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The Short Form
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| $2,800 ($3,900 list) / LGUSA.COM |
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Snapshot
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| LG’s first LED-backlit LCD isn’t perfect, but deep blacks, natural-looking color, and an affordable price make it worth a look |
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Plus
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| • Accurate color • Strong blacks and good shadow detail • Plentiful picture adjustments • Wide viewing angle for an LED-backlit LCD • Affordable compared with most competition |
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Minus
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| • Aggressive edge enhancement limits picture resolution • TruMotion processing makes film-based images look unnatural • Just-average standard-def upconversion |
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Key Features
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• 120-Hz display • LED backlight with local dimming • TruMotion processing to reduce film judder • Side-panel HDMI and USB 2.0 inputs • Swiveling table stand • Inputs: 4 HDMI 1.3; 2 component-, 2 composite-, and 1 S-video; RF Ant/Cable, PC RGB, USB, RS-232C, and mini-jack IR • 45 x 32½ x 13½ in, 67 lb (with stand) |
If you’ve been keeping track, you’ll know that the key benefit to LED backlights is that they can deliver deep, realistic-looking shadows on LCD TVs when combined with a feature called local dimming. LED backlights on LCDs are comprised of an array of small lamps. These can be independently switched to correspond to the brightness level of specific “zones,” dimming or shutting off entirely (when displaying black areas in the picture, for example). By actively modulating sections of the backlight in this way, LED-backlit LCDs dramatically increase contrast levels over standard LCDs, which use a cold cathode fluorescent lamp (CCFL) that’s always fully switched on.
Along with local dimming, the 47LG90 offers Intelligent Sensor automatic picture optimization and TruMotion processing to reduce motion judder in film-based programs shown on its 120-Hz display. It can also show 1080p/24-format signals from your Blu-ray Disc player with a straight 5:5 pulldown to hit its 120-Hz frame rate. But maybe this set’s most notable feature is its picture-adjustment menu, which provides options that go far beyond those found on many other TVs.
The LG’s looks are pretty standard-issue for a flat-panel set. A gloss-black bezel surrounds a nonreflective matte screen, while the speakers are hidden behind a blue-tinted acrylic panel that runs along the bottom. A touch-sensitive control strip occupies the screen’s right side (the controls respond with a beep when you touch them), while the left side holds an A/V convenience input with HDMI and USB jacks tucked in toward the back. The matching gloss-black base can be swiveled up to 30º in either direction.
Back-panel connection highlights include three HDMI and two component-video inputs, an RGB PC jack, and an RS-232C port to connect to an advanced home-control system. LG’s remote isn’t backlit, but its big, rubbery buttons are clearly labeled and the keypad has an uncluttered layout. Pressing the Input button calls up an onscreen graphic depicting various jack types that you scroll through to select. (You can choose from a list of categories to re-label these, and the options include HD-DVD!) The Q.Menu button triggers an onscreen status list that can be used to quickly adjust the backlight level, picture preset, and display (aspect-ratio) mode. The display-mode options include Just Scan (shows pictures with 0% overscan), 16:9, 4:3, two zoom modes, and Set by Program, which automatically switches modes for you. All selections are available when displaying high-def video.
SETUP
The 47LG90 provides seven picture presets, all of which can be customized independently for each input. Two of these, Expert 1 and 2, also provide a Color Management System menu to alter tint and saturation levels for primary and secondary colors. But the real kicker for TV tweaks will be the Expert Mode’s 10-point color-temperature-adjustment option, which has controls to adjust red, green, and blue levels at 10 different brightness (IRE) steps.
Taking advantage of the LG’s many picture controls, I was able to get its color looking darn near perfect — more so than on other TVs with less plentiful adjustment options. Other settings I selected included High Gamma, Low Black Level for HDMI inputs (High for component video), and Medium noise reduction for watching standard-def programs on cable TV.
One picture adjustment I had a painful time tweaking was Sharpness. When I approached a setting where the edge enhancement related to this control started to disappear, the picture would invariably soften. Ultimately, I had to use a compromise setting where the edge enhancement wasn’t too blatant and the picture still looked relatively crisp.
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PERFORMANCE
The LG’s accurate color helped make the few sunlit outdoor scenes from The Dark Knight look incredibly realistic when I watched them on Blu-ray. For instance, in a shot where the Joker (Heath Ledger) flees a bank heist in a school bus, I could see subtle differences between the yellow hue of the bus and that of passing taxicabs as they crept along Gotham’s streets. And in a later scene where Lucius Fox (Morgan Freeman) hands Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) a sonar-equipped cellphone outside a Hong Kong office tower, the skin tones of both Wayne and Fox looked natural, and the bold green-and-red sign- age behind them appeared well balanced with the other colors.
