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  • Introduction

  • Overall Design

  • Front

  • Back

  • Sides

  • Controls

  • Remote Control

  • In the Box

  • Black Level

  • Peak Brightness

  • Contrast

  • Tunnel Contrast

  • White Falloff

  • Uniformity

  • Greyscale Gamma

  • Color Temperature

  • RGB Curves

  • Motion Performance

  • 3:2 Pulldown & 24fps

  • Resolution Scaling

  • Formats

  • Viewing Angle

  • Reflectance

  • Video Processing

  • Calibration

  • Video Modes

  • Connectivity

  • Placement

  • Audio Quality

  • Menu Interface

  • Instruction Manual

  • Local Media Playback

  • Power Consumption

  • Value Comparison

  • Blacks & Whites

  • Color Accuracy

  • Motion

  • Viewing Effects

  • Connectivity

  • Value Comparison

  • Blacks & Whites

  • Color Accuracy

  • Motion

  • Viewing Effects

  • Connectivity

  • Value Comparison

  • Blacks & Whites

  • Color Accuracy

  • Motion

  • Viewing Effects

  • Connectivity

  • Conclusion

  • Photo Gallery

  • Ratings & Specs

  • Introduction
  • Overall Design
  • Front
  • Back
  • Sides
  • Controls
  • Remote Control
  • In the Box
  • Black Level
  • Peak Brightness
  • Contrast
  • Tunnel Contrast
  • White Falloff
  • Uniformity
  • Greyscale Gamma
  • Color Temperature
  • RGB Curves
  • Motion Performance
  • 3:2 Pulldown & 24fps
  • Resolution Scaling
  • Formats
  • Viewing Angle
  • Reflectance
  • Video Processing
  • Calibration
  • Video Modes
  • Connectivity
  • Placement
  • Audio Quality
  • Menu Interface
  • Instruction Manual
  • Local Media Playback
  • Power Consumption
  • Value Comparison
  • Blacks & Whites
  • Color Accuracy
  • Motion
  • Viewing Effects
  • Connectivity
  • Value Comparison
  • Blacks & Whites
  • Color Accuracy
  • Motion
  • Viewing Effects
  • Connectivity
  • Value Comparison
  • Blacks & Whites
  • Color Accuracy
  • Motion
  • Viewing Effects
  • Connectivity
  • Conclusion
  • Photo Gallery
  • Ratings & Specs

Introduction

Overall Design

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The {{product.name}} has a thick, glossy black bezel around all four sides. Along the bottom there's a thin, silvery strip. All in all, it's a pretty standard looking TV – a bit boxy and lacking the glamor of its higher-end siblings. The indicator light on the front is particularly large, but if you find it distracting there's an option in the menu to disable it.

Front

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Back

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Sides

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Controls

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The onboard controls are located on the right-hand side – a series of hard, plastic buttons. They're positioned in such a way that you'll never see them if you're sitting directly in front of the TV. Once you get the hang of it, you'll be able to able to identify these buttons by touch and control you're TV without looking, even in a dark room.

Remote Control

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The remote control that ships with the {{product.name}} is standard to a number of LG TVs. It's quite long, but the button feel and placement is excellent. We're big fans of this remote. After a few minutes, you never need to look down – the hallmark of intuitive design.

In the Box

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The {{product.name}} ships with the stand & necessary screws, remote control & batteries, the instruction manual, and some assorted documentation. Because the TV is so lightweight, we had no problems setting it up.

Black Level

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None of the LCD TVs we've reviewed from LG for the last year have done well in the black level tests. The {{product.name}} measured a deepest black of 0.41 cd/m2. As you can see in the chart below, the slightly more expensive LG LK450 series didn't considerably better, and the Toshiba smoked them all (though the Toshiba failed to show any detail in those deep shadows). More on how we test black level.

Peak Brightness

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The {{product.name}} has an incredibly bright peak brightness of 395.77 cd/m2, which beat all the TVs we pulled in for comparison. More on how we test peak brightness.

Contrast

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The {{product.name}} has a rather mediocre contrast ration of 956:1. That pales next to the three TVs in our comparison pool. It's also quite a bit less that the 50,000:1 contrast that LG advertises, though those numbers are always grossly exaggerated. To give you a sense of scale, the best LCDs we've reviewed tend to fall between 4000:1 and 5000:1. More on how we test contrast.

