LG 60PK550 60-Inch 1080p Plasma HDTV Reviews

Review by W. Raffa for LG 60PK550 60-Inch 1080p Plasma HDTV
Rating:
We needed to replace a 10 year old 55″ first generation rear projection Mitsubishi HDTV in our great room. After researching this purchase for months I was ready to purchase a new Panasonic 65″ TC-P65S1 plasma. Then I read Panasonic reviews and blogs regarding black level degradation in less than a thousand hours of use. The problem scared me enough I decided to purchase an LG Plasma instead. Also, since our primary TV is a 50″ Pioneer Kuro Elite we didn’t feel it necessary to buy another high end model.

I first chose the LG 60PK750…however, we don’t need wireless internet connectivity so I decided to save some money and buy the 60PK550. Mostly because of the reviews I read here on Amazon.

The TV was delivered by Amazons white glove delivery on the day they promised… as far as the time they originally promised…they were a little late. We give the delivery service Kudos, they did inform during the day that they would be delayed. Upon arrival I examined the TV closely found the display to be perfect and accept delivery of the TV. We’ve been watching the set for four days…here is the good the bad and the ugly!

The GOOD: My source is a DISH HD receiver, through an HDMI cable. When I first turned on the TV, like other reviews, the picture was just OK. However, after running the setup Wizard and then tweaking all the colors to taste for another 15 minutes the picture and the colors look very nice. Not as good as our Pioneer Elite…but close. When you factor in the price difference we paid for our Pioneer Elite…let me say you will boast about your picture on this LG Plasma. Once the TV is fully burned in, I’m sure the color rendition and picture clarity should satisfy all but the most discerning purists.

The BAD: I was surprised to find that this TV does not automatically detect the broadcast aspect ratio. My Pioneer plasma has this feature. I also have a 25″ Hannspree LCD TV that also adjusts the aspect automatically. A TV in this class should have this feature…especially a Plasma that can still have image retention issues if the black side bars aren’t adjusted off the screen to another ratio during viewing.

Another bummer is the remote control. It works well enough. Towards the bottom of the remote, there are four colored buttons. They are referenced in the owner’s manual as “Programmable”. However there isn’t any instruction or another mention of those buttons anywhere in the manual.

Now the UGLY: On day two of ownership I noticed two dead or stuck pixels at the top of the screen. They are violet so I don’t know what state they are in…except they are always violet. Today is day four and a third pixel died today… about six inches from the other two! I will be talking to Amazon tomorrow. I really like the TV and think with its picture quality it is a very good value for the money. However, my Pioneer plasma is two years old and doesn’t have a single dead pixel. This LG plasma TV is now four days old and already I have three dead pixels.

Amazon customer service handled my dead pixel problem in five minutes. Thank God for Amazon, what incredible service. A replacement LG-60PK550 is on the way.

7-18-2010 Replacement LG Plasma arrived two weeks ago, the screen is perfect. Now with over 100 hours on the set, I finally played with the adjustments… WOW I don’t think there is a better deal out there when you consider size and picture quality to dollar ratio. The best price I could find on Sony’s least expensive 60″ LCD TV was $800 more than this LG 60″ Plasma. If you need a big bright clear TV with stellar blacks, true bright colors and at all that at over 600Hz, for less than $1,600… look no further, LG has got that TV!

Review by Allan for LG 60PK550 60-Inch 1080p Plasma HDTV
Rating:
Here are my unprofessional opinions and findings:

I wasn’t able to view the 60-inch PK550 next to the 54 G25, but I was able to view a 50 inch G25 next to a 50 inch Pk550, so it was a good comparison. Both sets were running the same demo blue-ray DVD (from Panasonic, interestingly enough).I don’t know all the techno-jargon, but here is my review:

Blacks (1)

No point dancing around it, the G25 was better. There were three scenes that showed this: 1) Black screen with two yellow flowers in the center 2) A night-time shot of London’s “Big Ben” where the only non-black on the screen was the clock face and 3) Some sort of 50’s style neon sign on a black background. In this case the G25 came out strong – the blacks were like a void of darkness. No hint of gray or anything. It also beat everything around it, not just the LG. In the flowers picture, it might have been too dark – or maybe the flowers were too vivid, not sure which, looked a little “stuck on”, or “not real” but hardly a serious complaint.

The 50PK550 did very well though and was at least as good or better than everything around it – except the G25. I walked over to the 60-inch PK550 (the one I eventually bought) and without the G25 sitting next door, the blacks looked awesome with the same demo DVD running.

