Customer Reviews

LG 60PZ550 60-Inch 1080p 600 Hz Active 3D Plasma HDTV with Internet Applications

5 star:		(43)
4 star:		(19)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

Over the years, I've done reviews and have studied prior to purchasing. I did no different on this LG 60PZ550. I looked at nearly all brands of PLASMA TVs and finally fell into the LG realm. My first thought was to get the biggest/best, then I started looking at the actual numbers. What was my criteria?

1) Screen Size: 60" ... but, it had to be no more than 34" in height.
2) 3D: this isn't really my criteria, I inherited it from my kids.
3) Thickness: I don't want a very thick or heavy TV
4) Plasma: Sorry, I've owned and viewed LED/LCDs v. Plasma - for sheer 1080p experience, my perception is that Plasma always looks better.

So, going through the brands, I found only LG to fit my criteria. The most important was #1, if it doesn't fit where I need it to fit, all the bells/whistles won't matter. I could give a hoot about 3D, but my kids insisted for their experience. We went to the big box stores and I will admit, it does look cool. I do not have the glasses yet, they are on their way (As the first reviewer mentioned, the 250's are for this TV). Thickness, holy smokes, who wants those behemoths we had a few years ago. This is thin and fairly lightweight. Beautifully done. OK, then finally, the Plasma v. LED/LCD debate. It will go on/on/on.. it's a matter of perception. Technically, the Plasmas have the edge; however, LED/LCDs are catching up. My personal perception is that Plasmas look MUCH better than LED/LCD. Your mileage may vary.

If you do the great comparison that Amazon has towards the bottom of the product page, you'll see this TV is stacked up against the big 2 - PZ950 and PZ750 - whats missing from the 550? THX (yea right); TruBlack Filter (err, not sure what that is); SmartTV (more apps on the TV I'll never use because my 3D Bluray player has them); Magic Motion Remote (great, another remote that I have to point "just right" to do the menus ... plus, I already have a remote that turns it on and off) ... hmm ... not really seeing why I would pay a premium for those features. All else is equal.

So, yes, would I recommend? **ABSOLUTELY** What don't I like about it? Nothing, I love it; however, something that might irritate people is the very reflective surface. It's like a mirror; however, properly positioned (I have a tilt mount), it eliminates my the irritant factor. I've had it with lights on and off and it's beautiful. Really, I am not using this TV to it's true potential with all the stuff on it. I don't use sound (it's connected to an HDMI receiver), I don't tune with it (U-Verse customer), I have 2 cables going to it: power and HDMI (high speed recommended ... or ... incorrectly labeled HDMI 1.4a). I don't even use the internet portion. I use it as a HUGE monitor for all the stuff I do (U-Verse, Wii, PS3, Bluray) ... and now 3D.

UPDATE 13APR2011 - This TV most certainly has ARC (Audio Return Channel). "Definition: Audio Return Channel (ARC) ia a very practical feature that has been introduced in HDMI ver1.4. What this function allows, if both a home theater receiver and a TV have HDMI ver1.4 and offer this feature, is that you can transfer audio from the TV back to a home theater receiver and listen to your TV's audio through your home theater audio system instead of the TV's speakers without having to connect a second cable between the TV and home theater system."
The 60PZ550 is certainly doing this function through my receiver. I made the assumption that since I did not connect my internet to it, I wouldn't need it. I connected my TV to the internet today to see what the functions were ... typical ... Netflix, Hula, Youtube... etc. I fired up a Netflix movie (which looked pretty decent) and low and behold, I have BEAUTIFUL sound coming out of my receiver. Please DISREGARD the reviewer who stated there was NO ARC.

I just purchased this TV locally to replace my Sony KDL-46Z4100 LCD TV in the master bedroom. I felt the picture on my Sony was too dark...especially for playing video games on the PS3 and/or Xbox 360. I researched via google and read that a plasma TV is better for a darker environment. After hooking up the TV to the wall mount and turning it on, I was shocked at remarkable picture improvement between the plasma and my previous LCD. I feel this TV is WELL worth the money, considering it came with 2 free pair of AGS250 (current 2011 model) 3D glasses. A couple of notes: make sure you turn the contrast down to 60 or less, since the factory settings have it at 100. If you leave it at the default setting, you'll have a problem with burn-in. I have mine set at 60/65 (contrast/brightness). You'll notice burn-in either way if you watch a lot of sporting events as I do (IE - any programming that has a non-moving bar along the bottom...like the current score of a game), but it's easy to get rid off by either tuning in a channel with white noise or using the TV's built-in ISM (Image Sticking Minimization) "white wash" feature to eliminate it. Overall, I'm very satisfied with this purchase....GREAT VALUE!

