Customer Reviews: Read 11 more reviews...
 This TV's overall value FAR exceeds the pricier brands! December 8, 2008
R. Mathur (Austin, TX)
I've had the 32LB9D for about 9 months now, and I have to say I am constantly amazed by its quality! Especially when comparing with my friends' Sony, Panasonic, and Sharp TVs.
First off is the picture quality. Out of the box, the "Intelligent Eye" mode is quite interesting ... for me it sufficed for a few weeks, after which I delved into the more detailed picture adjustments. Do yourself a favor: get a copy of any DVD that has picture adjustment features (I used ratatouille) and take the 10 minutes needed to adjust brightness, contrast, and color. With these adjustments, this TV looks better than just about any other I've seen in any nearby price range (I got the TV for $600 at the time).
In addition, I often connect this TV as an additional monitor to my MacBook Pro via HDMI, and man is the quality amazing! All text is VERY clear to read even from across the room, and my friends are always commenting on how nice it is to watch youtube videos & online TV shows on this TV.
Next up are the connection options, of which we all know this TV has PLENTY so not much more needs to be said about that. However, I have found one caveat. The digital audio output of the TV will only output Dolby signals; it will NOT output DTS signals! I found this out the hard way: my Blu-ray player was connected via HDMI to the TV, and TV digital audio output to surround sound receiver. When I played a disc containing DTS audio, my receiver only reported getting stereo audio from the TV. Of course, the simple solution to that is to send audio directly from the component to the receiver, which is why I didn't take off a star for this (I would take off 1/4 of a star if I could) :)
Which leads me to the TV's own audio system. To be honest, the built-in speakers are underpowered. If you rely on your TV as the audio source, you'll find yourself raising the volume to very high levels at times, and even then the speakers will sound kinda blown. This would cost the TV another 1/4 star in my review, so I guess we're down to what, 4.5 stars? :D One nice thing about the TV's audio is the simulated surround sound that it can do, which can be pretty cool to hear at times.
Overall, I've had no regrets about this TV at all. The lack of DTS audio output was a bit annoying at first, but any traditional home theater setup has audio going from the component directly to the home theater receiver anyway. The underpowered speakers aren't that much of an issue either; they'll definitely work in a medium sized room if you don't have a better audio setup.
Wow!!! October 31, 2008
Jeanette Solomon (Tobago, Trinidad and Tobago, West Indies)
The kids just can't seem to stop exploring the numerous features.
They have just discovered a whole new level to television viewing.
Great, for all my purposes. July 17, 2008
Eaes (NC)
I love this set. I found it at a local pawn shop, perfect condition, and obviously got an excellent deal. I've used a couple of other HD sets, and this one's by far my favorite.
First and foremost: Gaming. I see another review on here was bashing the gaming on this set, but the PS3 run through HDMI at 720p looks beautiful. I've played CoD4, Battlfield: Bad Company, MGS4, Motorstorm, GTA4, and Warhawk on this set, all intense action oriented games. No blurring, no artifacts, looks realll good. The only thing that looks slightly bad is the edges on everything are a little pixellated, but it did this on the other sets as well (an $800 Sharp and $900 Sony of the same size). I'm not really sure what set he hooked it up to that looked better, but I'd like to know.
Second, SD cable. Like a lot of people, I haven't made the switch to HD programming yet. But SD channels look as good as you can expect. The Zoom1 ratio is really nice, doesn't look stretched at all, but it cuts things off sometimes (it's really only noticeable when there are words on screen - credits, titles, logos, etc.) Stuff I really don't care about seeing anyway. I'm not a fan of having big black bars on the side of my screen, so I really like this ratio. Image quality seems to vary a lot between channels, but it never looks bad.
Third, as a monitor. I was, in fact, so impressed when I hooked my laptop up through VGA that I've decided to build an HTPC to use with the LG as a monitor. Granted, I'm going to use a video card with DVI/HDMI output with a DVI to HDMI cable so I can pass HDMI sound to my receiver, but anyway. It looked good. I'm probably going to buy a long VGA Cable so I can hook up the laptop to the monitor and use it in a Dual Monitor set-up, as well. The max resolution supported on the tv is 1366 x 768, which is perfect for me, but I bet PC gamers will be wanting a much higher resolution... It's definitely not for playing Crysis at max settings. Still, it's not gonna look bad, either.
There are an absolute load of inputs, 3 HDMI, 2 Component, VGA, etc. I don't think you'll ever find yourself not being able to connect something you want to. There's also a Digital Out for audio.
The Remote can't program my Sony Receiver... irritating. I'm trying to find a universal remote that will let me switch inputs on the LG and control the volume of my receiver. There are 8 or 10 codes for Sony Audio, but none of them work. My receiver is a STR-K790, by the way.
(I can't comment on the speaker quality of the TV, since I haven't used it at all.)
All in all, it's a definitely a great set, and arguably the best budget HDTV around. The only issue at all I have with it is black-levels, but really it's minor. (see the 24 and 165 in the top left corner here? http://research.stowers-institute.org/efg/R/Color/Chart/ColorsChart2.jpg
The 165 is the black level on my set, with the gloss frame as the 24. You CAN get it darker, by adjusting the backlight level and such... I'm not much of a videophile so I'm not worried about it. For a casual user, you're only gonna notice it in pitch black scenes where people have the lights off, and the little black bars on the side. I just suggest using Zoom1.)
Outstanding!! May 3, 2008
R. Zilch (Lake Villa, IL, USA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I ordered this TV based solely on the reviews posted here and other websites. What a great TV!! The picture is crystal clear, even when I just plugged the cable into the wall while waiting for my DirecTV to be installed for HD.
The HD channels are even better than on my 37" plasma in the basement. I put this TV in my living room, which gets a lot of sunlight in the late afternoon. Absolutely minimal sun glare off the screen and the picture wasn't degraged at all!
 Good picture bad sound March 26, 2008
teyod
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
So I've had this unit for a few months now and I think I have a pretty good grasp of its capabilities and quality.
First- Set-up was a breeze, the manual, though sparse was pretty detailed in the picture. It was easy to follow the directions from the diagrams or just figure it out on your own.
Secong- Picture quality is amazing, black is truly black on this unit. the contrast and and the sharpness is great. I attached an HDDVD unit to it and it looks great.
Third- After a few days of using the built-in speakers at mid volume levels the sound quality starts dropping off. I opted to using my home external sound systems to save the speakers, besides it sounds better that way.
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