Purchase of 32" Full HD LCD TV - Confused between Samsung or LG

[mgforce]

Dear HiFi Vision Members,

Hello... This is mgforce from Mumbai. I am planning to buy LCD TV for last 2 weeks & have done some research using internet, visits to few stores etc. But after all this I am further confused.

The basis requirements for me are following:-

1) Screen Size to be 32"
2) Support running media (video) from USB Hard Disk; min XViD & H264 codecs, more the merrier
3) Budget upto 35k
4) Full HD to be future proof

Basis the above had shortlisted the following models

LG 32LD460
&
Samsumg LA32C530

I am still not fully sure about the PQ comparison for these sets...I don't have not much info on the panel etc.. At Croma there was a Blue Ray Video running across LCDs.. it was so good that didn't gave realistic view of what I will get from cable / DTH. But looked same on both TVs.

I also got one more option post yesterday's visit to Croma (R City, Ghatkopar) :- LG 32LD650 (which has 200 Hz True Motion & DLNA, Wifi support). Though this will cross the budget also...

The feature which attracted me is True Motion. Though it showed no benefit with usual Blue Ray video running. But showed differences when I tested it as following...

I ran one 720p X264 rip on both TVs (Samsung LA32C530 & LG 32LD650).. No visible difference in PQ.

I ran another rip... this one a small 300 MB movie rip (Transformers) on Samsung LA32C530 & LG 32LD650. This rip having ~ 640*320 resolution was pretty bad on LCDs. But the overall quality was better in case of LG 32LD650 which the sales guy attributing that to True Motion.​

Now with all this am confused... which to go for?

Is True Motion really that great? (especially when running non HD motion videos)
Which one out of LG / Samsumg have better LCD panels?
Samsung has Contrast Ratio of 70,000 : 1 whereas LG has 1,00,000 : 1?

Hence seeking views / feedback / suggestion from HiFi members. Pls help in deciding the best available option keeping in mind the budget & requirements.

Thanks in advance

 

[mgforce]

Any views... I have spoken to few shopkeepers in Andheri area... The prices quoted for Samsung LA32C530 & LG 32LD650 is in 33-35k range.

Since the difference is not much planning to got for LG 32LD650.

Pls let me know if anyone has bad experience of LG. Not able to find much info on forum on LG packs.

 

[sunnysharma]

if i may i would suggest you pay 5k more and go for the samsung 6 series lcd tv, its brilliant plays even mkv files of usb, i have a panasonic lcd which i bought for about 33k but there is no usb and i find the picture quality on the samsung much much better. Hope it helps.

 

[sunnysharma]

The samsung 6 series has 100 hz motion plus, but to tell you the truth i have turned it off as it doesn't really help and the movie looks like it in fast forward mode, but it helps when watching a sport like the champions trophy, plus i think the speakers of the samsung are much better sounding.

 

[theironhorse]

well mg force.. u can go for samsung for a lil better side on pq. however it will be on lil higher side of price as well.. in case u do not have a media player or bdp player.. then go ahead and pick up a sammy 6 series as stated abve so u can play all the files.

also true motion is only useful for fast moving scenes else it will make ur normal dth look like documentary..

i got lg 42 LH60YR 200hz as stated on manual.. however rarely find a need to keep it on high.. most of the times low or off.
it can play from usb however only divx (no mp4 or mkv's)

 

[partymonger]

What the salesman was attributing to trumotion was actually the lg's video processing..

@iron horse :- I have the same tv and i think you will agree when i say that the processing of the signal to reduce noise and artifacts is awesome in our tv, not only that, i've seen this trait across most lg tvs..Dth does look good on them..


But for HD playback, i saw that samsung c530 was really good, the screen was very bright..But then again u cant say cause of samsung's panel lottery..


Lastly, motion plus is the most useless gimmic these companies have introduced..just trust your eyes and dont be fooled by the sales man..

 

[sanketsinghal]

@ mg force
Hi buddy! I am facing the exact same dilemma which seems to have befallen you.
I recently visited the vijay sales outlet at chembur. The salesperson over there insisted that i go for the LG LD 650 which was costing somewhr arnd 38k,reason being a 200 hz refresh rate and true motion. HOWEVER , i was also very much impressed by PANASONIC THL32X15(36k). the panasonic had a much better PQ when compared to the LG. SAMSUNG was not considered coz the PQ was bad compared to the above mentioned models. Can anyone plz shed sum light on how the panasonic product compares to the LG one. I have never purchased panasonic brand before so have no clue about its after sales service. Also it would be very helpful if anyone could confrm the prices that am posting and reply if you have a better deal.

 

[mgforce]

if i may i would suggest you pay 5k more and go for the samsung 6 series lcd tv, its brilliant plays even mkv files of usb, i have a panasonic lcd which i bought for about 33k but there is no usb and i find the picture quality on the samsung much much better. Hope it helps.

