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Official LG xxLD550 xxLD520 xxLD650 Owners Thread

592K views 5K replies 411 participants last post by  chros73 
#1 ·
I just picked up the LG 42LD550 at BB.
Since there isn't really a thread I could find on this "middle of the road" LG series I thought it might help to start one. These several models in the LD series covers TVs in 32", 42" 47", 52", 55" and one 60" model. So menuing and settings should be similar, if not the same. At least, according to the LARGE and more complete manual that is available for download on the LG website.

There is/are threads for the LE series and LH series. This way, owners will have a common place to go to post opinions on settings, operation, internet connections, firmware updates, etc. Please limit comments and questions to OWNER related topics rather than comparison to other manufacturers and pricing as clutter will soon build up.


So far I've installed the stand, powered it up, connected to an OTA antenna and scanned the channels. Reception is excellent. I selected the "Standard" setting in the menu for an initial picture setting and have done a few user adjustments, and have set it up right next to my 3 yr. old Mitsubishi LT46231, which is calibrated and has an excellent color pallate still to this day. With the few adjustments I've done, the 42LD550 has excellent color balance with very good detail, even it the darker areas of the picture.

If anyone is interested in this series of models, this should now be a common place to go for actual owners comments and opinions, as well as help for new owners to assist in set up and best viewing options.

For now, it's back to some more run time on my new 42LD550 and trying out the internet options and checking for firmware updates! Cheers!


For first time owners, a very quick picture setup using Cinema picture mode is on P.3 post #65. It will get you familiar with the menu and help provide a little better picture than the factory setting in the Cinema mode.

Jan. 1, 2011

After taking into consideration the feedback from other users for the past several months, I've produced a modified list of settings based on what I hear people seem to want. The ISF values are still very similar to previous ones, but I've included a "range" of the basic settings, plus an increase in basic back light setting. This range of basic settings, may help owners by allowing for room lighting conditions and personal taste. I've also added comments in each list stating that the higher end of settings may cause undesirable effects.


I've provided both a "Warm" ISF calibration and a "Cool" calibration to allow owners to try both or settle on one they prefer. I've found in my exploits that there can be some variation in basic color temperature even in what a DVD or Blu-ray player may provide in it's video signal to the TV. So by choosing either Warm or Cool, it may also help account for this.


Also,these settings are based on updating my i1 Display 2 software (which now seems to track a bit better) and making use of the Energy Saving feature with higher back light settings for day time, and lower at night using the Energy Saving switch if an owner chooses to. I've increased the back light setting and also listed a range of basic brightness, contrast, color, etc to allow for users tastes. This range of basic setting levels, should allow for just about any taste within reason. As always, your mileage may vary, since no two TVs are exactly the same even in the same model.


Save your current settings before using any new ones!

Suggested Settings:

*EDIT* These settings were updated on 1-1-2011 and include new possible ranges of adjustment to allow for user taste and hopefully still provide a decent image. As always, these are baseline settings and your TV and lighting conditions may vary.Check post #314 for some Preset (User) picture mode settings.

 

LG 42LD550 HDMI 3 INPUT ISF EXPERT1 LG BD550 WARM 4-5-11 Usable Range.txt 1.5048828125k . file

 

LG XXLD550 HDMI CINEMA (User) PICTURE 12-4-10 Usable Range.txt 0.8876953125k . file

 

LG 42LD550 OTA_Cable ISF EXPERT __Baseline__ Usable Range 4-5-11.txt 1.28125k . file

 

LG 42LD550 HDMI 3 Input ISF EXPERT2 LG BD550 COOL 4-5-11 Usable Range.txt 1.578125k . file

 

LG 42LD550 HDMI Input ISF EXPERT __Baseline__ 4-5-11 Usable Range.txt 1.521484375k . file
 

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#29 ·
Not sure if anyone can answer this. Vudu says it has Dolby Digital Plus audio streams. 1. Does the TV itself decode DD+ or does it request standard DD from Vudu. 2. Using Optical out from the TV, using Vudu, does it send the same DD+ track out?
 
#30 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by Blacklac /forum/post/19104276


Not sure if anyone can answer this. Vudu says it has Dolby Digital Plus audio streams. 1. Does the TV itself decode DD+ or does it request standard DD from Vudu. 2. Using Optical out from the TV, using Vudu, does it send the same DD+ track out?


I have it connected to my Boston AVR7120 Digital AV receiver and all audio so far has come up Dolby Digital II, unless the particular source is outputing something like mpeg or plain vanilla Dolby Digital. VuDu indicates 5.1 Dolby Digital Plus when connected. Hope this helps.
 
#31 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by Phase700B /forum/post/19106173


I have it connected to my Boston AVR7120 Digital AV receiver and all audio so far has come up Dolby Digital II, unless the particular source is outputing something like mpeg or plain vanilla Dolby Digital. VuDu indicates 5.1 Dolby Digital Plus when connected. Hope this helps.

That was very helpful, thank you.


