Facing a problem with my LG LH90 (Attn prospective buyers)

[tanid]

Ok long story short, programmed the remocon remote codes in my Symbian phone and viola here is the firmware version info:

MODEL : 42LH90
SW VER : V4.14
FRC VER : V0306
B/T VER : V3.19
UTT : 17

Thanks for the info, singho. I was about to buy the LH90, when I saw this mail thread.

Would you mind sharing where you purchased the LG from and for how much ?

@ jetak_k
Have you been able to resolve your issue with LG yet ? Also, does this set differ in any way from the reviews posted on CNET ?

 

[singho]

Thanks for the info, singho. I was about to buy the LH90, when I saw this mail thread.

Would you mind sharing where you purchased the LG from and for how much ?

Hi tanid, there is very limited stock of the LH90 available. The quoted prices in Bangalore are around 74K, but I able to negotiate it down to 69K for the 42LH90

 

[pkv]

Hi Guys,

I am facing a problem with my recently purchased LG 47LH90 LED backlit LCD TV.

Once I got the TV, after playing around with picture settings of the TV quite a bit, I had found my optimal picture settings (these settings were derived from settings suggested by users in online forums of highdefjunkies.com and avsforum). Once I was satisfied with picture quality I saved these settings in a profile.

Now, the problem is, everytime I switch on the TV, the picture looks very bad - foggy, bluish etc. Now, I need to go to brightness control and bounce it by a notch ( i.e. say if saved brightness level is 52, I make it 53 and then back to 52 again). Then only the complete settings take effect and picture becomes right.

Effectively, everytime I switch on the TV, I need to do this circus before I can start viewing. (how frustrating!)

Same problem happens if I change inputs. My tata sky is on AV1, while my dvd player is on component1. So, I just switch to the other input, and picture becomes bad. I again need to bounce brightness level to get it back.

I made a complaint to LG. Their technician came over and saw the problem. He went back saying he needs to check with senior engineers. It has been two weeks now, and still no response or solution. Everytime I call them they say they will check and get back. But no getting back so far.

The problem does not happen, if I use the default settings - where in white level (grey levels) control, red brightness/contrast, blue brightness/contrast etc at default setting of 0. But, then the picture quality is not satisfactory to me at the default setting.

As many of you will be aware, one USP of LH90 is that amount of picture settings control that it provides. This is one of the primary reasons for it getting good reviews by cnet, avsforum etc as well as by all users.
This played a big part in me selecting this TV over others.

I am posting this information for the benefit of potential buyers. I am suspecting that this is a generic problem with all sets of this model. Most likely a firmware issue (or some hardware component issue?) such that settings do not get applied initially till brightness control is bounced. If it is a firmware issue, may be it would be possible to fix it - not sure though. I am not sure whether this is the only manifestation of the problem. May be there are other scenarios where this will happen.

Please be aware of this problem if you are considering this TV. I will update this thread if I hear back from LG.

For more detailed information on this problem, see below some relevant parts of the mail that I sent to LG support.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

I have my favorite picture settings stored under the name 'expert1'. (this has my customer brightness level, color, white levels
CMS etc set.

Now, everytime I switch on the TV somehow the settings do not take effect. The picture looks hazy, foggy, bluish etc. Now, I just to picture control and just modify brightness level up and down. (my stored brightness level is 52, so I just need to make it 53 and then again back to 52). Suddenly, now the settings take effect and picture becomes perfect.

So, in effect, everytime I switch on the TV, I need to bounce the brightness level once to get proper picture. Same thing happens
when change input source (AV1, component1, HDMI etc). Same problem with saved settings in expert2 also.

For your reference, I am giving below the picture settings with which I can see the problem. This is just an example. As I mentioned before, I can see the same problem with a variety of other settings.

