(
Loading ...LG 47LE5400 Review: 47” LED HDTV
Up for Review: LG 47LE5400 LED TV. To provide a variety of options for the viewers of all sections, LG has included all the best features in the higher end models and has slowly reduced the features in the subsequent models. This has been done to impress the consumers who are interested in buying a TV with the LG brand name and of the latest releases but hardly care about the path-breaking features. They are more interested in getting an affordable model with the optimum picture quality. And this particular model caters to this segment of society perfectly. Ideally, it has a great picture quality but lacks the 3D and the local dimming technologies.
Thankfully, LG has still included the 1080p display resolution. This goes a long way in making the images really crisp and razor-sharp. It is a real pleasure to watch movies in 1080p resolution. You can watch all the latest releases by connecting the Blu-ray disc player. The pictures are further brought to life by the sleek looking bezel. LG has gone in for a very slim bezel and very little depth in all its models. When mounted on the walls, the TV really looks akin to a moving picture on the walls. The images look crystal clear with a little help from the LED backlighting. This also causes a lot of savings in energy.
LG 47LE5400 Features and Specifications Review:
- 47″ Widescreen LED-Backlit LCD Display
- Full HD 1080p Resolution
- 16:9 Image Aspect Ratio
- TruMotion 120Hz Refresh Rate
- NetCast Entertainment Access
- WiFi Connectivity
- Inputs/Outputs: 2 x USB
TruMotion 120 Hz makes sure that you can go through all the action sequences without having to groan over the blurring and trailing in the frames. Although the higher end models have gone for a 480 Hz refresh rate, there may not be much of a difference noticeable to the eye of an average viewer. There are all the facilities for connecting HDMI and so you can watch all the action movies at home but having the feeling of seeing it in the theaters. And if you can get some popcorn then nothing can outdo the feeling experienced with a home theater system!
The LG 47LE5400 provides NetCast entertainment which allows you to access select sites on the Internet which have many people rooting for them. Prominent among them are Skype, NetFlix, YouTube, Vudu and Yahoo! Widgets. Now you can make phone calls to any place in the world through your TV. It will also be easy to watch all the latest movies and play your favorite music. This product is due to be released in March this year and then you can make a beeline for it. It is sure to suit your budget.
YouReviewElectronics.com gives LG 47LE5400 4/5 stars!
User Reviews
This review is for the LG 47LE5400 47-Inch Edge Lit LED/LCD 1080p HDTV! (what a mouthful!)
After much comparison, and much online and in-store research I decided to plunk down my hard earned cash on this bad boy. So far, I am very glad I did.
My criteria for purchase was a screen no larger than 47 inches (to preserve the image quality of my AVI files and SD programming) and also something that had perfect geometry (unlike the Mitsubishi DLP that recently died on me) and something that would display and maintain a bright uniform picture. (unlike my Pioneer Plasma did) I also had hoped for a display that could display a native PAL video signal without requiring conversion.
Purchased the set at a brick and mortar location (initials are BB) so in case things didn’t work out I could return or exchange it with no problems. I easily carried the box inside my house (I am pushing 60 with arthritis) and had the stand assembled and mounted on the TV in about 20 minutes total from bringing in the box. The TV is packed well, but not filled with unnecessary packaging material. There is a quick start guide included and the entire manual resides on a CD-Rom which I personally HATE but at least you can’t spill things on it right? Also included were warranty materials, a separate set of instructions and CD-ROM for the web connectivity stuff , some cable adapters, a cleaning cloth and the remote with two AAA batteries.
The TV was in perfect condition, wrapped in that foam cloth stuff and with the prerequisite plastic film over the frame bezel. Easy to remove all of that stuff and it didn’t leave any trace of sticky residue which was nice. Jacks are group on the rear left with the USB and headphone jacks on the left side but behind the bezel. This TV is very thin and not all that secure on it’s stand. The stand is fine, but I would recommend strapping it down whenever you put it unless you use a wall mount of some kind. Just sitting on a table you are one false move away from turning your beautiful LED TV into a doorstop. And the TV itself is very nice to look at, very easy on the eyes really.
I am not currently using the web connectivity stuff or the Netflix online feature so I can not comment on those functions in this review. If they work as well as the rest of the unit, things should be fine. While it is ‘internet ready’ it does not include a wireless dongle so you either need to physically connect it to your router with an Ethernet cable, or purchase a USB wireless dongle from LG . (Yes, they are proprietary, unfortunately)
Connected my HDMI cables from my Fios DVR and Oppo Blu Ray and plugged in the power. This TV will power up and ask you if you want ‘home use’ or “store use’ which is of course flame thrower mode. Pick ‘home use’ and go from there. Just remember which inputs you plugged what into so you can easily get to them. The manual will tell you how to custom label your inputs if you can’t remember HDMI 1 or 2 or so forth.
