Customer Reviews

LG 42LD450 42-Inch 1080p 60 Hz LCD HDTV

5 star:		(186)
4 star:		(49)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(13)

 

 

It took me about three days to decide to pull the trigger on this TV after looking at written reviews on Amazon and even some video demos online. About four hours after receiving it and I haven't left my room.

This TV is simply lovely so far. The setup was a bit confusing at first and the stand is not the best I've ever seen but the instructions for setting up the stand were adequate and I was able to get the TV up and running in about ten minutes (the first five of which I sat confused).

Really, the negatives on this purchase stopped after the setup and the stand. Besides the stand, this TV is just pretty. One of the first things that stood out to me was the fact that the screen is so sleek and does not reflect any glares at all. Also, I had read about a terrible viewing angle and I honestly watched this TV from the side with no difference in the picture at all. It's so big that it's practically impossible to have a bad seat in the room that you watch this TV.

If you plan on playing video games on this TV, you will not be disappointed in the least. The only issues I've had with the TV is getting my colors juuuust right, although the "Game" picture setting has sufficed very nicely.

The sound on the TV is great. It is centered and doesn't feel empty in the least. It is a very full and rich sound that will work just fine if you don't have an expensive surround sound system.

After paying [...] and receiving free two day shipping, I am literally ecstatic that I was able to nab such a nice TV. After spending the last three years with a 24" Insignia LCD that was 720p, I am ready to lock myself in my room.

If you are like me and can't shell out more than 500 dollars for an HD TV, this is the TV you want to pick up right away. I simply cannot find anything that I dislike beyond the stand itself that makes me rate this any less than 5 stars.

Don't be alarmed by the 60hz refresh rate, I honestly can't see how 60hz is so inferior to 120. Especially when 120hz is almost 500 dollars more expensive.

Trust me, if you are on the fence about this TV -- take the leap. This coming from a 21 year old college student who is now going to be the most popular person on his floor.

First off: We did not purchase this TV from Amazon, we purchased it at a local retail store, not for any other reason than the price (we paid a few hundred less than the current Amazon price)

My husband and I purchased this back in April, it was either this or the Phillips that they had set right beside it, it was really a hard choice as the Phillips was marked down to just a few hundred dollars, whilst this was just under six fifty. We are so very glad that we went with this model(42LD450). The video quality is quite good, blacks are black, and whites are white, back light is very bright, and video quality is amazing.

We almost took this back however: When we first plugged it in and turned it on, the only picture was a white screen with the Firmware version bouncing around, no menu would come up and it would not acknowledge anything had been connected. Well, we unplugged it again, and turned it back on, and this time, it acknowledged the DVR (input 1) and starting spewing forth video and audio We have had no problems since that.

My only gripe is that we will have to go out and purchase a new unit for our surround system, as the TV only has a Optical Audio Output. And on that note, the built in speakers are not awesome, yes, they are very usable, but like almost all TV speakers, they are not going to satisfy your need for spectacular surround.

This is definitely worth the buy, I really think you will be happy with your purchase. Thank You For Reading.

I purchased this TV to replace my 3-year old Samsung Series 3 32" LCD TV in my master bedroom because I wanted a larger size TV now that prices have dropped a good bit (paid over $1,400 for my 32" a few years ago). I debated between this one and a 40" Samsung for the same price, both were 60hz models, which is fine since I'm only using this for my DVR. Since I've seen a few older LGs before that had decent picture quality, I went with this one for it's larger size with slighly better specs than the Samsung, although I've always preferred Samsung. I figured since this was a newer model than those I've seen, with better specs I couldn't lose.... I was wrong!

I put this one on the wall where my old one was and my first night watching it I was quite disappointed! Although the picture is sharp and vibratant, it's only that way if you are directly in front of it. The viewing angel is terrible with this set, especially vertically below, which is my problem since I'm using this on a wall in my bedroom and viewing it from the bed, which puts me slighly below the screen (the TV is just above my dresser, maybe 3 feet above the floor). In this position, the screen washes out terribly, much like some of the older laptop displays did. Blacks become gray and colors very washed out. My Samsungs don't have this problem, neither my old 32" or my 52" in the living room. The construction itself is also very flimsy compared to the Samsung models I've owned. It's strange though, that I installed a 42" LG for a friend that's over 2 years older than this one and it was much more solid and has a better picture and viewing angle than this one.

