Need Help to Decide on LCD TV and Home Theatre

[vchounal]

By the way, I saw a LG 55LH50 but it was priced around 1,17,000. Such a steep increase in price doesn't make any sense to me.

 

[sam9s]

Hi Sam9s,

Thanks. Can you please clarify as to why H70 or LH 60 are better than LH50 model? Speck wise and VFM, LH50 seems very good.

Never said LH60 or LH70 are better than LH50. All are equally good as far as PQ is concerned, the difference is only in few features like bluetooth, etc, but yes LH70 is Scarlet series and is definately better looking then other LH series. LH 70 also has the option to turn off True Motion, I am not sure LH 50 has that, apart from this everything is same and if you are getting good deal on LH50 you can go for it....

 

[sam9s]

By the way, I saw a LG 55LH50 but it was priced around 1,17,000. Such a steep increase in price doesn't make any sense to me.

55LH50??? LG's site even does not have that model listed. can you check that again.

 

[BLASTO]

I have narrowed down my choice to either LG PQ70 (50") or LG 47LH50, both of which are available for 63K. Hopefully, I will be ale to bring it down to 60K.

Select the LH50 if you have decided on the the above two only. LG needs more time to perfect the plasmas. I would not buy just for the temporary IR this TV puts out.

Did you check 47" B550? It comes with Sun HD and costs around 67k. You cannot beat that. Try out the 50" B450 also. If Iam correct, you can get the 50" B450 along with SUN HD for <60k. This offer is also very hard to beat for a very long time to come.. Be it diwali or whatever!!

 

[vchounal]

Never said LH60 or LH70 are better than LH50. All are equally good as far as PQ is concerned, the difference is only in few features like bluetooth, etc, but yes LH70 is Scarlet series and is definately better looking then other LH series. LH 70 also has the option to turn off True Motion, I am not sure LH 50 has that, apart from this everything is same and if you are getting good deal on LH50 you can go for it....

Thanks sam9. Like I mentioned earlier, the option to turn off True Motion is available in LH50. I have checked yerterday in two show rooms. I found three settings - High, Low & Off.

 

[vchounal]

55LH50??? LG's site even does not have that model listed. can you check that again.

Yes, I did see a 55 inch LH50 in LG showroom in Great India Place mall at Noida. The price is obnoxious, though.

 

[vchounal]

Select the LH50 if you have decided on the the above two only. LG needs more time to perfect the plasmas. I would not buy just for the temporary IR this TV puts out.

Did you check 47" B550? It comes with Sun HD and costs around 67k. You cannot beat that. Try out the 50" B450 also. If Iam correct, you can get the 50" B450 along with SUN HD for <60k. This offer is also very hard to beat for a very long time to come.. Be it diwali or whatever!!

Thanks BLASTO. Do you mean Samsung LA46B550 LCD or 50"B550 Plasma? 50" B550 Plasma is not available now and I don't want to buy 50" B450 as it i not full HD.

Can you please clarify as to what you mean by "LG needs more time to perfect the plasmas. I would not buy just for the temporary IR this TV puts out".

 

[sam9s]

^^ I think he means LG is not good in Plasmas, and I agree on that......

 

[vchounal]

^^ I think he means LG is not good in Plasmas, and I agree on that......

Hi sam9,

I am more inclined towards a plasma TV. Feature and price wise LG PQ70 looks okay to me. Having gone through the forum, I respect your views. I therefore want to confirm if you have personally tested LG plasmas and haven't found the quality to be ok.

 

[alokbharti]

vchounal,

If you are interested in Plasmas then do check samsung 42B450 (about 45K without freebies)..and 50B450 (about 57K without freebies)..

 

[vchounal]

vchounal,

If you are interested in Plasmas then do check samsung 42B450 (about 45K without freebies)..and 50B450 (about 57K without freebies)..

Thanks alokbharti. However, I am interested in full HD only and B450 is HD ready. I would have bought B550 but the same is no more available.

 

[alokbharti]

Thanks alokbharti. However, I am interested in full HD only and B450 is HD ready. I would have bought B550 but the same is no more available.

FullHD plasmas are only available with panasonic..
s10 and g10...the prices will be on the higher side..it may cost you even higher than fullHD LCDs.. if you are strictly looking for 1080p sets, then consider LCDs along with plasma..you may find LCDs more VFM for 1080p..