Tunnel Contrast

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The {{product.name}} has no trouble maintaining a consistent black level, no matter how much or how little black is on the screen. More on how we test tunnel contrast.

White Falloff

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The {{product.name}} produces a perfectly level peak brightness, regardless of the screen content. More on how we test white falloff.

Uniformity

Greyscale Gamma

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The greyscale gamma test measures how well the {{product.name}} transitioned from black to white within the greyscale. Look at the chart below. What we're looking for is a smooth response curve with an upward slope between 2.1 and 2.2. In regards the smoothness, the {{product.name}} did pretty well. There are a couple very small hiccups in the lower left. This indicates that the gradients in the shadows may not be perfectly even, but we've not seeing any major problems. Secondly, the measured slope was 2.76, which is too steep. It means that the TV is missing some of the finer gradations. Overall, though, it's a good performance. More on how we test greyscale gamma.

Color Temperature

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The {{product.name}} produced a smooth and even color temperature, for the most part. As the signal grows dark, the whites may start to cool a bit. The problem is limited to a small segment of the total signal range. More on how we test color temperature.

RGB Curves

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It's always a pleasure to run the color tests on LCD televisions from LG because they invariably do really well in this test. Look at those smooth transitions. You can expect excellent color reproduction. For whatever reason, the plasma TVs from LG this year have done terribly. Maybe their plasma engineers should talk to the LCD engineers. More on how we test RGB curves.

The color strips below are digital recreations of the data discussed above. Roughly, this is what the entire range of each channel (red, green, and blue) would look like if it was displayed on the {{product.name}}. We've also included three similar TVs for comparison, as well as an ideal response curve.

Motion Performance

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The {{product.name}} did not do fantastically well in our motion tests. When we drove complex images, like photographs, across the screen, there was heavy blur. Much of the fine detail, such as facial features, were lost. The TV also created distracting artifacts. High contrast patterns, like color blocks, left false color trails. If you sit far enough away and you're watching typical TV shows and movies, you may not find these problems too distracting, but we've seen far better from LG (the LK450 series, for example). More on how we test motion performance.

3:2 Pulldown & 24fps

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The {{product.name}} had no problems displaying native 24fps content, like you get from many Blu-Ray movies. There's a feature in the menu called Real Cinema that you can enable for these situations. It helps the TV process difficult patterns, like high frequency stripes, as well as the smoothness of horizontal camera pans. More on how we test 3:2 pulldown and 24fps.

Resolution Scaling

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The {{product.name}} is frequently cited as a 720p TV, but the actual native resolution is 1366 x 768. That does not conform to the 720p broadcast standard, which is 1280 x 720. In fact, 1366 x 768 doesn't match up to any of the broadcast standards. As a result, all broadcast signals need to be re-sized to fit the screen. The {{product.name}} is certainly not great at this task. Nothing fits correctly, so fine details like text tend to look blurry or have little halos. More on how we test resolution scaling.

480p

The 480p signal we sent to the TV produced very minor Moires when confronted with high contrast / high frequency patterns.

720p

The 720p signal should have looked good, since LG labels the LK330 a 720p TV, but as we established above, that's not really the case. 720p video produced heavy and distracting Moires and even had trouble displaying fine text.

1080p

The 1080p footage we sent to the TV produced the same problems as the 720p footage.

Formats

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The {{product.name}} has a native resolution of 1366 x 768, which is not native to any broadcast standard. The TV can handle all standard NTSC formats, but they all have to be re-sized to fit the screen.

Viewing Angle

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The {{product.name}} produced a viewing angle of 60 degrees (30 degrees from center in either direction). As you can see in the chart below, this score was not quite as good as the more expensive LG LK450 series. And even though the LK450 series was the best in this comparison pool, none of these LCD televisions come close to the viewing angle you'd get from a plasma TV.

Reflectance

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Like similar LGs we've reviewed, the {{product.name}}'s screen is highly reflective. When hit with a direct light, you get the double-whammy of a wide, diffuse glow and a four-directional rainbow pattern. If you can reposition either the light source or the TV panel just a little, you can reduce the severity of the reflection pretty significantly.

Video Processing

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The {{product.name}} has a number of video processing features, but few of them actually contribute to a better picture quality, especially after you've calibrated the screen.

Calibration

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The {{product.name}} is very easy to calibrate. Once you put the TV in Cinema mode, most of the work was done. We just needed to crank up the backlight and make a couple minor tweaks. Follow our table below and you should love the way your picture looks.