I realize this is a lower-end set, and I did not want the best just for the bedroom, but considering that I replaced a 3 year old set with only 30,000:1 contrast ratio and 720p with this one that is supposed to be 100,000:1 and 1080p and yet my old one produced much deeper blacks and vibrant whites and colors, I'm quite dissapointed. Also, another reviewer mentioned that he didn't notice any backlight coming out of the back, but that's not my experience. While I've seen worse, this one projects a good bit of backlight out through all the vents onto the wall. I guess I can live with it, but why? None of my others had this issue either.

I was considering returning it, but don't feel like going through the hastle and don't want to spend a bunch more money to get a higher-end set. I decided to change my wall mount to a tilt mount and angle the TV downward, with it slighly higher on the wall and that helps a good bit because it gets the viewing angel of the TV perfectly alligned with my viewing area, so it looks pretty good now and I can deal with it.

Bottom line, I'm going to be happy with it, but I'm not truly happy! I wouldn't recommend this one personally and if I had to do it over I probably would have gone with the 40" Samsung instead, or paid a little more to get a 42" or 46" Samsung.

Update on 6/23/2010

After trying to make myself like this TV for 3 days I decided to return it. It is just that bad! Even with the tilt wall mount it still isn't good. The blacks are still very gray and there is so much bright gray coming thru the LCD panel that it just washes out everything and lights up the lower half of my bedroom brightly, even when there's no picture displayed. That and all the backlight purring out of the back onto the walls, which is now much more noticeable with the tilt mount.

I went ahead and ordered the 40" samsung that I probably should have got it the first place and Amazon is making the process easy. They said they will pick up the bad one when they deliver the new one.

This is my first HDTV purchase and am pleased so far. (Read as I don't know much about this). Setup was simple; the price was right and it has some popular energy-saving features.

The picture was sharp and clear. Multiple preset modes (cinema, game, normal) make setup easy, but there are also custom, fine-tuning adjustments available. It does not appear to have network/internet capability, but I will purchase a Blue-ray DVD player with that feature separately. The unit has an optical audio out so I can use my older receiver for 5.1 sound.

The remote feels cheap, but gets the job done. I imagine one rarely uses the manufacturer's TV remote so LG (and other makers) probably do not spend much on them. I did not notice any backlight seeping out of case which I understand is a problem on some TVs.

For an entry-level buyer, this was a solid purchase. I paid $658 - I thought that was reasonable for a 1080p set in 42". I rated it 4 stars on because I do not have much product knowledge (yet).

After shopping a lot locally and checking all the brands in person, I found this model on Amazon priced several hundred $$ UNDER the the best local price, and free shipping (and no local sales tax).

The TV took about 2 weeks to arrive, it sat in a St Louis warehouse for a week waiting for a truck to head to Columbia. (The delivery service only comes to Columbia once a week.) The delivery service unpacked the unit and checked for DOA, a nice touch!

This LG 42" is AMAZING. I watch broadcast TV and streaming Netflix. The HD1080 broadcasts are so sharp, it just blows me away. I find myself watching stupid TV shows just to admire the HD1080 image quality. The streaming Netflix is in 720p but still very nice. I may upgrade my broadband and ROKU box just to get the HD1080. This unit makes it worth it.

The LG specs are impressive, super fast response, high contrast etc. I am COMPLETELY PLEASED with this unit and cannot understand why others charge so much more for units that do not come close to the picture quality of this set.

We purchased this TV for our study, a small dark room specifically meant for watching movies and playing video games.

We sort of knew what to expect because we had a 42" LG in our main area already, but it was an earlier model. Still, we were happy with the first one, and after some exhaustive research, chose to buy the newer model.

We also chose the 60hz version because the TV's main function was to be for videogames and film. The jury is still a little out on the whole 120hz issue (there are always conflicting reviews and articles about whether or not it produces undesirable effects on either format, but I suspect that it does) and we would prefer to watch films as they were meant to be seen (with a persistence-of-vision effect on the eye at a refresh-rate mismatch) and play games without possible ghosting effects. If our intention was to watch hi-def or digital television, especially sports channels, we might have gone another route.

The unit arrived with no defects, and after several weeks of heavy use, nothing has come up as an issue. No dead pixels, not dark areas of screen, no odd noises or colors or blurs.