As anticipated, the LG 47LG90’s local-dimming feature helped deliver satisfying black levels in The Dark Knight’s nighttime scenes. Shadow detail was very good. When I scrutinized a shot where Batman prepares to abduct Lau (Chin Han) from his high-rise office at night, I could easily make out details in the Caped Crusader’s black suit as he crouched in the darkness.
But I also noted an occasional “halo” effect in pictures where a bright white object appeared against a black background, such as movie titles and the Jupiter Mission scenes from 2001: A Space Odyssey. This effect stems from the local dimming. With high-contrast shots like those found in 2001, the backlight processing sometimes falls short of crisply resolving stark black/white transitions. (To put things in perspective, I also saw this issue on a Sony XBR8 LCD that I recently tested, though to a lesser degree. And 2001 notwithstanding, I rarely found myself distracted by it.)
While the LG’s picture looked fairly crisp on most programs I watched, the edge enhancement issue I noted during setup also resulted in the set lacking that last measure of sharpness I’ve come to expect from 1080p-rez TVs. And I found that the TruMotion anti-judder processing made the action in film-based programs look unnatural at both its High and Low settings, with the High mode sometimes introducing a slight picture break-up.
One area where the 47LG90 did have a clear advantage over other LED-backlit LCDs I’ve checked out was its viewing angle. I could slide over to one side of my couch (about 15º from the center axis) and not see an appreciable drop-off in picture contrast with the LG. The set displayed excellent screen uniformity with both test patterns and regular programs. And its noise-reduction processing proved effective in cleaning up noisy analog cable-TV pictures at its high, medium, and low settings. But upconversion of standard-def material was just average, with regular DVDs looking relatively soft.
BOTTOM LINE
With its 47LG90, LG brings a reasonably priced offering to the still dauntingly expensive LED-backlit LCD TV scene. Although I was disappointed by this set’s intrusive edge enhancement, which limited its overall picture resolution, its accurate color, wide-ranging picture adjustments, and strong contrast — even at off-center seats — make it a compelling flat-panel TV option for those inclined to choose LCD over plasma.
TEST BENCH
Primary Color Point Accuracy vs. SMPTE HD Standard
Color |
Target X |
Measured X |
Target Y |
Measured Y |
Red |
0.64 |
0.65 |
0.33 |
0.32 |
Green |
0.30 |
0.28 |
0.60 |
0.64 |
Blue |
0.15 |
0.15 |
0.06 |
0.06 |
After making basic adjustments in the 47LG90’s Expert picture preset with the Warm color temperature mode selected, grayscale tracking measured +/- 492 ° K of the 6,500 K standard from 20 to 100 IRE. Further adjustments made to the red, green, and blue controls in the set’s White balance menu upped performance to +/-85 ° K from 20 to 100 IRE, making the LG’s post-calibration grayscale among the flattest I’ve measured on a TV. This result can be attributed to the 10-point White Balance option, an adjustment that lets you tweak settings at 10 separate brightness levels ranging from 10 to 100 IRE. Color decoder tests revealed only a slight 2.5 % green pull on the HDMI inputs, and 5 % for component-video. Compared with the SMPTE HD specification, only the TV’s green color point measured off the mark, showing slight oversaturation.
Overscan — the amount of picture area hidden behind the edges of the TV’s screen — measured 0% for 1080i and 720p-format high-definition signals when the Just Scan display mode was active. With the sharpness control adjusted for minimal edge enhancement, both 1080i and 720p test patterns looked soft via the TV’s HDMI and component-video inputs. Screen uniformity was excellent, with no tinting or uneven brightness visible on gray, black, and white full-field patterns. Viewing angle was only fair as compared with other LCD TVs, though better than other LED-backlit models, with picture contrast dipping slightly at seats more than 15° off from the screen’s center axis. Gamma hit the 2.2 target with the High Gamma mode selected, and 2.0 at the Medium setting.
Tests of the LG’s video upconversion capabilities delivered mixed results. It failed the film resolution test on the Silicon Optix HQV high-def Blu-ray test disc, and also displayed moiré effects on the exterior Vatican wall scene from Chapter 6 of the Mission: Impossible III Blu-ray disc. When running DVD test discs, it also tripped up on HQV’s 2:3 film pulldown and assorted cadences tests, although I didn’t see any “jaggy” effects when watching regular DVD movies. The TV’s noise reduction processing proved effective in cleaning up noisy pictures, and it didn’t introduce any detail loss, even at the High setting. —A.G.