I’d characterize the difference as certainly noticeable, but not terrible and more a testament to how good the G25 black level is, not really a negative on the LG. As I said, the LG was as good or better than everything else, only the G25 stood out and killed the whole row.

Blacks (2)

Interestingly, the difference in the black level was only noticeable when the scenes were mostly black with some bright picture in the middle. In scenes where there were blacks and shadows but not over the majority of the screen, I saw little difference. An example was a scene with a bunch of jet skis – all the black seats looked the same to me. Same with a scene with a classic car, shadows and blacks looked equal. My guess is under exact testing they wouldn’t be, but to my eye in these cases there was no difference.

Color

Both sets seems very good here. There were differences though and I’m not sure if they are good, bad or up to personal preference. First, a scene with a grassy field and a tree in the middle. It looked really good on both TVs but on the G25 it was like “Oh look, a really nice tree and grass” on the PK550 though it was more “Whoa, lovely lawn and where can I get that tree”. The basic difference was the LG’s image sort of grabbed you more than the G25. The G25 had a great picture, but less eye-catching and a little more muted. The PK550 colors (especially greens) seemed to have a little more self confidence than those on the G25 and the image was better (to me) as a result. Some could argue the G25 was more “correct” – all I can tell you is the LG picture looked more “fun to watch”. At this point I noted that the G25 had an edge with mostly black images, but if its a fairly well color mixed scene, the LG seemed to have an advantage, slight perhaps, but there.

Detail / accuracy

I found this the hardest to compare. In some cases I thought the G25 had the advantage, in others, the LG. In most cases I couldn’t really detect much difference. The upside of the demo DVD is that the images are the same and they repeat so you can examine the same thing over and over. The down side is that none of the images were images or movies I’d already seen and so it was hard to tell if the images were better, worse, correct, accurate, etc. About all I can say is that if the images were true to the live image, then both TVs were accurate. If they were woefully inaccurate, then both were equally bad . Sometimes I thought the LG was sharper, others the G25. All in all, I didn’t see anything to make me give either TV a definitive edge. I was using human eyes here, not fancy gadgets, so your results may vary

Glare

The G25 walked over and pummeled just about every other TV in the store. It took no prisoners, gave no reprieves and laughed at the very idea of mercy. If you ask me, there is no better anti glare set than the G25, at least out of the 40-odd TV’s they had in the store. That said, I think the glare issue on the LGPK550 has been over stated. Does it have more glare than the G25?…um…yes. Does it have more glare than other TV’s?……sometimes. Is it as bad as I expected?….no, not at all. The store was well lit and the LG was nearest the main bay windows and entry (not exactly the best place for a TV with some possible glare issues….but I don’t run the store). The first thing I did was to turn it off. The screen reflected….well It was a pretty good reflection and in a pinch, could be used as an emergency mirror. Turn it on though, and most of the reflections vanished. I could still make out a reflection from the main entry and the bright brand-name signs behind me. I walked down the row of 20 -odd TV’s to compare (Samsungs, Sonys, another brand I forget and a Panasonic Vt25). The LG might have been a bit more reflective, but not by much and I’d say the off-state reflectiveness was the same as my current RP set, telling me that a little light control will go along way with the PK550. Remember too that this was in a bright store with a 40-foot window-wall and door about 30 feet away, at a right angle, to the line of TVs (and a bright sunny day too). The 60 LGPK550 was the first TV in line and so closest to the window wall. Bottom line is it does have glare and it’s probably more than some other brands but I didn’t find it “horrific” even under these bright conditions. My guess is some typical light control (blinds, curtains, etc) will make all the difference and better still if you mostly watch in the evening. I tested my living room first by blocking as much light as possible using conventional methods (blinds, curtains and a towel over the door window) It was significantly darker than the store and so while I haven’t set up the LG in my room yet, I have no worries about glare. Overall I didn’t see any huge glare differences except when compared to the G25.

Other stuff that may or may not matter to anyone else:

– Online connectivity: Well the G25 wins here because the LGPK550 doesn’t have it. So that’s pretty much that. For me, the only thing I want to use that requires online connectivity is Netflix and my current Wii or a Roku will fix that.