Thanks Sunny.. I have checked running mkv (upto 720p) on both TV.. it runs well on Samsung C530 as well as LG 650.

well mg force.. u can go for samsung for a lil better side on pq. however it will be on lil higher side of price as well.. in case u do not have a media player or bdp player.. then go ahead and pick up a sammy 6 series as stated abve so u can play all the files.

also true motion is only useful for fast moving scenes else it will make ur normal dth look like documentary..

i got lg 42 LH60YR 200hz as stated on manual.. however rarely find a need to keep it on high.. most of the times low or off.
it can play from usb however only divx (no mp4 or mkv's)

oh.. is it so? We don't have BDP / Media Player as of now & the plan is to go for a TV which supports running video files directly off the USB. As of now both Sammy & LG are offering these in the models we are exploring.

We missed checking TV performance with & without 200 Mhz... were not aware that it can be switched off.. Can you pls clarify what you mean by looks like documentary?

I hope the switch off / switch on of True Motion continues to be in effect till next change.. or on every poweroff of TV it resets backs to ON?

What the salesman was attributing to trumotion was actually the lg's video processing..

@iron horse :- I have the same tv and i think you will agree when i say that the processing of the signal to reduce noise and artifacts is awesome in our tv, not only that, i've seen this trait across most lg tvs..Dth does look good on them..


But for HD playback, i saw that samsung c530 was really good, the screen was very bright..But then again u cant say cause of samsung's panel lottery..


Lastly, motion plus is the most useless gimmic these companies have introduced..just trust your eyes and dont be fooled by the sales man..

So, partymonger are you saying that video processing is good in case of LG compared to Samsung? That means irrespective of 200 Mhz True Motion thing.. the LG TV can be bought for its good video processing..?

What do you mean by Samsung's panel lottery... not clear? Is it better than LG's IPS?

We did compared both TV & found LG's PQ to be better compared to Sammy especially when running low bitrate fast action movie (Transformers)

@ mg force
Hi buddy! I am facing the exact same dilemma which seems to have befallen you.
I recently visited the vijay sales outlet at chembur. The salesperson over there insisted that i go for the LG LD 650 which was costing somewhr arnd 38k,reason being a 200 hz refresh rate and true motion. HOWEVER , i was also very much impressed by PANASONIC THL32X15(36k). the panasonic had a much better PQ when compared to the LG. SAMSUNG was not considered coz the PQ was bad compared to the above mentioned models. Can anyone plz shed sum light on how the panasonic product compares to the LG one. I have never purchased panasonic brand before so have no clue about its after sales service. Also it would be very helpful if anyone could confrm the prices that am posting and reply if you have a better deal.

Hi sanket... we looked only for Samsung & LG..

Does Panasonic support running all files off the USB? This is one important parameter for us while deciding TV.

@ all Thanks for posting your views... It helps in knowing views & experience of other people

 

[guru98]

samsung is much better than LG in terms of PQ and overall finish to the product.

 

[mgforce]

samsung is much better than LG in terms of PQ and overall finish to the product.

Thanks guru88 for the feedback. Are you using Samsung c530?

 

[n_thacker]

i jus bot 2 sets of VU 32 LCD and am lovin it its VFM at 25k each. it is comparable to any LG,Samsung etc.

 

[wingsoffires]

Samsung is the better pick any day. Not sure if this would matter to you but one problem I have seen with Lg is that when you play a dvdrip through usb on LG it creates a dark border on the bottom if the subtitles are switched on. To me this seemed extremely irritating. Just letting you know of this because just like me the usb playback feature is probably the most important feature you are counting on. I can tell you that I have seen this problem in every LG plasma I tried the dvdrip with subtitles on.
This problem does not exist in Samsung.

On another note why not you go for a 42 inch PLASMA from Samsung at around 38k model no 42c450. This one is capable or playing all dvdrips including mkv, avi and mp4. I have tried this on multiple sets of Samsung. This way you are getting 10 inches of more tv at just around 3-4k more money. Although this would be only HD ready. Trust me you will not notice any problem with a HD ready tv. I would say dont be too fanatic about getting a lcd and also a full hd set.
You could also look into a 42 inch LG plasma for around 35-36k model no 42pj350. Even this set is quite capable but again the subtitle problem remains.

Hope I am not confusing you.

 

[mgforce]

i jus bot 2 sets of VU 32 LCD and am lovin it its VFM at 25k each. it is comparable to any LG,Samsung etc.

Thanks for the feedback... Saw VU... but didn't like it that much.

