LG 50PG61UR / 42PG61UR - Frameless Plasma review

[iSonics]

LG 50PG61UR / 42PG61UR - Frameless Plasma

LG seems to be playing well with design. Earlier LG's main concerns were frames and bezels. However now LG is bringing out the world's first Frameless Plasma TV, the all new LG 50PG61UR. The model is available in two models. One has 42-inch screen and the other has 50-inch screen.

50PG61UR has a great combination of frameless design and viewing experience. It looks like a seamless bed of grass because of no borders. It uses a single layer technology and so there is no need of borders. The speakers are invisible which gives a great look to the Plasma. The stand looks great with the frameless plasma. This is one of the best designs in plasma that we have reviewed till date.

The remote is a bit difficult to use in the beginning. There is a cluster of similar buttons which is very difficult to use. We had to look constantly down to figure out the buttons and they are so close that you cannot use them without looking at them. There are no LEDs provided which could have made the navigation easier even in the dark. There was no dedicated button for changing the aspect ratio and there were many buttons which were useless. LG has provided a dedicated button for changing AV mode which navigates between three modes which are cinema, sports, and game mode. The remote control and work with the DVD player. LG claims that it's compatible with three other products.

LG has changed the menu completely. The menu is a lot better now. All changes are for good. Menu is arranged horizontally and active inputs are also grouped together on left which are very easy to use. There was no text explanation with the menu which makes it a bit difficult to understand, so you need to jump to your user manual if you are using Plasma for the first time. There was a quick menu which has frequently used items such as icons for adjusting aspect ratio, picture presets etc.

Features

This Plasma TV has passed the THX test which means that the quality of output and other features are up to the standard as claimed by LG. THX has not disclosed their criteria on the basis of which they judge. However, THX are globally known for testing the products for quality and we trust them.

LG has provided many picture presets, we could see that they were more than 50. However, LG has not provided a manual control on picture parameters and they claim that with so many presets they can satisfy every user. We were also satisfied with the presets and hope that LG can even satisfy the people who always like to tweak the default settings. If we look at LG's other models, they allow the users to control manually the picture parameters, but not this time.

Finally we found an expert mode which allows all types of adjustment. You can change the color temperature. You can also tune the primary and secondary color points. LG in expert mode also allows you to gamma and noise reduction values. Apart from five manual aspect-ratio modes there is also a sixth auto mode which automatically detects the incoming content and adjusts the aspect ratio.
LG has also provided an inversion mode which shows an all white screen with colors in reverse, and a pixel orbiter that rotates the image on the entire screen of plasma. There are three levels of power saving. You can choose any level and reduce the power consumed by this monster plasma.

50PG61UR has a resolution of 1365x768 pixels and brightness of 1500 cd/m². The contrast ratio is 30,000:1 and response time is 0.001 ms, all these features are of high-end plasma. Further, it has a viewing angle of 178/178.

Connectivity

Connectivity is powerful as we expect from a high end plasma TV. There are three HDMI in ports in side. It had an AV in, S-Video in posts to make it compatible with legacy products. It also has a USB 2.0 post in the side. The rear connectivity ports includes RF in, AV in, AV out, component in (Y,Pb,Pr) and audio, Variable Audio Out, additional HDMI Inputs, RGB In, PC Audio Input, RS-232C (Control / SVC).

Performance

50PG61UR produces a very good picture. It was up to the best plasma TV's level. The colors were shown accurately. When you select THX mode the picture accuracy is superb. The color decoding was not up to the mark and we could see a blue tint. We think that red and green are under saturated which is resulting in a blue tint. Primary colors were accurate. We tweaked the colors in expert mode.

LG could not produce a true black in dark scenes but still we were satisfied. The shadow details are good but it cannot beat its rivals because it's not extraordinary. Video processing was extraordinary and we can say that it beats all its rivals. Every line was visible and image was very sharp.

LG 50PG61UR has a 150 Hz moving picture resolution which enables it to show the moving pictures very clearly and the output is, flicker free and there was no blur. We played Counter Strike on this Plasma by connecting it with a PS3. The output was great and it also prevents optical fatigue. LG beats all its rivals in displaying the output of moving pictures.

LG has provided an excellent viewing angle of 178/178. It has excellent uniformity across the screen. Screen is bright and it again beats al its rivals in screen brightness. The Panasonic and Sony both cannot have such bright screen as this model. The standard definition was average. It removed most of the jaggies but still there were a few left. Noise reduction feature is superb.

We also connected 50PG61UR to a PC. First we connected via HDMI. The performance was good and there was no edge enhancement or overscan. Second, we connected it via VGA port. The performance was still the same. There was some overscan but we can say that this model performs very well with PC.

It had a clear voice system, which enables the user to hear the human voice clearly. This feature is useful when there are many background sounds in the scene. It has a 5.1 surround sound which produces great sound. It produces a 3D sound which allows for a superb sound in any position of the room. There is also an on screen equalizer which enables a user to adjust manually the voice and sound quality.

To conclude, we say that LG 50PG61UR has highly accurate primary colors and great video processing. The connectivity is great and we also like the number of picture presets provided with expert mode. The audio output is good with 5.1 surround sound with 3D effects. The design is superb and it looks great without any borders. However, we also found a few cons like color decoding is not perfect and a blue tint can be seen. It cannot produce true black. Price is very high and 50-inch mode, 50PG61UR has a price tag of INR 1,35,000. The other model 42PG61UR is available for INR 75000.