There is already a massive thread aimed at xxLW5600 owners but the xxLW5700 sets can also benefit from some of that info because these sets are very similar. At the same time, I wanted to post some info aimed specifically at owner's of the xxLW5700 sets (like myself) to make it easier to find. Hopefully my own experience and the information I've scraped from this massive thread will prove to be helpful.
OK here's some info about the 47LW5700. This model is mostly sold through Costco, Sam's, and from what I can gather Canada. It's nearly identical to the 47LW5600 model which is sold everywhere else. The differences are basically three things: 1) The 5600 model comes with the magic motion remote - the 5700 does not, although if bought seperately it's supposed to work with it. 2) The bezels are slightly different. 3) The 5600 firmware has the Local Dimming option turned on and the 5700 does not.
Let me explain #3 a bit more. Local dimming is a technique where the little LED bulbs that are around the edge of the screen are turned down or even off intelligently so as to increase the quality of black levels and contrast ratio. Of the three differences above this is the only one that actually matters. The funny thing is that these two sets are so similiar that it's possible to turn on the feature by accessing the hidden Service Menu that all LG TV's have. There are lot's of tutorials like this one on how to do that, but don't do it unless you're willing to risk the potential problems that go with it.
The following calibration info comes from this massive thread about the xxLW5600 line of TV's and most xxLW5700 owners can also use the info here because of the extreme similarity of the sets. Just keep in mind that Local Dimming isn't available unless you go through the service menu hack, so in the calibration settings that follow ignore that option.
The first calibration was done by an ISF professional, and I recommend using it for the Expert1 and Game presets. It's great for games and some TV shows also look very good with it. (Again ignore Local Dimming).
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showp...postcount=2405
The second calibration is the one I use most of the time for movies and a lot of TV content that was also shot on film. I use it on the Expert2 preset. It comes from CNET originally.
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showp...postcount=2343
At the bottom you'll notice some slightly different numbers for use with Local Dimming off - Go through the entire set of options above first, and then use those bottom numbers to finish it. Since the xxLW5700 doesn't have that feature, those numbers are better for our use.
Finally, I would suggest adjusting the brightness for both of these to match your room conditions. I have a brighter room than they did for these calibrations so I needed to bump up the brightness a bit for both of them. If you have any recent Pixar films on DVD or Blu-ray they usually include a THX optimizer with some basic test patterns that can help dial that sort of thing in. (I know The Incredibles DVD has it in the Settings menu.)
If you play video games at all don't forget to use the game mode to eliminate any lag issues.
OK here's some info about the 47LW5700. This model is mostly sold through Costco, Sam's, and from what I can gather Canada. It's nearly identical to the 47LW5600 model which is sold everywhere else. The differences are basically three things: 1) The 5600 model comes with the magic motion remote - the 5700 does not, although if bought seperately it's supposed to work with it. 2) The bezels are slightly different. 3) The 5600 firmware has the Local Dimming option turned on and the 5700 does not.
Let me explain #3 a bit more. Local dimming is a technique where the little LED bulbs that are around the edge of the screen are turned down or even off intelligently so as to increase the quality of black levels and contrast ratio. Of the three differences above this is the only one that actually matters. The funny thing is that these two sets are so similiar that it's possible to turn on the feature by accessing the hidden Service Menu that all LG TV's have. There are lot's of tutorials like this one on how to do that, but don't do it unless you're willing to risk the potential problems that go with it.
The following calibration info comes from this massive thread about the xxLW5600 line of TV's and most xxLW5700 owners can also use the info here because of the extreme similarity of the sets. Just keep in mind that Local Dimming isn't available unless you go through the service menu hack, so in the calibration settings that follow ignore that option.
The first calibration was done by an ISF professional, and I recommend using it for the Expert1 and Game presets. It's great for games and some TV shows also look very good with it. (Again ignore Local Dimming).
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showp...postcount=2405
The second calibration is the one I use most of the time for movies and a lot of TV content that was also shot on film. I use it on the Expert2 preset. It comes from CNET originally.
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showp...postcount=2343
At the bottom you'll notice some slightly different numbers for use with Local Dimming off - Go through the entire set of options above first, and then use those bottom numbers to finish it. Since the xxLW5700 doesn't have that feature, those numbers are better for our use.
Finally, I would suggest adjusting the brightness for both of these to match your room conditions. I have a brighter room than they did for these calibrations so I needed to bump up the brightness a bit for both of them. If you have any recent Pixar films on DVD or Blu-ray they usually include a THX optimizer with some basic test patterns that can help dial that sort of thing in. (I know The Incredibles DVD has it in the Settings menu.)
If you play video games at all don't forget to use the game mode to eliminate any lag issues.