Picture settings:
o Backlight: 45
o Contrast: 83
o Brightness: 52
o H Sharpness: 54
o V Sharpness: 58
o Color: 66
o Tint: R3
o Expert Control
Dynamic Contrast: Off
Noise Reduction: Low
Gamma: High
Black Level: Low
Real Cinema: On
TruMotion: Low
Color Gamut: Wide
Edge Enhancer: High
White Balance: Cool
Red Contrast: 20
Green Contrast: 9
Blue Contrast: 26
Red Brightness: 3
Green Brightness: 14
Blue Brightness: 16
Color Management System
Red Color: -5
Red Tint: 3
Green Color: -3
Green Tint: -4
Blue Color: -3
Blue Tint: 3
Yellow Color: 2
Yellow Tint: 0
Cyan Color: -5
Cyan Tint: -7
Magenta Color: -3
Magenta Tint: -1
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

I have reported the same issue to LG and have not got any satisfactory answer so far. In addition i found more issue on DivX playback through USB. When you fast forward the movie using remote FF button and then press play button again, it does not come back to play mode. Anyone else is seeing this problem.

 

[pkv]

I got a 42LH90 yesterday. The last few Local Dimming models courtesy the Sharp lawsuit which has forced Sammy and LG to close down manufacturing.

This is a Jan 2010 build. Some godforsaken latest firmware in which I cannot get into the Service Menu using whatever method I try to put into it.

Seems like only way to get into the Service Menu using a Technician Service Remote.

jetak_k, I tried the settings that you had posted. Using those makes the picture look all washed out and blueish. However, I don't seem to have the problem of Expert values not being retained after a powercycle.

So seems the latest firmware has something radically different. Maybe, if you want we can touch base and investigate further.

PS. My fourth LCD
1. Syntax Olevia 27" - 2004
2. Proview 32 xxx - 2006
3. Philips 42TA2800 - 2008
4. LG 42LH90 - 2010

Congratulations on the new Purchase. On the problem posted by jetak_k, i see exactly the same behaviour. Actually your settings value is retained after power cycle however it is not taken into effect in PQ and you will see blueish effect.

In addition i am not very happy with PQ sharpness in all scenes. I would like to know the most suitable settings for watching cable through STB and for watching 480p DVD movies.

 

[pkv]

Thanks for the info, singho. I was about to buy the LH90, when I saw this mail thread.

Would you mind sharing where you purchased the LG from and for how much ?

@ jetak_k
Have you been able to resolve your issue with LG yet ? Also, does this set differ in any way from the reviews posted on CNET ?

Hello tanid
I saw an adv. from Ezone on LH90 with HTS being bundled for around 80K oin republic day. May be you can check out..

 

[singho]

Hello tanid
I saw an adv. from Ezone on LH90 with HTS being bundled for around 80K oin republic day. May be you can check out..

I checked - the ezone bundle costs 89,950 Without the bundle they asked me for 74,500

 

[toakhilesh]

Today I received 42LH90 thru LG Employee discount scheme @ 60k. The base price marked before discount and tax was 70500.

 

[srinath]

Man you are lucky to get at 60k.

I live in Hyd, i bought the same 42LH90 for 70K on 25Jan2010. Now i really miss the 47inch. The TV is AWESOME. Assembled in INdia, few months back, and no issues of not saving the Expert mode settings. Anyways i use it only for HDMI, and not changing it. Do yourself a big favour, give HDMI input to your TV and see the difference.

nJoy,
Srinath

 

[toakhilesh]

Man you are lucky to get at 60k.

Actually Sumsung, Philips and LG, all three have employee discount scheme, which Samsung restricts to only 1 buy per year per employee. LG and Philips are any number of times. So if you happen to know anyone in these company you can get some benefit.

 

[bala_v99]

Man you are lucky to get at 60k.