 

[BLASTO]

Thanks BLASTO. Do you mean Samsung LA46B550 LCD or 50"B550 Plasma? 50" B550 Plasma is not available now and I don't want to buy 50" B450 as it i not full HD.

Can you please clarify as to what you mean by "LG needs more time to perfect the plasmas. I would not buy just for the temporary IR this TV puts out".

I have narrowed down my choice to either LG PQ70 (50") or LG 47LH50, both of which are available for 63K. Hopefully, I will be ale to bring it down to 60K.

Thanks alokbharti. However, I am interested in full HD only and B450 is HD ready. I would have bought B550 but the same is no more available.

Hey vchounal..
I think you are confused.

First of all LG PQ70 plasma is NOT Full HD. If you are looking for full HD plasmas, PQ70 does not fit in. LG also makes bad plasmas compared to competetion and loose out in image retention, colour reproduction and black levels.

Since you are only considering 1080p, The cheapest 1080p pasma is from panasonic and it is the S10.

While 42" S10 is priced sanely aroung 50-55k, 50" S10 >1L. At this price, this is NOT AT ALL WORTH.

So, If you are looking for 1080p TV >42", plasmas are pretty much out of the game. You got to stick with the LCDs.

Good choices are samsung 5/6 series and the LGs. Samsungs are better and costs more. From good number of people liking the LG LCDs in this forum, I assume they give great VFM for the cost they are sold at.

But when you are buying the LG LCDs, remember that that there are better TVs out there (not necessarily in the same price range though). Also I have observed all LGs TVs in the range vary only in features and the picture quality is pretty much the same. The 100Hz and 200 Hz are not up to the mark and you end up switching them off.

For your requirement I recommend 46B550 samsung as first choice and LG LH50 as second choices (Both LCDs). LH 50 will be cheaper than the B550 though the free Sun HD offer currently running with samsung makes it excellent VFM.

In short,

1080p 50" plasmas cost > 1L.
Best VFM as of today is 46B550 LCD with Free Sun HD at 67k.

Or a 42" Panasonic S10 plasma can be taken home for 50-55k.

 

[vchounal]

Hey vchounal..
I think you are confused.

First of all LG PQ70 plasma is NOT Full HD. If you are looking for full HD plasmas, PQ70 does not fit in. LG also makes bad plasmas compared to competetion and loose out in image retention, colour reproduction and black levels.

Since you are only considering 1080p, The cheapest 1080p pasma is from panasonic and it is the S10.

While 42" S10 is priced sanely aroung 50-55k, 50" S10 >1L. At this price, this is NOT AT ALL WORTH.

So, If you are looking for 1080p TV >42", plasmas are pretty much out of the game. You got to stick with the LCDs.

Good choices are samsung 5/6 series and the LGs. Samsungs are better and costs more. From good number of people liking the LG LCDs in this forum, I assume they give great VFM for the cost they are sold at.

But when you are buying the LG LCDs, remember that that there are better TVs out there (not necessarily in the same price range though). Also I have observed all LGs TVs in the range vary only in features and the picture quality is pretty much the same. The 100Hz and 200 Hz are not up to the mark and you end up switching them off.

For your requirement I recommend 46B550 samsung as first choice and LG LH50 as second choices (Both LCDs). LH 50 will be cheaper than the B550 though the free Sun HD offer currently running with samsung makes it excellent VFM.

In short,

1080p 50" plasmas cost > 1L.
Best VFM as of today is 46B550 LCD with Free Sun HD at 67k.

Or a 42" Panasonic S10 plasma can be taken home for 50-55k.

Hi Blasto,

You are right. LG PQ70 is not full HD.

Your lucid expaination is highly apprecited.

 

[vchounal]

Hi Blasto,

How do you rate 47LG70YR compared to Samsung 46B550?

 

[sam9s]

Hi sam9,

I am more inclined towards a plasma TV. Feature and price wise LG PQ70 looks okay to me. Having gone through the forum, I respect your views. I therefore want to confirm if you have personally tested LG plasmas and haven't found the quality to be ok.

No I did not 'test' as such plasmas, as i was not interested in Plasmas, coz these are not Full HD. I wanted a Full HD because of the Blue ray player I have plus the games I play from my PC. That said LG are just ok in Plasmas, I'd say samsung are better AFA plazmas are concerned, however you should still view them side by side and make a diecission. My all recomendations I made in the posts prior to this are for LCDs

 

[akj]

Qs: If we play a 1080p video from BluRay player, how does it look on an HD Ready Plasmas like Samsung B450/LG PQ70 etc - For this use case, is it better to buy a 1080p LCD ?

