Customer Reviews

LG 37LH55 37-Inch 1080p 240 Hz LCD HDTV, Gloss Black

5 star:		(30)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Quick Pros:
Good Connection Options, Good Resolution, Bright Image, 240hz Refresh Rate, 1080P, Attractive Design, Excellent sound, and OneCall Sales Staff.

Quick Cons:
LG Customer Service Mediocre at best! Set Up lousy considering NO Printed Manual


First Off.... OneCall is awesome! Best Price (and I searched all authorized dealers I could find at the time) Most Friendly sales staff. Customer service even responded by email long after hours!!! Please NOTE: OneCall IS LISTED as "more buying choices" on Amazon.

Now on to the TV: Television arrived.
CONS:
Unboxed, hooked up all cables... then with the side button I tried to turn it on.. no such luck... I then tried the remote... no good there either. Figured I had a DOA set.. I searched for a manual... none found.. just a CD of a manual. Problem was:
1. This was a gift...person getting gift has no computer, therefore no way to view CD.
2. I was nearly 56 miles round trip to my house to have access to a computer to print up manual from CD.
3. Quick Start booklet was included with indications of all connections EXCEPT location of the power switch!!! The "standby" switch on the side of the television is NOT the power switch.

I found this switch accidentally after disconnecting all the cables to return the TV set... I reached under the set and felt something "click" What do you know.. a rocker master power switch.... You know.. the one NOT listed in the quick start booklet or indicated by an international symbol or words on the front of the set indicating it's location. (I had two others read through the few pages of the quick start booklet to see if I missed it)

After turning it on... and pressing the "standby" switch.. I was able to start the setup...

4. After driving home.. I brought the CD Manual with me..... and guess what! CD would not read on any of my three computers. Being that this was a Friday night... It was Monday before I could get a hold of LG. They offered to send me a manual... Cool... why didn't they just include one in the tv box??? IT WAS THE END OF THE WEEK BEFORE I GOT IT! AND... It was not bound!!! I had to punch my own holes in a thick manual (it was obviously printed from a laser printer) and buy an empty three ring binder and put it together. I also guess priority mail isn't necessary to fix a screw up on one of their top of the line TV sets. They never did replace the CD. It was another week before I could drive it down to the owner of the TV set. I am sure that the idea behind the CD was to save trees... Well I burned lots of fuel to fix this issue at least 112 miles! GEESH! Remember this... If you don't have a computer, OR a DVD player connected to another TV to review the manual, OR have a printer if you wanted a printed copy... you are &$%#$ out of luck!

5. I left a longer review than this on LG's website and even said I was going to buy more of these TV sets... and they never posted my review!!! I contacted LG THREE TIMES by email and called!!! I NEVER got a response from them that wasn't a CANNED response ....
SO: No Manual Included (except CD which didn't work), Quick Start booklet needs switch placement listed, (including listing it in the troubleshooting guide in the back!!!). NO printed manual on a TV in this price range is not excusable!!! LG customer service and response needs improved, AND LG needs to not cherry pick reviews for their website. A person needs to come to a website like this that usually publishes all reviews.

PRO'S:::
1. Most LCD/Plasma sets for sale have lousy sound... let's face it... no need to subtract stars or ratings for this generally because to make the TV look decent.. you got to use some small speakers... want good sound? .... Then get a home theater speaker system setup... EXCEPT this LG!!! Awesome sound for a modern set..... For something this size... I consider the sound OUTSTANDING compared to its competition, and far beyond my expectations. Biggest surprise I had outside of the printed manual incident.

2. PLENTY of inputs for a 37" TV including VGA hookup for a computer with a mini jack input for the audio ... Although I haven't tried this VGA/Audio input... it's nice to see it included. There isn't a DVI input.. but you can get a HDMI to DVI gender changer for a few bucks if you need to go that route online.

3. The 240hz refresh rate is state of the art! I also noticed no backlight bleed through. Backlight bleed is common on LCD's to some degree.

4. Black level and contrast is best I have seen for a non LED LCD. Black level isn't even close to my plasma's.. but best I have seen in an LCD to date. It's too bad that Plasma's don't exist in sizes below 42".

5. Since this TV set was a gift.. I haven't got to use the remote control much... but seemed pretty intuitive as I was setting up the TV to work for the first time.

