Review of LG 42LH90QR

sudindra

New Member
Joined
Nov 7, 2007
Messages
28
Points
3
Location
Bangalore
I recently bought the LG LCDLED TV, 42LH90QR. Below is my review of it.

How did I decide to buy this TV
During my search, I had at times considered, Samsung 650/750/LED LCDs, Sony V and W series and of course, LG Jazz/Scarlet/LED. What I found is that in the same price range none of the TVs significantly out-peform others. Each has its own pros and cons.

Sony V/W: Skin tones looked natural, whites were good and overall PQ was very good. In V series, the lack of 100Hz was clearly visible in news channels with scrolling text. I found W series to be too expensive for what it offers

Samsung: I think Samsung has done a really stupid thing by over promoting their LCD/LED against their own Series 6/7 LCDs. I was really inclined towards 750 LCD, but they are not available. The 650 was quoted in range of 70K+. I could not even audition samsung Series 6/7 LCDs as they are not displayed in most stores. The LCD/LED PQ looked good, for a Samsung, they are expensive.

Panasonic Plasmas PV8/C10: Colours looks rich and PQ was very good for SD content too. Very attractive prices. Finally dropped them because of power consumption and retention issues (I game a lot on PS3).

LG LH90 : Good compromise and attractive price. Very good in power consumption (just 150W or so). Colours looked rich and image is bright. TruMotion made a good difference in scrolling text and fast moving scenes.
Of course, different from US model with missing THX and some calibration options.

How much did I pay and where did I buy it
Bought at E-Zone, Marathahalli, Bengaluru. Paid 68K without dvd player & movies. However, got a free Digital Photo frame (Sensei brand, Future group's promoted brand).

Buying, Delivery & Installation
Luckily everyone in the chain kept their promises. Bought on Thursday, Delivered on Friday and installed on Saturday (yesterday).
The TV package contained the TV, remote, manual (horrible common manual for 20 different models), a CD, a RF connector and some instructions.
The LG service personnel who installed the TV were very professional and courteous. However, not so much can be said about the knowledge, during calibration he suggested to leave everything standard. Did not ask for a tip, neither did he decline when I offered him a tip. I did not wall mount for the moment, so the installation took 15 mins only. Later, the LG Call center called promptly and sought feedback

Review Setup
Hathway Digital Cable, Some DivX material on USB drive, PS3, One "Nature Wonders" Blu Ray

Ok, here goes...

Overall, the PQ is excellent, deep blacks (the best I have seen), rich colors (as much as a Plasma), bright screen, very good handling in fast motion scenes, excellent on power consumption (my 800VA UPS did not complain when I simulated a power cut, TV and PS3 ran with just 50% load, same as my earlier CRT TV).
SQ is nothing to talk about, except I liked the voice processing, speech sounded crystal clear inspite of backgound music/noise.
Matte screen is excellent in handling reflections and bright light.
The first thing I did was to auto-tune the Analog channels. I wanted to check this. I expected a very bad PQ, but was pleasantly surprised when even the Analog cable turned out to be passable, not good, but passable. It actually looked quite ok from 10 feet.

Next connected the Hathway digital cable. It look very good, very good upscaling, almost comparable to HD Ready models in Panasonic Plasma I had seen earlier. The blacks looked very good, scrolling text very readable without eye strain. The best part in the audio is voice processing, voice sounded very clear inspite of bandground music/noise. Other than that Sound is nothing special, very ordinary.

Next, DivX with in-built USB port
It was an animation movie, it looked really good, I was spellbound with the colors and the way the TV handled motion. Picture look very crisp and real.
Later I played the same movie via the PS3 (connected to TV via HDMI). The
PS3 upscaling is slightly better, but the TV did not do a bad job either.

Next Blu-ray via PS3
Was thrilled with the full hd PQ. Image looked almost real, excellent details and accurate colors. Rendered the colourful video of deep sea life excellently. In one of the scenes, the fire embers looked so real that I missed the heat from it.

Regarding Calibration
As already pointed out in various reviews, lots of calibration options available. Some options missing wrt to US versions. One of them is IRE, which I later found to be just pre-configured RGBs, instead Indian version has the RGB values directly. Missing Picture wizard too. I will post some pictures later.

My Satisfaction Index
I dont like to rate a product, rather I would put it as my satisfaction Index, it will be 9 out of 10. The 1 deduction from 10 is because of the audio, the fact that they released a different model in US and the user manual (which is total garbage, common manual for about 20 models).

Questions welcome. Please post questions, dont PM me.

Edit 21-Nov-2009:
Potential buyers, please read this: http://www.hifivision.com/television/7040-facing-problem-my-lg-lh90-attn-prospective-buyers.html (now solved by LG)
The review still remains valid, in spite of the potential software issue above.
 