– Ability to process 1080p/24PFS without 2:3 pulldown: The LG wins here because the G25 can’t do it. This gets a little technical for me being a Noob in TV land but from what I think I know, this means the LG wont flicker as much in certain instances and can handle the frame rate without using 2:3 pulldown (and lets be clear, I’m not exactly sure yet what 2:3 pull down is). What I did learn is that it might not even matter – apparently I’ve been watching 2:3 pulldown all along and some people can’t even tell the difference anyway. If you’re interested in this techie stuff – awesome, but don’t take my word for any of it – I just report what I think I understand – I might have this wrong – All I can really state is that the LG doesn’t have to use 2:3 pulldown for 24FPS – whether that actually matters…who knows

THX Mode: I don’t think the PK550 has one, so , one up for the G25. That said though, I’m not really sure why it is you cant just calibrate the PK550 to be THX-like, if that’s what you want. The PK550 apparently has one of the most complete calibration suites in the price range (according to Video Only) with multiple “modes” to adjust – why couldn’t you just configure one of the modes to be THX-ish? I suppose convenience and pre-calibration come into play with a factory THX mode.

Thinner “frame”: The LGPK550 has a very thin frame, and its pretty thin in general. In the space I have, I was limited to a 58-inch set due to the general thickness of the frame that surrounds a 58-inch TV. Thanks to LG’s somewhat nicer design with thinner frame, I was able to fit a 60-inch set in the same space. For example, the Panasonic VT25 with a 58-inch screen is 56.3 inches wide, the 58S2 is 56.1 inches wide. The LG PK550 with a 60-inch screen is only 54.8 inches wide. Basically more screen, less frame. If your sticking the TV on a wall, this probably doesn’t matter. For me though, I have a maximum width that would fit in the space I have – the LG enabled me to go to a bigger screen saving about 2 inches on the frame thickness.

Lastly, a note about the PK750 and PK950. Apparently the 750 has some unresolved “issues” that effect the picture quality and the 950, while having better glare control, also has a reduction on picture quality thanks to the way LG decided to control the glare. This comes from the folks at Video Only – who after seeing both sets, decided not to carry them. Both these sets have more features like online connectivity, etc, but at a price (other than $$$ that is). I can’t state for sure thatteh 750 and 950 were not as good, thsi was just the opinion of the store people (though they seemed knowledgeable )

Review by Joseph E. Lucas for LG 60PK550 60-Inch 1080p Plasma HDTV
Rating:
We love this TV,the picture is superb, with the blue ray dvd we purchased with it,the blue ray movies appear 3D. Crystal clear picture,so far after less than a month viewing we can find no faults,hopefully that will last.Our first plasma which replaced a 43″ Hitachi rear projection HDTV but what a difference in sharpness and color,watching baseball and hockey makes you feel like you have the best seats in the house. Our only gripe is, in less than 3 weeks,the price with Amazon dropped over $100.00, that wouldn’t have bothered us if it was 3 months or so from now but in less than a month,it hurts. Oh well,we still love the TV and would highly recommend the LG 60PK550 Plasma.

Review by freetolio for LG 60PK550 60-Inch 1080p Plasma HDTV
Rating:
I’ve had this TV for about a week, and I love it. The 24p (3:3 72hz pulldown) is fantastic with blu-ray on the PS3. It works great as an HTPC monitor, and I haven’t noticed any image retention features. I run the pixel orbiter feature on it as insurance against burn-in. The most stand out feature on this set is the incredible depth and vibrancy of color. I have two other 1080p tvs of 42″ and 28″ and neither comes close to the richness of color of this set.

Positives:

It is hard to overstate how thin this TV is, and the bezel is very narrow as well. It has 2 rear HDMI ports and some composite and component inputs, good channel editing menus, and one side HDMI port. The color is superb, and blacks look good. Even on normal TV shows, the colors stand out and pop like something you might see in a magazine ad. The auto scan provides for scanning all channel types so you can get digital and analog antenna and cable channels on the same input instead of having to settle for setting just cable or antenna. I suspect this means you can connect an antenna to your cable line for more channel options. The channel change is fast and reception is good.

Sound is nice and loud considering I can’t see the speakers.

Negatives:

Glare is intense on this set. I knew this was a potential problem when I pulled the trigger, but you will be surprised how mirror-like the TV is when dim/dark material is viewed on it. I have heard that the higher LG series no longer have these issues with new glass coatings, but I can’t speak from experience. As bad is the glare can be, it can be dealt with so long as: 1.You cannot see an non-curtained window directly in the reflection path and 2.You cannot see a bright light fixture directly in the reflection path or 3.You are watching sufficiently bright content.

The bezel is sharp on the bottom of the tv. It won’t cut you, but it will put temporary lines in your palm and fingers owing to the weight pressing down on the narrow edge. To make mounting and moving easier, my lifting buddy and I used some oven mits and they worked great.

Neutral:

A negative for me was that connecting new inputs changes the selection order in the menus. This means I have to reprogram any remote macros to compensate when a new device is attached. OTOH, it makes more sense for people not using macros not to scroll through empty inputs.

