LG 55LH40 55-Inch 1080p 120Hz LCD HDTV, Gloss Black

Review by Artset Outset for LG 55LH40 55-Inch 1080p 120Hz LCD HDTV, Gloss Black
Rating:
I nearly pulled the trigger on a Samsung 55″ model but while chasing the cheapest price, ran across this LG at Best Buy for $1799. Detailed info is hard to find, but it was available for store pickup so I took a chance without seeing it first since I could return it easily. I am glad I did. I cannot imagine a better picture. Observations:

Container is 56-1/2″ x 40″ x 21″ with 2 hand holds on each end. Two adult males handled it without much difficulty. Comes with stand attached. Clip the bands, lift the bottomless box up and put it where you want it. I did not, but plan on 3 people to wall mount it.

You are not going to get home theater audio out of any unit without a subwoofer. It is simple physics. This one sounds pretty good for what it is. You can easily connect it to a home theater system with the Digital Audio Out or RCA ports. It has no separate Subwoofer Out port.

I read an article that expounded on the limitations of the human eye to distinguish contrast at any one light level. Think of waiting for your eyes to adjust to bright or dark conditions. The point made is that contrast specs are BS. Test eqpt might measure another TV as having more range than this one, but I don’t think your eyes would detect a difference. This TV has good black levels and maintains them as you crank up the brightness. I still think plasma has the best picture but can’t live with its shortcomings. I question the benefit of LCD LED backlight beyond reduced energy consumption and a skinnier unit. Maybe it improves black levels?

If you have digital cable as a primary source, don’t blame muddy dark areas on a TV. It is just excessive compression they use to save bandwidth. Sat TV is generally better. OTA broadcast is beautiful. Everything falls short of 1080P DVD. A gamma adjustment can help tweak this problem. This TV has some “expert adjustments” including gamma and black level. I haven’t played with them, yet.

One of the imaging engineers I work with gave me a chart that shows the limitations of the human eye with respect to HD. Per the chart, you have to get a lot closer than normal viewing distances to see the difference between 480, 720, or 1080 resolution. This TV is big enough that it might matter to some folks and it looks great up close. I start to see the screen door effect at about a 24″ viewing distance. Even with eagle eyes you would not see it at a comfortable viewing distance.

SD content looks very good but you can’t make it HD. The interpolation algorithms work well. NTSC (the old analog standard, what you get from a VCR) is 320 x 240. Standard DVD is 480P. This is an area where you could see big differences between products.

TV’s are moving toward becoming personal computers. I can see future units having a PDA for a remote and full capabilities. That will be cool. I can’t wait. This one doesn’t have any of that except a USB port for displaying pictures and playing music. It appears that computer capability is what makes a big difference in price. In my opinion, the most capable units are still pretty lame. This is the bottom of the line model but the only difference is the computer features. This TV has a PC port. Online streaming content is 480P, at best, and extremely compressed. I don’t think it looks good on a big screen.

Menus are well designed. This TV makes it easy to optimize to your preferences. I did not like the “Auto” setting for picture brightness. I wanted it brighter. Otherwise, the initial setup wizard did the job.

No S-video. Seems like it is being dropped by the manufacturers.

I would like to have 2 antenna inputs but the only TV I found that has two is Mitsubishi.

Since broadcast frame rates are around 30 fps and interlaced only refreshes half of the lines, I think the effectiveness of 120hz (240hz)refresh rate is pretty subjective and content specific. Same goes for the 24 fps movie source stuff on DVD. This TV has settings for these features. If I find them useful, I will update this review.

I could gush awhile, but I think I will watch the TV instead. When you read other reviews that gush, apply them to this one.

Thanks to all of you who share your opinions and experiences with us. It helps a lot. For TV, even visiting a store will not help much because they do not optimize the picture and the store lighting is usually green. So the brightest one tends to draw your eye.

Review by Heinz E. for LG 55LH40 55-Inch 1080p 120Hz LCD HDTV, Gloss Black
Rating:
I have had this TV for a few weeks now. Actually it is my second. The first one delivered came with the backlight not working correctly. It would turn on/off flicker all the time.

I called Amazon and got referred to LG customer service. LG customer service after going through an unsuccessful over the phone troubleshoot attempt opened a case for repair. Called Amazon back, gave the LG case number, and got the TV promptly replaced (old one picked up when the new one was delivered).

