Best Buy HDTVs Reviews

LG 55LH85

During the advent of big screen TVs, I said I would replace my 27″ Zenith color TV, purchased when I got married in 1969, when it quit on me. Well it didn’t and I couldn’t wait, so I bought a Sony KP5020 “coffee-table type” front projection TV in 1984. For the past few years, I have watched TV technology change to plasma and LCD’s. Like the Zenith, I gave up waiting for the Sony to quit also and after months of research deciding between plasma and LCD, I chose LCD and further upon further elimination of brands, a LG.

I am into gadgets and that’s my motorcycle group riding name. I wanted a bigger screen than 50″, so after deciding on the brand, there were 3 LG’s I looked at, the LG 55LH40, LG 55LHX and LG 55LH85. The so-called LED TV’s, like the LHX, are only backlit LEDs, not true LED like OLED and even though not true LED, they are expensive. Sony sells a true OLED TV for $2500 for an 11″ screen and they are sold out, but out of my range. 120 Hz vs 240 Hz? The eye can’t tell that much difference for the price and LG 120 Hz has “True-Motion” to compensate for “judder”. The same goes for 720p vs. 1080p. The eye can’t tell much and I understand that HDTV transmissions are in 720p anyway, Blueray is in 1080p. What finally attracted me was the LG 85′s separate wireless media box with almost an infinite array of inputs and outputs, all transmitted wireless. If you have your sound system in one area and TV in another area, but in the same room, you’ve got it made with this system.

I found out that Black Friday weekend prices on the TVs were a little lower than Cyber-Monday. I waited until Cyber Monday and lost out on good prices. What a hype. The TVs went up $100 for the 85 to $300 for the 40. Even Newegg went up. As I am typing this, Newegg went back down to Black Friday week prices after 2 weeks of being $100 higher. It helps to have “Price-Protection” service like I have, for 60 days after purchase, but it’s not through Newegg. The prices on the net have been ranging from $1699 to $2699. What a difference in prices.

I think my TV was shipped from Ca., since it took 8 days to get here by AIT. There was a storm front in the area and I called their local contractor, J & P trucking and asked them to postpone delivery a day later. They said they would deliver whenever I wanted and arrived 12/10/09.

It arrived strapped to a wooden pallet. I cut the straps and lifted the box over the TV that was encased in styrofoam. The only damage I found was 2 symmetrical hairline cracks on the back of the base that cannot be seen from the front. They are so equal, it almost looks like it was made that way. It was probably from the TV shifting on the foam.
It is a handsome unit with transparent frame. The TV measures 54″ wide, 10″ wider than the Sony, so I had to improvise my space. I wheeled it in carefully with a dolly and lifted it up onto my surround sound bass-box that is 13″H X 13″W X 15″ Deep. With stand, it weighs 86 lbs. Having the media box separate, saves weight. Inside the packing box is the TV, media box, 2 power cords, owners manual, extensive manual on a CD, remote with batteries, microfiber cloth and protection cover to cover the hole used by the TV stand, if you want to hang it up on the wall. You have to purchase a separate HDMI cables and VGA cable if you want to hook it up to your computer.

I had my previous TV hooked up with cable converter box; Go-Video DVD-VCR recorder; Go-Video VHS to VHS recorder; Sony DVD player changer and Sylvania DVD recorder, that runs through a multiple switching box master control center, so I am probably getting some signal loss. I hooked up the TV cable into the LG media box. My cable company also supplies not only TV, but broadband and telephone, another possible signal loss. It takes a few seconds for the media box’s transmitter located in the front of the box to search for the receiver located under the LG logo on the TV. Reception is similar to the “bars” on your cell phone and I am receiving 5 bars. By the time I finished hooking it up, the Jay Leno show was on and I thought either my vision was impaired or something’s wrong with the TV, because Jay’s head/face was out of focus. Was I upset and almost blamed it on the TV until I switched to a pre-recorded DVR program and then played a DVD and also switched to HD programming. I had no focus problems. Then I remembered the bad hype that the Sony projection TVs got many years ago. The increased size accented the poor transmissions put out by the TV stations, not the fault of the TV. I have not used the HDMI hookup yet or surround-sound option. I have a separate surround-sound running out of my DVD-VCR recorder.

The LG media box has 3 HDMI connections in the back, 1 in the front and there is 1 on the TV for a total of 5 HDMI ports. There are also component, DVI and composite hookups as well as optical digital audio out.

The LG has HDTV; ISR; AV; Invisible Speakers: Trumotion: Smart Energy Savings+; Dolby; SRS; Clear Voice II: HDMI; Full HD 1080p; Wireless; Intelligent Sensor and DIVX.

An array of red leds on the bottom right indicates standby and when turned on, cycles like a Battlestar Galatica Cyclon and turns white. You have the option of turning this off. Controls on the TV are on the right side. The remote has a 5 sec. backlight to see in the dark. The front of the master box has USB and HDMI in, ports.

The TV also comes with automatic or manual time clock and sleep timer. Through the remote, you can access a simple manual and quick menu to make picture adjustments. Pressing the info on the remote will give you program info if broadcast by your cable/satellite company. It also has key lock; parental controls and channel locks.

You can view JPG files, play MP3 and movie files as well as Simplink equipped. There is a “Picture Wizard” where you can “tune” your TV to examples, as you desire and adjusts black level, white, color tint, horizontal and vertical sharpness and backlight. You also have manual, advanced and 2 expert settings that you can set according to what you are watching. The expert settings also go farther than my technical ability at this time and I haven’t messed with all the color adjustment in the expert setting. There are directions for optimal placement of the media box and I have mine just in front and under the right side of the TV. I found out after moving the box around that the front controls are “touch-sensitive” for all the ports on the box. I have not used the HDMI or blue-ray, but according to the other reviews, the picture is outstanding. That is probably the best way to appreciate the money you spent on this TV, since TV broadcasting is still not the best of worlds. (I have been getting “tileing” all year and have had the cable co. out numerous times and they are coming again Sunday to try to fix the tileing. I’m ready to go back to Dish or Direct TV.)
The only Cons I can find is that when you use the Intelligent Sensor with one light on in the room, the screen is too dim for my liking, but it saves 75% energy by dropping the brightness and backlight. When I turn the overhead light on, it adjusts accordingly and gets brighter. The other con is the email for registration is not what is printed on the card. It is [...] “Secure” was left off the card or had been changed to a new email.

Contacting LG customer service by phone was answered quickly. I inquired why I am not receiving picture info. It seems it is the cable’s problem not the TV. I hooked another TV with picture info features up to cable and didn’t get any info either. At least I received immediate info from LG customer service, who also confirmed that my email registration had been confirmed.

I saw a 55 in. Vizio at Walmart this week for $1350. They are reputed to give you a lot of bang for the buck, but the old saying still is, “You get what you pay for” and I am happy with what I got. Anyone interested in LG should go to [...]

Reviewed by : Pberthoty,   Dec 22, 2009