6. I am thinking about purchasing more of these TV's... we will see... For a 37" non LED tv.... I really don't think you can do better than this. (At the time of this review)... Sony, Panasonic, Samsung, JVC, Mitsubishi, Magnavox, Visio, nor Toshiba... has a 37" that is this "state of the art" at a bargain price!!! Highly Recommended!

So why not 5 stars??? Because of over 112 miles (or more) of useless driving to solve the manual problem. LG "review shopping" by not posting my review (which was pretty glowing except the manual issue) and not responding adequately to my emails or phone calls. Making a trip to the office supply store to buy a three ring binder for the manual.

When you give a gift at this price... it would be nice to not be slightly embarrassed by stupid issues. The person I got this for has no clue how to even shop for an LCD or the time I put in to find this particular TV. So it kind of leaves the impression that I got a cheapo TV for them.. It just wasn't the case. LG needs a spanking! Now.. go buy the TV! :-)

*UPDATE*: August 6th, 2009
Cnet Reviews this TV: (Amazon won't let me put in the web address. Just enter the following into the search box of Google or Yahoo, LG 37LH55 ) Their review is not so glowing... Luckily... I stand by my "user" review. Maybe LG doesn't have a good product consistency??? I do not know. I am glad the set I purchased looks good! I just wanted to update this so you can have as much information as possible in making your decision... Good Luck!

Just a note: If you go to Crutchfield . com (also an Amazon featured merchant) and type into their search engine.... LCD vs Plasma It will bring up easy to understand, unbiased info between the technologies. I might add that if you haven't made a major purchase online... Crutchfield has been in business since 1974, and I have spent many thousands with them... they are a great crew, not the cheapest price, but the best customer service your going to get at a fair price, and sometimes if you have problems with a product, it then becomes the best money you ever spent.

UPDATED: 11/28/2009; 12/31/2009.

Pros: Extensively customizable, plenty of inputs on back and on side, fits where our old 36" tube TV did, got a great price on Amazon (I think it was a steal!)

Cons: Extensively customizable, too many options for picture and sound to get a quick handle on them. There should be a course (maybe by that Vidoe Professor guy) on what everything means and how the different settings impact your viewing experience.

The TV was easy to set up once it arrived. The shipper (Pilot) was supposed to call us to schedule an appointment for delivery on 11/25 - but they never did. Instead, I ended up calling Amazon to get the shipper to fullfill their obligation in a timely manner. Others have said that the shipper unpacks the T.V., puts it together, and tests to ensure it works. No such thing here (Dallas area), but I was able to get them to take our old 36" behemoth tube TV out and off of the entertainment armoire's TV shelf. They just set it down on the floor, but that was 90% of the work.

There are so many options in setting up and fine tuning the TV, I don't really know where to start. So, as soon as we powered it up, there was a guided setup to get the clock and all of the local channels into memory. There are even independent settings to choose whether to show the Red and Blue power indicator lights during Power Off and Power On states! That makes no difference to me, but my son likes to have the room completely dark and those lights (on the lower right corner of the TV) were distracting to him. No problem, just turn them off in the options and everyone is happy!

For each input on the back, you can independently set and remember all of the picture and sound quality settings. So, if your DVD player outputs a little brighter than the DirecTV Satelite signals, no problem. Set the DVD Player's Input (Component 1 for us) brightness a little lower that DirecTV's Input (AV1 for us since no HD service from them yet). Every time you change between these two inputs, the TV will remember your settings and automatically adjust them. This really comes in handy when you throw in a more things like Playstation, VCR, Blu-Ray, PC, etc. Oh, did I fail to mention that you can view .JPGs and listen to .MP3s from a USB stick if you just plug it in to the USB 2.0 jack on the side? I haven't even tried that out yet as it is another thing I can already do through the DVD Recorder.

I knew there was no S-Video input, but I wish I had placed more importance on that. Most of our existing equipments' best video output is S-Video, as well as our AV receiver. They will all be replaced eventually, but in the meantime we either have to fall back to composite (current option), or purchase an S-Video to Component Upconverter (anywhere from $90 to over $200, plus shipping - use Google). These have the ability to split the color signals into component video for 1080i viewing! For many people, this will not be an issue unless like me you have become a slow adopter of technology.

