.

White level (Contrast)
Whites should be white & not grey.  If you don’t have a DVD to help you, here is a trick that I have learned that will hopefully help.  Find an old black & white movie playing on TV.  These movies from the 30’s were filmed with an entire range of deep blacks to whites, & will allow you to see the true colours.

Colour (Saturation)
This control adjusts the intensity of the colours.  Too much colour makes the images look unrealistic, but too little makes things look drab.  Like with everything in life, there must be a balance.  Use a close up of a face on a DVD to determine the correct amount of colour; this is the easiest way to make sure that your picture is true.

Sharpness
This adds artificial edges to objects, which sometimes helps with soft cable signals but almost always mars the already sharp image from a DVD. Reduce it to zero unless you detect visible softening along the edges of text; if you do, increase it until the edges appear sharp again.  This setting is rarely in need of adjustment, especially in the days of HDTV.

Motion
LCD is a "Crystal" with wires embedded inside. When voltage is applied - the crystal can darken to block light or when voltage is stopped it 'relaxes' to let light through. This effect is not as fast as the 'explosion' that plasma uses. It takes some time to transition. This is why LCD has some motion lag.  Having said that, I am pleased to report with the overdrive technology and backlighting improvements now employed in many LCDs, this has become less of a problem.

Viewing Angles
Liquid Crystal Displays have a limited viewing angle. They lose contrast and become hard to read at some viewing angles and they have more contrast and are easier to read at others. The size of the viewing angle is determined by several factors, primarily the type of Liquid Crystal Display fluid and the duty cycle.  With any LCD television, there is a significant drop in contrast and picture quality as you move off centre.