 Great TV for a decent price. |
| Review Date: November 24, 2008 |
| Reviewer: TAS22, IL |
I purchased this TV about two weeks ago for the price of $901.75 which is a pretty good price for the size and due to the fact that its full 1080p. Its got an awesome contrast ratio of 50,000:1. When using my PS3 hooked up via HDMI cable the picture is nothing short of perfect. Games look amazing and blu-ray movies look spectacular. Regular SD TV viewing leaves a bit to be desired but its about par with other HD TVs that I have seen on SD. Buttons on the TV are hidden on the side except for the power button which is placed on the LG logo on the front, and the power button is touch sensitive, meaning you just have to touch the logo not press it and on comes the TV. The TV itself is quite attractive with scarlet backing and a full black front except for the LG logo which is a sort of glowing red. Overall its a great TV for a pretty decent price.
September 24th, 2009
To add to my review:
Sadly my TV just gave out on me. The picture began to flicker and I suspected that the HDMI cord was the culprit but alas it was the TV. Not even a year old... Hopefully LG will honor their year warranty. . . Will update status again after discussing the issue with them tomorrow. This is quite disappointing seeing as how I spent 900 dollars on the TV. . . |
Great lil' set. Especially for gaming.
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| Review Date: January 20, 2009 |
| Reviewer: B. Sarason, |
Uses: mostly gaming (Xbox 360 w/hdmi input). Also movies (Netflix streaming & DVD's both through the Xbox 360)
PROS:
-50,000:1 contrast ratio. They say the bigger this number, the purtier the picture. Check out other sets in this price range. Few offer such a ratio, (yet). Not even LG's next model up in size, for some reason.
-2to3ms response time (or something like that) and 120hz = less "streaking". LCD TV's historically suffer from "streaking" when displaying some types of moving images (I think from the pixels staying on too long). Gamers also complained that early LCD's were taking too long to react to game input, (and in games like COD4 distorted images and slow response time can equal death!) This TV is fast and clear. My roommate has a mid/high end Sony 1080p LCD HDTV from a couple years ago. It's a fine set but we both agree that this little LG displays xbox 360 input notably clearer than the Sony. There's less blur and streaking during motion, which is huge for gaming. As far as I could tell when shopping around a few months ago, the only sets that offer contrast ratios, 120hz, and response times near this one are in the mid to high end of things and none of them are smaller than 40". So for comparable specs (Samsung >=600 series, Sony's Series > "W", etc...) you'll have to pay a few hundred to a few thousand more dollars right now.
-tons of inputs: RF (antenna/cable), 2 or 3 Component video/audio, 3 or 4 HDMI, RGB PC, Composite video, usb. I only use HDMI so far but there you go.
-5:5 pulldown. If you don't know what this is, just wiki it along with 3:2 pulldown, 120hz etc. I don't know how many DVD movies or broadcast movies preserve the original 24hz image content (why would they if previous TV's couldn't use the data?) but supposedly because this TV can display 120 frames per second it can show movies without the "judder" that previous 60hz TVs suffered. I haven't watched enough movies without "real cinema" (LG's name for 5:5 pulldown) to compare it's effects on vrs off. I'll just say that they look great with it on. I haven't noticed any weird artifacts or problems. (Maybe Real Cinema doesn't "preserve" original 24hz content, it looks at 3:2 content and "unscrambles" it?) I also haven't used "True Motion" much at all. True Motion is LG's tech that puts interpolated frames between source frames, to smooth out image quality. I played around with it a bit gaming and it works. Ordinarily blurred text remained legible for longer on signs in COD4 as I moved and ran by them. Generally I leave True Motion off because I don't like the idea of extra frames that aren't actually part of the original content. I hear it makes movies look really creepy, so I look forward to playing around with it!
-good User Interface. Playing around with the various settings was easy. The remote and menus are not overwhelming. They are intuitive and clean.
-tons of options: There are all sorts of bells and whistles. Options like "fresh color", "fresh contrast", "eye care", "noise filter" etc I *sort of* understood at one point back when I was setting up the picture to my liking, but no longer remember what they do. Going into "expert" picture mode allows tons of fine tuning picture options for those looking to calibrate with pro-level precision. But don't be daunted by all the bells and whistles. I found a picture that I am quite satisfied with, and I'm no AV expert. You can too.
CONS
-Overall asthetics of TV cabinet. The shiny red back I think looks kind of silly. Overall the set looks fine: it's not unspeakably ugly or anything. Just a little cheesy, maybe. You may disagree. Obviously it makes no difference whatsoever to the picture quality. The part of the TV that you look at, looks great.
-built in speakers suck. This, I feel, is pretty much a given these days. I suspect that HDTV manufacturers feel that most people buying 1080p HDTV's are going to be running the audio through external systems and given this fact and the desire for thinner and thinner HDTV's it's a waste of time and money and ultimately kind of impossible to incorporate really nice speakers into modern HDTV's. This LG doesn't have great sound. It's fine, it's adequate, but it's not a dolby THX sensorama aural party. This is not unusual. My roomate's Sony's sound sucks too. Most modern HDTV have bad sound, or no sound at all. Check out the reviews. That's just how it is. I'm using the built in sound on my 37lg60 because I haven't gotten around to looking into entry level 5.1 systems, and I haven't had any problems hearing content. The footseps in COD4 are pretty faint, but what are you gonna do? You need an external system if you want better. And you'll want that system to use digital audio because,
-no l/r audio out. The 37LG60 has coax digital & optical digital audio outs and built in speakers but no old fashioned stereo audio out. Don't know why not. Oh well.
