LG 47LH55 47-Inch 1080p 240Hz LCD HDTV, Gloss Black

Review by G. Loushin for LG 47LH55 47-Inch 1080p 240Hz LCD HDTV, Gloss Black
Rating:
Outstanding!! — I bought this product after looking at quite a few different brands. I was not let down. The 240Hz is perfect for sports and fast moving shows with a lot of action — picture quality is A-1, sharp and very clear and does NOT blur with fast and quick action. Has many different functions than a person can use to change the format that he or she likes best. The menu interface is very EASY to use and gives many options with input, picture, and audio settings. A real great feature is “clear voice” which sharpens normal speach and makes hearing easier especially with a lot of background noise. Also if watching a DVD the TV remembers the settings that are programmed into that particular imput even though they may be different from the settings while watching normal TV channels. A person doesn’t have to re-program each time you watch a DVD or other optional component.

For myself for what I want–A really great HDTV choice

Review by M. Allemand for LG 47LH55 47-Inch 1080p 240Hz LCD HDTV, Gloss Black
Rating:
I jumped on this TV pretty quickly, great size, great technology, and good reviews across the web. The picture quality is very good, the blacks are mediocre but overall a great looking picture and a great looking TV. I am a huge movie fan and watch lots of Blu-Ray movies and so the ability to play Blu-Ray’s in 24p mode was a huge plus for me. I started watching a few movies, and left the 240hz setting on low. This setting, while some may like, I really did not care for. It introduced a lot of artifacts in the film. Often when the camera would pan quickly around different subjects it would create a halo looking deal making it look like there is an invisible forcefield around different objects. The frame interpolation makes things look really smooth and create a soap opera effect or video camera effect to the movies. This made it feel like I was no longer watching a movie and this was a big time no-no for me. So I started researching the TV some more.

The 240hz is a refresh rate so that has nothing to do with adding frames. The frame interpolation is another thing that attempts to add frames that did not exist before to create a smoother look to the image. The problem lies here in the way LG decided to implement this technology. To get the benefits of having 240hz and reducing motion blur, you must turn on the dejuddering frame interpolation also. There is no way to turn on one and not the other. The Samsung and Toshiba models have options to turn the 240hz on and off and the frame interpolation on and off SEPARATELY.

Now I must say, for sports it made it look amazing, but since my primary use of a television is to watch movies this was a major downside and I ended up having to return the TV because the 240hz motion plus pretty much ruined the movie experience for me. Some people may like it, but if you like to keep your film viewing as true to the original as possible you may want to think twice and check this TV out in a store to see if you really like this mode or not.

Sports were great, video gaming was good, and the picture quality and extensive picture control are all amazing on this TV, but that one setting ruined the experience for me.

Review by K. Green for LG 47LH55 47-Inch 1080p 240Hz LCD HDTV, Gloss Black
Rating:
Had the TV installed today and learned during the installation that it does not support the Bose cinematic sound system I bought. This LG product only supports optical input. My tech installer had never seen a TV that only had an optical input requirement. I’m happy with the TV’s picture so the sound system is being returned. Considering I bought both at the same time through Amazon it would have been nice if there had been a non-compatibility warning from them… Have had the TV for a little over a week now. The picture is amazing. With some of DVDs it feels like you’re on the soundstage while they are making the movie

Review by Harrington for LG 47LH55 47-Inch 1080p 240Hz LCD HDTV, Gloss Black
Rating:
Always thought I would buy a plasma but after a salesman strongly recommended the 240Hz LG LCD decided to give it a go. However, after purchasing this 47LH55 model wasn’t sure if a quality plasma would better fit my viewing preferences and since I would be living with a new TV for a few years decided to do a live comparison in my home.

So… purchased a Panasonic plasma 50 inch G15 to compare directly to the 47 inch LG – with one TV being returned at the end of it all. Both TV’s are upper-mid range models so it was a pretty fair head-to-head comparison.

To allow a dynamic comparison, purchased a 2 port HDMI 1×2 powered splitter ver 1.3 certified for full HD 1080P with deep color & HD audio and max bandwidth of 10.2Gbps to allow watching identical channels simultaneously whether in HD, SD cable feeds and 1080P blu-ray. Wanted the best HDMI splitter available, as the signal had to be accurate to both displays – also used identical high quality HDMI cables for all connections.

Both are great TV’s, but the nod went to the LG for more than a couple of reasons.

Compared them straight out of the box. Neither TV was calibrated. Used the standard setting on both TV’s.

The LG displayed SD much better than the Panasonic. The Panasonic was soft with SD and the LG was much sharper.

Both displayed HD cable (720P/1080i) with differences. Both were excellent, the LG was sharper with a more video look and the Panasonic had more a film-look. Liked the Panasonic plasma film look here. (more on that, later)

The Panasonic didn’t have the ability to scale SD 4:3 text to the screen. Any text scroll, such as at the bottom of CNN, was chopped off on both sides of the text.?? Couldn’t figure out how to fix it – maybe it can be done but couldn’t find out how. Big nod to LG.

Liked the LG’s intelligent room light sensor. Also the LG ran cooler and used much less energy even though this new G15 model is now rated Energy Star efficient. Ambient light reflection wasn’t an issue as both have good reflective screen coatings.

The LG LCD was capable of much brighter display. The Panasonic was very good for a plasma but clearly not in the same ball park. I found the black levels on the LG very good maybe not quite as good as the Panasonic but still excellent. Blu-ray, from a new model Playstation 3, looked spectacular on both sets. However, everything better about the LG still applies.

Was able to save almost $450 with the LG. Got excellent deals on both but the LG was more price competitive, in Canada. If the Panasonic had been superior would have bit the difference, since the LG was already scoring better on almost everything it was a no-brainer here.

The speakers on the Panasonic weren’t even close to the quality of the LG’s built-in speakers. Have a great Onyko 807 receiver but don’t always want the surround sound on. Nice to have reasonable sounding speakers in the TV when a quick and dirty news story comes on. Big vote to the LG on TV only sound.

The Panasonic ability to link directly to the internet would be important if I didn’t already have the capability with an internet ready, Onyko receiver and WD TV Live. I was only interested in how these TV’s displayed image and how they sounded. Also much preferred LG’s excellent, quick on-screen menu with easy/fast video, sound & display choices on the Panasonic menu options.

Finally, The LG allows *serious* white balance calibration over the Panasonic plasma. *Ten levels* of white balance. As mentioned earlier, liked how the Panasonic displayed a nice film softness with high-def movies, so decided to try and tweak the colour and white balance in one of the two, expert settings on the LG. Found an expert setup of white balance variables to input – from a specific review and their calibration variables found online. >[…]<
After that, the LG was every bit as good as the Panasonic dispaying high-def movies. The LG now had a film lushness, too.

I started the whole comparison process thinking I would end up spending the extra money for the Panasonic plasma. I kept finding myself surprised at how good this LG model was in direct comparison. I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised. This same calibration site quoted gave the LG 93 points overall (94 points for value) with the Panasonic G10 model (last model they had reviewed) only receiving 90.87 points overall with a 91 points for value. Both are excellent TV’s but the LG just had too much going for it.

Surprised, I boxed the Panasonic and returned it.

Hope this helps anyone trying to decide.