LG 47LM6700 LED TV Review

Introduction

We were ready to deflate the LG 47LM6700 ($1799 MSRP), a 2012, 1080p, LED, 3D, smart TV with our routinely forked tongue, but instead we sat down to a delicious meal of crow. With a new technology that debuted late last year, LG shows us that 3D can look really good, plus avoid most of the problems mentioned above.

Design

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This modern panel is a prime example of futuristic design.

The sleek silver finish, the bent bar stand, the monolithic display, and the magic remote mean a whole new style of television. This LG would fit nicely in a house with a modern motif and it certainly looks cool...for now, but in a couple of years, you may rethink this hyper-stylized piece.

On the back, there are four HDMI ports and three USB ports in an L-shaped cutout. Two of the HDMI ports have specific functions. One of them is the HD ARC (Audio Return Channel) connection which allows for audio transfer between sources, essentially acting as simultaneous HD video and S/PDIF connection. There is another HDMI port specifically labled for a PC connection, but we are not sure what the difference between this HD port and any other would be for connecting an HD signal from a computer.

{{photo_gallery "Design Landing Page Photo", "Front Tour Image", "Back Tour Image", "Sides Tour Image", "Connectivity Tour Image 1", "Connectivity Tour Image 2", "Connectivity Extra Photo", "Stand Photo", "Controls Photo", "Remote Control Photo"}}

Smart TV Features

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Wow, there’s a lot of stuff here.

An internet browser, the LG Smart World App store, 3D streaming content, premium streaming channels like YouTube, Hulu, Vudu, LG Social Center, K Pop Central (a preloaded app connection to all the Korean pop music you could want), games, USB media, LG Dual Play, LG Smart Share, an on-board User Guide, 387.4 MB of on-board memory, and one bad-ass search feature to filter everything contained herein.

What a mouthful. It’s almost too much to wade through, but it is actually quality content. LG has made it so easy to navigate all of these options that you will be thankful for the overstuffed content rather than drowning in the mire of inoperable nonsense. The competition in the smart television market is often based off of how much a company can cram into a television, less on how well the consumer can get around. LG has done both wonderfully.

{{photo_gallery "Software and Internet Landing Page Photo", "Internet Features 1 Photo", "Internet Features 2 Photo", "Internet Features 3 Photo", "Browser 1 Photo", "Browser 2 Photo", "Browser 3 Photo", "Apps 1 Photo", "Apps 2 Photo", "Apps 3 Photo", "Local Media Playback 1 Photo", "Local Media Playback 2 Photo", "Menu Main Photo", "Menu 2 Photo"}}

Picture Quality

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Judged solely on its performance, this TV is great.

LG is repeating its usual strengths and weaknesses. The 47LM6700 showcases some of the best color accuracy in the business and a surprisingly low contrast ratio. Using black levels way brighter than other top-quality displays, LG still maintains quality without competing in one of the leading stats. You may not see any rich dark values, but the colors, as usual, are fantastically accurate. On top of this, the viewing angle is spectacular for an LCD screen and the motion processing was pleasantly rendered.

3D

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LG is doing something revolutionary here.

LG’s new circularly polarized images and Film Patterned Retarder (FPR) lenses combine to remove many of the disadvantages of home 3D. There is no resolution loss, because pixels do not need to be cutout to make the angles for polarization, meaning you can watch 1080p 3D images. There is no flickering and therefore no refresh rate loss.

Overall, this is the best 3D technology we have seen. We really like the images—they are mesmerizing and fun to watch. It does not get tiring, it is not sickening, or exhausting, it’s just 3D, the way you have always wanted it to work.

Conclusion

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The 47LM6700 ($1799 MSRP) is a spectacular 3D smart TV from LG.

There is so much to say in favor of this LG. To begin, the picture quality is superb. LG has made sure to take care of the picture essentials before heaping on some of the best advanced features in the industry.

The smart TV offerings—streaming videos, an internet browser, various apps—make up the forefront of the Home menu, where these various features are collected in one helpful interface.

Then there’s the award-winning LG Cinema 3D, which blows all other 3D TVs out of the water as far as we’re concerned. The passive 3D images come at viewers in full HD and do not flicker like active 3D. They show so little crosstalk we could hardly believe it.

All together, we recommend the LG 47LM6700. The overall picture quality is fantastic and the advanced features are top-notch. Honestly, we do not expect to be able to buy a 47-inch TV with this kind of quality and feature set for the money that LG asks. We think any consumer looking for a new-age television will be happy with the LG 47LM6700.

Science Introduction

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The LG 47LM6700 showcased excellent color detail and smooth motion. Its only weak spot was its contrast ratio, which is viable, but could have been much better with a deeper black level.

Contrast

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We recorded a surprisingly low contrast ratio coming out of this LG.

The LM6700 tested with a black level of 0.21 cd/m² , which is considerably brighter than other LCDs in this price range. While its contrast ratio of 1097:1 was still feasible—not really a major drawback—its black levels will in no way imitate the black levels of similarly priced plasmas, plus the LM6700 is best viewed in brighter ambient lighting rather than dim or dark environments. More on how we test contrast.

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Color

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The LM6700 tested with some very impressive color curves.

These color curves are looking good like they should. All three primary colors and the greyscale gamma are in line with each other as smooth as glass and have a nice even curve to them. This shape and consistency means that all colors and gray values have excellent detail from one shade to another. More detail means a more believable picture and a more immersive experience. More on how we test color performance.

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Other Tests

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