LG 50" LED Television

I couldn't resist this holiday deal at Walmart:

LG LN5100 50" 1080p 120Hz LED HDTV

The sale price was $448, but one of our sons bought it for $426 (tax included) with his discount. If it doesn't work out in our bedroom for whatever reasons, we'll use it to replace an aging Samsung rear projector 40" that's in our den.

We'll pick it up in the next day or two, as there's already too much on the plate for today.

Scuzzy; Life's Good.

'Bout time, you've only been talking about it for a year or so!  Good luck with it! Now you need a BluRay source.

Unless it's a full array, preferably dynamic local dimming (and more expensive), it will be edge lit. I don't know which it is, but if it's back lit it almost certainly will not be local dimming.

Once it's all set up later this weekend, I'll report back.

More here: LED-backlit LCD Display

I'll start out by saying that I'm freakin', honkin' tired. It's late and I just got home.

As I already mentioned in Carol's Vizio thread, I opted out of getting Walmart's LG special at the last minute. So I'm back to looking for a tube. Uh... panel. Yeah.

I'm pretty sure I'll buy from Costco. Their prices are great, their return policy is fantastic (hassle free, 90-day return), and they automatically extend the warranty to a total of 2 years.

So I'm considering a Vizio 55" M Series as a possibility. I figure if it's a flop it'll be easy enough to return it for something different. If time allows I'll go take a look after a good night's sleep.

Scuzzy; ZZzzz

Bill, I decided to answer you on this thread as I don't want to completely take over Carol's thread.

I figure a 55" TV is the maximum I can install where it will be placed, as long as its a very narrow bezel. I was considering a maximum width of 48" for the set, and the Vizio 55" M-Series comes in at 48.8" It's not a show stopper, but the way the wall is cornered it would overhang by 0.8".

My desire is to install the largest TV that will fit in the space, which makes the maximum diagonal size 50" for most sets. The 50" Vizio M-Series has a width of 44.1", with several other 50" sets coming in closer to a 46" width. But for a 55" set, I'm thinking that I can live with .8" overhang.

I'll be leaving shortly to see what Costco offers.

Good hunting!

More later, but I bought an LG 50" LA6970 at Costco. The total with tax was $807.

EDIT: More at LG's site.

Sounds like a nice set.  I'm sure you will enjoy it.
Carol

Thanks, Carol.

The LG 50LA6970, which I mounted on the wall, turned out to be an excellent buy. I'm not all that interested in the 3D feature, but I may someday give it a whirl since Netflix has been adding 3D movies to its lineup.

JA will be glad to know there are zero issues with "flash lighting" or edge bleeding, as it employs a form of local dimming. The blacks are very deep; similar to plasma. The colors are nice and rich, and the viewing angles are excellent. I scaled the brightness back to 60%.

The TV starts up quickly. From the time I press power it's up and running in 6 seconds. Overall the set is responsive when changing channels and the like. I would not characterize it as super fast, but it's not irritatingly slow either. The over-the-air digital tuner works nicely.

I did not care for TruMotion 120Hz. It gave the picture a weird, unnatural look. It's hard to explain, but I turned it off and now it looks fine.

The sound is great for a flat panel TV. This model has a small, built-in subwoofer (2.1) that gives it a little extra oomph. I found myself having to use much lower volume levels to keep from waking up the household last night. Regardless, I'll someday augment the TV with a quality sound system.

The supplied remote control uses a radio signal (not infrared) and has minimal buttons (channel/volume and a couple others) along with a mouse wheel. Most everything is done on screen with the mouse pointer, which I find mildly annoying. I was able to semi-program an old universal IR remote control to operate the set, which is good news. I'll look around for a suitable replacement.

I plugged in a wireless USB Logitech keyboard from my daughter's computer to quickly set up Netflix, and it worked like a charm. Overall movie streaming works well and loads quickly, although I only tried Netflix and Crackle. The TV has a built-in internet browser, but it's not a feature that I'm currently interested in. Maybe someday when I'm sick in bed, but not today.

One nice touch is the buttons behind the right edge of the set that control channel/volume/input/menu & power. They are nicely laid out, clearly labeled, deeply embossed and easy to use. Of all the sets I saw in the wild, no other manufacturer came close to getting this right. Kudos to LG for being the exception.

50" turned out to be the perfect size for the TV's location. I would have preferred 55" for viewing purpose, but it would have been an awkward fit and probably overkill.

Scuzzy; anybody want a free 30" CRT television?

Good for you, glad you like it after waiting so long!

Gosh I don't even know half that stuff about mine yet.  But then I just kind of walked away while Eric played with it setting it all up.  I don't really care at all for the 3D feature, just came with it.  I doubt I will ever use it.  I bought a new Blu-Ray player to go with it since the one I had was moved to the bedroom with the older 37" tv.  No hook-up in there so that tv will mostly be movies or something through my chromecast. I wasn't to concerned with sound as I have a surround sound, again from my dear son, that I have had for while. 

That's funny. My wife was only interested in 2 things.

1. How do I get to Netflix?

2. How do I set the sleep timer?

Everything else was noise to her.

For me it was how do I go from TV to Bluray and then back to tv. 

I've had the LG 60PM6700 plasma for a year now & have had no problems. The picture is great. I occasionally watch wildlife programs in 3d and they can be awesome. For example, watching a lion chase down a zebra, pounce and both do a somersault in mid air. I do feel sorry for the zebra but I didn't set up life as it is, I just experience it. Experiencing the lg has been good overall.

Well, not everything is peachy with the LG, as I had to return it today to Costco for a refund. The TV started acting up recently, and the problem was getting worse.

A few days ago I turned the TV on and the color was completely shifted the picture had a tremendous amount of noise. But it went away after a minute, so I decided to keep an eye on it. The problem only got worse with time, taking as much as 10 minutes to clear up.

After a recent update, the smart features were acting stupid as well. The apps, such as Netflix, would freeze up and stop working.

That aside, my wife hated the remote, which was similar to a Wii remote. I have to admit I was finding it frustrating as well.

I went back in the store and I bought a 55" JVC smart TV as a replacement, which was about $70 cheaper than the LG. More on that later.