official Lg 42LG50 owner's thread

I just got mine. First impressions:

Picture quality is good.

Blacks aren't very black.

UI is good.

Ability to adjust each picture setting (plus 2 "expert" modes) means you can adjust for multiple sources (unlike the toshiba 530) is GREAT.

Motion seems ok. I have never been one to notice much blur on any LCD anyways.

Build quality doesn't seem as good.

A little bit of bleed through at the top corners in a dark room. Not too bad, but still there.

SD handling seems pretty good.

I got this as a replacement to the LG 42LB5. I went through 3 that all had problems of some sort with 1080p inputs. Got a toshiba 42rv530u after that, which had great blacks, but the off angle viewing wasn't good (made the blacks green and blochy) and the UI wasn't good. You could only set up one preference mode, and SD picture quality was bad enough that even my wife was complaining about it. So now I got this 42LG50. The store hates me now, but whatever.

I haven't had the 42LG50 for very long, but so far, I think its good enough that I will keep it. Of course, you never know.

As far as between the Sonys/Samsungs I don't know. They were priced out of my range, so I didn't even look.

Here is something cool...

This TV will operate at 48Hz for 24fps input.

2:2 pulldown baby!

PLEASE don't tell me this is an issue with this TV too. I just bought one today to replace a 42RV530 (I tried TWO, actually) that had this same problem.

thanks for the update, kc. I've been putting mine through the paces tonight. I've done some quick adjustments, but so far i can say i like the picture on the Toshiba a little better. I have a slight bleed problem on the upper right corner, but not nearly as bad as on the Toshiba. Right now, it's a toss-up whether i keep it or not.

Looking to buy this unit -- how do you find it handles SD ?

I think it handles SD quite good. Better than the Toshiba rv530U did, at least to my and my wifes eyes.

Looked at 42LG50 today at BestBuy.
The TV was set to some "Store" mode since it did reset my settings after a few minutes.
Colors seemed comparable to Samsung 40A530 (Samsung total black color was may be a little bit more black). Overall picture colors seem to be fine and dark colors were pretty good.

But what I notice is the black shadows on the faces. It was noticeable. Faces on Samsung 40A530, Toshiba 42XV540 and Sony 46V3000 looked normal - faces were you know skin color with shadows of brighter and darker but still skin color. But LG darker part of faces (like around eyes) looked with a noticeable black shadow. Faces looked unpleasant and it was noticeable.

Does anyone else see this problem?
Is it possible to fix it?

Purchased one yesterday. Hooked up to Comcast DVR via HDMI. All channels look great. Black levels seem perfectly fine. Overall design is very attractive with hidden speakers. Sound quality is good for a TV. No regrets today...

I notice that when the TV is cold in morning I hear a humming/buzzing coming from it when muted or the volume is very low. It comes from the bottom left side in the rear. Once fully warm, it reduces to a level where I have to put my ear close to hear it. It also seems to change pitch based on the backlight setting getting quieter at full backlight. Not a deal breaker, but wondering if I should take it back for exchange if no one else notices this. Thanks

jcoppa,

I just joined this forum looking to see if others were experiencing the humming and yes it is very noticeable on my set. The only time it stops is when I switch inputs via the menu. Then it usually kicks back in when it switches to the new source, but it sometime will be a little quieter. I have not figures out what is going on yet, because there is a bit of randomness to it and I am thinking of returning it or at least going back down to Best Buy to see if I hear anything on that model.

Both the sources that I am switching back and forth are using component cables. You mentioned that you had heard it coming from the bottom left which is where the cables are. I have some HDMI cables coming in the mail this week and will be switching out both component sets for HDMI. I pray that this may be the issue and will be fixed.

My first component input is going to my HDDVR cable box from Brighthouse and the 2nd is going to my PS3. It hums using both.

Humming is not something I was looking for when I was buying.

Just as another note on my experience with quality on the LG set. Blueray movies coming from the PS3 just looks out of control, and PS3 games look freakishly good, but SD coming from the HDDVR is really bad. Looks much worse than on my tube that I just replaced. The artifacting and compression noise are really bad, even after spending an hour or two with all the settings. Just trying to figure out if it is Brighthouse, the HDDVR, or the TV. Because there have been so many great reviews about the 4:3 SD quality.

I am not taking any action yet until I get my HDMI cables to see if these issues get a little better.

I have received my HDMI cables and hooked them up and the humming did not resolve itself. It caused a few other issues (that were fixable), but from what I understand HDMI can be fickle with some hardware. I also tried to plug the set into an APC battery backup that does line conditioning and that did not solve it either.

It is only a week old, so I was under the 30 day satisfaction guarantee with Best Buy. I returned it for the exact same model with no problems at all. So far, there is no humming with the new set. I guess it was just a small defect or assembly issue.

I mentioned above about the poor SD pic quality, but that was resolved a little by adjusting some settings on my HDDVR to allow it to pass all HD signals to the TV for upconvert. The TV does a much better job at upconverting than the HDDVR.

