The inclusion of optoelectronic displays has enabled optical correlators to improve radically and maintain the competitive edge of optical processors among information processing fields. In this work, an optical correlator has been implemented by using two VGA liquid crystal displays as spatial light modulators, both at the input and Fourier planes. These devices have been removed from a commercial videoprojector and have been characterized in order to operate in different configurations. This characterization is based on an interferometric procedure which includes amplitude and phase modulation measurements. For a phase-only modulation we have compared the use of linearly and elliptically polarized light. In this latter case we have found an operating curve with phase-only modulation which takes values from 0 to π radians. This is a limitation when a pure phase filter is required as in data security and encryption, in wavelet-based systems, and in optical pattern recognition, among others. An application in this latter field is presented in our work as a solution to overcome this limited phase depth. We propose a modification of the classical phase-only filter based on the use of the absolute value of the phase. Experimental correlation results using the optical setup and the modified filter have been obtained.