 

[sam9s]

Qs: If we play a 1080p video from BluRay player, how does it look on an HD Ready Plasmas like Samsung B450/LG PQ70 etc - For this use case, is it better to buy a 1080p LCD ?

Depends with what you are comparing and playing. If you are playing a file whose resolution equal to the displays native resolution, the picture looks as good as any LCD. See this is how it works...

If a 1080p signal is being received by the 1366x768 (HD ready) panel, then "scalers" in the back of the set will down-convert the image to fit to the panel resolution of 768 lines. By using a very complex algorithm sequence the scaler will systematically crop the image to fit the lower resolution panel.
In a similar manner, up-conversion is also done, so if a 1080 panel is receiving a 720p image, the signal will be "oversampled" to fit the big screen resolution has to occupy - again all completed by very complex algorithm sequences.

Now it depends on how good the algorithm is to do the scaling and how good is the processing done buy the TV running that algo. Better the processing and scaling better the image quality, but finally if the scaling of an original image occurs there is bound to be some loss or cropping of picture........... eventually resulting in some loss of picture quality as well.

So its advisable to have a full HD to run 1080p signals and aviode scalling, having said that people are equally satisfied by the HD ready as well people who dont care much of some picture loss (after all how much difference one can make out). On the other hand people like me who are pretty meticulous about getting every ounce of detail out of a BlueRay would not settle for anything less and definately would go for a Full HD........

 

[BLASTO]

Qs: If we play a 1080p video from BluRay player, how does it look on an HD Ready Plasmas like Samsung B450/LG PQ70 etc - For this use case, is it better to buy a 1080p LCD ?

The 1080p looks like 720p in TVs with good downscaler (pretty much every plasma).
If you look from >8ft for 50", there will be minimal detail loss. You won't find a difference.

Where a 720p loses out it during 1080p gaming when you have near field vision (<8ft).

Given the prices now, I don't know anyone would buy a 720p LCD.

But then 1080p plasmas are very costly and 720p plasmas are better than low end 1080p LCDs in various areas other than 1080p playback (Infact every other area IMO).

My next TV will be a 50" 1080p plasma <50k in 2-3 years time. I am confident there are not going to be much 1080p contents before that anyway. My 720p samsung plasma would serve well till then and serve the bedroom after that. There might be quite a few who would think like me though.

 

[BLASTO]

Hi Blasto,

How do you rate 47LG70YR compared to Samsung 46B550?

Hi vchounal, As I have said earlier, below are the characteristics of LGs.

1) All TVs in different price ranges have a similar picture. Very very minute differences if any if you climb up the price range.

2) Black levels are low compared to samsung and sony. This could cause washed out image (LH90 is an exception). Given that most people are happy with LG.

3) Colour reproduction is not accurate. Blue is over pronounced and red is underwhelming. Next time you are in the store doing side by side comparison, check out a screen with majority red and you can see for yourself. (vodafone ad?) All near red colours like red, orange (sunset), yellow in some cases lag in all LG. Checkout orange and red in comparison to samsung and sony and if you are satisfied, you can pretty much take the TV home.

4) Any motion reduction algorithm they deploy is bad (until 2009). If you opt for LG, going to higher cost models based on response time and 100Hz processing is meaningless. This can negatively impact the picture in some cases.

Once you are satisfied demoing the above, It is your choice. Have a side by side demo in some non dynamic mode and decide.


Also, 720p is not bad especially if you don't have a blueray player and are not planning for one in the near future. You will hardly notice the difference (Like you cant in PQ70). The motion handling, black levels and colour reproduction etc will be better in plasmas. Try out 50" B450 plasma (720p). It has the best colour reproduction capacity.

Another point to note. NONE of the LCDs are capable of 1080p motion picture resolution. They have 1080p pixels and can display 1080p still images perfectly. But moving picture resolution will be 400p without 100hz and ~700p with 100hz. The 720p plasmas do a 720p moving picture resolution without fuzz. The Panasonic G10 and above are the only plasma capable of doing a 1080p motion picture resolution.

I recommend you demo the B450 plasma once especially if you dont have a bluray player.