I picked up a 60PZ550 to replace my old Panasonic TH-58PZ700. The Panny developed a defective section of pixels and needed to go.

Anyhow, I love the aesthetics of the LG; the thin bezel is just fantastic. It is also 50% lighter than the "smaller" TV it replaced. It is a bit more glossy/reflective compared to the old Panny but I have excellent light control with some motorized blackout shades at the rear of the room. Picture quality is on par if not slightly better than the Panasonic it replaced. Note: The main viewing position is 13-ft from the screen.

My system includes:

* Onkyo TX-NR905 Reciever (HDMI 1.3 4-in, 1-out)
* Onkyo DV-BD606 Blu-ray Player
* Playstation 3
* Xbox 360
* Comcast DVR (Motorola DCX3400)

With the old Panasonic hooked up, the above components all worked together in perfect harmony. 4 HDMI cables into the receiver, one HDMI cable out to the TV. Clean and simple.

With the new LG hooked up, the following occurred:

* Comcast playback and Onkyo Blu-ray playback are flawless. Both run though the receiver with no issues.
* Xbox 360 playback, well, didn't work. Something about the HDMI handshake running through the receiver resulted in no video playback. I tried various HDMI settings on both the Xbox and the receiver with no luck. I had to resort to Component/Optical for the Xbox to work correctly.
* PS3 played fine through the receiver but it wouldn't playback in 3D. No surprises here. The PS3 was unable to detect my TV as 3D compatible running through my "now obsolete" receiver. I needed to run a dedicated HDMI cable to the TV and revert to Optical for Audio in order for it to work.

I have two pair of AG-S250 3D glasses. They look great, aren't too heavy and seem to have great battery life.

However, the biggest problems with the glasses are:

1. They emit a buzzing sound. VERY annoying.
2. One pair of glasses continues to lose sync while the other doesn't.

The quality of 3D playback isn't great in games like Killzone 3 Demo on the PS3. I get a lot of ghosting. Playback of 3D movies (watched Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs last night) is better but you can still notice double images in the foreground every once and a while. If anyone has some tips to remedy I would love the feedback.

The Picture Wizard was handy out of the box to get the basics set up. I'll be using my DVE Blu-ray to calibrate/tweak the TV settings further later this week.

That's it for now. I'll upload some photos later in the week.

On the surface, for the price this is a good plasma set with 3D capabilities. The picture *is* generally good. The problem is with the quality of the panel itself. I've had 2 of these, and within 20 hours of use both units had pixels start to die. The pixels weren't dead out of the box, things were fine for the first few days, then they just started to die off on both units. And these big televisions are a colossal hassle to repack and return, and that's if dead pixels are even covered at all (LG doesn't cover them). You get what you pay for, I suppose. Next time I'm waiting an extra 6 months for a higher end model with better panel components. $800+ down the drain.

EDIT: An LG technician came out to my residence to diagnose the problem, and apparently having *6* dead pixels and 3 spots of residual dirt *underneath* the screen is "a completely normal part of the manufacturing process and should not affect my enjoyment of the set." I will never be purchasing another product from LG. Frankly they make me sick.

EDIT 2: It's now been another month, and I now have a white stuck pixel in addition to the aforementioned defects. LG still won't cover it. What a disgrace. Ugh.

The only reason we have been going to the movies at all lately is the 3-D. We do not enjoy the cost, or the loud people with their cell phones bothering us. When my husband's back injury got so bad that we are really not able to go to the movies at all, it became time to upgrade. We bought this setalong with a new LG Blu-Ray player and 3D glasses and we got it all set up, it was very fast and easy, and headed down to get a couple of 3D movies.

Now, I am a big fan of the 3D quality of movies, but I do not need the effects to come out and poke me in the face. I also enjoy the depth that comes from a good 3D effect. This TV delivered on both, while watching Alice in Wonderland and Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. There was a little ghosting in Alice, but it was not too much more than I saw when I watched it in the theatre, and very little if any ghosting in Cloudy.

The glasses (this TV takes the new ones, I believe it is the 250) were easy to work with, lightweight and effective. They did lose sync a few times each movie.

I liked the many HDMI inputs and the USB ports. The TV has wireless capability, but you DO need to buy the dongle (and isn't that a weird word.)

We moved up from a Panasonic 50 inch plasma bought about 5 years ago which has a grey frame. The slim black frame on this TV was a DRAMATIC improvement.

We have the TV in a room with a LOT of light, and I was concerned because I heard that they are like a mirror, and there is definitely some reflection issues, but honestly, not much more than my old Panasonic. We were still able to watch a 3D movie in full light and not miss much of anything.

