I have had this TV for a week and spent some time playing with it and watch more television, more films, both 2D and 3D. I think I now have a good idea of how this TV performs.
Now I want to go into details a little more for my calibration process and how this TV performs. In fact, the accuracy and grayscale color TV very well in "Cinema". I used my colorimeter, download a free copy of the software and the AVS HD 709 calibration disk ColorHCFR calibration model to test the colors and shades of gray. I found the video mode has a good range, color temperature, brightness and accuracy. It's not perfect, but it is not too far away. The contrast must be a little higher, but for a way out-of-the-box, is very good. If someone does not bother with the calibration, just go to the Cinema mode and increase the contrast a little, and is ready to go.
For those who are interested in more advanced calibration, the TV has two advanced imaging modality called "Expert 1" and "Expert 2" with small "ISF" logos. These two modes are all you need to calibrate advanced ISF is certified by a professional or do it yourself (although I dig these "experts" However, I am not an "expert", not even close BTW). Go deep into one of two "expert" modes, you can adjust the RGB channels (both contrast and brightness), color filters are used to adjust the color saturation and hue. TV up to 20 control points of curves grayscale. Although this adjustment can be difficult to use and allows more accurate grayscale. There is also a control of primary and secondary colors for the CMS (Color Management System), which are rarely found in entry-level or mid-range TV.
I spent a couple of hours playing with these advanced controls and the results were surprising. Luminance, gamma, color temperature curves were all very close to the objectives deltaE with very low values. Of course they are not as low as I can get my monitor with the graphics card, but these figures and graphics are excellent for a TV. After calibration, the colors are natural and smooth skin tones look great. Watch movies in 3D. I noticed that some crosstalk / ghosts in some dark scenes, but it seems that this problem depends on the content. I have seen very little ghosting when watching 3D tangled, almost no problem with the last wave 3D Tahiti and a little more of Shrek 1 and 2 in 3D.
However, it was also where I found an annoying problem as I said. The picture modes seems to be working independently in different display modes, including TV and Blu-ray. I have a Blu-ray player connected via HDMI. All my calibration has been done in this vision with the use of my Blu-ray. After everything was set and I got my desired results, there is no way to apply the calibrated parameters for all inputs. I calibrated profile "Expert 1" (Blue-ray display mode) on TV does not have the same parameters, does not really change at all. I had to manually copy the number from my notes and transfer them one by one. I found it very annoying, but not a big problem and I could get around him. But it is very strange.
Another problem that I found rather strange is the expert of profiles, image are disabled in 3D display mode. So, all the calibrated results are meaningless if you watch movies in 3D. I understand that all energy-saving functions are disabled in 3D mode, but the calibrated profiles are gone too? Very strange. Fortunately, the profile image "Cinema" is still working and as I said, what a good job.
This TV doesn't have any internet streaming service but who really needs it because if you buy a 3D TV, it's almost certain that you have or will have a 3D Blu-ray player and all 3D Blu-ray players have internet streaming capability. Why we need to pay more for a similar feature in a TV as well?
In summary, Although this TV is certainly NOT among the best out there, not even close; It is an excellent TV, especially for the money. Having a lot of advanced picture controls is a huge plus. Excellent picture quality for the money. Despite some annoying but minor issues I found, I still give this TV 5 stars for its quality and value.
**Pros:
- Inexpensive
- Pretty good looking
- 3D
- Many advanced controls for tweaking picture quality, ISF calibration ready, as LG put it. This is a huge plus for an entry level TV
- Excellent picture quality and color accuracy, especially after being properly calibrated
- Low power consumption for a plasma TV, has built-in smart power-saving feature. After being calibrated, it's less than 100 watts in 2D mode which is very low for a plasma TV and within the territory of LCD TVs.
**Cons:
- Only 720p. This actually doesn't bother me because I hardly notice any difference in picture quality compared to my 1080p TV unless I get very close, something like 2-3 feet or so.
- A small annoying issue I found when I tried to calibrate the TV. No big deal but still annoying. I will explain later.
- Looks like a mirror. This is actually a problem for all plasma TVs, the technology itself. If your room is not dark enough, or the TV is facing a window, the reflection can be pretty bad. High end plasma TVs have some sort of filter or something like that to reduce reflection but they cost a lot more. If your room is pretty bright, get ready to buy a dark curtain.
Overall Customer Rating is 5/5
LG Plasma 3D TV
LG 42PW350 Key Features
- Bring your content alive with full 720p HD 3D technology
- Incredibly high contrast ratio of 10,000,000:1 delivers incredibly vibrant colors and deeper and darker blacks
- Energy Star qualified so your entertainment experiene uses less energy
- The 600Hz Sub Field Driving virtually eliminates motion blur
- At less than 1" wide the new TruSlim Frame trims away the distraction of a wide frame.
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