LG 50PK550R Owner's Discussion Thread

[Imrahn]

@Imrahn and @bssraju
Please dont get me wrong. I am not questioning your decision to move away.
But I would like to know what is(are) the exact issue(s) in 50PK550 that made you decide not buy this?
Please feel free to ignore this post if not valid.

See, with the various problems almost ALL Plasmas are inheriting,be it the color banding, floating blacks, dancing pixels to the relatively insignificant TIR ones, its already a game of luck - or atleast thats what i feel with a plasma purchase.Being a brand loyal of Samsung over the years in the LCD department,I was always a bit biased towards Samsung electronic products.Like i had mentioned in another post, a properly calibrated Samsung panel is something entirely different from demo pieces-in a very positive sense and this again, is my opinion only and mostly a biased opinion in that.Its the early positive reviews that made me even consider LG,but i had a gut feeling it was a 'too early to gauge' situation.I was happy in a way that LG were finally upping their ante, which will lead to more competition and u know the rest-to me a stiff competition means only one thing- better VFM.

Now, having prepared my mind to demo the above mentioned LG TV, the last thing i wanted was a tech support that turns a blind eye towards the problem,let alone being arrogant in the process and unfortunately,that exactly was the message i got from the above incident.I am not saying other companies are saints, lol, NOT ME - but thats only coz i haven't had too much complaints so far with any products and all the ones i encountered were easily and peacefully undertaken by the respective companies.

To conclude, it was with a bit of difficulty that my mind agreed to include an LG plasma in my inventory,but it was with so much ease that the incident convinced it to turn around.

 

[bssraju]

@Imrahn and @bssraju
Please dont get me wrong. I am not questioning your decision to move away.
But I would like to know what is(are) the exact issue(s) in 50PK550 that made you decide not buy this?
Please feel free to ignore this post if not valid.

What issues? Pl. refer the posts published in this thread. If i buy a product, i expect it to perform as per the manufacturer's promises as given in the brochures/advertisements. No compromises. And i fail to understand whats happening to the quality checks by the manufacturers?

 

[shaiju_o_thomas]

bssraju,

Thanks for the post and expressing your view.

dotMac is also an owner of PK550 and have complained of similar issues to LG. Our gripe with LG is that they did not offer us same level of features offered elsewhere, like US, UK that could have reduced the green pixel issues. Again, casual viewers will be least bothered. Having said that many active owners from this forum have complained to LG.

The true picture performance will not be published anywhere by a manufacturer. Half of them are marketing gimmicks.

The very sad part is LG did not put up features of this model on their India website until last week. Even then they haven't clearly stated features that are not available. That's a casual attitude. I called LG customer care and none of them were aware of PK550 launch in India.

My frustration is now more with the heads at VoC. They kept promising and suddenly dropped the ball. They had no assuring answer and in the end sent that pathetic email.

I will not dictate anyone's decision to buy the PK550. However, current owners have concerns that should be addressed. That's the idea behind all the emails and this thread.

 

[dotMac]

What issues? Pl. refer the posts published in this thread.

As a owner, I am aware of most posts. But I was just interested in which exact post triggered your decision.

Your earlier post :

I thought of buying this model & I am following this thread regularly. And after reading all the posts, i stopped considering LG PK550 as my next probable big screen purchase.

Why I asked for issues? Because I posted many of them. And I didn't wanted anyone to misinterpret my posts and change their decision. If you had replied me with exact issue, I as an owner could correct, if you had got it wrong. And if you had understood it right, no issues. I respect your decision.


I just thought. you change your decision bcoz of my post and buy another TV. Later you see ur friend has PK550 which you then feel better than ur TV. At that time, you would most likely curse the posts you read here. Bcoz otherwise you too would have got the TV.
I just dont want to be cursed.
Hope u understand. In no way i am questioning your decision or arguing that LG is best. Just dont want to be blamed later

If i buy a product, i expect it to perform as per the manufacturer's promises as given in the brochures/advertisements. No compromises.

Problem is there was no brochures/advertisements to this TV(PK550R) so far. Only PJ series of Plasmas were listed :lol:
And only recently after we complained, LG has included PK550 in their website. And LG posts so little detail that your above complaint becomes invalid. i.e. The TV actually performs everything that is in the current brochures.
But note LG site has posted PK550 while we get PK550R.

My apologies if I had hurt you in any way.

 

[dotMac]

If i buy a product, i expect it to perform as per the manufacturer's promises as given in the brochures/advertisements. No compromises.

