LG 55LHX or 55LH85...Need some help!

Like you I haven't seen the new LHX model but it's hard to believe that it's gonna be over $1,000 better than this bargain. True, it doesn't have LED backlighting or 240Hz but neither of those might be critical for your application and this is a smokin' price. Just helped a friend order the 47" version last night (at $1,199) and will be calibrating it for him next week after he's got it burned in.

I have not seen the LHX55 but have read some opinions in another forum from some pretty knowledgeable guys with no agenda and they say the LG's picture may be 2nd only to the Sammy 8500 in an LCD...a very very close 2nd. It's an LH90 with more dimming zones and better motion handling.

The lowest price that I can find online for the 55LHX is $3,699 at Vann's and that's a whopping $2,000 more than the price of the 55LH85 at NewEgg. Unless the latter were a real turkey (which, by all accounts that I've read, it isn't) I'd be hard-pressed to not save the money for other improvements to my overall entertainment experience. For example, you can buy a pretty darned good A/V receiver and 5.1 speaker system for $2k and, if you shop wisely, probably have enough left over for a decent Blu-ray player!

I'll report back here after I've set up and calibrated my friend's 47LH85 but I fully expect it to be a pretty positive report and a certifiable value.

My friend's new 47LH85 is being delivered today (not bad, ordered it on Tuesday night and it's delivered for free on Thursday!). I'll be helping him set it up tonight and will post an initial review on this thread by tomorrow morning.

i've seen LG 55LHX but i have not seen LH85. as for 55LHX i am quite impress with the PQ, sharp and vibrant in colors. also the black level are quite impressive too. there are two happy owner reviews on amazon http://www.amazon.com/LG-55LHX-widescreen-Backlight-technology/dp/B002N95XZ8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1261066152&sr=8-1

Just got back from my friend's house and, as expected, these LG LH85 "wireless" displays are pretty awesome. Unit was double-packed (outer carton into which was suspended an inner carton) and a good thing as some of the styrofoam in the inner carton was broken and the TV base was sort of floating around! Fortunately there was no damage.

Man, this thing is light! Was able to pick it up and hold it all by myself as my friend inserted the post of the base into the bottom of the display cabinet. Very good looking set with shiny black plastic on all external cabinet parts, even the rear, (except for the clear plastic post of the base) as well as the media box. Plugged it in, attached his HD cable box to the media box via HDMI and set it to Home mode, selected the language, set the calendar/clock and selected the HDMI1 input. WOW! One of the best "out-of-the-box" pictures I've seen in a long time. Quite a ways from perfect but waaaay better than the torch mode I'm used to seeing from most new displays.

Made some minor adjustments to the user controls, attached his 480p DVD player and played a couple of clips from one of my test DVDs. My friend and his missus are absolutely thrilled with the picture and he asked, "How come my Toshiba LCD upstairs in the bedroom doesn't look this good?" My reply was that that it's because that set is over two years old and was a bottom of the line set to begin with. Can't wait for him to get it burned in over the holiday weekend so that I can get in there next week and calibrate it. The ISFccc controls on these displays are absolutely a calibrator's dream!

btw, it's a bit strange setting up a "non-pro" TV with only 4 connectors on the back (power, HDMI, USB service, serial service). Decent remote and menu system and the media box just sits there and does it job. Right now it's on a shelf under the TV as he doesn't want to hang the display over the fireplace until after the holidays are over and he can replace the huge piece of A/V furniture that used to hold his old 34" CRT. More next week.

Happy holidays.

Right now the media box is on a shelf on the same stand as the TV and about a foot under the TV. It will eventually be 10-15 feet away in a cabinet that's perpendicular to the TV. We tried it up to 20 feet away last night and it synched up beautifully. For anyone who wants to mount a flat panel on the wall but not have the hassle of somehow hiding the source cables these "wireless" 1080p LCDs from LG are the greatest thing since sliced bread and at $1,199 for the 47" version and $1,699 for the 55" version at NewEgg they're smokin' values as well. My friends could not be happier with their purchase.

LG even includes a couple of little "feet" that are intended to be placed under the front edge of the media box for installations such as yours. It appears that the 60 GHz frequency is a bit directional and nearly line of sight so pointing it up a bit seems to be the recommended installation where it will be below the display and you need to increase signal strength.

So, did you pull the plug yet? When is your new display arriving?

btw, talked his wife into getting him a new upscaling DVD player for Christmas so that he can plug it into the media box via HDMI (his old Sony unit is pre-HDMI) and then export the digital audio to his Yamaha 5.1 receiver via TOSLINK. So far my only criticism of this set is the lack of any digital audio input other than HDMI.

Pretty much, although as I discovered doing my friends install, it can be mounted below the TV and still work just fine. I think that what won't work is having it mounted in a closet, metal cabinet (or rack?) or, possibly, inside a closed cabinet with solid doors.

There's no question that the LH90 is an awesome display and if you can easily hard-wire it to your source components I'd say go for it at that smokin' price of $2,099 (it's still $2,499 at our local BB). 240Hz and local dimming LED backlighting are almost certainly worth the $400 over the LH85 if you don't really need the wireless hookup.

Can the media box be connected directly to the TV using a HDMI cable? If so, can the TV remote switch inputs on the media box if the media box is connected to the TV with the HDMI cable?

IIRC the media box doesn't have an HDMI output (i.e., no "pass through"); however, the display does have an HDMI input (HDMI 5) so you can always connect a source component (or HDMI switcher) directly to the display. The display remote does feature switching from all inputs, including the HDMI 5 input on the rear of the display.