The VESA mounting holes are very slightly recessed into the sheet metal on the back of the TV. When mounting, I chose to use some spacers so as not to crush the metal that sticks out. This isn’t a con, but it is something to note. Mount kits always include these types of spacers so it isn’t really an extra hassle.

The on-bezel capacitance touch controls are fairly stealth which lends the TV a nicer look, but it also makes them kind of hard to see for actual use.

When the screen is dominated by white (like it tends to be when displaying a web page), the brightness will be a bit lower. I am led to believe this is common with plasmas. The brightness of the set is good. I have it set somewhere near the half way mark with power saving features active. It won’t blind you like a DLP or high output LCD might, but I actually find it more comfortable and enjoyable and don’t have to adjust it like I sometimes would adjust my other sets for changing light conditions.

Review by Daniel Lightner for LG 26LD350 26-Inch 720p 60 Hz LCD HDTV
Rating:
I reviewed LCD 26 and 32in TVs for weeks looking at specs and design and I finally decided on the LG350 for our master bedroom. So far I’m very pleased with my selection. It came down to the Samsung 26″ C450 and this one. For the money and options the LG was a better pick for sure. I must say the sound is by far best on this TV than any other LCD I looked at. The TV turns on quickly (2-3sec) some delay much longer. The blacks are black and the colors look great, even on standard def channels. Some LCDs look horrible on SD channels but not this one. Very pleased with the menu setup and the remote control. The only thing I’ll say I don’t care for is the picture wizard setup. It’s almost easier to just use the standard pre set picture settings and make only minor adjustments to fit your room. The stand swivels smoothly which the Sony and Samsung don’t. I also like that it’s not a glossy screen with lots of reflections. I see very little blur when viewing fast moving options. You see it, but not like some other 60Hz TVs. So if you are looking for a great LCD for under $380.00. I highly recommend this model. Oh, and don’t let anyone tell you any different. If you are looking at 32″ and below. 720p is just as good as any 1080p model in this size range.

only way this TV could be anymore perfect is for it to have a built in Blue-ray or DVD player.

Review by Vagabond for LG 26LD350 26-Inch 720p 60 Hz LCD HDTV
Rating:
We delayed upgrading to HD to let the dust settle a little, and we didn’t want to give up our current entertainment center, so finding something under 27″ was imperative. This fit the bill for size and price. We have no previous experience with HD and had to upgrade to HD on DISH Network, too. Now that everything is operating, we are very pleased with this TV. We might want to fine tune color a bit after we’re more familiar with the TV, but it is meeting our expectations and hopes and we’ve high-fived several times today. I ordered this on 5/21 and received it from Amazon on 5/25. Typical great service from Amazon. We had our stereo hooked up to the old TV because the sound wasn’t great, but the speakers on the LG are clear and we’ll probably not hook up the stereo to this one. We’re still learning, but happy.

Update: the matte finish of the screen is wonderful. I have reflections on the frame from my window blinds that cannot be seen on the picture. After watching it last night, we’ve decided the color settings are perfect — no tweeking to be done. All wonderful.

Review by Sue Bevine for LG 26LD350 26-Inch 720p 60 Hz LCD HDTV
Rating:
After returning 3 HDTVs (Samsung, Sharp and Sanyo) I’m sooooo happy with this one. A perfect picture and great sound. I barely have to raise the sound to hear it, which is a problem with many other HDTVs. There’s no distortion of the images and the color is perfect. I was almost going to buy a 22-inch model, but it looked small in the store, so I went for the 26-inch and I’m glad I did. A good size if you’re about 10′ away from the set. The on-screen menu is a little difficult to figure out … but once you get the hang of it … it’s ok. A definate buy at a very good price. Also, it’s always good dealing with Amazon – trustworthy, efficient, competitive pricing and good quality products.

Review by shaman for LG 26LD350 26-Inch 720p 60 Hz LCD HDTV
Rating:
This is a great tv. we use it in our master bedroom. Has all the features I wanted. We have dropped cable tv except for basic cable. I use my computer to connect the tv to my netflix account. I watch movies and netfilx content when I want and the reception is great. It is so easy to connect and the color and clarity are great.

Review by Shari Irving for LG 26LD350 26-Inch 720p 60 Hz LCD HDTV
Rating:
I got this TV for my bedroom and really like it. I’m only using it to watch regular TV which is in broadcast in 720p, and don’t watch any action or sports. The picture is really good as well as the sound. I would recommend it to anyone looking to buy a bedroom TV.