So, I have only had the set up for a couple of days, but I LOVE IT!!!

I also just bought this tv locally from Frys for $799 with 2 pair of glasses. I have also noticed the same issue with the glasses turning off about every 10 minutes. Very annoying when playing a game online (Killzone 3). Hopefully theres a way to change that. It also seems that the 3D is a little slow to render and looks a little fuzzy but thats probably just the game. Havent tried alot of other 3D media yet.

When 3D is turned on there is a note that comes up that says it is best to sit 2 meters away from the TV for the best viewing. So plan on sitting relatively close to the tv when using 3D.

The 2D to 3D is an awesome feature. Didnt even know it was an option until I hooked it up. Watched a movie for about 2 min and it was pretty cool.

Hooked up my laptop with a VGA cord and played some video on it smoothly. I have a couple short stereoscopic cartoons that I played from the laptop and worked great. Not sure if its a standard feature or not but you can watch regular 3D media such as 3D blurays, side-by-side stereoscopic or top-and-bottom stereoscopic, and of course the 2d to 3d. Its a really awesome tv.

Another thing that kind of bothers me is that there is no headphone output for audio. Small annoyance though.
I really didnt research a lot about different capabilities and statistics of 3D TVs I just saw a great price and got it and have no regrets so far.

i'd give it 3.5 stars if i could. i got this tv and a pair of 3D glasses because i was anxious to get into 3D and have a Fuji 3D camera. the 3D part is pretty good. it's not like an Imax, but it's good 3D for now. my real complaints are with the glossiness of the screen. my wife wanted me to return the tv because of this. if you have any light in the room you will see yourself in the darker parts of the screen all the time (it serves as a room mirror when the tv is turned off). also, after adjusting the tv's settings and going through the built-in wizard and using a calibration disc, i just can't get the image to seem as good as the Olevia LCD hdtv that this is replacing. i was expecting this plasma to be an improvement; i know this isn't a high-end plasma, but it is in the same price range or more than the Olevia it is meant to replace. also, it is frustrating to have to be so mindful of the potential for burn-in. we watch a lot of old movies and unfortunately there are lines where the black bars from the 4:3 image was on the screen. you can use a solid screen of white or color-cycling for fairly brief periods of time to wash away the burn-in effects. i like the inputs the tv has, 4 hdmi ports are nice; it's also thinner which is nice. I would say this is a good tv, but wish it didn't have the caveats. if you plug in a network cable or get the wireless dongle you can can connect directly to Netflix and a couple of other services which is pretty nice, although i prefer the interface/resolution i get with my PS3. also, you can plug a USB flash drive directly into the tv which is pretty nice for slideshows etc.

I know my 3-star review is harsh. This TV has a good picture, and the "Netcast" applications are pretty good. We're heavy Netflix streaming users, and the built-in Netflix app is quite usable. YouTube is also usable, although the user interface is completely different from the Netflix application.

However, I have to knock off a couple of stars for a truly terrible design choice. Like most higher-end TVs, this one implements the HDMI-CEC standard (under the brand name "Simplink") to let you control other components with your TV remote. For example, it's supposed to be able to automatically turn on your home theater receiver when you turn on your TV, and control the receiver volume with your TV remote control.

Sure enough, in the TV's Simplink menu I can switch it to use my Home Theater for audio, and the LG duly turns off its internal speakers and routes audio over the HDMI cable. When I turn off the TV, it automatically turns off my receiver. But, when I turn the TV back on, it reverts to internal speakers - I have to manually turn on my receiver, and then do the Simplink setup all over again!

I spoke to LG, and the the rep acknowledged that this is all by design. After all, some people might not want to have things turning on automatically when they turn on their TV. (Yeah, in which case they could not use Simplink, or turn off the CEC feature in their receiver.) As far as I can tell, ever other brand other than LG implements this correctly. Even the rep I spoke admitted that he wished it were implemented differently.

If you are already planning to buy a universal remote and don't care about HDMI-CEC at all, and don't plan to use the TV's internal tuner and use HDMI's ARC function to get sound back to your receiver (which depends on the same Simplink setup), then this is actually a very good TV. But for the great many people who will be hooking this to a receiver and wanting to use CEC features to simplify life, LG has deliberately ruined their product.

