LG 42LD690 42-inch Widescreen Full HD 1080p 100Hz LCD TV with Freeview HD

S. Baker

at 12:21 pm

The Good

I’ve had a this set for a few days and so far really pleased. Firstly the picture quality is great and despite a previous reviewer stating it wasn’t a 100Hz TV, this TV does support 100Hz TruMotion. For those that don’t know, 100Hz technology can make fast moving images less blurry by displaying 100 frames a second instead of 60, I have yet to compare this feature.

The intial setup is simply and takes a few minutes to scan the channels. You can fine tune the display by going through some advanced tuing options if you wish to set the brightness and contrast levels. The display while watching standard TV quite good but the TV really shines when displaying HD content like Blu-Ray films and HD games.

The USB input works really well for watching pictures or video. Thumbnails are displayed when a USB stick is inserted and the interface is good.

One of the main reasons I brought this TV instead of the lower models was the Freeview HD. This launches in my area in 2011 so this TV is very future proof, especially if you use Freeview and don’t want to pay Sky subscriptions to get access to HD channels. I look forward to watching BBC, ITV, and Channel 4 HD next year once launched and won’t have to buy a seperate box to access these channels. The Freeview HD boxes cost about £100+ so its worth considering paying a bit more for a TV with Freeview HD built in like this one now to save money in the future.

The speakers are really clear and much better then my previous 32″ Samsung LCD with double the power. Most LCDs sound like the sound is coming out of tin can but this sounds sufficient. I don’t feel I need big seperate speakers or surround systems using this TV like I have done in the past.

The Bad

My PS3 had problems displaying the image when the PS3 display settings were set to 1080p. However after I turned a few of the advance PS3 display settings off the picture was ok, one inparticular that caused a problem was the Y Pb / Cb Pr / Cr Super-White setting, to use this the TV must support the Y Pb / Cb Pr / Cr input signal which it doesn’t seem to. The TV didn’t seem to like some of the other advanced PS3 display settings but once I upgraded the TV software these modes work fine. The software update for the TV is available from the LG website but I’m not sure what it changes, but the version the TV came with was 3.0 where as the version on the website was 3.09.

Antoher thing is while Wireless TV is supported by the TV no wireless network support is actually built into the TV. If you wish to connect this TV to your wireless network you require a seperate hard to find network adapter which costs about £50. You can connect the TV using a wired network but it would have been better if wireless was actualy built in especially as its an advertised feature. I haven’t yet tried the NetCast features yet as I haven’t got access to a wired network but it does look very basic. You get weather forecasts, youtube access and picasa web albums so while not as fully featured as some other net TV services I can see them being useful at times.

Summary

The TV looks really good and the casing is quite thin, although not as thin as some of the LED TVs. The edge around the border is quite small so not too distracting. It looks great in the corner of the room and can be seen from all angles. There is a power/standby light in the bottom right hand corner. Overall I’m really impressed with this TV so far and look forward to many hours of viewing pleasure.
Rating: 4 / 5

H S Nanglu

at 3:01 pm

I thought I got a good deal on this TV buying it for £554.00, but the current price is lower. I bought this TV for it’s built in Freeview HD and its many inputs including 3 HDMI, 2 USB and other connectivity features.

When I first got the TV, I had to adjust the colour, contrast, backlight etc. There are a number of picture modes such as standard, cinema, sport, expert1 and expert 2. I have expert 2 settings perfect for myself and use it for everything. Freeview HD picks up the HD channels and as you would expect on a Full HD TV, the pictures are stunning.

The sound is brilliant and in addition there are many options to adjust sound quality.

It looks really good and has a swivel stand.

The True Motion is independent of the picture modes. And so is toggled between Off, Low, High and User (customised settings for Judder and Blur).

Personally, I think if they were going to have the True motion independent from picture mode, then they should have added a button on the remote to toggle the True Motion instead of going through the picture menu.

Another feature that interested me was DLNA. The TV does not seem to be DLNA certified but has the features. DLNA allows the TV to connect to a DLNA device and stream music, photos or videos to the TV screen.

The TV comes with a copy of Nero Media Home Essential that once installed on a PC allows specified folders to be shared with the TV or other DLNA clients. The problem is that the TV doesn’t have wireless networking built in. You can make a wired connection to the TV but unless you have a network router nearby, it is not very practical. The alternative according to LG is a LG USB Dongle which adds wireless ability to the TV. This dongle is expensive and not easy to find.

I found my own solution to this problem. I have a Games Console Network Adaptor (ethernet bridge). This device can connect a Games Console or PC to the network wirelessly and make it think that it is has a wired connection to the internet. This works with the TV.

Once the TV was connected to the internet it prompted me to update the firmware software. I allowed the TV to do this. Then I tried the YouTube facility and steamed a few video files from my computer to the TV. A HD mp4 file that I streamed to the TV looked stunning on the screen.

I tried other connections such as playing videos from the USB connection. I also connected a computer to the monitor via the RGB connection and audio cable. This worked fine. Not content with this, I connected the computer to the LG monitor using a HDMI to DVI cable. I was able use the TV as a monitor at full HD resolution.

I am happy with this TV and would recommend it to anyone at its current price. I would give it 5 out of 5 if it had wireless networking built in.
Rating: 4 / 5