Samsung is the better pick any day. Not sure if this would matter to you but one problem I have seen with Lg is that when you play a dvdrip through usb on LG it creates a dark border on the bottom if the subtitles are switched on. To me this seemed extremely irritating. Just letting you know of this because just like me the usb playback feature is probably the most important feature you are counting on. I can tell you that I have seen this problem in every LG plasma I tried the dvdrip with subtitles on.
This problem does not exist in Samsung.

On another note why not you go for a 42 inch PLASMA from Samsung at around 38k model no 42c450. This one is capable or playing all dvdrips including mkv, avi and mp4. I have tried this on multiple sets of Samsung. This way you are getting 10 inches of more tv at just around 3-4k more money. Although this would be only HD ready. Trust me you will not notice any problem with a HD ready tv. I would say dont be too fanatic about getting a lcd and also a full hd set.
You could also look into a 42 inch LG plasma for around 35-36k model no 42pj350. Even this set is quite capable but again the subtitle problem remains.

Hope I am not confusing you.

Thanks wingsoffires for sharing the feedback... Yep USB is one key feature along with the PQ. The subtitle problem has not been observed by me because I didn't check any video file with subs.

Yep.. getting 42" Plasma is another option... we are actually already on tight budget. Further in Mumbai home 32" also is big enough . Anyways will keep in mind during enxt visit.

BTW today evening we had gone to Croma, this time to check the LG 650 model in detail..(as that is strong choice). We also wanted to run various media files to check capability to handle codecs. It was found that for few files LG TV was unable to decode audio & gave error unsupported audio format. But all these files ran well in Samsung. But then the quality was very good in case of LG compared to Samsung...

Hence still confused..

 

[partymonger]

Thanks Sunny.. I have checked running mkv (upto 720p) on both TV.. it runs well on Samsung C530 as well as LG 650.



oh.. is it so? We don't have BDP / Media Player as of now & the plan is to go for a TV which supports running video files directly off the USB. As of now both Sammy & LG are offering these in the models we are exploring.

We missed checking TV performance with & without 200 Mhz... were not aware that it can be switched off.. Can you pls clarify what you mean by looks like documentary?

I hope the switch off / switch on of True Motion continues to be in effect till next change.. or on every poweroff of TV it resets backs to ON?



So, partymonger are you saying that video processing is good in case of LG compared to Samsung? That means irrespective of 200 Mhz True Motion thing.. the LG TV can be bought for its good video processing..?

What do you mean by Samsung's panel lottery... not clear? Is it better than LG's IPS?

We did compared both TV & found LG's PQ to be better compared to Sammy especially when running low bitrate fast action movie (Transformers)



Hi sanket... we looked only for Samsung & LG..

Does Panasonic support running all files off the USB? This is one important parameter for us while deciding TV.

@ all Thanks for posting your views... It helps in knowing views & experience of other people

Exactly wat i meant, upscaling, deblocking, post processing and noise reduction is better in LG..Not something that they list as a feature but in comparison thats what i noticed..
On HD, almost both will be of the same quality..

A particular model from Samsung may have any out of the four panels that they generally use in production..So the piece u see in the showroom may not be what u get in real because the panel may be different in the one u get..

 

[theironhorse]

yeah now the latest models are playing almost all the formats.. however i bought my lg in march and its only playing divx files.. i tried changing the code from service menu to get it to play hd but now that option is no longer available in new firmwares.

however as i stated that **looks like documentary** means the way we use to look at CRT we used to get a feel of a TV however shifting to an LCD and with tru-motion to full it will make u feel as if everything is going on in front of you.. similar to the documentary movies we see.unlike normal movies n TV soaps..

+1 for partymonger statement.. everyone knows bout the Sammy panel lottery. and never used a Samsung product.. i have microwave,LCD, fridge and i wud say after sales service is good..

also samsung is on better side on pq but i guess its gonna be expensive then lg.. isin't it


forgot to mention LG LH60YR..
this is one tv thats got lot of options ofr video settings and once u enter advanced settings. hell of a list there

i got option for turning off trumotion OFF>LOW>HIGH (three options)

 

[wingsoffires]

Again the point has been proved. I have myself checked this on a number of occasions that LG does not support all formats like mp4. I tried the Avatar dvdrip mp4 file on both LG and Samsung. Samsung played it without any fuss but LG failed to play.

At the same time I can tell you that 8 out of 10 people will tell you that Samsung is a better product. Seems like the Samsung set you are viewing has been tweaked out to produce a lesser favorable picture to LG. If at all, there should only be a marginal difference between the picture quality between Samsung and LG. As of now Samsung is the leader in lcd / plasma sales in India. LG sells only because of the lower prices. Not sure about the customer service of LG but this is one point Samsung would be behind. I recently had to go through some tough time with Samsung customer service after I purchased the Samsung Wave mobile - http://www.hifivision.com/general-lounge/12112-bought-samsung-wave-mobile.html

But still I would recommend that you go for Samsung only and as earlier said buy the Samsung 42c450 plasma. Its a beautiful machine capable of playing the maximum movie formats compared to any other manufacturer and has an excellent picture quality as well.