I live in Hyd, i bought the same 42LH90 for 70K on 25Jan2010. Now i really miss the 47inch. The TV is AWESOME. Assembled in INdia, few months back, and no issues of not saving the Expert mode settings. Anyways i use it only for HDMI, and not changing it. Do yourself a big favour, give HDMI input to your TV and see the difference.

nJoy,
Srinath

Hi Srinath,
Congrats on your buy.
Where did you buy in Hydearbad?. And why do you miss your 47 inch when you have an awsome 42 inch?

 

[srinath]

the 42 inch is so good that i am want to upgrade to 47inch. bigger. better. Anyhow i didnt have the choice since 47LH90 is not available anywhere in india.
bought it at jubilee hills, LG best shope.

 

[pkv]

Hi Guys,

I am facing a problem with my recently purchased LG 47LH90 LED backlit LCD TV.

Once I got the TV, after playing around with picture settings of the TV quite a bit, I had found my optimal picture settings (these settings were derived from settings suggested by users in online forums of highdefjunkies.com and avsforum). Once I was satisfied with picture quality I saved these settings in a profile.

Now, the problem is, everytime I switch on the TV, the picture looks very bad - foggy, bluish etc. Now, I need to go to brightness control and bounce it by a notch ( i.e. say if saved brightness level is 52, I make it 53 and then back to 52 again). Then only the complete settings take effect and picture becomes right.

Effectively, everytime I switch on the TV, I need to do this circus before I can start viewing. (how frustrating!)

Same problem happens if I change inputs. My tata sky is on AV1, while my dvd player is on component1. So, I just switch to the other input, and picture becomes bad. I again need to bounce brightness level to get it back.

I made a complaint to LG. Their technician came over and saw the problem. He went back saying he needs to check with senior engineers. It has been two weeks now, and still no response or solution. Everytime I call them they say they will check and get back. But no getting back so far.

The problem does not happen, if I use the default settings - where in white level (grey levels) control, red brightness/contrast, blue brightness/contrast etc at default setting of 0. But, then the picture quality is not satisfactory to me at the default setting.

As many of you will be aware, one USP of LH90 is that amount of picture settings control that it provides. This is one of the primary reasons for it getting good reviews by cnet, avsforum etc as well as by all users.
This played a big part in me selecting this TV over others.

I am posting this information for the benefit of potential buyers. I am suspecting that this is a generic problem with all sets of this model. Most likely a firmware issue (or some hardware component issue?) such that settings do not get applied initially till brightness control is bounced. If it is a firmware issue, may be it would be possible to fix it - not sure though. I am not sure whether this is the only manifestation of the problem. May be there are other scenarios where this will happen.

Please be aware of this problem if you are considering this TV. I will update this thread if I hear back from LG.

For more detailed information on this problem, see below some relevant parts of the mail that I sent to LG support.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

I have my favorite picture settings stored under the name 'expert1'. (this has my customer brightness level, color, white levels
CMS etc set.

Now, everytime I switch on the TV somehow the settings do not take effect. The picture looks hazy, foggy, bluish etc. Now, I just to picture control and just modify brightness level up and down. (my stored brightness level is 52, so I just need to make it 53 and then again back to 52). Suddenly, now the settings take effect and picture becomes perfect.

So, in effect, everytime I switch on the TV, I need to bounce the brightness level once to get proper picture. Same thing happens
when change input source (AV1, component1, HDMI etc). Same problem with saved settings in expert2 also.

For your reference, I am giving below the picture settings with which I can see the problem. This is just an example. As I mentioned before, I can see the same problem with a variety of other settings.

Picture settings:
o Backlight: 45
o Contrast: 83
o Brightness: 52
o H Sharpness: 54
o V Sharpness: 58
o Color: 66
o Tint: R3
o Expert Control
Dynamic Contrast: Off
Noise Reduction: Low
Gamma: High
Black Level: Low
Real Cinema: On
TruMotion: Low
Color Gamut: Wide
Edge Enhancer: High
White Balance: Cool
Red Contrast: 20
Green Contrast: 9
Blue Contrast: 26
Red Brightness: 3
Green Brightness: 14
Blue Brightness: 16
Color Management System
Red Color: -5
Red Tint: 3
Green Color: -3
Green Tint: -4
Blue Color: -3
Blue Tint: 3
Yellow Color: 2
Yellow Tint: 0
Cyan Color: -5
Cyan Tint: -7
Magenta Color: -3
Magenta Tint: -1
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

I have been using now LH90 from past 2 weeks and i am providing below all the issues encountered.

