[Marc_G]

Hi folks,


I need a smallish TV for our family room... 42" class is the largest that will fit the enclosure. This room is a secondary TV site so it's OK that the TV is a bit small. Trying to keep the TV under $500. Sources will likely be a Roku (various streaming services and EMBY client), DVD/BluRay player, and a video game system eventually. So, I really want 3 HDMI inputs. Seating is 10-15 feet away in various directions so wide viewing angle is important. Since I'll probably be using a Roku, smart features aren't that important, though the TV may be moved to a guest bedroom later so I'd rather not just get a dumb TV. I'm a bit of a videophile (panny plasma in the media room) but not getting hyper picky about this TV which will mostly be for the kids to use.


Was looking at various Samsung models but recently on Amazon and other places saw LG 42LF5800 show up. 3 HDMI inputs. Presumably it's a recent model introduction, but I can't find any info on it beyond the basic pages on the vendor websites. No info on it at the LG company home website which is very strange.
I'm a bit turned off by the Samsungs that have only 2 inputs (I really would like 3), and those panels are 40" rather than 42"... not that much of a difference I know, but the TV is already smaller than optimal due to enclosure limitations. Would like to get biggest possible that fits. I can JUST squeeze the 42LF5800 into the space.


Googling didn't turn up much info. Any thoughts or info on this model? Also I would appreciate any ideas on other models that would work well for me.


Thanks in advance!


Marc

 

[Marc_G]

I wound up buying this set, as it shows on amazon as the newer model of the 42LB5800. Seems a good feature mix for the price, and it has 3 HDMI ports rather than 2, which is meaningful to me. It should arrive tomorrow and I'll set it up over the weekend if all goes well.


I guess I'll be among the first to review it.


Marc

 

[Marc_G]

The TV showed up on time Thursday. None the worse for wear in shipping from Amazon.


I installed it without incident on Friday. I can't give much feedback yet regarding picture quality, as the location is one that is pretty sunny and I haven't tried anything demanding with it. I will say that out of the box, I cycled through the various picture presets and settled quickly on one that looked quite natural. I didn't use any advanced picture tuning controls.


With a bowtie antenna it pulls in steady digital signals for all the local channels, so I consider the OTA tuner to be good.


The Smart TV functionality is a little bit clunky but Netflix works fine so far. The TV also picked up my EMBY server (DLNA device) without any extra work... it appeared to my surprise on the Inputs list automatically. There was a little bit of setup needed for first use of that, basically just accepting defaults for the setup. No problem.


Since then, the TV has mostly been used for my kids' Xbox. No problem at all.


I'm very pleased with the TV so far, but again I haven't had a chance to dig into the details. I also need to experiment with it as an Amazon Prime streaming device.


MArc