LG 47LH90 47-Inch 1080p 240Hz LED Backlit LCD HDTV, Glossy Black/Infused Blue
Wonderful set. Picture is stunning with 1080 and 720 sources and looks good even with standard def. Set-up was straight forward. There is a picture wizard that gets you reasonable initial picture settings. Black levels are truly black, and depending on your brightness setting, you can make an all-black screen look like the TV is off. Colors appear to be accurate. The sweet-spot is quite wide, but once beyond 45 degrees or so off center, the blacks and colors fade a small amount. This being said, the picture is still quite good as you approach 70-80 degrees off center, and unless you are a true videophile, you won’t really notice that much. The matte screen was a selling point for me as we have a large window across from the TV and it doesn’t pose any viewing problems even with the sun shining right on the TV.
We also have an LG blue-ray player and the Simplink function works great. When you turn on the blue-ray player, the TV turns on and the input switches to the player automatically. Pretty neat.
I would definitely recommend this set to my friends.
LG 42LH90 42-Inch 1080p 240Hz LED Backlit LCD HDTV, Glossy Black/Infused Blue
We bought this TV as our entry into the world of HDTV. It was easy to install and set up. The picture quality is very good but the screen brightness leaves something to be desired. I’ve tried a number of things to brighten the picture to no avail. Understand it is not dim, just doesn’t have the dynamic range of brightness I expected from an LED TV. (Keeps me from giving it 5 stars.) Internal speakers are not very good. I fed the audio to my Sony surround sound receiver with excellent results.
TV has a Kensington lock slot with which I have it secured. It also has a hole in the TV base with which to tie it to the table. While this is touted in the manual as an anti-tipping feature, I replaced the supplied screw with a 3″ long screw into a support web of the entertainment center as an added anti-theft feature. On screen menu is straightforward and easy to navigate. Picture characteristics can be customized extensively although I enjoy the presets. Nice TV at a nice price.
VIZIO VM230XVT 23-Inch XVT-Series 23-Inch 1080p LED LCD HDTV
I bought this TV because my 20″ LG that I use in my home office was going out. I figured that if I was going to buy a new TV I might as well get the latest technology. I picked this one because of Vizio’s reputation. When I hooked it up I was truly amazed at the picture quality. I own 4 HDTVs and have replace all of them at least once, so I have owned at different times 1 projection LCD, 1 Plasma, and 6 CCFL backlight LCD TVs. The picture on this TV is truly great. The standard definition channels look almost as good as the HD channels did on any other HD TV I have owned and the high definition looks so real one would think they were looking out a window. I remember how impressed I was with my first HD TV, well this TV made an equal impression on me over my prior HD TVs.
The only annoyance is the fact that the volume bar does not go away when the sound is muted. I remains until you un-mute the TV. This annoys me, but is livable considering everything else.
The biggest advantages to LED LCD over CCFL LCD are the power consumption, the expected life of the backlight, and the picture quality. This TV is advertised as only drawing 30W but my UPS tells me it only draws 26W. The weakest link to a CCFL LCD TV is the backlight. It is what goes first most of the time, but LEDs last virtually forever so I will have to see what the next weakest link will be that will cause me to have to replace this TV. I expect this TV to last for at least five years before needing replacement, but time will only tell.