I have yet to try Vudu, how is the audio/video quality? My TV is on backorder for a month or so. Considering the recent price jump I think my price is worth the wait.
 
#32 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by Phase700B /forum/post/19106173


I have it connected to my Boston AVR7120 Digital AV receiver and all audio so far has come up Dolby Digital II, unless the particular source is outputing something like mpeg or plain vanilla Dolby Digital. VuDu indicates 5.1 Dolby Digital Plus when connected. Hope this helps.

There are many posts of lip-sync issues on the LG XXLH90 series when the TV is connected via the optical out to an AVR, for example:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...1#post18663791
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...8#post18684328

The "fix" from LG was to turn off DD 5.1 pass thru by default, which seemed to fix the lip-sync problem, at the cost of no DD 5.1.

If you set the TV back to passing thru DD5.1, the lip-sync problems returned.


Do you see any evidence of lip-sync issues when you are seeing DD5.1 being passed thru the TV via the optical out to your AVR,

or has LG fixed the problem on these sets?


And which model do you have - xxLD550, xxLD520, or xxLD650?

Thanks.
 
#36 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by rjbu /forum/post/19108061


There are many posts of lip-sync issues on the LG XXLH90 series when the TV is connected via the optical out to an AVR, for example:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...1#post18663791
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...8#post18684328

The "fix" from LG was to turn off DD 5.1 pass thru by default, which seemed to fix the lip-sync problem, at the cost of no DD 5.1.

If you set the TV back to passing thru DD5.1, the lip-sync problems returned.


Do you see any evidence of lip-sync issues when you are seeing DD5.1 being passed thru the TV via the optical out to your AVR,

or has LG fixed the problem on these sets?


And which model do you have - xxLD550, xxLD520, or xxLD650?

Thanks.

I have experienced no lip sync issues using the digital optical out with either OTA TV reception or Blu-ray DVD inputs (HDMI). I can not say if a game system has any lip sync issues as there is no game system connected at this time.
 
#37 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by Blacklac /forum/post/19106476


That was very helpful, thank you.


I have yet to try Vudu, how is the audio/video quality? My TV is on backorder for a month or so. Considering the recent price jump I think my price is worth the wait.

Congratulations! Can I ask where you ordered from? And, wow, the word must be out on this TV, prices everywhere are now back up to where it was at the beginning of the year. Of course, the upcoming football season probably accounts for some of this. Summer is always a good time to buy a TV, but as soon as it gets close to September.....
 
#38 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by Phase700B /forum/post/19108940


Congratulations! Can I ask where you ordered from? And, wow, the word must be out on this TV, prices everywhere are now back up to where it was at the beginning of the year. Of course, the upcoming football season probably accounts for some of this. Summer is always a good time to buy a TV, but as soon as it gets close to September.....


football season started 3 weeks ago..you know english premier league



i always thought this set looked great but didnt hear alot of reviews and what about the trumotion ?? how good is it compared to samsungs ??
 
#39 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by stretford17 /forum/post/19109334


football season started 3 weeks ago..you know english premier league



i always thought this set looked great but didnt hear alot of reviews and what about the trumotion ?? how good is it compared to samsungs ??

TruMotion works very well, I think. With individual settings for judder and blur, a user can select anything from 0 to 10 levels of the processing. I have judder set at 2 and blur at 5 and the picture is smooth, but not overly processed. Very subtle increments can be made with these two settings.


The picture quality was superb viewing some pre-season football games and I tried several settings for both judder and blur. For these sports I did increase judder to 3 and blur to 8 and the picture was next to being there. As always, what looks good to one viewer would not please another.
 
#41 ·
I beg to differ, my 55LD520 came DOA, power board is faulty, the LG responded super quickly and service tech showed up the next day. Once the board is replaced the unit is superb, I don't have any HD package or Bluray but local HD channels and 720p stream from Netflix look great on the TV. This line of TV is still pretty young, so I hope as its customer base grows, there will be more calibration guides available.
 
#42 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by joeye328 /forum/post/19109637


I beg to differ, my 55LD520 came DOA, power board is faulty, the LG responded super quickly and service tech showed up the next day. Once the board is replaced the unit is superb, I don't have any HD package or Bluray but local HD channels and 720p stream from Netflix look great on the TV. This line of TV is still pretty young, so I hope as its customer base grows, there will be more calibration guides available.

Sorry to hear you got a DOA , but glad you got prompt satisfaction and service from LG.


I have two calibration table in earlier posts of this thread. They are good starting points as each set and lighting conditions will vary by owner. I have tried to stay as close to 6500K as possible and use the "Warm" setting on the TV.


I am working on final adjustments for my ISF Expert2 settings for OTA TV reception. This is the most difficult to do since program material can differ from network to network as well as video levels. That being said, I have even gone to the extent of connecting my DVD player through an RF modulator to see how at least color levels and tint appear compared to the same settings when suing a HDMI connection. The other option is waiting till 3AM in the morning and catching a TV station with the SMPTE pattern up.
 
