LG Electronics 60LB5900 60-Inch 1080p 120Hz LED TV

Excellent TV for the Price! *Updated on the bottom*

I want to first clarify some points others have been making in the reviews on this TV. It IS indeed 120hz, the person who left that review obviously had no idea what they were talking about. I’ve seen people dock it stars for the lack of smart functionality. This is not a smart TV. It has a basic,navigable, and responsive menu. I have also seen docked stars for lack of ports. The site plainly lists how many ports the TV has, it’s your own fault if you expected it to have more.

I have something plugged into every port on this TV, except the USB port (I have no need).
Xbox 360 plugged into the Component inputs (old style 360), WD Media Player into 1 HDMI, and a future HDMI cable already run for my future Xbox One. I also have standard coax cable hooked up to this TV as well. This is all I need the TV for, which is why I went with this one vs a TV with more options since budget was an issue.

I haven’t yet tweaked with the picture settings yet, but plan to and I hope to update this review when I do.

Pros:
-Beautiful display. My friends have commented on it’s sharpness, color, and thin bezel. Minimal glare, if any in my setup.
-Absolutely perfect response time. I am a very heavy gamer, and this works great for FPS and fast response games. If you plan on using this for any game console, this is your TV.
-Absolutely no ‘soap opera’ effect.
-Color and Blacks have been very impressive. My previous LCD LG (i think 09 model) would go to ‘lit black’ on dark scenes, kind of like an extremely dark grey. I would say this TV is as close to real color and contrast as you can get.
-Nice sized remote, not a wii type.
-This TV does have a physical power button on the bottom, that is kind of like a joystick you can navigate a mini menu. Cool feature.
-Optical out, which I also use with a Soundbar/Wireless sub-woofer.
-True 16:9. Fits fully on the screen, no black bars.

Cons:
-Wall mount issues. I have this TV wall mounted with the popular Cheetah mount on Amazon. If i could go back I’d choose a different wall mount. The ports on this TV are basically right in the middle of the back in the TV, right where the brackets for a wall mount go across. The Xbox 360. Coax, and HDMI fit, but BARELY. They are pressed hard into their slots from the bracket of the wall mount, and take hard right angles. Terrible design for the ports, I wish they were the waterfall type.
-I expected the built in speakers to be a little better, but I’m being pretty picky here. I only listened for about 10 mins before I hooked up my quality Soundbar just to test.

Other thoughts:
-I did have a negative experience with shipping this TV. took 2 weeks to get here via prime, and then the delivery driver entered our home with my young teenage sister, and forced her to help unbox the TV to make sure it worked. She called me at work and I rushed home. He was in desperate need of a shower and a haircut, and I forced him to leave. He also lifted the TV out of the box, the opposite of how it’s meant to be unboxed (TV drops out the bottom, box comes out on top). Terrible vendor shipment, I blame Amazon for this, not the product or manufacturer. Probably my first negative experience with Amazon shipping something.
-You will need another person to help wall mount, if you plan to. Math and measuring required, bring your thinking cap.
-I would highly recommend this TV to anyone looking for a budget upgrade with not all the ‘thrills, apps or 3D gimmicks’. I sit about 12 feet from this TV, and that is about perfect for games and very ideal for TV and Movies.

If you have any other detailed questions feel free to comment, I try and look at my reviews from time to time to help others make good purchasing decisions!

*Hey all, still going strong a few months in! No dead pixels or issues with it at all, been a perfect tv. I’ve actually been very surprised at how responsive the menu is. you can switch back and forth between cable and any input within a second or so. I’ve done alot of 720p and 1080p content on it, and both look incredible. I’ve played with the color and menu settings a bit and tweaked them for my needs (my eyes see colors a bit different than others, especially blues/purples, greens/yellows.) I also really like the Movie/Game/Off Contrast modes. It helps my eyes adjust to all the different content I use the TV for.*

Disclaimer: I attempted to buy this via Amazon, but first unit came completely destroyed in the box. Refused on delivery. I decided to purchase it from a local store as I didn’t care to risk waiting on another damage unit.

That being said, this is a very under-reviewed television. I had researched my next TV for quite awhile and came to the conclusion I’d only purchase a Samsung, LG, or possibly Vizio. My requirements were as follows:

50-55″, Small profile, LED, direct-LED backlighting, and NO “smart” functionality (I have a ROKU and an HTPC that destroys pretty much any “smart” television functionality that a manufacturer includes on their TVs.) These requirements made for an extremely limited search as most major TV manufacturers are pushing their “smart” televisions only. I came across this LG and compared to as similar as possible Samsung and Vizios. The LG price point and direct-LED backlight was the winner. I couldn’t find any other TV that fit all the requirements above and certainly not at this price point, which was fairly unbelievable considering it is the new 2014 model.