Scratch

Picked up mine last night. So far, so good. I need to adjust the colors still, but it looks great so far. Got it hooked up to a Directv HD receiver and it looks awesome. No humming or anything. I'll report later after I've had time to play with it.

I just picked up this set yesterday and it looks great!

I've been tweaking with the settings to get the best picture quality but haven't come up with anything. Does anyone have some settings they can share? I haven't found any good settings yet.

I would also like to know what settings you guys are using.

Thanks,

CJ

I bought this unit late last night and it will be delivered in a day or two.

I wanted an up-to-date unit for a large office/sitting area (well lit with sunlight and CF lighting). Uncertain what will provide content - basic cable feed (no converter box), or I'll get another hi-def box from my cable company. Probably no disc player for the time being.

The USB 2.0 is interesting - anybody use it with an external USB hard drive? I have a spare 120GB external drive, and would like to know how to format/load, and what will run.

I got mine this past weekend to replace a broken down samsung. It was a good price and it looks good to me. I keep using the intelligent sensor and others but cant decide on the best for all the shows. Some good ratios that others have would be very helpful. Thanks.

Hey guys, new here. I found this site from Neowin.net suggesting to come here for tips on tvs and stuff. Anyways, I have an LG 42LG30 that I'd like to properly calibrate to get the best viewing experience from it. Does anyone have some settings or one for a similar tv that would work well? Any help would be appreciated.

We are considering buying this TV for our bedroom and mounting it on the wall. Where we will mount it will be on the opposite wall from our bed. It will be a little off center from my wifes side of the bed but close enough to probably not make any difference in viewing degradation. It will be more off center for me(no problem as I am not a big bedroom TV watcher anyways). We are about 14' away if laying down/propped up at our headboard. Will this set require a swivel mount or do you think a normal wall mount will be fine. Not sure how these are off angle. Thanks

hi everyone,
I just grabbed this tv today!(Was going for the Sharp lc42d64u, but it's sold out) (also considered the Toshiba 42rv530u, but the sales said the toshiba lcd is not as good compared to Samsung, LG, or Sharp)

So far I could say the I am really satisfied with the TV as this is my 1st HD tv, so I guess anything would look great to me.

Here is something I noticed, Standard Definition tv watching is not great, but still acceptable, but I don't really care, because I would be using dvi-hdmi to watch movies on computer. It supports 1080p and 1:1 dot to dot mapping, make sure you choose the "Just Scan" option on the menu though, otherwise it won't fit the screen properly at 1920x1080 resolution.

I didn't see any banding problem, however, I does notice 1 dead pixel at the very bottom right corner of the screen (but due to the location, it's hardly noticeable unless you look at it really close), so I am not gonna bother with it. So other than this, everything seems good. I will be doing more testing on 720p and 1080p source tomorrow

o~ need some help deciding, having a hard time on this @@"

I just saw the Sharp one back on sale and it's avaliable in 46'' the lc46d64u for $300 more of the LG I paid for, should I go exchange for it?

here is some of my thought on it:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1052430

if you could please give me some advice on it, that would be really great, thanks in advance =)

Scratch

Scratch

I use my tv for watching tv, gaming (PS3) and for the computer.

My settings.....

Watching TV

backlight 81
contrast 84
brightness 45
sharpness 40
color 80

Black level low
Fresh contrast low
Fresh Color high
Color temp medium


computer

80
78
38
45
84

Fresh contrast off
Fresh color off
black level low
color temp medium


gaming

82
84
55
40
84

fresh color high
fresh contrast low
black level low
temp medium


Any feedback would be appreciated

Scratch

Sratch

ok I solved the mystery in the LG 42LG50.
I spend days and time into this.time and money.
hope this can go to everyone who does have this tv and in other forum - where it was asked several times

here we go:

--Picture menu
Aspect Ratio: Just Scan
Picture Mode: Expert 1
Backlight: 70
Contrast: 95
Brightness: 54
Sharpness: 63
Color: 54
Tint: R4

--IRE: [Red, Green, Blue results, respectively, for each IRE point]
100 [50, 40, -50]
90 [1, 33, -50]
80 [9, 32, -50]
70 [-3, 6, -48]
60 [-1, 4, -34]
50 [-4, -4, -38]
40 [-5, 0, -26]
30 [5, 9, -13]
20 [4, 9, -6]
10 [0, 9, -6]


--Color management system
Red color: 0
Red tint: 4
Green color: 0
Green tint: -15
Blue color: 0
Blue tint: 5
Yellow color: 0
Yellow tint: 1
Cyan color: 0
Cyan tint: 0
Magenta color: 0
Magenta tint: -1

Onkyo TX-SR606 A/V Reciever

Onkyo DX-390 CD Playerr

Onkyo TA-RW255 Cassette Deck (Coming Soon)

Onkyo SKF-540F 7.1 Speakers

LG 42LG50 HDTV

Samsung BD-P1500 Blu-ray

DirecTV HR21-700 DVR

Sony RDR-VX560 VHS Video Recorder/DVD Recorder

Cables from MonoPrice

Cabinets Powell

I'm curious of how you acquire these settings, did you have an ISF prof calibrate your tv? or you did it yourself???

Thanks,
J