At first, Picture Quality (1080i - off-air) was not quite what we had hoped for with 240 HZ "Tru-Motion", especially for football (but read on, this was resolved!!!). Every time the camera panned across the field there appeared to be moire on the yard lines and this was especially bad when the camera shot was from the end zone. It turned out to be my lack of experience in setting up for the correct picture quality and video source. I had been using the HD tuner and the Component cable input from the DVD Recorder to watch football because it also outputs audio to my AV receiver for sound. When I changed that to use the OTA HD signal directly into the LG's tuner (TV Input), nearly all of the moire went away. Subsequently setting the 240HZ Tru Motion to its "High" setting completely annihilated the moire and the picture was a thing of beauty from end zone to end zone! I felt like I was on the field! (UPDATE 12/31: Have connected HDMI from DVD to the TV and now the picture and sound from it are perfect!)

I believe you can output sound from OTA programs on the TV to an AV receiver or other amplifier with a digital fiber cable, but I just haven't tried that yet (Update 12/31: I now have AC-3 Toslink from TV to Receiver. It passes all audio sent into the TV from various sources back out to the amp. We're now getting Dolby Digital through the speakers from all sources that send it). I have opted to use the HD tuner from the DVD player for now and it already has such a cable connected. For quick viewing directly OTA the LG's speakers work well enough without the AV receiver, I would say they are "good" quality.

Some have mentioned the absence of a backlight in the remote. This has not affected me yet as I tend to keep a 20W or so light on, and I have already added the TV to the Logitech Harmony remote - which does have a backlight. That setup took some time due to all the activities on the remote, but it works pretty much the same as it did with the old TV, so no real learning curve there (yet), until I learn more of the programmable functions available on the LG.

Unlike others here, I had no hesitation in placing a screw into our TV armoire cabinet's shelf to ensure the TV does not accidentally get bumped over. It will just add "character" to the shelf in the future (at least that's what the "designers" on HGTV would say - LOL). The best part of our viewing enjoyment will come as we are able to view more content in 1080 (i/p) format, as formats we are receiving now from DirecTV(composite 480i) don't even have the quality that our former 36" tube TV displayed.

This installation involved removing a tube-type TV and replacing it with the 37 inch LG flat screen. I did read the instructions two times before the TV was removed from the box. I used it again for set up. The on screen help was fine. I had to make some trials of various setting before settling. Nothing was very difficult. I am amazed how well thought out the on screen displays were. Some displays and language was unfamiliar, but with time they were understandable. I love having a TV with this much quality in my small viewing room. Thanks Amazon.com and LG. You made this 70 year man happy. The installation even impressed my girlfriend.

I bought this on black friday for an amazing price. I was in the market for an HDTV for a few months and was looking for something below $700, at least 120hz, 1080p, and had a good panel. When I saw this beauty up, I nabbed it as soon as I could pull out my credit card. This set packs one nice S-IPS panel. It has a huge color range and can get extremely bright to the point of looking almost real in outdoor scenes.
On to the review:
As much as I can say that I love this TV (mostly due to the price), it's not quite perfect. For one thing, the black levels aren't exactly the best I've seen on an LCD. It's most apparent when watching a movie with black bars added to keep aspect ratio and in dark movie/video game scenes.

I use this as a PC monitor, so I can't say anything about how this does on broadcast television. I figure with all the bells & whistles features this thing has, it could make a standard def signal look pretty damn decent over 37".

I don't use the speakers as I have a system, so I can't comment on the audio. I'm sure its on par with however HDTV speakers sound.

I have this hooked up via HDMI to my PC. When first turning it on out of box, the picture quality was very poor, as were all the presets for this. I couldn't get it to look good until I turned all the advanced features down to low/off; this includes gamma, black level, dynamic contrast, and edge enhancer; although, it does look better (to me) with color gamut on wide. I then turned contrast, brightness, sharpness, backlight, and all that down to 50. When I did this, it looked AWESOME. I turn the backlight up and down depending on ambient light and if I want it to look brighter for something (videogames/movies). I haven't seen any ghosting as far as I can tell, and I got pretty good eyes.