#43 ·
So what is the differences between the Judder and Blur setting?
 
#44 ·
Trying to find this unit in person has been a challenge so far. I went to BB and another local B&M and neither had the 60ld550. BB said they had 100 in the Dallas warehouse but none distributed to any of their 25+ stores in the area. I am interested in seeing this product in person and adding it to my potential list of new television.


BB did have the 46" version and it looked quite nice. The matte screen looked somewhat in between the Sony ex500 and the Sammy c630.
 
#45 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by Blacklac /forum/post/19110561


So what is the differences between the Judder and Blur setting?

The judder control reduces the amount of "strobe" or jerkiness between video/film frames. Especially when the camera pans or moves across a scene.

The blur control seems to reduce motion smearing of moving objects. Both seem to have some relationship to the frame interpolation processing that newer HDTVs utilize. The process varies between manufacturers and excessive processing like this can add undesirable "soap opera effects" (live TV appearance) to film based media.
 
#46 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by joeye328 /forum/post/19109637


I beg to differ, my 55LD520 came DOA, power board is faulty, the LG responded super quickly and service tech showed up the next day. Once the board is replaced the unit is superb, I don't have any HD package or Bluray but local HD channels and 720p stream from Netflix look great on the TV. This line of TV is still pretty young, so I hope as its customer base grows, there will be more calibration guides available.

I have this 55LD520 on my list to possibly purchase. Does this screen have a matte finish (so there's no glare)?


Also I keep hearing that the tru motion thing doesn't work that well and most turn this feature off. Is that true (no pun intended



-LelandC
 
#47 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by dan711 /forum/post/19111017


Trying to find this unit in person has been a challenge so far. I went to BB and another local B&M and neither had the 60ld550. BB said they had 100 in the Dallas warehouse but none distributed to any of their 25+ stores in the area. I am interested in seeing this product in person and adding it to my potential list of new television.


BB did have the 46" version and it looked quite nice. The matte screen looked somewhat in between the Sony ex500 and the Sammy c630.

Does anyone know if and when Coscto will carry the 60LD550 or the 55LD650?
 
#49 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by LelandC /forum/post/19112360


I have this 55LD520 on my list to possibly purchase. Does this screen have a matte finish (so there's no glare)?


Also I keep hearing that the tru motion thing doesn't work that well and most turn this feature off. Is that true (no pun intended



-LelandC



Athough I cannot verify it on the LG website, all the LD series of TVs in any size I have scene have the matte screen.


I think TruMotion when used conservatively, works fine with no objectionable side effects that bother me. There are 10 levels of independent judder and blur adjustment, so a user can set them from from 0 to 10 each. I have judder set to 3 and blur set to 5 or 7 for OTA sports. You can always set up one of the many picture modes available with different levels of TruMotion influence. This TV has a very wide range of adjustments for picture modes and what suits your taste for movies could be one mode and another for sports, one for daytime viewing, and yet another for night time viewing.
 
#50 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by Phase700B /forum/post/19114104



Athough I cannot verify it on the LG website, all the LD series of TVs in any size I have scene have the matte screen.


I think TruMotion when used conservatively, works fine with no objectionable side effects that bother me. There are 10 levels of independent judder and blur adjustment, so a user can set them from from 0 to 10 each. I have judder set to 3 and blur set to 5 or 7 for OTA sports. You can always set up one of the many picture modes available with different levels of TruMotion influence. This TV has a very wide range of adjustments for picture modes and what suits your taste for movies could be one mode and another for sports, one for daytime viewing, and yet another for night time viewing.

I know the XXLD520 series TV have matte screen, I saw several of them in the local Frys, the matte is on the gloosy side though, and it does reflect light to some degree, but no where near as reflective as a true gloosy screen is. I'm surprised at how many user adjustments they have, and for most part I have no idea what I'm doing, but so far the factory default works pretty good for my situation.
 
#51 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by joeye328 /forum/post/19115723


I know the XXLD520 series TV have matte screen, I saw several of them in the local Frys, the matte is on the gloosy side though, and it does reflect light to some degree, but no where near as reflective as a true gloosy screen is. I'm surprised at how many user adjustments they have, and for most part I have no idea what I'm doing, but so far the factory default works pretty good for my situation.

All the xxLD550 series is matte also, and it is a tad glossy compared to LCD sets sold a few years ago, but I agree, way better than all the really glossy one out there.


The "LD" series of LG HDTVs do look good on several of the "default" picture modes, hoever, to prolong panel backlight life and also get the best out of your TV performing some adjustments in at least one of the two ISF modes would really maximize the picture quality. Shades of gray, greens, blues, and yellows can be quite a bit off from what is desired.


I have enough run time on my 42LD550 that I have now settings for OTA/cable RF inputs, as well as HDMI inputs. I will re-post my "fine tuned" settings this week for anyone interested. I'm watching the Steelers/Broncos game right now and the picture is fabulous.
 
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