The first thing I did was set the picture to “Standard” and then lower the back light, the contrast, the brightness and color and even sharpness levels. Then I went into the advanced settings menu and turned off all the noise reduction and cut the auto contrast setting down to low. The TV will not look all that great out of the box as it is meant to attract your attention in the store, but those setting are pretty useless at home if you want your picture to look rich and natural. All in all, it took me maybe 15 minutes to get a starting point where I could watch and be more than happy with the picture.
You can download the manual from LG’s website and get to know this unit before you purchase. That’s what I did and it saved me tons of time. LG also includes a ‘Picture Wizard’ that helps you to easily and quickly calibrate an input to your taste and achieve fairly accurate color and proper contrast and brightness. You can then assign that setting to any input or inputs you wish and save it . You can do this twice and save each one with the ‘Expert’ function and of course you can adjust the other preset picture modes and save them as well. LOTS of options in that regard!
A word about the 120Hz True Motion. Like hot sauce, a little goes a long way. LG offers you your choice of ON, OFF, LOW, HIGH and USER. In the user mode you can adjust both judder AND motion blur separately which is a big improvement in software for this model I think. To me, the True Motion gives you almost the same effect as watching a video tape rather than a film. It does lend itself to some program material, making certain things appear even more real, a sort of hyper reality. It does introduce some other artifacts into the picture quality that you may or may not notice and ultimately you may decide not to use it at all. The good news is, it can be switched off but also adjusted to suit your needs and personal taste. Does it completely eliminate motion blur? Not by a long shot! For now, motion blur is something that is inherent in LCD displays. Maybe someday they will find a way to get them to switch on and off quicker (the pixels) and perhaps start putting some beefier processing chips into these things as well. As it is, on very rare occasions the display seems to ‘skip a beat’ and the chip seems to be temporarily overloaded. It all happens in a blink of an eye and is over before it started, but it DOES happen.
The dreaded lip sync issue that you may have heard about regarding LG has happened to me once so far after changing channels on my DVR. I had to shut off the display and reboot and it went away the first time. I plan to update the firmware as soon as I connect to my Cable router and hopefully it will be a thing of the past. I have used it heavily for more than a week and it has only happened once so far.
My BIGGEST criteria for selecting my new TV was it’s ability to play PAL DVD video with no conversion. I have a very large collection of British and European DVD’s and am not happy with ‘converting’ them to NTSC even with my Oppo. By making some sense out of the LG specs I had guessed it might be able to display PAL properly with no conversion, resulting in a much better picture than standard DVD could ever provide. IT WORKS PEREFCTLY! So far, only my Pioneer Plasma could display PAL without conversion so this was a huge plus for me. Also, standard NTSC DVD video is quite good, depending on your player and source material and off the air (or off Fios in my case) SD material looks very very good. And it goes without saying that Blu Ray or HD DVD material will simply blow you away once the set is even basically calibrated.
By the end of the day I had both my DVR and Blu Ray inputs calibrated to my liking and I must say the overall picture quality is nothing short of excellent. Sounds is ‘ok’ , not too awful, but not good enough to satisfy a movie lover. (hook up to a surround system and you will be glad you did)
So far, I have just ONE complaint and for many people this is a big one. In a word, FLASHLIGHTING !
This is when the LED’s which illuminate the LCD pixels shine through the edges of the picture and make there way in to dark areas on your screen, such as night time, or a fade out . During any other time the picture is outstanding, but no matter how low I set the back light (within reason) you can easily see it during any dark scnes. I personally have chosen to ignore this problem and just enjoy the TV.
You will not notice the flashlighting problem in the store. They make sure and supply program material that never goes dark on the edges so any deficiencies in contrast or flashlighting are hidden from the consumer. Bring your own USB drive with a movie that features a lot of dark scenes, the new Harry Potter comes to mind, and you will see for yourself. That’s of course if they let you do that!
I had also considered the Vizio 47 inch LED LCD set for about the same price and IT features local dimming on the LED array which eliminates this flashlighting problem. I just don’t feel comfortable yet with Vizio as a brand and opted for the LG. Videophiles would think I am nuts, but there you have it! Neither Vizio nor the king of local dimming LED, Samsung ,can display native PAL video. I feel I made the right choice for me anyway.
This TV really provides you with a HUGE wealth of signal processing tools (adjustments) to shape your picture quality any way you want it to be. There are 2 expert modes that let you tweak and calibrate to your hearts content, and not even my Pio Kuro had this amount of control over it. Honestly, except for the flashlighting problem I am totally happy with this LG. Honestly, I can live with it, but many could not. I would say the average person would rarely, if ever notice it , but it IS there and as such a deal breaker for many would be buyers.
With that said, This TV seems to be well made with a good solid build quality, the remote is much better than most (although I just use a Harmony One for everything) and it does everything I want it to do and more. Now lets see if the thing holds up to heavy use. As a parting thought I would recommend going with some form of extended warranty. Either thru the place of purchase or perhaps a company like Square Trade would be good as they allow you to purchase your extended warranty any time during the original warranty of your product. HAPPY TV SHOPPING!