 

[sanketsinghal]

Again the point has been proved. I have myself checked this on a number of occasions that LG does not support all formats like mp4. I tried the Avatar dvdrip mp4 file on both LG and Samsung. Samsung played it without any fuss but LG failed to play.

At the same time I can tell you that 8 out of 10 people will tell you that Samsung is a better product. Seems like the Samsung set you are viewing has been tweaked out to produce a lesser favorable picture to LG. If at all, there should only be a marginal difference between the picture quality between Samsung and LG. As of now Samsung is the leader in lcd / plasma sales in India. LG sells only because of the lower prices. Not sure about the customer service of LG but this is one point Samsung would be behind. I recently had to go through some tough time with Samsung customer service after I purchased the Samsung Wave mobile - http://www.hifivision.com/general-lounge/12112-bought-samsung-wave-mobile.html


HI!
Sanket here...
Visited ezone in chembur today.I had almost finalised samsung c530 wen on sum further browsing i realised that a 42 inch plasma can be had fr just a few thousand more... U have mentioned Samsung 42c450 plasma. The one i saw was an LG 42pj560. But ezone quoted a price of 40k. The salesperson also said that plasma being an old tech was not advisable due to problems like overheating and power consumption.Plz shed some light on these issues.

Also my viewing distance is only goin to be around 8-10 foot so am afraid that such a large display would be overkill.

So finally buddy I'll just list my options and plz suggest the one MOST SUITABLE.. AND ALSO QUOTE THE BEST RATE AVAILAVLE AS PER YPUR KNOWLEDGE

1) SAMSUNG 32 INCH C530 (MY RATE.. 35K EZONE CHEMBUR)
2) SAMSUNG 42c450 plasma( NO IDEA ABOUT THE RATE..)
3) LG 32LD650 (VIJAY SALES 37K)
CRITERIA:
1) GOOD PQ
2) USB PLAYBACK SUPPORTING ALL FORMATS IS A MUST.
3) DURABILITY AND VERY GOOD AFTER SALES SERVICE
4) VFM BUDGET AROUND 35K.. CAN BE STRETCHED BY FEW THOUSAND.

PLZ HELP ME OUT OF MY DILEMMA....


THANKING IN ADVANCE!!

 

[sanketsinghal]

Again the point has been proved. I have myself checked this on a number of occasions that LG does not support all formats like mp4. I tried the Avatar dvdrip mp4 file on both LG and Samsung. Samsung played it without any fuss but LG failed to play.

At the same time I can tell you that 8 out of 10 people will tell you that Samsung is a better product. Seems like the Samsung set you are viewing has been tweaked out to produce a lesser favorable picture to LG. If at all, there should only be a marginal difference between the picture quality between Samsung and LG. As of now Samsung is the leader in lcd / plasma sales in India. LG sells only because of the lower prices. Not sure about the customer service of LG but this is one point Samsung would be behind. I recently had to go through some tough time with Samsung customer service after I purchased the Samsung Wave mobile - http://www.hifivision.com/general-lounge/12112-bought-samsung-wave-mobile.html

But still I would recommend that you go for Samsung only and as earlier said buy the Samsung 42c450 plasma. Its a beautiful machine capable of playing the maximum movie formats compared to any other manufacturer and has an excellent picture quality as well.

Hi there,
Sanket here..
I had visited ezone today. Had almost finalised the samsung 32 inch c530 when I realised what you have mentioned above that a 42 inch plasma can be bought for just few thousand more. I was very excited by the thought of owning such a large screen but the salesperson advised me against it. His view was that plasma being an older tech was prone to heating up, not full HD, high power consumption and prone to other problems like image burn etc.
However after reading your post I am considering it again.
So please help me figure out the best choice amongst the following With the following criteria in mind.
1) Good PQ.
2) USB playback supprting a wide range of formats with ease.
3) durability with excellent after sales service.
4) VFM
5) Viewing distance of 8-10 foot so am afraid that a 42 inch screen would be overkill.
My options are:
1) Samsung 32 C530
2) samsung 6 series
3) Lg 32LD650(200 hz refresh rate which the salesperson said is very useful)
4) Samsung 42c450 plasma.

Waiting earnestly for the reply.

thanks in advance!

 

[audiodelic]

How does the pq compare on a c450 plasma and c530 lcd ?

 

[mgforce]

After lot of deliberation, research, views from HiFi Vision members... we have decided to go for LG 32LD650...

The LCD should be delivered tomorrow...

Thanks to all for the help