LG 47LG60 Review

 

The LG 47LG60

Though a big player in the consumer electronics industry, LG lags behind and still needs to catch-up with market leaders Sony and Samsung in the HDTV niche. Even so, LG often manages to produce some eye-catching and impressive HDTV enough to earn accolades, such as the superb 47LG60.

Design

Part of the Scarlet line, the 47LG60 inevitably contains the crimson red trim that is the distinguishing character of the LG HDTV line. A relatively thin bezel in glossy black surrounds the screen, with an eye-catching – and interesting – ‘hole’ design at the center of the bottom frame. The red accent covers the TV’s backside, as well as the edge of the mirrored pedestal. Consumers would either love or hate the scarlet theme, but undoubtedly, the 47LG60 is one of the better-looking HDTVs this year.

Unfortunately, the striking design wasn’t extended to the remote. The curved design of previous clickers was ditched in favor of a linear, narrower shape, with a textured finish. The keys in the remote are difficult to differentiate, has no backlighting, and lacks some necessary buttons such as one needed to toggle aspect ratios. On the plus side, the remote can be programmed to control other HDMI devices attached to the TV, through the Simplink button on the wand. The improved menu system of the 47LG60 is also a positive point, with its easy to read and navigate arrangement and groupings.

Screen/picture clarity

The 47LG60 delivers excellent picture quality, though its black level isn’t at par with the best plasmas and LCDs in the market. Thus, even with its high color accuracy (achieved after calibration) and correct decoding of colors, the resulting images aren’t crisp and vivid as they’re supposed to be. The uninspiring shade of black diminishes the brilliance of other colors as well as shadow areas, resulting in less than stunning images. It’s a good thing that the TV works well in brightly lit rooms, as the matte screen absorbs light quite efficiently.

The video processor of this LG works quite well, though likewise inferior to the top-rated LCDs. The 1080p full HD resolution resolved 1080p and 1080i sources well, deinterlaced 1080i film materials correctly, and resolved standard-def sources quite well. Screen uniformity is average, with noticeable bright areas in the upper corners that isn’t too significant.

Features

LG filled the 47LG60 with goodies presumably to justify its hefty price tag. One of these is the most versatile tweaking options available in the current crop of HDTVs: seven independently-adjustable picture modes per input, 10-point white-balance adjustment, full color management system, gamma and noise reduction. The 47LG60 is also rich in connectors: four HDMI ports, USB port, VGA connector, and a nice selection of input/output jacks for all requirements.

The LG 47LG60 is a pricey but feature-packed HDTV that is perfect for people who aren’t too discriminating in terms of image quality. But serious videophiles would have to look elsewhere, as its shortcoming in black levels can’t be compensated even by perfect color renderings.

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