I am not sure I understand. I don't really care for the wireless transmission and in fact, it is an inconvenience. I like the 55LH85 only because of the separate media box (it seems to be the only LCD TV that has a separate media box). I will be placing the media box in a cabinet in a room on the other side of the TV so a wall and the cabinet separates the media box from TV. There is no direct line of sight between media box and the TV as the media box is very well hidden.

This is why I am asking about hooking up the media box to the TV. If the media box has no HDMI output then it is useless as a wired media box. I don't really understand why LG didn't give the option of a wired media box. I wish there were other TVs with a wired media box that I could use.

I don't own the tv but the specs from the LG site says the media box has an HDMI output.

I'll be calibrating my friends' 47LH85 this afternoon/tonight and I'll confirm whether or not the media box has an HDMI "pass-through" output. I don't recall there being one but then I don't remember what I had for lunch two days ago so that could simply be failure to recollect what I saw when I installed their display over a month ago!

Please do report back with your findings on the media box HDMI output/pass-through. Whatever you report is what I am going to use to make a purchase decision on the 55LHX/55LH85. Thanks!

All the info about the media box is on LG's website. Pull up the the 55LHX click on the specs tab and there is a PDF with everything you need to know

I did check the specs of the 55LH85 and the 55LHX and it appears the media box is the same for both. However, the specs do not say anything about a HDMI output or pass-through. I need a real-world verification of whether it is possible to connect the media box to the TV using a wire and have it work.

Okay, I can now absolutely confirm my earlier belief that the media box for the current LG wireless sets does NOT have a pass-through HDMI output. There is another HDMI connector on the back of the media box (in addition to HDMI1, HDMI2 & HDMI3) but it's labeled "Service Use Only". I have no idea if it's an input or an output or some hybrid combination of both, but it is obviously not intended for consumer use.

I finished calibrating my friends' 47" version (47LH85) and was very impressed with how nicely it dialed in. The 10-point grayscale controls are a joy to work with. The color management system was a welcome addition not found often enough on displays, although the CMS controls are a bit tricky to manage and getting the primary and second colors accurately set took quite a bit of time. However, the end result is a display that calibrated very nearly perfectly on both ISFccc Day and Night settings for their HD cable and upscaling DVD inputs. The images are just beautiful and my friends could not possibly be happier with their new HDTV. Programmed a Logitech/Harmony activity remote for them so they not only now have stunning images but a much easier way to access them as well as control associated equipment for music listening.

btw, my only real disappointment with what LG has done with these sets is that they've left the Expert 1 and Expert 2 controls accessible to end-users. Accurately adjusting either the grayscale controls or color management system without the professional hardware ($12,000 & up), software ($2,000 & up), training ($3,000 & up) and experience (priceless) is, at best, a very hit and miss proposition that is almost guaranteed to result in degraded images rather than optimized ones. Your chances of improving your picture using these controls without the proper tools is about the same as that of tuning a Formula 1 race engine with nothing more than a pocket multi-tool!

You spoke too soon.

Here is an email from LG that a 47LH85 owner posted on another forum:


"Thank you for contacting LG Electronics. Your e-mail has been received and I will be glad to answer your concern. Yes, by connecting a HDMI cable to the HDMI service only port it will manually send a signal to the HDMI5 port on the TV bypassing the wireless signal."

That's great to know, thanks for passing it along. Wonder why they didn't simply label it "HDMI Out" rather than "Service Only"? Or why it's not mentioned in the owner's manual?

Probably because like other TV manufacturers, LG never considered the fact that there would be a demand for wired media boxes. I mean, I can count the HDTVs on my hands that have separate media box and there is only ONE (I repeat, ONE) HDTV with an official WIRED media box and that would be the ancient Sceptre X42 Naga.

Don't they ever consider that people may not want all the inputs on the back of the TV and may instead want the clean/professional look associated with just a single wire to the TV with all the inputs in the media box far way from the TV in another room? The same 47LH85 owner who reported the LG email in another forum made another post describing his experience with the wired media box setup for his 47LH85:

Hello!

I have tried reading the posts on this site, and, still am confused. I have just purchased the LG 47LH85 and read the manual from the CD, (and printed it out for my own use!), and, after hooking the Cable from the wall to the Cable Input on the media box, (which used to be connected to the DVR box from the cable company), I am now NOT receiving ALL of the channels that I received when I had my old non-HD tv hooked up to the DVR box. I selected the Auto Tuning Selection from the Channel setup, and, it goes through its routine, but, that has not helped. I also tried hooking the LG up through the HDMI1 input on the media box and the LG seems to not even recognize it as when I switch it on the Input selector. I get some channels when the TV mode is selectred on the media box but, would like to use the HDMI settings as that gives a better picture, (after the usual adjustments, of course.) Is there a setting that I missed to pick up the extra channels? I don't think I need to contact the cable company as I am getting all of the channels on the non-HDTV in the other room. Can someone enlighten me as to what I have done wrong, and, how to fix this? I will be connecting my surround sound after I can get this situation resolved.

I am not sure if I could give the names of the items I need to hookup, so, I have left them off this post.

Any help would be Greatly Appreciated!!
Thanks!

You should almost definitely be hooking your cable from the wall into your cable box/DVR and then hooking that device up to your 47LH85 (preferably via HDMI). If your cable box/DVR doesn't have an HDMI output then it's probably not HD and you need to contact your cable company and get an upgraded unit. Cable companies use their cable boxes and DVRs as a means of allowing them to determine which channels you're able to receive based on your subscription. If you plug the cable from the wall directly into most televisions instead of through their devices you'll generally only be able to receive the "basic" channels and none of their premium content. Again, if your cable box/DVR doesn't have an HDMI output then you need to get one that does. The one that you have now probably isn't HD so you've not yet seen what your new 47LH85 can really do. Good luck.

Thanks for the information Rob!! I appreciate your assistance!