LG 42LD520 42-Inch 1080p 120Hz LCD HDTV Review

Might not appeal to the people who can afford a 00 TV..aka the videophile, but I’m in love with this. For 95% of people this should be more than enough. After months of shopping around and doing my homework, I went against the grain and decided to try the LG. Purchased this set through Walmart site to store. It was more than the LD450 model on the shelf. But in my eyes well worth paying a little extra and waiting another week for it. The extra hdmi port alone justifies the $$$$.
Picture Crisp! Bright. Color is deep! Pops off the screen when in high def. Nothing in 480 (standard) looks good on this though . Keep that in mind. Initially struggled with adjustments. In the end a couple of tweaks to cinema mode were all it took. Looks as good (maybe better) than the comparible Sony’s and Samsungs.
A word of advice… I saw one of the 450 models on a store shelf…which basically has the same picture with a few less features. It looked horrible next to a Sony. Huh? The sales guy tried to tell me that the LG wasn’t getting as good of a signal. Ummm…why does the 47″ inch version way down on the other end also look bad next to the Sony? Or even the Sanyo? Why do I see the same thing when I visit the store down the road in fact? The answer? LG’s ’store demo’ presets are horrible. I’m not sure why they did this. But they badly misjudged something. Once you get the picture correctly adjusted, you’ll see what I’m talking about. It’s an “oooh and ahhhh” kind of thing when you see what it is supposed to look like.
Final Settings: Aspect Ratio 16:9
Energy Saving Off
Cinema
Backlight 30
Contrast 90
Brightness 75 (adjusted)
Sharpness 50
Color 50
Tint 0
Color Temp W50
Advanced Control
Dynamic Contrast Low (adjusted)
Dynamic Color Low (adjusted)
Clear White Off
Skin Color 3 (adjusted)
Noise Reduction Off
Digital Noise Reduction off
Gamma Medium
Black Level Low
Eye CAre Greyed Out/off
Real Cimema Off
Color Gamut Standard
xvYCC Auto
Trumotion Off
THOUGHTS:
Intellegent Sensor is useless. Makes the picture WAY too dim. It might have been good if they weren’t so conservative with the energy savings. I could achieve 100% power savings by unplugging it, but what would be the point? Options to adjust Itelligent Sensor are greyed out too. The IS logo that pops up on the screen is also annoying. Blech! . Strongly recommend disabling this feature.
Trumotion=much ado about nothing. Doesn’t add anything great to the experience and in many cases makes things worse. Thankfully it’s easy to disable. Interloping of frames just creates an artificial feeling to everything. Even on low it’s bad. If motion blur/judder is an issue to you, then you to look into Plasma. I really don’t notice it though. NBA finals and World Cup matches looked amazing WITHOUT this feature enabled!!!!!
60hz vs 120hz: The difference is slightly noticable. Will 60hz ruin your viewing experience? No. But for the slight price difference it’s worth it. You’ll notice the difference with Blue Ray movies for sure.
Glare almost non existant. Good job!!!
Off angle viewing isn’t flawless, but I don’t notice issues unless I’m watching tv from the other room.
Reported ‘lip-sync’ issues: I saw it do this once and the issue never resurfaced. So I’m writing this off.
Remote control simple to use. Well done. Although I can make all adjustments I need to with my Directv remote, so it will go into mothballs.
Noticed a bit of uneven backlighting when I’m flipping channels, on a pure white screen. But don’t let that scare you. You shouldn’t notice it 99% percent of the time. If it does become an issue to you, then adjust the intensity of the backlight accordlingly.
Sound could have been better. Meh! Having speakers in the back was a bad idea. Asthetics aside..they shouldn’t have done this. But I’ll be getting a home theatre system soon anyway. So it’s a minor issue to me.
The stand: I had heard rumbling about the stand not being very ’secure’ on the LD450 models. Definitely not an issue with the 520 series. Seems perfectly stable to me. I’ve bumped it a couple of times and it barely moved.
Lack of an ethernet port: Would have been nice had LG included this feature just for pulling down firmware updates. But I can live without it
BOTTOM LINE:
This tv is great! You can’t go wrong….as people have said…for the money. If you are looking for something better….wait a year or two for the next generation of led-backlit sets to hit the mainstream market at a reasonable price. But I can honestly tell you that this unit provides the best balance of all worlds. It’s candy for the retinas!!!!!!!!!
I wish I could give it more than 5 stars.
Well done LG
-Rick
LG 42LD520 42-Inch 1080p 120Hz LCD HDTV Feature
- Full HD 1080p Resolution
- TruMotion 120Hz
- 100,000:1 Dynamic Contrast Ratio
- Picture Wizard II
- Smart Energy Savings
LG 42LD520 42-Inch 1080p 120Hz LCD HDTV Overview
This is a Full HD television anyone would be happy with, at almost any budget. It’s great for sports and fast action, along with offering the Core Technologies that make every LG television something better.
LG 42LD520 42-Inch 1080p 120Hz LCD HDTV Specifications
Great for sports and fast action, the 42-inch LG 42LD520 LCD HDTV offers 1080p Full HD resolution for crystal-clear detail, TruMotion 120Hz technology for virtually no motion blur, and a super-quick response time of 2.4ms (milliseconds). Other features include an amazing 100,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio for more stunning colors and deeper blacks, capability to play MP3 audio files and JPEG photo slideshows from a USB drive, stereo speakers with 20 watts of power and Dolby Digital decoding, and three HDMI inputs.
Key Features
Full HD 1080p resolution This stunning picture is the reason you wanted HDTV in the first place. With almost double the pixel resolution, Full HD 1080p gives it superior picture quality over standard HDTV. You’ll see details and colors like never before.