The new TV works great with standard and HD programing (cable), up-scaled DVD and Blue Ray content. Media PC output- connected via HDMI is equally crisp and clear. Controls are simple and intuitive, would definitely buy again.

Amazon service including customer service was outstanding, easy to reach and very helpful (native English speaking support – NOT some difficult to understand, outsourced service)!!

Review by D. E. Scott for LG 55LH40 55-Inch 1080p 120Hz LCD HDTV, Gloss Black
Rating:
Hi Guys, I know it can be exhausting reading/researching all of the reviews about so many different flats. I started a year ago and was pretty convinced with Samsung but glad I didn’t get any of them (650, 750…series, etc.) because the reviews a year later are not so hot. I was going to buy Walmart’s Visio 55″ 120hz this week for $1398 because it looked like a great flat and the reviews weren’t half bad either. I went to Best Buy to get a surround sound (research on customer reviews was minimal for these because the flat was tiring enough, lol). Anyway, I saw the LG 55″ 120hz for around $70 dollars more. The only perk over the Visio was this one had 70k ratio vs. Visio’s 50k. Took it home and with the help of a friend, had the flat up and going an hour or so. Most of my time was invested with centering and installing the support bracket on the wall. I probably could have hung the sucker myself being it is only 70lbs but better to be safe. I hooked up my 5.1 and Blue-ray today. I am not hard to please as I have endured over ten years with an old tv (small tv at that, lol) from 1995 with no surround sound. I really think it’s an awesome flat. I haven’t adjusted one thing and the flat looks absolutely great. You will want a surround system or sound bar, the sound is just good ole tv quality sound. I will probably try some fine tuning when I get around to reading the manuals. Anyhow, for those that are interested, I bought the Sony DAV-HDX285 Home Theatre system and the Samsung BD-P3600 Blu-ray player. I don’t like integrated units because of the possibility of one part going bad. I bought this particular Sony BR because it has the wireless network technology…I am listening to Christmas music right now from […] as I write this novel, lol. I also use it for my Netflix movies. All of the components mixed together sound just like the movie theater in my living room, of course my living room is close to the size of one, 1200 sq. ft., lol. Anyway, I will report back here if anything goes haywire. One last thought, I didn’t buy any of those very expensive warranty packages. The manufacture is good for one year. I figure if your product can make it one year it will probably do well for you beyond that. Merry Christmas all….Dave

Review by David Wolf for LG 55LH40 55-Inch 1080p 120Hz LCD HDTV, Gloss Black
Rating:
We were looking to get a large LCD TV in the end of 2008, and therefore focusing on 52 inch TVs. The prices seemed to be unstable, and since we missed a really good deal, we kept waiting for it to happen again, especially after Christmas that year. The prices went up instead.

So around Christmas 2009, we started again, but this time 55 inch LCD TVs were the big thing, and after looking at several, this LG seemed to have the best combination of features at the price point we were evaluating. I was on the edge of getting it when it was at $1479 one morning, but didn’t. Later that afternoon it was $1399, less than the local price, and with no tax and free shipping with white glove delivery and setup, it was hard to beat, so I jumped on it. (As I write this review, it’s $1380!)

This TV has a beautiful picture, and the sound is fine (to me) without attaching a surround sound system. I think I’m going with LG products on TV’s and Blu-ray players for the foreseeable future, as the quality appears to excellent. Hopefully, they won’t become like Sony and after many years let everything go to pot. I can’t bring myself to buy anything Sony anymore, with all the products that I’ve had by them more recently that fell apart far too soon.

Just a word about the delivery if bought through Amazon — it was a wonderful experience. I was able to schedule a delivery time range, and when they brought it, they took everything out of the box, set it up, and took all the trash away, so no TV box out for trash pickup advertising to everyone what we got. I would buy a TV from Amazon again in a heartbeat, if I need one.

And after the experience with this LG TV, I think I’m going to need a smaller LG for my bedroom pretty soon.

I would also suggest the LG BD 370 Network Blu-ray Disc Player or LG BD 390 Network Blu-ray Disc Player for those in the market for a Blu-ray player, especially with Netflix streaming.