LCD TV Reviews

Black: 0.022
White: 25.79
Full-On/Full-Off Contrast Ratio: 1,172:1

All the measurements here were taken in the Expert1 Picture Mode over HDMI, with the set adjusted for the most accurate picture in a darkened room.

The LG’s blacks and shadow detail, while not the worst of the group, were slightly higher than we like to see in a 2009 set. In Vivid mode, the LG pumped out a peak white level of 114 foot-lamberts.

As delivered, the set was at its best with its White Balance (color temperature) control set to Warm. The Before Calibration color tracking is visibly satisfactory, though the Delta-E ranged from 3.7 to 7.2 across the full brightness range. (Delta-E is a figure of merit that indicates how close the color temperature comes to the ideal white point of D6500. The lower the number the better. Experts generally recommend a maximum of between 3 and 4 for results that are visibly indistinguishable from lower values.) After calibration, the Delta-E was exceptional—the best of the group by far and quite possibly the best we have ever measured. It barely peaked above 1.0 across the full brightness range (1.05, to be exact). Credit for this must go to the LG’s 10-point white balance controls.

The set’s color gamut, as shown by the white triangle on the CIE chart, is a very tight match to the ideal Rec.709 HD color gamut (the black triangle).

As you can see in the Video Test Bench chart, which is primarily HD but includes a single SD test (scaling from 480p to 1080p), the LG’s overall video processing turned in a mixed result, failing both the 3:2 and 2:2 HD 1080i pulldown tests. It also failed the M:I:III Vatican deinterlacing tests (the brick wall in chapter 7 and the stairs in chapter 8). But it cleared the rest of the video processing hurdles, and its scaling performance was, by a small margin, the best of the group. It also passed a separate test for 1080i component horizontal resolution (not shown in the chart).—TJN