1. Problem indicated by jetak_k is manfiested in following scenarios
a) On changing the Inputs always
b) On soft (Standby mode) and hard power power off always
c) While watching the DVD when you change the DVD ; Sometime
d) Some other times as well spuriosuly

2. In Problem indicated by jetak_k value of Black level also changes. Say if you have set it to Low, it becomes high on I/p change and Power cycle though value of all other parameters are retained. Say you need to do circus to change Brightness as well as Black level if you want to set it to low.


3. While playing DivX movie from USB
a) Buttons on Remote (FR, Pause & Play) does not work
b) There is not way to adjust PQ settings

4. Probably it is known but i am just confirming that none of High definition video formats are supported through USB

4. Clock settings are lost on hard power cycle (Switch on and Off).

I do not think a premium product should have so many defects and LG has not done anything so far. Infact i found there customer service really bad. Technicians sent by them was only interested in closing the call. When i asked him not to close the call he became very upset and behaved weirdly. Calling customer care after that only resulted in hollow promises of sending a senior technician.

Please add if someone if facing any other problem.

 

[Asterix]

Hi Guys

I have owned a 47lh90 since Oct 09 and have benefited a lot from this forum and other forums on fine tuning the PQ. I have used Jetak's settings and found the PQ to be awesome...and soon realised that I had the same problem as Jetak.

In addition to the above, I also had a problem of the screen blanking out for 3-4 seconds whenever a light/fan was turned on in the room or a calling bell rang. After 3-4 secs the screen will come alive but with the washed out PQ...necessitating a bumping of brightness level to restore the PQ.

As the initial visits of frontline servicemen didnt solve the problem, I got in touch with some senior ppl in LG and got an experienced person to look at the issue. He changed the board once but that didnt solve the problem either.

This evening he installed a firmware upgrade and both the problems above have been solved with this upgrade.

However, the PQ i used to get with jetak' s settings is just not getting replicated. With the same settings, the picture now appears completely washed out. :sad:

I have been trying to play around with the settings for the last 4 hrs and the closest I have been able to get to jetaks setting PQ is when the CMS is left untouched.

So much so I have made up my mind to call the technician tomorrow and ask him to uninstall the upgrade(I hope this is possible)....in hindsight, the PQ obtained with the CMS enabled seems worth the trouble of bumping up/down brighntess everytime you use the tv. Using a harmony remote and programming it to do this appears to be a better fix.

Will update with my findings/ LGs explanation soon..

 

[BLASTO]

In addition to the above, I also had a problem of the screen blanking out for 3-4 seconds whenever a light/fan was turned on in the room or a calling bell rang. After 3-4 secs the screen will come alive but with the washed out PQ...necessitating a bumping of brightness level to restore the PQ.

Wow.. Iam seeing the exact same behaviour with my samsung PS42B450 plasma TV till now..

No change is PQ after the screen comes online though..

I attributed this to the circuitry of my house maybe.. How is it related to firmware is beyond me..

Anybody else see this?

 

[Asterix]

Hi Blasto,

THe LG guy initially attributed the blanking problem to faulty earthing in my home...got my electrician to thoroughly check and rule the possibility out...post which the LG guy changed both the motherboard and did the firmware upgrade....since both happened within a space of 2 days, i dont have a fix on what could have solved the blanking problem...probably the motherboard change did the trick!

 

[singho]

Hi Guys


This evening he installed a firmware upgrade and both the problems above have been solved with this upgrade.