This TV definitely delivers. Crisp, bright picture that can easily be dialed in to fit your ambient lighting and surroundings, perfectly acceptable sound quality, simple remote and setup, easy assembly on the included stand. And at $600, it's far less money than many of the comparable models.

The only unusual feature is that the included stand does not tilt forward or backward, which can make placement tricky. This minor oversight is not enough to warrant a poor review, or even cost a star. This would be a non-issue with a wall-mount.

I've had Sony XBRs, and while this doesn't quite have the contrast and crispness those did, it does deliver a beautiful picture that will please all but the most discerning and critical eye.

It took me a lot of researching and critical thinking to purchase my first HDTV. I decided to wait all these years and I am SOOOOOOO happy to have waited. This LG HDTV is perhaps the best TV for the PRICE!. It has UNBELIEVABLE picture quality with JUST AN OVER THE AIR ANTENA! Forget about the 120 hz, 240 hz, this TV is AMAZING at 60 hz! If you don't have CABLE or SATELITE service, don't worry, this TV performs perfectly with over the air signal with a good rabbit ear antena. That is because this TV has a built-in tuner that will adjust to provide you the best picture quality (USE THE PICTURE WIZARD TO HELP YOU, IS VERY EASY TO USE). I am VERY HAPPY with my purchase. I am an AMAZON PRIME customer and I paid $3.99 for overnight delivery! I bought this TV on Blackfriday and received it, via FEDEX, next day Saturday 9:30am!!! AMAZON HAS AMAZING CUSTOMER AND DELIVERY SERVICE!!! THANK YOU AMAZON, YOU HAVE MADE MY HOLIDAY SEASON MERRY! GOD BLESS YOU!

SINCERELY,

A VERY SATISFIED CUSTOMER

I bought this TV from Amazon last week. While I'm not a big review writer, I relied on other people's reviews to make my decision, so I thought that I'd give one back to help other shoppers. The TV is very nice. I have two other large screen LCD TVs, and this one compares very well to those. The picture quality is excellent. The sound is fine. I like the look of the rounded edges. The on/off light is cool, too. The viewing angle was a recurring complaint that I read about in the reviews. The viewing angle on this LG is fine. It is the same as my other LCDs. It can be viewed from various angles with very little, if any, difference. I read a few complaints about the base, also. The base on this TV is about as sturdy as you can get with something shaped like this. I did notice that they had no metal-to-metal connections between the base and the TV. They used a plastic wafer for strength, but the base itself has only plastic where it connects to the TV. The better TVs have steel screwing into steel at the bottom connection and, sometimes, at the back connection, as well. This would have added rigidity and strength to the base of this TV, but it seems adequate, anyway. The price went down since I bought mine, but even at the price that I paid, it was a good TV for the money. Other TVs, at around this price, don't have the same specs and they probably won't be as good. The only concern that I had was the long-term quality of this brand. I remember the old Goldstar products as being mediocre. However, remembering back over the years, I have had several major brand electronic products fail prematurely on me. There's no way to know how long these things will last, no matter what brand you buy. Anyway, I hope this was helpful.

I bought this tv because it was cheaper than the LG 37" tv and because of the 2 year financing on it. I am amazed by how nice this lcd looks and performs. We have a 46" Toshiba lcd that is about a year old, and this one blows it away....faster response times on everything from changing channels to anything. Has a good picture even on basic cable. Xbox 360 works and looks great on it. Very satisfied with this lcd.

We got this TV for our grandMa, so it was important to get something that was very simple and easy to use and setup. In order to see if it worked, I plugged it in and connected the hdmi cable from our cable box. it took about 10 minutes to scan for channels, and found nothing. Duh! after switching the input from antenna to hdmi, it was up and running.

picture looks great right out of the box. played with picture wizard a bit, but honestly the factory default is just about perfect. image is bright & clear. setup mode even looks great. blacks are outstanding - I guess the 100,000 to 1 contrast ratio makes a big difference.

remote is simple and intuitive. I looked at all the options, played with clearvoice, which I'm sure grandMa will appreciate, it's all as simple and easy as I'd hoped it would be.

off-axis viewing was great. I'd seen a review that said it was horrible, my guess is that was a defective set.

so, on first impression, it's a great value for the $$ and exactly what we needed for grandma. if I have any reason to change my opinion, I'll make an edit later.