[

All of our calibration is done in conjunction with the DisplayMate software.

](http://www.displaymate.com/)

Video Modes

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These are the one-touch, easy ways to calibrate your TV, in case you don't want to fiddle with all those little settings.

Connectivity

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The {{product.name}} houses most of the ports on the back of the TV. There, you'll find two HDMIs, a composite AV input, a component AV input, a coax input, and a VGA input with accompanying mini audio input. There's also a digital audio output and an RS-232C port.

On the side you'll find a third HDMI input, a second composite AV input, a headphone output, and a USB port. The latter can be used to connect to USB mass storage devices, like thumb drives, to play back photos, movies, and audio files.

Placement

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Most of the ports are on the back and the TV panel doesn't swivel, so they're not terribly easy to get to. However, the TV is so lightweight that you can easily pick it up and spin it around. Once you're back there, all the jacks are well-labeled. We also like having a digital and an analog video input on the side, allowing for quick changes with a lot of flexibility.

Audio Quality

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The {{product.name}}'s two 10W, down-firing speakers are certainly not going to be mistaken for a surround sound system, but we've heard worse. While there was very little bass, the audio performance was crisp and clear. There were also plenty of preset modes to chose from to tweak your sound (though no equalizer). The Surround Sound emulator did nothing, as far as we can tell, so don't bother with it.

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When you're playing with the menu, you forget for a little while that you're dealing with a budget TV. That's a very pleasant and rare thing. It's more or less the same menu that you get on LG's flagship TVs, full of attractive and intuitive graphics and structure.

There is a little redundancy we could have done without. When you first hit the Menu button on the remote, you're presented with a a grid-view of the submenus. No matter which one you choose, you're then transported to the menu you see below, where the same submenus appear in a left-aligned column.

There's also a Quick Menu, seen below, that allows you to make certain changes without having a huge graphic that takes up most of the screen.

Instruction Manual

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The instruction manual that comes with {{product.name}}, as well as most LGs, is garbage. If you can read the fine print at the bottom of this screenshot below, you can see just how many different models this single manual is meant to address. It's well over 40 models. When you actually read through the thing, there are constant clauses and annotations stating a certain feature is only available on such-and-such a model. It's terribly frustrating.

A manual for so many TV models, they have to be further categorized by type.

Local Media Playback

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The USB port on the side can connect to USB mass storage devices. It's not the simplest interface, and we can't honestly expect that many people will use it, but there it is. When you plug in a device, the TV prompts you to ask which media type you'd like to access: movies, photos, or music. You can't view all the contents of the device at the same time.

You can create the playlists and slideshows. The interface will probably take you a little while to suss out, but once you're up and going you can create a photo slideshow complete with musical accompaniment – perfect for your next cocktail party.

Power Consumption

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The {{product.name}} uses very little power, only about 54 watts, when the backlight is dropped to the minimum recommended setting. At that level, it will only cost about $10.61 per year to operate.

As you can see in the chart below, the {{product.name}} compared very well to the three TVs we pulled in for comparison.

Value Comparison

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We reviewed the LG 37LK450 ($599 MSRP), but there's also a 32-inch version for $499, which means it costs one hundred dollars to step up from the {{product.name}} to the next series. You get a lot for your money, so consider it seriously. The LK450 series is 1080p rather than 720p, so it doesn't suffer from the same resolution scaling problems. The black levels are deeper and the contrast ratio is wider. Color performance is equally good in both units, but we liked the LK450's motion performance a little better (which may have been tied into the improved resolution scaling). There are also more connectivity options on the LK450. It's a better TV through and through, but you have to pay to play.

Blacks & Whites

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The LK450 offers a deeper black level and wider contrast ratio. There's little difference in the peak brightness. Both are more than bright enough.

Color Accuracy

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LG makes great LCD televisions when it comes to color performance. We haven't see a bad one in a while. Their plasma TVs are a different story, unfortunately.

Motion

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Both TVs showed some blurring and judder. We had more issues with the {{product.name}}, but that may have been a problem compounded by the resolution scaling difficulties.

Viewing Effects

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The {{product.name}} has a slightly wider viewing angle than the LK450. Neither were fantastic, as is common with LCD TVs.

Connectivity

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The LK450 series offers one additional set of component AV inputs.

