My son is 7 years old and being first is very important to him. If his 5-year-old sister is headed for the bathroom to brush teeth before bed, you can rest assured he'll race to get in front of her to be first at the sink. We've also had to talk to him lately about eating too fast; apparently being the first one to make a slice of pizza disappear is an accomplishment of some sort. Obviously the fact that Danny finishes brushing his teeth or digesting his pizza before Abby can doesn't necessarily mean he's better at these tasks - probably quite the opposite, in point of fact - but being first does buy him some bragging rights, at least for now.
This brings us to LG's PX950 series 1080p plasma HDTVs, the industry's first flat panel display line to receive THX video certification for both 2D and 3D viewing. The PX950 is available in both 50-inch and 60-inch screen sizes, with the 50-inch model, the 50PX950 the subject of our current scrutiny.
As a display manufacturer, LG is not unfamiliar with the notion of being first. With their NetCast suite of web applications, LG was the first TV maker to expend obvious R&D effort to make a handsome, intuitive platform to showcase integrated web apps such as Netflix streaming and YouTube video playback. Some called the NetCast launching pad over-engineered and too elaborate. But I viewed it as money well spent and a sign of things to come, for others would surely follow suit. And follow they did. Unfortunately, although LG's NetCast interface continues to evolve, the number of distinct web apps offered by LG now pales in comparison to some of its competitors. LG may have been first, but they've since drifted back to the middle of the pack. Granted, the app and IPTV race is far from over.
With the 50PX950 plasma display, LG is once again faced with the excitement of being first to the party. And at this party, it seems everyone is wearing funny glasses. With 3D all the rage right now, LG's PX950 series presents an enticing package. After all, THX 3D certification and promises of reduced crosstalk during 3D playback are enough to get any 3D TV fan excited. But does LG deliver on that promise? Read on to find out.
The Walk Around
For a few years now, LG has made some of the better-looking flat panels on the market. The 50PX950 is no exception, thanks in large part to its elegant single-pane design. One solid piece of glass covers the front of the unit, thus leaving no edge or ridge between the display and its surrounding bezel. The 20-degree swivel base is also quite attractive and all in all, this is a fine looking display - on or off.
Out back you'll find plenty of connectivity goodness. LG gives you three HDMI 1.4a inputs on the rear panel plus a fourth on the side. Two component video and a pair of composite connections round out the analog side of things. WiFi fans will be happy to know the 50PX950 comes with a USB WiFi adapter in the box. I used this for my Internet needs and had good results connecting to the 5GHz band of my Linksys dual-band wireless-n router. A standard Ethernet port is also available on the rear panel for those who would rather be wired.
Finally, it should be noted the 50PX950 can also be used with LG's optional AN-WL100W Wireless Media Kit. This kit offers fully wireless source connection to the TV at full HD 1080p quality. In other words, the only cable you'll need to connect to the TV is the power cord -- a nice option for wall-mounted installations. To use this, you would connect the kit's receiver unit to the "Wireless Control" port on the rear of the 50PX950. I had the kit on hand and experienced some intermittent quirky behavior, but when it works properly it's certainly a handy solution for clean practicaly wire-free installations.
Remote, Control
One thing I didn't like was the fact that software updates appear to be mandatory whenever a new system update is detected. Shortly after receiving my review unit I updated the system software to the latest version available (4.00.04). A few weeks later, I went to engage NetCast and it said that it was checking for updates. A cryptic, poorly-translated message soon appeared, informing me that I use "limited network contents because I did not update software." Do I want to update now? Well, at the time, I didn't. I just wanted to check on something quickly. So I hit CANCEL. This aborted the NetCast launch. It just went back to my previous source. I tried again with the same result. Ultimately I had to allow the software update to occur before NetCast would start. Like a Firefox or Internet Explorer browser update notification, I appreciate the news that there's a newer version available. Honest, I do. But don't make me sit through it right now if my current version is working fine.
