LG 42LP1D Product Support Bulletin page 7

test bench
from the
window, the 42PX4D is more of a
screamer, putting out 71.86 ft-L. This
combo of black level and light output is
impressive and shows a real effort on LG's
part to—oh, I don't know—take over
the world?
Unfortunately, there are some nega-
tives. Color is one. The color points, as
you can see in the measurements box, are
pretty far off the SMPTE spec. With
video material, this comes across as an
abundance of color, and turning down the
color control only partially alleviates the
problem. As far as color goes, it's one of
the least accurate displays we've mea-
sured in recent years. That's not to say
that it looks cartoonish. It's not that bad,
but it certainly isn't as accurate as some
plasmas (or its LCD brother here). For
example, grass has a little more blue in it
than with other displays.
Noise, both visible and audible, is
another issue. Sitting at a normal viewing
distance, you can't hear it; but get closer,
and you can hear it hum. Most plasmas do
this to some extent; it's just something to
keep in mind. Video noise, on the other
hand, was more noticeable. With most
video, there was a fair amount of noise.
Darker scenes, such as the opening of
Master and Commander, appeared fairly
grainy. Turning down the sharpness con-
trol reduced the graininess somewhat, but
at the expense of detail. There was also a
fair amount of noise in gradations from
light to dark. While there were some
steps in the gradations, they were barely
noticeable on test patterns or video.
Phosphor lag, or the precursor to
burn-in, is much improved over the LG
RU-42PX11 plasma that was in the Feb-
ruary 2005 Face Off. It hasn't been com-
pletely vanquished, though, and there are
a few electronic settings to help prevent it
from happening. An orbiter moves the
image around the screen very slightly. A
white wash puts up a white field to help
burn the screen uniformly ("washing" off
the burn-in), and inversion inverts the
Posted with permission from the August 2005 issue of Home Theater ® www.hometheatermag.com. Copyright 2005, PRIMEDIA Inc. All rights reserved.
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LG ELECTRONICS 42LP1D LCD HDTV AND 42PX4D PLASMA HDTV
colors of the image. This one is, shall we
say, trippy.
Aesthetically, the 42PX4D is pretty
normal, with a black bezel around the
screen that is a little too shiny. It has a
bevy of input and output options, yet
another aspect that belies this display's
price. Price-wise, the 42PX4D isn't
cheap, but it's not too far above the
normal range.
Commonalities
Video processing is a mixed bag with
these two LG displays. With the Snell &
Wilcox Zone Plate test pattern, neither
display seemed to pick up the 3:2
sequence. With actual video material,
though, it picked it up fairly quickly.
Video processing, using the waving flag
from Video Essentials, is only OK. There
are some jagged edges, although they are
small. Both displays scale very well. LG's
XD engine, which we lauded in the afore-
mentioned Face Off, doesn't disappoint
here. It scales DVDs extremely well,
showing an excellent level of detail.
Overall, both displays show excellent
detail with HD and DVD. With some
program material, the LCD seemed
slightly sharper, but, with other material
(especially that with lots of fast motion),
it was a wash.
Both sets have built-in tuners and come
with TV Guide On Screen. The tuners do
a decent job of pulling in stations and
picked up all of the Los Angeles DTV
channels with just a small indoor antenna.
Keep in mind that our studio location
picks up DTV with ease, so your recep-
tion may vary. Channel switching is rea-
sonably fast, and deleting all of those
crappy SD channels is easy. A cool feature
that both displays have is evident when
you start picking a station directly, say by
pressing "2": It shows a drop-down menu
of all the stations that have been scanned
that start with "2." If you then dial in "28,"
the menu will then show "28-1," "28-2,"
and so on so you can select that station
and go to it directly. It may not seem like
much of a time saver, but it actually is.
The remotes are laid out the same, but
the LCD remote is far more classy, with a
black-gloss finish that matches the display.
The power, mode, volume, and channel
buttons are backlit by a cool-looking
white light that you can activate (and
deactivate!) by a button on the side. It's
amazing, the things we get excited about,
eh? On the plasma remote, only the
mode button is backlit. Both remotes
have a panel that hides the buttons for
secondary functions like aspect-ratio
adjustment, PIP, and so on. Overall, both
are laid out well and fit comfortably in the
hand.
Both displays have a front-panel func-
tion that shows you which input you're
on, and both have aspect-ratio control for
all resolutions. Lastly, if you're an ISF cal-
ibrator (or if you're planning to get your
set calibrated), LG Electronics created a
hidden menu to make your life easier by
making the sets easier to calibrate. Its
implementation is terrific, and no, I
won't give you the codes to get into it.
Pick Your Weapon
The LCD offers the best contrast ratio,
but its black level isn't good enough for
hard-core theater duties. The plasma is
bright and has an impressive black level,
but its penchant for phosphor lag prevents
me from recommending that people run
it flat out in a well-lit living room. Side
by side, the differences are subtle. With
bright program material, the LCD is the
eye-catcher, with slightly less noise,
slightly more resolution, and more nat-
ural color. (Did I mention that it's also
bright?) As soon as there's black on the
screen, the plasma takes the lead. There is
no substitute for a good black level, and it
draws your eye right away.
So there you have it, two good exam-
ples of what LCD and plasma can offer.
It all just boils down to that final ques-
tion: How are you going to use it?