What Hi Fi Sound and Vision
13 AUG 2009
LG 42LH5000
Not all LGs are born equal, but this one proves the company can churn out a real stunner when it wants to
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The LG 42LH5000 has gone from £1000 to £750 since we first reviewed it.
It’s still got the features of a premium TV, though, offering 200Hz motion processing, four HDMI inputs and a USB socket for playing MP3s, JPEGs and movie files.
It’s handsome, too, with a gloss-black finish that’s enhanced by a blue power light and clear Perspex wings either side of the fascia.
Easy and intuitive to use
The menu system’s big, bold icons and fonts make it welcoming, and this helps make calibration relatively painless, although there are advanced options that require some tweaking.
One of these is TruMotion 200Hz: some of our team preferred it set to ‘low’, some switched it off. So, it’s not as appreciated as the 200Hz processing of others – but crucially, even with it off, the LG is a better handler of motion than many other affordable sets.
Often a disc’s menu screen can tell you a lot about a TV’s performance, and the version-select screen of the Role Models Blu-ray immediately highlights some of the LG’s strengths.
The white wall that provides the background is supremely punchy and pure, without the loss of any of the detail in the dirt or cracks, while the crinkles on the blue poster are more obvious, and the whole picture feels more three-dimensional than other sets at this price.
These traits carry through when you actually start the movie, and you get a delivery that’s sharper and more insightful than the competition, with impressively pure whites, and colours that are naturally neutral.
The Duplicity DVD proves the LG is also accomplished with standard-def, and, although blacks aren’t as deep as those offered by more expensive sets, overall contrast is very impressive at this money.
Class-leading detail
The TV’s ability to reproduce accurate and natural skin tones remains one of its main strengths, but detail, sharpness and motion are also class-leading.
The Freeview tuner adds just a touch of noise to a delivery that’s otherwise very similar to that of DVD, while the sound from the ‘Invisible Speakers’ is a bit bright, but otherwise fairly open and clear.
In other words; there’s nothing that should put you off the LG – at this money, it’s amazing.
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