-not huge. You already know this. it's 37". So not appropriate if you're looking to build a home movie theatre. Not really a con, but thought I'd point out the obvious.
-poor documentation. Comes with a manual on disk (pdf manual is also available on LG's website). But very little info is available concerning some of the options/settings. True Motion when turned on can be set to "high" or "low". What's the difference? I have no idea. I'm guessing "high" puts interpolations in all 120 frames/sec not provided by the source material (60 for 60hz content) and that "low" puts in...less fake frames? But I don't really know, really, and LG seems not to want to tell us. I don't really understand how true motion (interpolations) interacts with real cinema (the 5:5 pulldown function). Apparently having both on results in 3:2 pulldown, which is weird. You'd think it'd do like all 24 original frames, and add some extra interpolations, but that's not what the manual says. Whatever. I pretty much never use true motion. I would like more info on what it's *actually* doing, but I don't use it. Another issue: does turning on real cinema merely enable the TV to use 5:5 pulldown if it detects 24hz source material (or 3:2 source material that it can unscramble) or does it actually force 24hz output regardless of the source? No idea. I'm guessing the former because I didn't notice a drop in image quality when switching realcinema on and off while running 60hz source material. I tried contacting LG for more technical specs, but they haven't been able to help me. So you're gonna own something with some options you don't fully understand. But you'll get the gist of it.
*true motion on & real cinema off = creepyvision. smooth and weird.
*true motion off & real cinema on = 5:5 pulldown. movies the way they were meant to be viewed
*true motion and real cinema both on = 3:2 pulldown (according to the manual)
*both off = no idea. I'm guessing it just displays whatever it can, as faithfully as it can, with no interpolation. You'd think this would be 3:2 pulldown, but according to the manual: nope.
SUMMARY:
If you've read this far...congratulations, you don't exist! Seriously though, I bought this a couple months ago when it was briefly available directly from amazon. It was around $900 w/free shipping. I felt that it hit the sweet spot in terms of price point and features. It's pretty damn close to current top of the line models in terms of specs that matter, but it's small enough and unglamourous enough (who buys LG in america?) and just old enough, apparently, to not cost nearly as much as those top models. If you're looking for a non-huge TV for gaming, this thing is ideal. The picture is noticably smoother than earlier gen LCD HDTV's. Sure, in a year or 2 you'll be able to get LCD's that fly and do your taxes for the same price. That's the way electronics work. But right now, you're getting a TV that would have cost like 3 or 4 or 8 grand a year or two ago, and retailed at like $1,200 when it launched. *Sweet spot detected!* |
TV heaven
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| Review Date: May 29, 2008 |
| Reviewer: Mark Shepperson, Thailand |
Well after months of looking. I had decided on a budget of $400 to get a 32in for my spare room. So i find myself in my local mall (in Thailand) and after a look around Samsung and a few others i came across LG. The Scarlet had just arrive and was nearly twice my budget but some things one just has to have. The picture is cleared than looking out of the window and linked up to a X-box 360 the colour depth and contrast are unbelievable all with crystal clear sound.
It is also more future proof than Sony TV at the same or higher price point with a USB in and enough ports for all your game machines and cable links.
The only downside is i now want (no NEED) a PS3 for Bluray and more games.
Great product great price. 100% happy. |
beautiful
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| Review Date: December 5, 2008 |
| Reviewer: Robert W. Bangsund, Murfreesboro Tn usa |
| this set is better than advertised.1080p 4 hdmi hook ups.the picture is the clearest i have ever seen.running it through a yamaha receiver,bose and infinity speakers.what a rush.go to monoprice.com for your cable needs.amazon got it to me in less than a week.I'm in hd heaven.for the price the best hdtv on the market.the tru motion screen is stunning |
Amazing TV
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| Review Date: December 14, 2008 |
| Reviewer: Danny Takacs, Cincinnati, OH |
| I wanted an upgrade from my 26 inch Sony Bravia for a bigger TV with full HD, so I started my research. One look at this LG Scarlet and I was hooked. The specs are fantastic: 50,000:1 contrast ratio, 2.7 response time, 120hz panel, 4 HDMI inputs, etc. Playing my PS3 via HDMI with the 120hz TruMotion on in incredible. Games have never been more smooth. It seriously looks and feels as though the games' framerates have been doubled. Watching Blu-Ray and upconverted DVDs is great as well. The TruMotion can make movies look so much more life-like; sometimes it really feels as though you are right there in the movie, watching it unfold right in front of you. There's plenty of hook-ups, and the TV looks great with it's glossy black front and scarlet red back with the silver and red stand. At this size, this is no doubt one of the best TV's you can get. |
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