LG 55LM8600 3D LCD HDTV HT Labs Measures

HT Labs Measures

Full-On/Full-Off Contrast Ratio: 28,710:1

All the measurements that follow were made in the Expert 1 picture mode. The above 2D full-on/full-off contrast ratio was obtained with the Backlight at 42, the Contrast at 80, the Brightness at 56, the Gamma at 2.4, and LED Local Dimming on Medium. The peak white level for the above reading was 28.71 foot-lamberts and the black level 0.001 ft-L.

The differences among the High, Medium, and Low settings of the LED Local Dimming control were significant. Though no control settings were changed for these measurements, the Medium setting of the LED Local Dimming control was the only one with a measured peak white level under 30 ft-L. In High (the setting used for the viewing tests), the black level was unmeasurable. In Low, the black level increased to 0.005 ft-L, and the peak white level was 33.62 ft-L, for a full-on/full-off contrast ratio of 6,724:1. With LED Local Dimming off, the peak white level was 34.57 ft-L, the black level 0.036 ft-L, and the full-on/full-off contrast ratio 960:1. You’ll definitely want to use LED Local Dimming.


Color-tracking charts were generated in SpectraCal CalMAN, www.SpectraCal.com

All of the 2D and 3D calibrations here were performed using only the two-point White Balance controls. The improvements including the 20-point adjustments were judged minor in our sample. The pre-calibration color tracking results measured their best in the Medium Color Temperature setting, with a minimum white balance Delta E of 2.34 at 20 percent brightness, a high of 7.95 at 100 percent, and an average of 5.56. Post-calibration, adjusted using the Warm Color Temperature setting, the only values above 1.0 were 1.38 at 90 percent and 1.48 at 100 percent, with an average of 0.55. (Delta E is a figure of merit that indicates how close the result is to the BT709, otherwise known as Rec. 709, HD standard. A Delta E below 3 is generally considered excellent and visually indistinguishable from perfect.)

The pre-calibration 2D color gamut (not shown) was satisfactory, with an average color Delta E of 4.17 and a maximum of 6.17 (green). While several of the CMS controls appeared to have little positive effect, there were enough that did to achieve a post-calibration average of 1.1 with a peak of 2.48 (blue). The 2D post- calibration CIE chart is shown.

In 3D (charts not shown), the pre-calibration color was fair but could be significantly improved by calibration. The white balance Delta E was 6.42 before and 0.64 after. The 3D color gamut Delta E was similarly improved by calibration, from an average of 4.95 before to 1.68 after.

At a 2.4 Gamma control setting, the 2D gamma averaged 2.22, with a minimum value of 2.12 at 20 percent brightness and a maximum of 2.38 at 80 percent.—TJN

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COMMENTS
caseycc's picture
Submitted by caseycc on January 6, 2013 - 3:38pm

I would really appreciate if you would post your calibrated settings as you did with the LM9600. I've been using your 9600 settings on my 8600 and would love to compare the two.

Thanks,
Casey

Kevin Newlove's picture
Submitted by Kevin Newlove on February 19, 2013 - 10:25am

I found some settings for the LM8600 here if you want to take a look. The past few TVs I've had have been from Samsung and the settings they post for them on that site are usually spot on. For my taste in picture quality at least. I'm going to look for my TVs here on hometheater.com to give them the test. Give it a nice comparison to what you have going on to see what you think. Hope this helps. -Kevin

DSharkey's picture
Submitted by DSharkey on February 22, 2013 - 4:13am

We have owned this TV since August 2012. I bought this on sale from Tigerdirect and saved hundreds of dollars. My previous TV was just a normal 47" LCD with a low 60hz refresh rate. I was tired of seeing all the ghosting of dark images and there were color fluctuations...so I bit the bullet on this set. Simply put, the set is amazing! My friend has a Samsung 55" LED and this is a better image all around. The image quality is pristine and color reproduction is fabulous. Blur is nonexistent. Blacks are sharp and deep. Also, the 120hz-240hz refresh feature on most LCD/LED sets creates a "soap opera" image effect but this doesn't happen with the LG model. Thank goodness because that looks ridiculous. My friend's Samsung LED TV looks like that and drives me crazy. Even over-the-air HD programming looks great.

I have it hooked up to my PS3 and a Panasonic DMP-BDT220 3D Blu-ray DVD Player and the images are phenomenal. The 3D feature is incredibly realistic and makes the movies look even better. We were watching A Christmas Carol the other night and I was blown away and how flawless the image was. It is also nice wearing the passive glasses as they are lighter and don't need to be recharged...and if you need new glasses they are so cheap.

The smart apps are great, but we only use Netflix. I wish it included Amazon Prime streaming, but that works on our PS3 and bluray player. The image quality is just as beautiful using Netflix. We also use the network streaming features and it connects without any issues and streams perfectly. We have watched hours of TV over our home network.

Some downside that I experienced is that the TV broke after about 1 month of use. The left half of the screen began to flicker and was dimmed, which shouldn't be happening with such an expensive TV. Fortunately, LG was quick to send out repair people and the TV was repaired to perfection again. Also, the screen is incredibly glossy and this can cause viewing problems during daylight hours because of glare issues, however, it doesn't really bother me anymore. The remote isn't perfect and can be annoying when dealing with it going inactive or being unresponsive, but it was easy to learn how to use it. The last complaint I have is that the audio was out of sync with this TV. I didn't have an issue with my last TV, but I was able to fix the problem through a setting on my receiver, but it was incredibly frustrating until I found the fix.

*Note: I suggest check for low price at: Dualcorehdtvs.blogspot.com/p/lg-55lm8600.html

Overall, I absolutely love this TV. It has better image quality than any of the Samsung models I have looked and the 3D feature is a giant bonus that really brings movies and games to life. I would rather have purchased the 7600 model, but I got this one for cheaper so I cannot complain about that.

PvB's picture
Submitted by PvB on March 12, 2013 - 1:42am

LM8600 - I want to keep this beauty so bad but without the calibration settings the picture just isn't right. PLEASE PLEASE post them here like you do for other LCD's
Much Thanks
Philip

caseycc's picture
Submitted by caseycc on March 14, 2013 - 9:36am

Until the author is willing to post the settings (or even respond) I would highly recommend the settings in the review for the LG 9600 on this site. Quite frankly I would have returned this tv if I hadn't run across these settings. I adjust all the "preference" type settings to my own taste ie, back light, contrast, etc, but the color settings are excellent for the 8600.

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