And by the way, the TV does perform w.r.t the printed brochure you get with the TV(probably User manual is the right word).
The brochure does not tell that TV has advanced settings, THX profile and so TV does not have it.
But if you refer the brochure of the PK550 (sold in US/UK) thats where the confusion begins. Old post has enough details about this. So wont elaborate much.

 

[dotMac]

See, with the various problems almost ALL Plasmas are inheriting,be it the color banding, floating blacks, dancing pixels to the relatively insignificant TIR ones, its already a game of luck - or atleast thats what i feel with a plasma purchase.Being a brand loyal of Samsung over the years in the LCD department,I was always a bit biased towards Samsung electronic products.Like i had mentioned in another post, a properly calibrated Samsung panel is something entirely different from demo pieces-in a very positive sense and this again, is my opinion only and mostly a biased opinion in that.Its the early positive reviews that made me even consider LG,but i had a gut feeling it was a 'too early to gauge' situation.I was happy in a way that LG were finally upping their ante, which will lead to more competition and u know the rest-to me a stiff competition means only one thing- better VFM.

Now, having prepared my mind to demo the above mentioned LG TV, the last thing i wanted was a tech support that turns a blind eye towards the problem,let alone being arrogant in the process and unfortunately,that exactly was the message i got from the above incident.I am not saying other companies are saints, lol, NOT ME - but thats only coz i haven't had too much complaints so far with any products and all the ones i encountered were easily and peacefully undertaken by the respective companies.

To conclude, it was with a bit of difficulty that my mind agreed to include an LG plasma in my inventory,but it was with so much ease that the incident convinced it to turn around.

LCD vs/ Plasma is whole different debate that I wont get into.

About service, all owners would agree that LG has been generally good so far. Good as in Indian conditions where getting a service itself is difficult. I mean installation/return was done promptly. Also the issue were investigated/escalated and went up to the Korean(LG head quarters) R&D team to investigate the issue is a positive sign. And if I am not wrong, Indian team simply does not have the capacity to resolve the issues(missing features in Indian edition or green pixels dancing) we noted.

What disappointed me is the U-turn that one of the manager took and the way he responded. He denied most of the stuff and questioned our motive. Not sure why he went to that denial mode. But its a bad thing.

But irrespective of company, service is very bad in India. Never seen anyone praise a single electronic company for their service.

Anyways shall keep you all posted as things develop.

 

[mehuldil]

I just wanted to let you ppl know that.. Product that LG is offering in India has different Chipset compared to the US/UK version.

US/UK version has Saturn 6, where as Indian version with "R" has Saturn 4.

This is one of the reason why some features are not enabled or can be enhanced.

 

[heynownow]

Hey Guys,

I was actually very keen on getting this set, based on the impressive specs and some US reviews. I'm an LG employee, and after reading through the gripes that some of you have (especially shiuja) I am having double thought. I asked for my emp discount quote on this, and they stated the model as 50PK550R ATR I have no idea as to what the ATR means. So if I am not mistaken, the calibration features which the US AV sites were raving about, are not present in the Indian edition...correct? despite that does teh set have any other critical faults.

 

[dotMac]

I just wanted to let you ppl know that.. Product that LG is offering in India has different Chipset compared to the US/UK version.

US/UK version has Saturn 6, where as Indian version with "R" has Saturn 4.

This is one of the reason why some features are not enabled or can be enhanced.

Wow thats a bummer.
So there is no way I can see LG can satisfy our request to enable those US/UK feature.

Thanks for this piece of info. Whats the source?
Also are you sure that Saturn4 cannot enable those features?

 

[bssraju]

As a owner, I am aware of most posts. But I was just interested in which exact post triggered your decision.

Your earlier post :


Why I asked for issues? Because I posted many of them. And I didn't wanted anyone to misinterpret my posts and change their decision. If you had replied me with exact issue, I as an owner could correct, if you had got it wrong. And if you had understood it right, no issues. I respect your decision.


I just thought. you change your decision bcoz of my post and buy another TV. Later you see ur friend has PK550 which you then feel better than ur TV. At that time, you would most likely curse the posts you read here. Bcoz otherwise you too would have got the TV.
I just dont want to be cursed.
Hope u understand. In no way i am questioning your decision or arguing that LG is best. Just dont want to be blamed later



Problem is there was no brochures/advertisements to this TV(PK550R) so far. Only PJ series of Plasmas were listed :lol:
And only recently after we complained, LG has included PK550 in their website. And LG posts so little detail that your above complaint becomes invalid. i.e. The TV actually performs everything that is in the current brochures.
But note LG site has posted PK550 while we get PK550R.