The picture: Blacks are far deeper than I had thought for an LED (I’ve been a plasma buyer up until now). The direct-LED backlighting is superb and I notice no weird lighting issues and certainly no edge bleeding. The viewing angle is much better than I had thought, but most LED TVs are correcting this issue anyway, so this shouldn’t be too surprising. I see no “soap opera” effect from higher refresh rates. I have yet to figure out how to manually set the refresh, but as of now everything appears perfect with standard factory settings.

The audio: Surprising. I wasn’t even going to review sound as most factory sets are junk. There is actually a good amount of bass and volume. Audio is very crisp. Not sure if I’ll stick with this for the long run, but it’s worth noting that it is better than expected.

Cons: Very, very few. My only main concern is that although I love the double stands, they aren’t that supportive. If I push the display at the top, it’ll wobble back and forth a little due to the legs not giving enough support. If you have a stable stand like I do, this is pretty much a none issue, but it could be a concern for some. Everyone comments on how they like the look for the legs though (myself included). Further, I’d love one more HDMI slot, but two is good for most uses. Also, I feel I am very tech savy, but I would have appreciated a user manual that goes into greater discussion and depth. Even on this TV that is fairly bare bones, there are many options to adjust and the manual barely addresses anything. A lengthier manual could have been very handy. You’ll just have to tinker with it some more. Not a major issue.

Overall: After a ton of research, this TV is, in my opinion, *the* best LED TV in the 55″, non-smart category. It is fairly no frills when it comes to inputs, options, and “smart” functions, but it has a shockingly beautiful and great display. If you don’t need a massive amount of features, this TV is just killer. Highly recommended for those of us who don’t need or want a “smart” TV. As long as this TV doesn’t have any mechanical issues down the line, I’ll consider this an absolute steal at the pricepoint.

This replaces a 9-month old 50″ Panasonic Plasma which had to be retired when my 20-month old threw a lego block at it and somehow managed to both crack the screen and bugger the board.

As plasmas are being withdrawn from the market I decided to give this LED thing a crack – Over the first 24 hrs I have been super-impressed by the clarity of the picture, vibrancy of colours and even depth of blacks, which on some settings actually match my Panasonic.

I’ve owned Samsungs, LG’s and Panasonic in the past. Panasonic seemed to have a ‘premium’ feel, but this TV is every bit as good, and picture-wise, even better.

I haven’t experienced the ‘soap opera’ effect with this set either, though the first thing I did was go in and calibrate my picture settings, so that may have something to do with that. Regardless, the picture is beautifully natural and super-crisp to watch. Basically the perfect balance.

I opted for an extra 5 inches over the older tv (so the 55″ model) and am glad I did – the extra 5″ makes a difference and the clarity of this set means that even from a short distance away, everything is crystal clear. I loved my Panasonic plasma but there were a few things that irked me a bit… The picture was not “mind-blowingly” sharp and whites were always pretty dull (a by-product of plasma and something you just need to accept). This TV rectifies all of that with punchy whites, deep blacks and a beautifully crisp HD picture.

Overall what I love most is that, regardless of what picture type I want, I have complete control… So, I can have whites that burn my retinas if I wish, which was something I could never get on the plasma.

Setup could not be easier and the pre-set picture settings are actually very good (though I still advise taking your preferred one and fine-tuning a little for your own preferences and/or to get a more natural tone).

I was a little concerned over what the sound would be like on such a thin panel but it’s actually very strong (again, plenty of automatic settings which seem to work pretty well). I’ve not yet tried a sound bar so I’m sure it would make the sound even better, but with two small kids in the house and most of my viewing coming after 8pm when they’re asleep, I’m not at the stage of opting for a sound bar or surround system just yet.

Personally I don’t think you can go wrong with LG these days; the brand is on the ascendancy in technology with TVs, Phones etc all coming out at the very highest level. I can’t speak to their customer service as I’ve never had to use it but a lot of other brands’ reputations (ahem, Hisense) put me off risking my investment with them, even though their showroom TVs looked phenomenal.

One thing the TV lacks is Smart capability. This doesn’t interest some but for me was essential. Why did I buy this set then? Well, the “Smart” version was over $200 more. So I bought this along with a Roku streaming stick for $50 which gives me all the apps I want to watch (as well as some very cool ones I never knew about, like Amazon Cloud Player, Qello, to name a few). Sure, it adds another remote to the mix, so if that is going to make or break the deal for you, opt for the Smart version (which is currently $899).

I’ll update if anything happens or disappoints with the TV but so far I couldn’t be happier. Looks like the best TV we’ve owned.

*UPDATE 1 Week in – After a week of use, not much has changed – awesome TV, crystal clear image, decent sound – getting plenty of use out of it and would definitely recommend the 55″ over the 50″. I definitely feel the “Smart” features are essential for me these days, but the $50 Roku I added is working really, really well so don’t be afraid to use that as an option – the Roku features are much better than the semi-smart functionality of my Panasonic Plasma (it only had 5 options; Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, Youtube and some movie thing). Highly recommended.