Thomas J. Norton

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CEDIA 2017
LG & Technicolor Create Performance Picture Mode
Thomas J. Norton  |  Sep 08, 2017
LG has partnered with Technicolor to produce a picture mode that's said to offer their standards for color performance.
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LCD TV Reviews
LG 42LG60 LCD HDTV
Thomas J. Norton  |  Jul 07, 2008
A face in the crowd?

Korea-based LG, which absorbed Zenith a few years back, is one of the world’s largest flat-panel HDTV manufacturers. The company is working on some exciting new stuff, including plasmas that meet the new THX video specifications. LG will also produce LCDs that employ local dimming, a technique that improves the black level and contrast of LCD sets. Some of these models will be in stores by the time you read this, or by the fall season.

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LCD TV Reviews
LG 42LH40 LCD HDTV
Thomas J. Norton  |  Aug 11, 2009
This review is part of a five-way Face Off. Read the introduction and conclusions of the Face Off here.

Price: $1,400 At A Glance: Superb adjustability • Outstanding color • Mediocre contrast and black level

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CES 2018
LG 4K Projector
Thomas J. Norton  |  Jan 09, 2018
We don’t usually expect to see new projectors at CES (that’s normally CEDIA territory) but LG showed its new HU80KA 4K entry.
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LG 50PG60 Plasma HDTV
Thomas J. Norton  |  Jan 12, 2009
Price: $2,700 At A Glance: Exceptional color adjustments for excellent color • Outstanding resolution • Punchy image but disappointing black level • THX Cinema mode is inaccurate

Calibrator’s Delight

LG may be one of the world’s largest LCD makers, but the company is still very much in the plasma game, with an updated lineup of six plasma HDTVs.

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TV ReviewsOLED TV Reviews
LG 55EA9800 3D OLED HDTV
Thomas J. Norton  |  Apr 28, 2014

2D Performance
3D Performance
Features
Ergonomics
Value
PRICE $7,000

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Astonishing blacks
Crisp, clean detail
Exceptionally bright 3D
Minus
Poor dark-gray uniformity
Expensive for a 1080p set

THE VERDICT
It costs a bundle, has a relatively small screen, and isn’t perfect. But buyers will be rewarded with a picture that, in the ways most important to enthusiasts, is unequaled by any other type of consumer display.

At the 2014 CES, it became clear that, for most HDTV manufacturers, OLED was on the back burner. LCD Ultra HDTV, or 4K, was the big story. But at least one manufacturer, LG, remains aggressive on the OLED front. The company has announced four new models for 2014 and, at the same time, drastically cut the price (as of March 2014) on the 55-inch model 55EA9800, launched late last year and reviewed here.

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TV ReviewsOLED TV Reviews
LG 55EC9300 3D OLED HDTV
Thomas J. Norton  |  Nov 11, 2014

2D Performance
3D Performance
Features
Ergonomics
Value
PRICE $1,800 (updated 2/2/16, price was $3,500 when reviewed)

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Blacks, contrast, and shadow detail to die for
Lightweight
Minus
Not 4K
Cinema mode soft in default settings

THE VERDICT
This new LG is the OLED that videophiles have been waiting for, and an improvement over the 55EA9800 we reviewed last spring—with equal or better performance and, not least of all, a dramatically lower price.

Now that we’re about to turn the page into 2015, OLED HDTVs, so promising a year ago, appear to be at risk. The limited yield for OLED panels, resulting in a high retail cost, has driven most HDTV makers to the sidelines.

But not LG. They continue to vigorously support the technology. And with a current price of $3,500 for the new 55EC9300, they’re clearly tossing a Hail Mary into a market crowded with cookie-cutter LCD sets. At 55 inches (diagonal), this may be a relatively small set for the price, and it’s still just “Full HD” (the industry buzzphrase for 1080p sets). Whether LG scores a touchdown or gets intercepted remains to be seen, but there’s no doubt that buyers will be the winners.

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TV ReviewsLCD TV Reviews
LG 55LM8600 3D LCD HDTV
Thomas J. Norton  |  Jan 03, 2013

2D Performance
3D Performance
Features
Ergonomics
Value
Price: $2,900 At A Glance: Exceptional detail • Rich, compelling color • Solid black level and shadow detail

Full LED backlighting with local dimming, when properly implemented, is the gold standard for achieving the best black levels in an LCD HDTV. But such a set also requires a lot of gold to acquire. LED edge-lit designs, needing fewer LEDs and less complex processing, cost less. While LG makes fully LEDbacklit local-dimming sets (its LM9600 Nano designs), the company’s premier, edge-lit LM8600 offerings also include local dimming. Local dimming, even in an edge-lit set, is usually better than none at all, but it’s less comprehensive and in theory less effective than the fully backlit variety. We reviewed the 55LM9600 Nano back in our September 2012 issue. But the 55LM8600 now lays down a strong challenge to its pricier sibling.

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TV ReviewsLCD TV Reviews
LG 55LM9600 3D LCD HDTV
Thomas J. Norton  |  Aug 28, 2012
2D Performance
3D Performance
Features
Ergonomics
Value
Price: $3,600 At A Glance: Superb detail, accurate color • Two- and 20-step calibration controls • Magic Remote tedious to use • Disappointing black level

The pick of the litter in today’s LCD HDTV designs is full LED backlighting with local dimming. Such sets first appeared in 2008, but the process of positioning clusters of LEDs behind the screen was, and is, expensive. While LCD sets with LED lighting have now become ubiquitous, most of them use edge lighting (sometimes with a limited form of dynamic dimming, sometimes without) in which a smaller number of LEDs are located at the borders of the screen. This both keeps the price down and enables slender, more stylish sets.

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TV ReviewsLCD TV Reviews
LG 55LW5600 3D LCD HDTV
Thomas J. Norton  |  Jun 23, 2011
Price: $2,400 At A Glance: Crisp resolution and accurate color • 2-step and 10-step calibration controls • Bright, vivid 3D

Living on the Edge

So far, three manufacturers have released 3D HDTVs that use passive polarized glasses rather than active shutter glasses: VIZIO, Toshiba, and LG. All three use technology developed by LG. In our June issue, we took a close look at VIZIO’s 65-inch entry, so this month, it’s perhaps appropriate that we go straight to the source and dive into LG’s first passive-glasses 3D HDTV.

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