However, the PQ i used to get with jetak' s settings is just not getting replicated. With the same settings, the picture now appears completely washed out. :sad:

Asterix, I have the same firmware. I have calibration software. I will calibrate the screen tonight and upload the settings.

The black level is still NOT being retained post a input change of a power cycle.

 

[singho]

Video Settings with the latest Firmware version :

===============================================
MODEL : 42LH90
SW VER : V4.14
FRC VER : V0306
B/T VER : V3.19
UTT : 17
===============================================

The following settings were arrived with the following parameters :
- Semi dark room with diffused lighting
- Aspect Ratio : 16:9 [Just Scan shows some fringing at edges]
- Energy Setting : Off
- Picture Mode : Expert 1

Picture settings:
o Backlight: 50
o Contrast: 75
o Brightness: 52
o H Sharpness: 46
o V Sharpness: 50
o Color: 50
o Tint: 0
o Expert Control
Dynamic Contrast: Off
Noise Reduction: Low
Gamma: Medium
Black Level: Low
Real Cinema: On
TruMotion: Low
Color Gamut: Standard
Edge Enhancer: High
White Balance: Medium
Red Contrast: 0
Green Contrast: 0
Blue Contrast: 0
Red Brightness: 0
Green Brightness: 0
Blue Brightness: 0
Color Management System
Red Color: 1
Red Tint: 0
Green Color: 30
Green Tint: 0
Blue Color: 2
Blue Tint: 0
Yellow Color: 13
Yellow Tint: 0
Cyan Color: 3
Cyan Tint: 0
Magenta Color: 3
Magenta Tint: 0
======================================

 

[sudindra]

Finally LG seems to have solved the issue. LG Technicians did the firmware update today and am no longer able to see the issue. However, the original settings indicated in this post gives me a washed out images. So, I gather that the original settings mentioned in the first post used to give washed out images. Changing the brightness used to modify some part of the settings (not sure which). With the new firmware it does not happen anymore.

I am now using the settings mentioned by Singho, looks good.

 

[kneo]

How does one know the firmware that the TV has? I own LG 42PQ70

 

[pkv]

Hi Guys

I have owned a 47lh90 since Oct 09 and have benefited a lot from this forum and other forums on fine tuning the PQ. I have used Jetak's settings and found the PQ to be awesome...and soon realised that I had the same problem as Jetak.

In addition to the above, I also had a problem of the screen blanking out for 3-4 seconds whenever a light/fan was turned on in the room or a calling bell rang. After 3-4 secs the screen will come alive but with the washed out PQ...necessitating a bumping of brightness level to restore the PQ.

As the initial visits of frontline servicemen didnt solve the problem, I got in touch with some senior ppl in LG and got an experienced person to look at the issue. He changed the board once but that didnt solve the problem either.

This evening he installed a firmware upgrade and both the problems above have been solved with this upgrade.

However, the PQ i used to get with jetak' s settings is just not getting replicated. With the same settings, the picture now appears completely washed out. :sad:

I have been trying to play around with the settings for the last 4 hrs and the closest I have been able to get to jetaks setting PQ is when the CMS is left untouched.

So much so I have made up my mind to call the technician tomorrow and ask him to uninstall the upgrade(I hope this is possible)....in hindsight, the PQ obtained with the CMS enabled seems worth the trouble of bumping up/down brighntess everytime you use the tv. Using a harmony remote and programming it to do this appears to be a better fix.

Will update with my findings/ LGs explanation soon..

Intially i also thought of reverting back to old firmaware however after changing all RGB settings to zero PQ quality becomes same was i found in previous firmware with special values. It seems LG has embedded those in default settings of RGB in latest firmware. To quick fix it you can also try rest picture settings.

Did anyone observe USB Playback issue of Rewind, Pause and Stop. Today LG technician visited me and informed that no one else has reported these issues.