My apologies if I had hurt you in any way.

Hi,

Thanks for your detailed post. One of the reason to follow this thread is lack of information about this particular model on LG India web page, till recently. I will continue to follow this thread to know how you are all able to resolve the issues.

 

[dotMac]

Hey Guys,

I was actually very keen on getting this set, based on the impressive specs and some US reviews. I'm an LG employee, and after reading through the gripes that some of you have (especially shiuja) I am having double thought. I asked for my emp discount quote on this, and they stated the model as 50PK550R ATR I have no idea as to what the ATR means. So if I am not mistaken, the calibration features which the US AV sites were raving about, are not present in the Indian edition...correct? despite that does teh set have any other critical faults.

Going with the above post from mehuldil, looks like we wont get the missing features.

Apart from missing features, we are bothered about one behavior related to brightness. When the brightness of the TV is increased beyond 53, in the area that shows black, the sub-pixels start to blink(turn ON and OFF) rather than stay ON. Increasing brightness further causes more sub-pixels to have this behavior. Once the brightness crosses ~60 all sub-pixels stay ON like we expected.

And this phenomenon can be noticed only when looking into the panel from close range (less than ~4 feet). When viewed from far(> 5ft), the scene appear dark gray which is what is expected (expected => black turns to dark gray when brightness is increased).

Also note that the VIVID setting in the TV itself uses the brightness of 50. As most of us have not completed the break-in period we are not sure whether we would require to set the brightness beyond 50 for a perfect calibration.

Explaining this is tough. If possible try this on the showroom. Use a black image and start increasing the brightness of the set. Observe the panel from close range. You will see this phenomenon between brightness of 53 ~ 60. At the same time if you observe from a regular viewing distance, you see a gradual transition from deep black to gray.

Other aspect you may have to check is the reflection. Some find this set very reflective compared to the Samsung C550. Note that reflection will not be as bad as you see in the showroom. So if possible see this TV in action in a home environment.

But for the price you are getting its a steal. Just to make others jealous(I am jealous) he is getting this set for 54K !!!

 

[dotMac]

@bssraju :
I agree with you on lack of information about this TV. LG should do better here.

If you want the exact User Manual of PK550R, I have uploaded it : Link. This is the PDF I got with my TV.
This should let you know what you get and what you dont.

As per @mehuldil, the PK550R we get in India has a different hardware and so the issues we noted( missing feature when compared to US/UK PK550) cannot be resolved. So if these features are important for you, I have little hope (if what @mehuldil noted it true).
So no point in waiting.

If you have any particular query, or need more info about this set, do post it. We will be glad to help you.

 

[heynownow]

Hey Thanks a ton .MAC

Should I head to a LG experience center with a test dvd then. Could anyone tell me a site where I can d/l the ISO? Also I'm an avid PC gamer, and I want to hook up whatever HDTV I buy to it. Would you guys happen to know whether this set supports 1:1 pixel mapping, in case I wanna hook up my rig (Radeon 4870) via HDMI (DVI-HDMI dongle) instead of VGA. Has any one here with the set hooked up their TVs to their PCs

@dotmac.. even with the discount this is like stretching my budget, but yeah without it, I couldn't even have considered a full hd plasma.

 

[dotMac]

Should I head to a LG experience center with a test dvd then. Could anyone tell me a site where I can d/l the ISO?

If you looking for the sub-pixel issue, take this image in a USB thumb drive.
Its an image of batman on a dark background. Its also not FullHD. Its 1024 x 768. So the pixels around the image will be OFF which acts as a reference to the deepest black.

With right settings you will not be able to distinguish the black in the image and the surround area. Chk this image.

As you increase the brightness, the dark background in the image will start turning dark gray. While the black outside 1024x768, remains deep black.

At brightness above 53, if you come close to panel, you see that the dark gray is generated by turning ON/OFF the sub pixels. You see green pixel predominantly.