Last edited:
Though the specs say only DivX (SD), I was able to check MPEG1 (VCD) too. IT worked fine, did not have any files of MPEG2 (DVD) off hand, hence not able to confirm, but should work.
DivX HD did not work
 
Congratulations on your purchase..:clapping:

Quite Encouraging review I should say..now I am more inclined towards 47LH90QR...

Couple of questions

My major use would be watching "analog channels" and Divx movies...

About analog channel u mentioned from 10 feet or so...they are quite acceptable...
what exactly is the problem when the viewing distance is less than 10 feet?
is it some issues with upsalcing or noise/artifacts? or is the issue with the quality of our analog channels?

Question 1:
my concern is ....My viewing distance is 9 ft to 15 ft ( L shaped sitting arrangement)... and I m planning for 47 inch TV....
But as you say..the analog channel performance on your 42 inch is not that acceptable...from 10 feet or so...

then should i opt for 42 inch ?
or should i opt for tat sky on a 47 inch TV?

Question 2:
Is 47 inch is too big for viewing distance of 9 to 15 ft...?

Confusion !! Confusion ! Confusion !! :eek:hyeah:
 
Sameer,

In my opinion, Analog cable will not do justice to 42 or 46 inchers. You need to shift to DTH or digital cable. However, I saw that analog cable in my house (the quality of analog cable is also good here) is pretty ok 10 feet onwards. In shorter distances I see lots of pixelation, low crispness and blurry image. This will be pretty much the case with any 42 or 46 inchers.

And regarding distance and TV size, I am of the opinion that 42 inches is quite ok till 12 feet and not bad for 15 feet too. However, it will finally be your choice.

Congratulations on your purchase..:clapping:

Quite Encouraging review I should say..now I am more inclined towards 47LH90QR...

Couple of questions

My major use would be watching "analog channels" and Divx movies...

About analog channel u mentioned from 10 feet or so...they are quite acceptable...
what exactly is the problem when the viewing distance is less than 10 feet?
is it some issues with upsalcing or noise/artifacts? or is the issue with the quality of our analog channels?

Question 1:
my concern is ....My viewing distance is 9 ft to 15 ft ( L shaped sitting arrangement)... and I m planning for 47 inch TV....
But as you say..the analog channel performance on your 42 inch is not that acceptable...from 10 feet or so...

then should i opt for 42 inch ?
or should i opt for tat sky on a 47 inch TV?

Question 2:
Is 47 inch is too big for viewing distance of 9 to 15 ft...?

Confusion !! Confusion ! Confusion !! :eek:hyeah:
 
Excellent review, sudindra. I bought the 47LH90QR on Friday and your review has reflected my impressions quite closely. As for the audio, switch off Clear Voice and activate SRS Trusurround and set the Bass & Treble to your liking. It does improve it somewhat. I had no luck with any HD clips off the USB either but this is not a huge drawback for our family, we need it only to run photo slideshows. Except for my laptop I have no HD sources and so do not know what Full HD performance is like.
 
My major use would be watching "analog channels" and Divx movies...

Sameer, if DivX is important to you I would highly recommend you put some DivX movies on a USB pen drive and take it to the showroom. I only tried a few HD Mpeg-4 clips and they would not play. Maybe SD DivX will work fine but I would suggest testing for yourself if that is a draw. The manual does state that only SD DivX is supported and I do not have 1080p DivX files to test.

By analog channels do you mean a set top box or OTA channels via the RF cable?

I watch the 47LH90 from a distance of about 6-7 feet and it is just fine. I don't think it should be a problem for you. Yes, there are artifacts if you get too close but at 6+ feet and with some picture tweaks it should be okay.
 
Thanks Sundindra and particleman for the suggestion...

@particleman...
By analog single means cable through RF...no set top box...direct local cable....

btw...do you use...DTh or local cable??
If latter than i guess it would be fine for me as my viewing distance of 9 to 15 ft ( L shaped sitting arrangmt)....:yahoo:

last thing...
wht are the price you paid for ur LED gadget...

I got following quotes...
42 inch... 62500/- ( No FREEBIES)
47 inch... 77000/- (No FREEBIES)

Thanks again for the encouraging comments abt LH90 .... :clapping:
 
Sundindra and particleman, thanks for the detailed review and feedback. This indeed with help my decision.

Can you share more details about SD content please? How does LH90 perform with our regular channels? I am stuck between the choice of Pana 42G10 and LG 47LH90. When I got a chance to view a 47LH90, the input signal was very bad so I could not judge. I am planning to visit a showroom again sometime this week. Your feedback will surely help decide.

Also if you can share the price you got the sets for it will help.

Thanks again.
 
Can you share more details about SD content please? How does LH90 perform with our regular channels? I am stuck between the choice of Pana 42G10 and LG 47LH90. When I got a chance to view a 47LH90, the input signal was very bad so I could not judge. I am planning to visit a showroom again sometime this week. Your feedback will surely help decide.

Im completely satisfied with the performance of Tata sky plus and the DVD at my home with LH90. Im using the HDMI to the TV through my Denon2309 having the component input from Tata Sky + and HDMI input from the DVD player. Even with the upscaling set as off in the AVR, the PQ is very good with no traces of pixelization, artefacts or the motion blur.

