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LG 42LG3000
by KennyG5000
After my cathode ray old school Sony television packed in, I thought it was long overdue time I upgraded to a flat screen TV, and set about researching the best models on the internet. LG (formerly Philips) are a brand I trust from previous purchases, and I found this particular model was competitively priced compared to similar sized ... TVs (and the online store I bought it from threw in an £80 glass TV table in for free when I got it for £380).
The TV display itself looks great. I've seen similar and smaller LCD TVs with a more blurry picture, this one is sharp as an arrow even when sitting quite close (although optimally you would want to be about 6 ft away to avoid eye strain). I also connect the Nintendo Wii to the TV and this looks brilliant from the component connection, really clear (great from playing EA Sports Grand Slam Tennis, on other TVs you couldn't even seen the ball!). This is a TV that features a good number of connectors, apart from the aforementioned component sockets, you also get to a couple of scart sockets, and two HDMI ones (not to mention a good old trusty aerial port). The HDMI will take a computer video signal (if your graphics card supports DVI to HDMI out of course) and this looks stunning on the TV, I personally find it a lot more comfortable playing computer games in my front room than sitting in front of desk next to my computer (plus no fan noise if you get a long enough extension cable!).
The LG3000 also has a view other nifty tricks up its rather large sleeves. I personally like the option to use energy saving on the screen. This basically means you can reduce the backlight to make the display a bit more dim (it can actually be easier on the eyes on a dark night) and also turn off the display completely leaving only the audio out (which is a nice touch if you are using your DVD player to play music rather than watch the screen). Also of note is the general quality of the audio, which is again excellent. I've heard plenty of tinny, trebly TV, I think this is largely due to the physical limitations of getting good speakers into narrow TVs (the bass end usually takes a big hit). It could also be that a lot of companies try to cut some costs on this aspect hoping that consumers either won't mind or may just rig up a surround system anyway. Well you can avoid that second option (if you wish) with this TV as the onboard sound is second to none; films sound great (there is also a '3D sound' option in the audio menu to give you pseudo surround and it actually works quite well) and voices are crystal clear when watching just about anything.
If there was one very minor niggle with the TV is that even with the volume set to '1' it is still quite loud, and when we used to live in a flat with our baby sleeping in the room next door this made watching TV a risky operation! I guess the other thing to know is that the TV is only 'HD ready' rather than 'full HD', thus all currently broadcasted HD channels by both Virgin and Sky will look fine (as this resolution is what they currently broadcast at) but you'll need full HD to fully benefit for the resolution of a Blue Ray disc (something I haven't 'yet' upgraded to). The TV features a nice built in DVD upscaling feature anyway so they look almost 'HD' when viewed, but I've no doubt Blue Ray looks even better. Of course, full HD TVs at 42 inch are the next price bracket up from this model so you'll have to dig deeper into your pockets if this is a deal breaker for you.
So you could say I'm a satisfied customer, I've had this TV for upwards of a couple of years and am still more than happy with it. It's also probably quite a bit cheaper now than what I paid as the price of these electrical goods are always crashing down, so you can probably grab this for a really great price now. With LG (or any major brand) you are paying for quality of build, and just about everything on this set has been carefully thought out and solidly built. There may be cheaper non brand TVs out there with the same rough specs, but I'd bet they won't be the same quality when you turn them on. All in all, I can't see many people ever complaining about owning one these, I'd opt for this or even it larger cousins (if your front room won't be dwarfed by them!).
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LG 19LD350
by helenc72
This is the TV we have in our kitchen as we wanted something small and compact. This has a 19 inch screen size, a thin frame and the flat screen is quite thin, making it take up only a small space on the counter. I was not sure about the brand LG as I once had a mobile phone from them which I found poor quality and only lasted a matter ... of months, but I have been happy with the TV and have really had no complaints about it.
=== Viewing quality ===
It is an LCD TV and personally my untrained eye can't really detect much difference between the picture quality of this and an LED TV, although I have been told that LED TVs are generally preferred these days and our main TV is LED. The picture looks sharp, with the colours looking fairly bold and not washed out or weak in any way.
The sound is also fine. My dad uses this TV to watch a lot of music programmes such as live jazz while he is cooking and he feels the sound quality is good enough for this. I usually just use this TV more for watching the news or some general early evening TV like the Pointless gameshow, so I am not as picky about the quality of the sound as it doesn't matter as much for my shows, but I also find it good, clear, can go quite loud, and meets my expectations. Apparently it has "invisible speakers" which "enhance the audio by increasing the 'sweet spot' to give a wider and richer sound field".
The TV can be used for HD, although sometimes we have experienced some problems with the HD channels and have to switch between BBC one and BBC one HD to see which is giving us a better picture at any given time. It can occasionally break up and look a bit fuzzy. I'm not sure but I think this problem is due to the Virgin box rather than the TV itself.
=== Connections ===
It has one HDMI port which can be used to connect a Virgin or Sky box etc or a blue ray player. It also has a scart port which you can use to connect a DVD player.
It has built in digital freeview so no box is needed if you just want to watch the free channels on this.
There is a power button on the TV and the controls on the remote are really self explanatory. It is an easy TV to set up and use.
=== Cost ===
This TV is available for £219.99 from Amazon.
=== Overall ===
It is a good little TV for rooms like the kitchen where you don't need a big screen. We are happy with it and my parents also bought one for my grandma for her kitchen, so they have recommended it.
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Technika 24" HD Ready LCD TV
by stacey10304
Last year I moved out of a house I shared with my then boyfriend, and unfortunatly he got to keep the 50inch Sony Bravia :( so I had to go out and buy myself a new TV - no point in having a Playstation without a TV to play it on afterall.
I didnt want to spend alot and my new place had a really small room so I definitly didnt ... need another 50inch one. My first place to shop was the supermarkets, and since I have a Tesco Clubcard I went straight there.
I had around £200 to spend on a TV and was pleasantly suprised when I found this one for £178, although now I think it is only £150 - even more of a bargain!
OK so its not the best quality TV in the world, but combined with a HDMI cable my games and blu rays do look crystal clear on it. It has HDMI and USB ports on it so you can hook up your laptop or storage devices to it. It has an LED screen and comes complete with freeview built in.
The sound from the TV speakers is good in a smaller room, however I have now moved into a new bigger place and this tv is quite small in comparison to my big living room, and the sound quality suffers. I constantly have to have the volume turned up to about 70 out of hundred which I have never had to do for any television before, im just hoping this isnt going to break the speakers on it.
It has two HDMI ports in total and one scart socket, other features include parental locks, its wall mountable and has a sleep timer. It also comes complete with a remote control and a stand. There is a model with a built in DVD player for around £20 more.
So, overall I would say this is a very good television, particularly for the price. If I had the money I would definitely go back to a Sony Bravia, however this has served me well for a fraction of the price.
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