NetCast
As mentioned, I recently had to update the system software to the newest version (4.02.02). After doing so, the NetCast screen suddenly looks a little different. The app icons are now arranged in two rows, and a "Coming Soon" icon now concludes the list. It's a useless icon, that teases more than anything. But I can understand why LG put it there. With regular software updates and the power of the Internet, you never know what sort of new icons are going to appear tomorrow. And I like that. Also, in many cases, application updates require both a client upgrade (on the TV itself) and a back-end server upgrade (on LG's NetCast servers), so this placeholder could magically transform to a new service (Hulu Plus anyone?) without the need for an additional firmware upgrade on the TV itself.
LG delivers a healthy mix of web-based apps, though not as many as some other display makers. First and foremost we have Netflix, and thankfully it's the latest iteration which allows for title searching and the ability to browse the newest arrivals in the "Instant" store. Also available are Vudu and CinemaNow for movie rentals and purchases, plus Picasa Web Albums, MLB.com and YouTube. It would be nice if Hulu Plus, Google TV, Amazon VOD and/or Pandora fell under that "Coming Soon" umbrella, but I've heard no such news. Yet.
The 50PX950 is also a DLNA client, but this capability can only be used to browse images, which is unfortunate. For music and video files, you'll have to be content with the display's side-mounted USB ports, of which there are two.
Processing... Processing...
To get a sense for the 50PX950's processing capabilities, I connected my Oppo DV-983H DVD player via component video and set the player's output to 480i. I also connected LG's 3D-powered BX580 Blu-ray Disc player and set its output to 1080i. Running through IDT's HQV Benchmark 2.0 test patterns - both the standard definition DVD and high definition Blu-ray editions - the 50PX950 did a respectable job on most tests, but some areas fell a bit short of expectations.
HQV's "Video Resolution" tests posed little challenge to the LG and the oscillating bars presented only the slightest ripple. The waving flag on the other hand showed a bit more stair-stepping than I would have liked to see. Using the DVD's version of the "Film Resolution" test, I was disappointed that the 50PX950 took almost six seconds to lock down the 3:2 film cadence present in the Super Speedway race car sequence. The clip repeats a few times, and subsequent "laps" were correct from the get-go, but every "first lap" following the 2:2 sequence required 5-6 seconds before the grandstands were cleared of distracting moire artifacts.
Although on the test disc, film cadence took a bit longer than it should have to be properly identified, real world viewing presented no major problems that we could observe. Thanks to LG's 24p Real Cinema technology, 1080/24p output from the LG Blu-ray player was always handled properly, which was nice to see. A great scene to evaluate this is the Intrepid flyover in I Am Legend, where Will Smith takes a break from hunting to get in a little tee time. The camera pan over the ship and its flight deck was extremely smooth and film-like on the 50PX950, without the jerky hitches often generated by 2:3 pulldown and conversion to 60 Hz, or the artificially smooth soap opera effect that we see on LED or LCD TVs that use motion interpolation.
Picture This
Out of the box, this LG is capable of producing a respectable high definition image. Of the offered picture modes, "THX Cinema" is a good place to start. It's a little too heavy on blue and grayscale needs work, but it presents a much better alternative to "Standard" or "Vivid." LG is also kind enough to give us a "THX Bright Room" setting which gives you a solid starting point when the display is to be placed in a -- you guessed it -- bright room. Once again, neither of these canned THX modes are perfect, and I was much happier with things after a full calibration, but it took a while to get there.
Using my SpyderTV Pro 2007 calibration kit, and the "ISF Expert 1" picture mode as my starting point, I had some difficulty before eventually getting the 50PX950 to its happy place. Partly my troubles stemmed from the fact that cuts and gains required significant adjustment to rein in blue, which was much too prominent at the get-go, and the extensive tweaking required a lot of back and forth and re-checking since some these video settings are inter-dependent. With a professional and more thorough calibration, I'm guessing the 50PX950 is capable of slightly better even than what I saw, but that being said, what I saw was still enough to impress.