Now, about the big one: the 240hz TruMotion feature. It looks great for video games and sports. It's far from perfect though, and especially so with this HDTV. LG really messed up on this one in my opinion. My main complaint with this TV is with the feature I wanted it for most and why I'm only giving it four stars; its hard for me to not give it 5 just for the panel alone. When engaging the 240hz feature, they DO NOT give you the option to turn off the dejudder effect. This would be the perfect TV if you were just able to have the panel running at 240hz without having de-judder on. Dejudder technology interpolates extra frames in between the real frames to make the image more smooth. Now this is great that they're trying something like this, but it isn't perfect yet, so it degrades the image source. When on high, it produces a lot of frequent visual artifacts on moving and not moving objects - ranging from black pixels on objects to two objects on the screen that aren't there. I like to play FPS games, and anyone who does reading this knows that it's really bad to see something that's not there. When on low, it happens less frequently, but I can still see frequent artifacts, even on the text as I'm typing right now. When off it never happens. Unfortunately when turning the 240hz TruMotion feature off it doesn't utilize the 240hz processing at all and runs like a 60hz panel. The reason this happens is that there is NO DEJUDDER OFF FEATURE WITHOUT TURNING OFF THE 240HZ FEATURE. Needless to say, this made me pissed. So now I have to live with artifacts every now and then until I get a new panel, which will be a while (hopefully). I thought I got the perfect deal, instead I have something that does almost everything I wanted. I can't complain too much though, I got a huge 240hz S-IPS panel and 4 year warranty for $700 total. Thanks Amazon & Squaretrade!

Pros:
Price (for me anyway)
BEAUTIFUL color range
Very clear and bright picture
S-IPS panel made by Funai - very high quality
No ghosting
No dead pixels
1080p
240hz
Energy Star rated
Many inputs for just about any need

Cons:
NOT able to turn off de judder without turning off 240hz processing
Below average black levels in comparisons of other 240hz in same level

First of all I want to say that I only finished five years of college. not enough to handle all the complexities of setting up HDTV, DVD, Home Theater and cable!!!!

The price from Adorama through Amazon.com was at least $200-$300 less than anywhere else I looked. Even shopping direct at Adorma did not get me as good a price, go figure!

This TV replaces an old standard tube tv in an entertainment center. Now the cats have plenty of space to hang out out of sight.

It was easy to setup but I had to wait for the cable company to switch out my old box for a hd box. Once I used the hdmi cable from the new cable box to the tv the hd channels looked AWSOME!! I am very impressed and feel the tv was a good value.

The sound from the tv stereo speakers is ok, with all the input options available I was disapointed that the only audio output options was the optical toslink cable ( that is on order now) once that is hooked up from the tv to home theater then my work will be done!

I got this TV in Black Friday deal and that the lowest price ever I have seen for 240Hz LCD HDTV. Initially the picture quality was disappointing.. but it as my fault. After the advanced setting the picture is amazing... particularly the HD channels and movies... it is like real. The sound quality is good but not as described by manufacture or other reviewers. Lastly it looks gorgeous and smart... and We like the TV very much.

I purchased this television for a low price during a deal. The Pilot shipping was bad (late, didn't call, when I called them I had to give them directions). When the television arrived, there was a scratch on the plastic frame around the screen. That's not a big deal to me.
Setting up the television was easy. However, the 240hz TruMotion is a flawed feature. It does make motion smoother, and may be useful when there is small, fast motion, but it causes great disruption on the screen when there is a lot of motion. For example, in the show "The Office," whenever the camera pans from one character to another, large pixels appear on the screen. This happens to both cable and Blu-Ray. Turning off TruMotion is the only way to stop this from happening. Therefore, I would recommend saving your money, and getting a LG 120hz set.
Besides the TruMotion, the picture is good, but there are problems with black levels. I think the sound is good, and the remote is easy to use.
Overall, if I had paid full price, I'd return the unit, since it is basically a 120hz television advertised as 240hz (there are several articles online about how LG's TruMotion 240hz is not really 240hz, it just creates a 240hz effect. A Sony, on the other hand, that is advertised as 240hz, is truly 240hz). But since I got it for a low price, I'll keep it.

Let me preface this review by saying that I am rating this product on a curve according to the price at which I acquired it. At the going price $1200-1300 I would rate this as an average 4-star piece of electronics; but I received it for much less than that thanks to Black Friday sales. That in mind, this is 5-stars for the price.