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TruMotion 120Hz TruMotion 120Hz technology lets you see sports, video games and high-speed action with virtually no motion blur. Now your TV can keep up with your fast-moving entertainment.

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| 100,000:1 Dynamic Contrast Ratio No more worrying about dark scenes or dull colors. The dynamic contrast ratio of 100,000:1 delivers more stunning colors and deeper blacks than you can imagine.

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Intelligent Sensor Don’t strain your eyes. Let your TV do the adjustments for you. Intelligent Sensor automatically optimizes the picture to the lighting and color conditions in the room for a more enjoyable viewing experience.

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AV Mode Sports, movies and video games are best enjoyed with customized settings. With AV Mode, you can easily select from one of three picture modes for “Cinema”, Sports” or “Games” to enjoy an optimized picture and sound experience. |
Picture Wizard Get easy self-calibration with on-screen reference points for key picture quality elements such as black level, color, tint, sharpness and backlight levels. Take the guesswork out of picture adjustments with this simple-to-use feature. It’s not actually magic, but it will sure seem that way. |
24P Real Cinema Stay in for the theater. Enjoy a true cinema-like experience in your own home with movies the way they are meant to be seen. LG’s Real Cinema technology precisely displays 24p source frames on your screen, the same as on a movie screen. If you love movies, you’ll love Real Cinema. |
ISFccc Calibration Ready LG’s ISFccc Ready HDTVs contain the detailed standards necessary for professional calibration of brightness, contrast, tint, sharpness, color levels and much more to meet local lighting conditions for both day and nighttime viewing. Settings are added to preset modes for easy access from your LG remote. |
Clear Voice II Get audio the way it was meant to be heard. Clear Voice II enhances and amplifies the frequency range of the human voice to help keep dialogue audible when background noise swells.
Infinite Sound What’s a great picture without great sounds to match? Infinite Sound delivers an amazing listening experience with deep, rich bass to make the most of your entertainment.
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Dolby Digital Dolby Digital lets you experience compelling 5.1-channel surround sound. And you can trust that you’ll get the same great Dolby Digital audio quality no matter what you’re watching–a DVD or Blu-Ray Disc, TV programming or downloaded content. Best of all, you can be confident that you’ll hear the audio exactly as it was intended, because Dolby Digital is also used to create the soundtracks for movies and games. |
USB 2.0 Now reliving that fantastic family vacation can happen in the comfort of your living room. Easily connect your external USB devices to enjoy JPEG photos or listen to MP3 files. |
HDMI V.1.3 with Deep Color Make installation of any enabled device a snap. Get 10.2Gbps of bandwidth for deeper colors and more to take advantage of the best Full HD experience. HDMI V.1.3 connectivity lets you prepare yourself for tomorrow’s technology today. |
SimpLink Having a hard time keeping track of your remotes? With SimpLink, all your LG devices can be controlled with just one remote. |
Smart Energy Saving With LG’s Smart Energy Saving Features, you can conserve money and energy. |
Key Specifications
- Screen size: 42-inch class (42 inches diagonal)
- Resolution: 1920 x 1080 (1080p Full HD)
- Dynamic contrast ratio: 100,000:1
- Viewing angle: 178 degrees horizontal/vertical
- Response time: 2.4ms
- Built-in tuner: ATSC/NTSC/Clear QAM
- Audio output: 20 watts (10W x 2)
- Speaker system: 2-way, 4 speakers
- Dolby Digital decoder: Yes
- Surround system: Infinite Sound
- Input labeling: Yes
- Swivel stand:±20 degrees
- VESA compliance: 200mm x 200mm
- Warranty: 1 year parts and labor
Connections
- HDMI (version 1.3, HDCP): 2 rear, 1 side
- Component: 1 rear
- Composite A/V: 1 rear, 1 side
- RF: 1 rear
- PC input (15-pin, D-Sub): 1 rear
- PC audio input: 1 rear
- Digital audio output: 1 optical, rear
- USB: 1 side
- Headphone out: 1 side
- RS-232c input: 1 rear
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Dimensions
- TV without stand: 41.4 x 25.9 x 3.6 inches (WxHxD); 37.9 pounds
- TV with stand: 41.4 x 28.3 x 11.7 inches (WxHxD); 41.9 pounds
- What size TV should you get?
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LG 2010 HDTV Comparison
Learn More
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With standard-definition TVs, the rule used to be that viewers would feel comfortable watching a set from a distance of 3 to 6 times the screen size in inches. With HDTV, the resolution is so much better that you can sit closer to a larger TV without noticing the pixels. So with HDTVs, the rule tends to be you can sit anywhere from 1.5 to 3 times the screen size (in inches) for the best experience.
If you know the size of the room you have already, where you want to sit, and where your new HDTV should go once you get it, you can figure out the size HDTV you should get.
- Minimum size = Viewing distance/3
- Maximum size=Viewing distance/1.5
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*** Product Information and Prices Stored: Jul 23, 2010 17:00:28
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