Also I'm an avid PC gamer, and I want to hook up whatever HDTV I buy to it. Would you guys happen to know whether this set supports 1:1 pixel mapping, in case I wanna hook up my rig (Radeon 4870) via HDMI (DVI-HDMI dongle) instead of VGA. Has any one here with the set hooked up their TVs to their PCs

I do watch movies through my PC, but via VGA. My laptop does not have a HDMI out. The PC correctly recognizes the TV native resolution as 1980x1080 and pics look stunning. Though the linked pic is very inferior due to my photography

I tried an old game (NFS Carbon). But as my laptop is so underpowered that I could not test with all resolution. So cannot comment on gaming performance. And am not into games so much

Just in case you are not aware, Plasma TVs have a breakin period during which static images should not remain for long. So that would mean that if your game has HUD, you will not be able to play them(with HUD) for long until the break-in period is over.

 

[shaiju_o_thomas]

Hi friends, anyone crossed the 200 hours mark or nearing the break-in period?

Can we start discussing media players? I am a dud with regards to media players.

 

[Srinivas29]

@Shaiju,

What have you decided regarding the TV? Are you keeping it or taking a refund. I have crossed 150 hours on my TV. Currently watching 24 TV series on my TV. Only thing i can say is WOW. It looks damn good. But whether break in has caused an improvement in the PQ, i really can't say.

Couple of thing worries me

1) Intensity of white - I am really not sure how to increase this. The white looks pale.

2) Green pixel issue - I really didn't notice this until you mentioned it. Now I am looking for this whenever I see the TV. It is not much of a bother but it is a irritation.

My settings are

Contast - 67
Brightness - 45
Colour - 50-53
Sharpness - 50
Colour Temp - W30

Black level - low
Everything dynamic set to off.
Everything else set to off.

I am sorry that i have yet to raise a complaint to LG. I will do it soon.

I am planning to go for the new xtreamer sidewinder because of the community around it. I have nothing against the other players but community around this device is much larger. My list did not include WD TV live(not sure why - personally device did not impress me much).

 

[dotMac]

Hi friends, anyone crossed the 200 hours mark or nearing the break-in period?

Can we start discussing media players? I am a dud with regards to media players.

Still around ~150 hours. Still all settings are kept below 50. Waiting to go pass 250 for experimenting with settings
Occasionally switched to Vivid when watching HD clips.

I am confused between going with a HTPC and a streamer.

 

[dotMac]

Green pixel issue - I really didn't notice this until you mentioned it. Now I am looking for this whenever I see the TV. It is not much of a bother but it is a irritation.

Do you see it at your normal viewing distance? Or only when your close(less than 5 ft) to the panel?

Am not seeing it beyond ~5ft. Hope it stays that way.

 

[borg]

i am surprised that the lg could not solve this calibration issue and instead gone to a denial mode,what are they thinking? i found a similar case with samsung in avs forum posted below



I have found a cure for a lot of picture problems, and lots of people in that thread are also trying it and having great results. Also, it seems to balance the picture a lot more.

First off, download a copy of the factory service manual for your particular TV. You can find this at the "Service manuals/owner manuals" section of the Main Page - Samsung Plasma TV FAQ

Then, go into your Service Menu (Mute, 1, 8, 2, Power when your TV is off.) and use a digital camera. Take a picture of every page so you can restore your settings if you do not like the end result. It should be noted that everyone who has tried this are happy with the results. If you don't have a digital camera handy, write down your defaults.

After doing that, you are ready to try this. In the Service Manual, you will find factory defaults for all of the service menu items. Since you already have a copy of your old settings, set your TV to service manual defaults for HDMI/Component/PC/etc whatever you use on your TV with one exception. In the PGA menu, there is an option for TCD3_Bright and the default is 40. Lower it slightly and you will find that blacks are deeper and takes a lot of noise out of the picture. Only settings different then the service manual defaults I use now. I use a value of 38 on mine. (Karz10 is credited with this).

After you set EVERY option to defaults, make sure you hit RESET before you leave the Service Menu or your Brightness settings will be off.

Before I did this, my TV had far too much noise (green dots visible at times) and color balance looked off. Now my 4254 LIV looks much better, the noise problems went away, and I find it much easier to set my TV now to get it to have a great picture, and it should fix most picture problems as well. Give this a shot, and see what you get. I went out on a limb and tried this, and I am very happy with the results, and would recommend it to anyone not happy with the picture on their Sammy Plasma. As I said, since I did it a lot of people are also trying it and liking it better.

Just remember, there IS no reset for the service menu, and remember before leaving the service menu to go to Reset.

One last thing, if by chance you have a ridiculous high value for any setting, like over a few thousand, hit the left arrow, then right and the value will go back to 0.

 

[dotMac]

May be useful for calibration : LCD monitor test images