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LG 50PQ6000
by Grummy
From the leading South Korean Electronics giant, the LG 50PQ6000 boasts some of the most crisp, most detailed and beautiful visuals available.
I won't bore you by bombarding you with jargon and contrast ratios and all the other little picky details that make tech nerds giggle into their milkshakes (no offence intended to any ... tech nerds who read this), that sort of information is freely available for those who are really interested in it. No, this review I will present is for those of use who just want to know, in laymans terms, how this TV will perform day to day and if it's suitable for our needs.
Well, in a word, yes, it is. However there ARE some issues.
The big issue with this TV is that it is HD ready, meaning it ONLY outputs HD quality. Now, I know you're probably wondering why that is a problem, and in my personal opinion, it isn't, however HD ready TV's all have the same inherent problem. A HD ready TV is designed purely for catering to the HD generation, modern gaming, Digital TV, Sky HD, Blu-Ray etc, and it is when used with these that the true brilliance of HD technology shines through. However it has it's drawbacks. It can't upscale older technology, so analogue TV (not a problem much longer), older gaming consoles and normal DVD's don't benefit from the HD technology. Indeed, they tend to look worse.
This is not an issue specific to this TV though, rather it is a problem with HD technology in general, so if you are considering making the change to an HDTV be aware of these drawbacks.
However, please don't let this discourage you from making the move into HD, and certainly don't allow it to dissuade you from buying this TV, because it's a cracker.
The first thing you notice about this TV is it's sleek and elegant design. It is surprisngly small considering it carries a 50" screen, however, despite this, it is actually very heavy, around 75 lbs, meaning you will need a reinforced unit or stand to support it, so be aware of that if you decide to take the plunge. When I bought mine, it came packaged with a stand, but I wasn't confident that it would support it long term, so I opted not to use it.
The 50PQ6000 provides 1 USB, 4 HDMI inputs, 2 Scart, VGA input for computer, component input, S-Video input, RGB input and output caps, allowing you a great variety when choosing your audio and video input. I personally use HDMI for my Xbox 360 and a Blu Ray player, which also enables me to use a high quality surround sound system. Needless to say I even giggle into MY milkshake occasionally when I sit back to watch an epic movie, or play my favourite games. When used in conjuction with modern game consoles or a Blu-RAy player, the results are nothing short of astonishing. The depth of the colour is sublime and the visuals are crisp and clear as crystal. No blurring, smudging, darkness or anything that was quite common with pre HD TV's. Watching a HD visual on this TV is like looking out of your window on bright summers day. Truly beautiful.
Incidentally, there are 2 versions of this TV, one with a built in Digital TV reciever and one without, the one I have comes WITH the reciever, and let me tell you, it too is sublime. Admittedly I enhance my viewing pleasure with the previously mentioned surround sound system, but even so, this TV is no slouch on it's own.
As standard, the TV tunes into PAL TV, although SECAM and NTSC is also possible, just in case you want to take your heavy 50" Plasma Screen TV on holiday with you I guess. Default image setting is 16:9 although 4:3 and 14:9 are also available, along with a couple of levels of zoom. Audio is supported by 2 10 watt stereo speakers which produces a surprisngly thick sound. Usually TV speakers tend towards being tinny and hollow sounding, but these speakers handle the audio beautifully allowing for a fuller, more satisfying sound.
The expected features, teletext, subtitles, mute etc are all here, and for the parents among us parental controls and childlocks come as standard to restrict and monitor the viewing of your little cherubs.
And now to be a total hypocrite I AM going to talk about contrast ratios. Sorry, but there's a reason for it. I use this TV primarily for gaming so the depth of the colour etc is of some interest to me, and let me tell you know, it is BEAUTIFUL.
The most impressive part for me is the scope of the black. I know, it sounds stupid as hell right? Well let me try to explain it briefly. I have a friend who works in the gaming industry and from what he tells me, black is difficult to work with as it contains differen shades of colour to represent depths of light and shadows and all kinds of details that make me go cross eyed. The long and short of it though is that for PC gaming, this isn't much of an issue because PC monitors are tailored to deal with this, and the individual games have graphical adjustments available to compensate. Console gaming does not, and the quality of TV's available play a factor. If a TV doesn't have the depth of colour then there's nothing that can be done, it just doesn't show up. Fortunately, this TV has an amazing depth of colour, particularly in the blacks, meaning when I play darker games, the shadows and the contrasting colours show up much more clearly.
Without question this is a premier TV choice for HD gaming. I put a lot of time into gaming every week and I never fail to be impressed by the resulting visuals.
However, there is one big issue this TV suffers from with regards to gaming, it suffer's from terrible 'burn-in'. For those not in the know, 'burn-in' is something that many TV's suffer from when used in conjuction with games consoles. I don't know exactly how it works in detail, but essentially what happens is that, with gaming, the images produced on screen are created differently to images on TV and DVD, which are reproductions of real life. The difference in how these images are created can cause images to become burned into the Black of the TV screen.
Fortunately, with this TV 95% of the times it's unoticeable, and the level of severity depends on how you have used the TV. If you keep the same image on the screen for too long it will become burned in quite severely and will persist for days, however if you are constantly playing, and the images are constantly changing, they don't have time to become burned in and the effect is minimal.
In truth, even the more severe 'burn-in' is barely noticeable during normal use, it is only on occasions when the screen gets particularly dark that you can see it. Having used this TV for a few months now, I can honestly say that, even though it suffers quite badly from the problem, it has never dones so to such a degree to affect my gaming or film watching enjoyment. However, if you're considering buying this TV, this is something you must certainly be aware of.
Right, I hope I didn't lose you there. Just to recap the pro's and con's specific to the 50PQ6000;
Pros
+Surprisingly slim and small with a nice sleek design.
+HD ready with beautiful, crisp visuals and hearty audio.
+Plenty of input variety that supports all modern audio and visual input.
+Nice selection of features.
+Fantastic depth of colour and that is GOOD, especially so for gamers.
Cons
-Very Heavy.
-Suffers from 'burn-in' issues.
All in all I can't recommend this TV highly enough. Yes it has some problems, but if there is a perfect TV out there I am yet to hear of it, and the pros by far outweigh the cons.
As someone who enjoys watching films in a home cinema style envrionment, this TV is close to perfect, it's impeccable visual output and support for HD audio and video input being the real highlights for me.
As a gamer it is even better. The depth of colour truly shines through in HD TV and it allows input for you to use the TV with your PC if you so desire, meaning it is not restricted to console gaming. And even the dreaded burn-in is nothing more than a minor, passing inconvenience.
Considering this TV currently comes priced at between the £5-600 mark, it is certainly one of the better options out there.
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