With my settings dialed in, I set about watching several test clips from Blu-ray Discs such as I Am Legend, The Dark Knight, The Fifth Element, and Disney's A Christmas Carol 3-D for a dose of the third dimension. 2D content looked quite good with convincing black levels, though overall contrast and black level performance was not quite on a par with that of the newest top of the line Panasonic plasmas. Color accuracy was consistently excellent on the LG, with skin tones during Morgan Freeman's rooftop meeting in Hong Kong (The Dark Knight) looking particularly natural.
My biggest gripe with the picture put forth by the 50PX950 was its noticeable image retention. Whenever you watch anything that has any fixed images on the screen for any length of time (or use the on-screen menu for a while), you can clearly see a faint outline of those edges well after the image has gone. This isn't permanent burn-in, and LG does offer three modes of "Image Sticking Minimization" (ISM) - my new favorite acronym - but it can still be rather irritating at times. It also makes calibration difficult when your black area looks brighter than it should because that spot was previously rendering a large white area.
Dimension No. 3
And finally we come to 3D. It's no secret that I'm not exactly the biggest fan of 3D TV. A recent conversation with my eye doctor leads me to believe that my screwy contact lens prescription - nearsighted in one eye, farsighted in the other - may be partly to blame for my problmes with 3D and its ability to fool my brain with respect to depth perception. All that said, my eyes work just fine in the 2D world. And I've read too many reviews and spoken to too many people to dismiss my problems with current 3D technology as being "all in my head." It's not a perfect technology, though it is getting better.
One step in the right direction is LG's 50PX950 and its industry-first THX certification for 3D video. I have a handful of Blu-ray 3D titles here, and of all of them, I would argue that Disney's A Christmas Carol is the best in its 3D effect -- or perhaps I should say, the least objectionable. After watching several clips from this film on a handful of displays, the LG seems to do the best job at rendering the intended 3D effect. Switching between the "THX Cinema 3D" picture mode and "Standard" does yield a reduction in noticeable 3D crosstalk, but I wish I could say it eliminates the phenomenon entirely. It does not. But it's better -- particularly when compared to the LED/LCD TVs I've evaluated -- and that's a start.
It should be noted that the 50PX950 will also convert 2D content into 3D on the fly, but I have a hard enough time seeing the appeal of ground-up 3D content, so I wasn't surprised to find a less-than-impressive experience with the 2D-converted stuff. If it was shot in 2D, watch it in 2D. It's that simple.
Unfortunately, the 50PX950 doesn't come with 3D glasses in the box. LG was kind enough to send me one pair of their AG-S100 3D active shutter glasses, but these are sold separately at a list price of $179 each. Ouch. On the bright side, they are some of the more comfortable 3D glasses I've worn, and considerably more comfortable than the two generations of Panasonic glasses I've tried thus far. Also, through the beauty of the Internet, you can get them online for a whole lot less than MSRP (below half price, actually). Although we were not able to find any current bundles that include glasses and/or a Blu-ray 3D player with purchase, we wouldn't be surprised to see these for this model in 2011.
Turn Ons:
The standard remote included with the PX950.
Turn Offs:
Final Thoughts
With the PX950, LG has produced what may be their finest plasma display to date. With its solid black levels, excellent color accuracy and wide viewing angle, there's plenty to like here. As for its THX 3D certification, I'll admit to seeing an improvement of the Blu-ray 3D experience, but it's not the significant leap forward I was hoping for.
LG's PX950 was the first display to earn this new endorsement from the THX folks - and that's cool, I suppose. It surely won't be the last. In this humble critic's opinion though, the more important certification on the PX950 is for its 2D performance. And it's here where the PX950 earns my respect. With this new flagship display, LG hasn't dethroned Panasonic as the reigning plasma king, but they're certainly getting closer. If plasma is in your future, LG's PX950 should definitely be on your short list.
Where to Buy:
Manufacturer's Specifications for LG 50PX950 Plasma HDTV:
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Manufacturer's Contact Information:
LG Electronics USA, Inc.
1000 Sylvan Avenue
Englewood Cliffs, NJ 07632
Toll Free: 800-243-0000
On the Web: www.lgusa.com
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