Update on 6/18/11: I no longer think that my 3-star review is harsh. I have the TV directly hooked up to a coax cable input. When I first got the TV, I could tune a digital TV channel by keying in the channel number, e.g. 205. Then LG put out a firmware update (which it's impossible to decline or reverse) that makes it so that you have to tune digital TV channels by first pressing the actual RF channel (like you would know) followed by the published channel number, e.g. 77-205. Of course, this thoroughly broke the numbers I programmed into my Harmony remote control. And it makes it nearly impossible to find a rarely-used channel, as there's no way to predict the RF channel that'll go with a particular cable channel. I spoke to LG tech support, and they freely acknowledged that the factory put out a firmware update that had this effect. Tech support has no idea *why* they would do that, and sympathizes that it's annoying, but can't do anything other than forward on a complaint.

In short, LG not only deliberately cripples functionality, but they can (and do) choose to wreck additional functionality after you get the TV!

I purchased this TV back in August of 2011. I bought it to replace my Sony Bravia 52XBR9 LCD that was starting to get panel failure. So far I have been pleased with the TV and especially the price I paid in comparison to the size of the TV. There have definitely been some trade-offs with changing from an LCD to a Plasma, but nothing too major.

Picture

This TV is definitely a lot darker than my Sony LCD, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. I use the TV for video games and I would prefer a bit brighter of a screen, but movies look fantastic with the darker picture. The picture is comparable to the Sony (I played Scott Pilgrim Vs The World on Blu-ray with both TV's side by side), but definitely not as crisp (I know I'm comparing a top of the line Sony to a middle end LG). Overall, the picture is great and I love having a 60". The extra 8" makes a world of difference to me.

There are two Cons with this TV for me. The first is image retention. There is noticeable image retention after having something on the screen for a short while. As mentioned earlier, I play video games on this TV and I can usually see the HUD retained on the screen when the screen goes black. Watching videos with black bars on the screen will also cause image retention. This is minor because the image washes away when something new and bright comes on the screen. I am a bit paranoid now with leaving the screen on. I find that I turn the TV off anytime I pause a game because I'm worried I'll get burn in. Maybe this is just a result of me switching from an LCD and not knowing how much is too much with image retention on a Plasma. Like I said, all the image retention has gone away after something new is on the screen and there is even a screen wiping option in the menu to get rid of the images.

The second Con is the reflective screen. This is a minor problem for me. The screen is a big sheet of glass and will reflect light. I have one window opposite of the TV about 10 feet away. The window reflects off the TV, but it really doesn't bother me that much. I watch movies at night and it isn't a problem unless a light is on. Be warned that a lot of windows or lights will affect your viewing.

Sound

I use a separate sound system so I can't really rate this. Who buys a 60" TV without hooking it up to a sound system?

A minor Con with the sound on the TV is the size of the Volume Graphic that pops up on the screen when you change the Volume Level. It is a circle that takes up a foot square in the bottom right hand corner of the screen. It is way to obtrusive if you ask me. I would have preferred a smaller horizontal bar across the bottom of the screen. Just a minor preference for a feature I never use (because of my external sound system).

Features

The 3D is cool, but I haven't used it too extensively. I downloaded some free 3D videos from the PlayStation Store and watched them. 3D seems to be a hit or a miss depending on the video you watch. It is more of a video source problem rather than any defect in LG's 3D TV or Glasses. Some 3D videos do it better than others. 3D games are pretty cool, but nothing I would do for long periods of time.

The menu system is simple to follow. The TV supports DLNA and browsing files off of my server is easy to do.

The online features aren't as robust as Sony's, with only 4 or 5 apps to use. I really haven't played around with them that much to give a good opinion. I use my PS3 for Netflix instead of the TV.

Conclusion

I am very happy with this Plasma TV. You can't beat the size to cost ratio that you get with Plasma. I purchased this TV in a bundle on Amazon with two free 3D glasses and was excited to get such a big TV for relatively cheap. I am also happy that LG has a 1 year warranty on the TV and a 2 year warranty on the panel. I know from personal experience that Sony only offers 1 year total and that really screwed me with their XBR9 that started failing 1 month after warranty. I still love Sony products though...

First I just want to say WOW. The picture after you tweak it using the wizard and a little fine tuning is amazing. It is a very clean image with great color and contrast. Really one of the finest images available in the price range. I scored this with 2 pairs of the ag-s250 glasses for 1389 so really a great deal. As for the 3d itself as I'm sure many are interested; the depth provided by the television is spectacular. It isn't quite so much images coming out of the screen (it happens a bit), as it is creating the illusion of space inside the set itself exceptionally well. I've noticed minimal ghosting so far, don't know if it is due to the media, television, glasses or a combination. Another feature I enjoy is the 2d to 3d conversion, it works fairly well, especially with computer animation or magnified high definition such as nature documentaries. I would not put the 2d conversion up with true 3d media but it does portray some illusion of depth you wouldn't have without it. Overall I am very impressed with this television, plasma has come quite a long way even in the last 5 years. I would highly recommend it.