Value Comparison

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The Toshiba 32C110U ($349 MSRP) is an inexpensive TV, $50 cheaper than the {{product.name}}. That's the best thing it has going for it in this competition. Like the LG, the Toshiba has a 1366 x 768 resolution that caused a lot of resolution scaling problems. The performance scores were also marred by a lack of shadow detail, though the contrast ratio is much wider than the LG's. Overall, we'd have to pick the {{product.name}}, unless price is the absolute motivator for you.

Blacks & Whites

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The Toshiba C110U has a deeper black level by far, but we found that there just wasn't any detail in those shadows. It's hardly worth it.

Color Accuracy

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The Toshiba had major problems in maintaining a consistent color temperature, but the other color performances were much better. If nothing else, you can expect smooth color transitions.

Motion

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Motion performance was an area where the Toshiba had a slight advantage. We definitely saw judder in moving objects, but the {{product.name}} appeared more blurry.

Viewing Effects

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The Toshiba had the narrowest viewing angle of the four TVs we pulled in for comparison.

Connectivity

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The {{product.name}} offers one additional HDMI input and one additional composite AV input.

Value Comparison

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The Sony BX320 series is the entry level point for Sony's LCD line-up, and the 32-inch version is priced identically to the {{product.name}}: $399 MSRP. Like the LG, it's a 720p resolution without many special features. There's not much to recommend the TV beyond its affordability, and the Sony brand name holds less sway with each passing year. We'll take a pass on it. In this particular match-up, the LG is a hair better.

Blacks & Whites

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The Sony's black level was notably darker than the {{product.name}}'s, but the screen wasn't quite as bright. As a result, the contrast ratio is about the same.

Color Accuracy

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The Sony's color temperature consistency proved to be problematic, but the rest of the color tests were quite good. Unfortunately for Sony, LG's was better.

Motion

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We spotted some real problems with the motion performance of the Sony BX320, seemingly due to a slow refresh rate and laggy processing.

Viewing Effects

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The viewing angles of the {{product.name}} and Sony BX320 were very similar, around 60 degrees in total (or 30 degrees from center in either direction). That's about average for an LCD television, but pales compared to a plasma TV.

Connectivity

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The Sony BX320 series is definitely lacking in ports, with one less HDMI and one less composite AV input.

Conclusion

The {{product.name}} ($399 MSRP) is budget TV, that much is clear after a quick run-down of its specs and features. There's not much to capture the techie's imagination here, but that's not really the point of a $400 TV, is it? So let's get down to nuts and bolts.

Overall, this is among the better entry-level TVs we've reviewed. The menu is the same great version found on the highest-end LGs. We were pleased to see that the color performance was exemplary, as it has been with every LG LCD television we've reviewed this year. The same certainly can't be said about the company's plasma TVs, but that's a different matter.

At this price, there are always some major picture performance trade-offs you have to accept. On the {{product.name}}, it's the resolution scaling. The TV has a native resolution of 1366 x 768, which doesn't match up to any broadcast standard. As a result, everything has to be re-sized to fit the screen. The TV doesn't do the best job of this, so you end up with a lot of mildly blurry images. You won't notice it if you're watching everyday cable TV and sitting reasonably far away, but any fine detail such as small text will be difficult to read. You can buy your way out of this problem by stepping up to the LG LK450 series (the 32-inch version is $100 more), or you can live with it.

Overall, we can award it a seal of approval, with the proviso that you can't get an outstanding television for $400. You can get pretty good, which is what this is.

{{photo_gallery "Front Tour Image", "Back Tour Image", "Sides Tour Image", "Stand Photo", "Controls Photo", "Remote Control Photo", "Connectivity Tour Image 1", "Connectivity Tour Image 2", "Connectivity Extra Photo", "Menu Main Photo", "Menu 2 Photo", "Internet Features 1 Photo", "Internet Features 2 Photo", "Internet Features 3 Photo", "Local Media Playback 1 Photo", "Local Media Playback 2 Photo"}}

Ratings & Specs

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Meet the tester

David Kender

David Kender

Editor in Chief

@davekender

David Kender oversees content at Reviewed as the Editor in Chief. He served as managing editor and editor in chief of Reviewed's ancestor, CamcorderInfo.com, helping to grow the company from a tiny staff to one of the most influential online review resources. In his time at Reviewed, David has helped to launch over 100 product categories and written too many articles to count.

See all of David Kender's reviews

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