I wanted to try G10 as well, but it was not available for audition.
 
Hi Huballi,
Pretty much same feedback as danccc above, very satisfied with the way the TV displays SD content. I use Hathway digital cable directly connected to the composite IN (no receiver or additional circuitry) and the PQ is excellent. In fact, it is better than what I expected from my initial auditions. SD content on DIVX looks great too, using the inbuilt USB drive.

Sundindra and particleman, thanks for the detailed review and feedback. This indeed with help my decision.

Can you share more details about SD content please? How does LH90 perform with our regular channels? I am stuck between the choice of Pana 42G10 and LG 47LH90. When I got a chance to view a 47LH90, the input signal was very bad so I could not judge. I am planning to visit a showroom again sometime this week. Your feedback will surely help decide.

Also if you can share the price you got the sets for it will help.

Thanks again.
 
Last edited:
Hi Huballi,
Pretty much same feedback as danccc above, very satisfied with the way the TV displays SD content. I use Hathway digital cable directly connected to the composite IN (no receiver or additional circuitry) and the PQ is excellent. In fact, it is better than what I expected from my initial auditions. SD content on DIVX looks great too, using the inbuilt USB drive.

Thank you buddies. This surely builds confidence in LH90. I will visit the showroom later this week and let you know how it goes.
 
For LH90 Owners, here is how you can reach the service Menu:

Press and Hold Menu button on the TV
Now Press and Hold Menu button on the Remote
After 5 seconds, you get a password request
Type 0000 on the remote
You enter the service Menu

My current firmware version is 3.04.
 
For LH90 Owners, here is how you can reach the service Menu:

Press and Hold Menu button on the TV
Now Press and Hold Menu button on the Remote
After 5 seconds, you get a password request
Type 0000 on the remote
You enter the service Menu

My current firmware version is 3.04.

Thanks Sundindra for this information. Did you check the usage hours also? My 47LH90 is supposed to be delivered today. Bought it from the same place as you - EZONE, Marathahalli. Just a bit anxious about they trying to dump a display piece.
 
Hi Jetak,
I have not yet explored the service menu and have not checked the display hours yet. If you do explore the service menu after delivery, do please post your experiences. Thanks.

When the set was delivered, the packing looked like it was never opened. The seals, including the huge staples were intact and the packing date showed Sep 09.



Thanks Sundindra for this information. Did you check the usage hours also? My 47LH90 is supposed to be delivered today. Bought it from the same place as you - EZONE, Marathahalli. Just a bit anxious about they trying to dump a display piece.
 
All LH90 owners...can you please share the amount you paid for ur set...

I m in process of owning one...following are the quotes..

42 inch... 62500/- ( No FREEBIES)
47 inch... 77000/- (No FREEBIES)
 
Thanks a lot, Sudindra, for the review and your response to follow-up questions..

i was considering buying the LH90 but when i did an audition with Tata Sky at one of the retailers, the PQ wasn't all that impressive.. it was a 42" set and I saw it from about 5-6 feet..
- did u notice the same when u auditioned the set?
- is there a major difference in interlaced SD performance in retail stores versus what one could potentially get at home through tweaking the set?
- will a switch from Tata Sky to Tata Sky+ make a significant difference in PQ on this and other sets?
- although i don't actually own Sun Direct, i've read that it has the option of outputting 576p through component.. does Tata Sky + also have that as an option? if it does, it could mean that a G10 could be a good buy for SD as well as it's major problem is in de-interlacing..

i do understand that a couple of these queries don't pertain directly to LH90 and could potentially be posted elsewhere.. but i, being an extremely lazy guy, am banking on the extremely helpful nature of all the posters here to humour me.. :)
 
Last edited:
Sundindra and particleman, thanks for the detailed review and feedback. This indeed with help my decision.

Can you share more details about SD content please? How does LH90 perform with our regular channels? I am stuck between the choice of Pana 42G10 and LG 47LH90. When I got a chance to view a 47LH90, the input signal was very bad so I could not judge. I am planning to visit a showroom again sometime this week. Your feedback will surely help decide.

Also if you can share the price you got the sets for it will help.

Thanks again.

I am for the same bro!!
confused between G10 and LH 90

drawback with g10 in my case--- is its 42" as my viewing distance is 18f to 20f...
and the price of G10 best is got is 65k (with freebies)(negotiable 1 or 2k max)
and Lh90 47" is just 77K(input from this thread)
so i guess 10k is not the issue...
issue is just about the performance..
and it is very much sure that v cant have the demo of both the models side by side under one roof...
 
Its with Bill and warranty...
btw.. I am from Mumbai...

Update on Pricing:
was offered 47LH90 for 76K.....
 
Get the Wharfedale EVO 4.2 3-Way Standmount Speakers at a Special Offer Price.
Back
Top