First, the setup is amazingly easy. You have to screw the base onto the TV if you are placing it in a hutch; otherwise you have to screw 4 screws to a wall mount. If you are setting it in hutch, cabinet, or stand, a great feature is that the stand upon which it sets swivels about 45 degrees each direction (left and right). This allows to set it where you want it in the cabinet but then swivels it around to plug wires into the back. Then you flip on the master switch underneath and voila, when you turn it on, the setup runs. Documentation was supplied, but it is not needed.

It comes with a remote control, but it is by far my least favorite thing about the product. It was not intuitively designed to be easily used at night nor for those with poor eye sight. It is blocky, the main buttons feel much like all the other buttons, it has no lighting or glow-in-the-dark feature for the main keys, and WORST of all... it is not even a universal remote. After setup, this remote got thrown into a drawer and I took out my home theater receiver remote and programmed it for LG televisions.

The TV itself is attractive and has "invisible" speakers. The speakers sound just fine on their own, but it's nothing impressive. I still turn my home theater speakers on louder and use the TV as if it were front satellite speakers. The picture quality is quite impressive though. It uses true 1080P HD and brags a 240hz refresh. While it is not TRUE 240hz refresh, but actually a fast-strobing backlight which makes it appear to be updating at 240hz, it is probably not noticeably different to most people. I, for one, could probably not see a significant difference. This 240hz feature is a toggled option and the menu allows you to turn it on and off at will (if the input is HD; if not, it will be greyed out in menu). While the 240 hz makes sports and fights look amazing, you may want to turn it off for 1-camera sitcoms, action movies, and animated films as the trumotion exaggerates camera bounce, fake background props, and frame by frame animation.

And lastly, perhaps one of the features that may sway you to this product and not another company's product (it swayed me), is the amount of inputs on the back. For video, it boasts an impressive 4 HDMI inputs, a composite (RCA) input, two component (RGB) inputs, and a VGA input (supports VGA for HDMI ports also); for audio, it supports optical out, composite in (for the component and composite video), and the aforementioned 4 HDMI inputs. The optical out is very convenient as it means you can hook all of your equipment directly to the TV, but still run all that audio to a Home theater sound system.

This model has been discontinued as far as I know, but it comes highly recommended if you can get it at a good sale price!

Let me say in the out start we have a satellite dish with HD programming. First, we have another LG at 32" that just hooked right up to the satellite coaxial cable, this TV did not. The difference; the satellite cable had to go through the VCR first using a coaxial connection and then to this TV using a coaxial connection to acquire a certain station or number, that would allow us then to use our input button, and from their to the satellite's remote that controls the TV. (This worked for us because that was the way it was set up in the beginning). But not to fear we called our satellite tech to come and change this setup to go with our new DVD player. You can use the TV's remote to adjust contract, and etc. plus black levels, cinema, etc., we use VIVID, but it does use more power, their a lot of functions on this TV, don't be afraid to try all on the menu tab. The picture to me appears that its 3-D as you watch the TV, the imagine just pop out, we have a large Pioneer Plasma that shows fantastic picture that doesn`t have this advantage, scenes inside and outside are so real looking. The sound clear. Your picture is going to be better if you have HD programming which you pay a fee, not so for new subscribers. I noticed on Amazon Cable users didn't get as good of a picture. Who could not be happy with the price and the quality of this TV. But, remember your satellite dish, or cable carrier, effects some of the TV output. We bought this TV from Amazon seller called OneCall, who is a excellent seller from beginning to end, no fear their.

LG 37LH55 37-Inch 1080p 240Hz LCD HDTV, Gloss Black - What can I say about this HDTV that hasn't already been said. The picture quality is outstanding, "True Motion" makes the movies; even low quality video look so real and even better than those new 3-D monitors (it's like looking through a window), the sound is clear, the fiber optic output sending a 5.1 surround signal to my stereo (dropped from five video audio inputs to one) is awsome, "Energy Star", case presentation, 4-HDMI's, the hard to find comfortable 37" size (why do you need anything bigger??? unless your entertainment room is as big as "Radio City" in New York). Hands down, LG can even give Sony a run for it's money. All of the monitors in my house are LG and they look just as good as those new LED TV's that are coming out. From what I see on the Net, there is not too many of this model left and the price on Amazon was so hard to believe that when I actually went through the checkout to make sure, I was very suprised and I recieved before the actual delivery date. I'd get one if I were you and wait for the bugs to be worked out of those new 3-D monitors and those silly glasses that give you nothing but a headache anyway.