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LG 42LV4400 42-Inch 1080p 120Hz LED-LCD HDTV Product By Zenith Average customer review : LG 42LV4400 42-Inch 1080p 120Hz LED-LCD HDTV Rating on November 24 Rating: 3.5 (21 customer reviewers) Price : $499.00 Compare prices or Check available PROMOTIONS

LG 42LV4400 42-Inch 1080p 120Hz LED-LCD HDTV

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Review of LG 42LV4400 42-Inch 1080p 120Hz LED-LCD HDTV

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Customer Reviews

Most helpful customer reviews

181 of 192 people found the following review helpful.

Excellent Few-Frills TV


By J. Finkel

The LG 42LV4400 LED HDTV performs well overall, but lacks some important features you may see in competing televisions.

==Menu==

The menu is the same one LG has been using for a few years now. Pushing the "home" button brings up selections for changing picture/audio/parental/time/channel settings etc. These sub-menus are easy to navigate thanks to pictures and large text. While the organization of the menus are great, the breadth of the options available is disappointing.

==Picture==

The picture on most LCD's is rather good these days. The 42LV4400 ranks right up there with any mid-range HDTV. The blacks could be much better, but with some good tweaking in the regular menu settings, you can achieve fairly decent color accuracy and 'pop' (the sensation of depth and realism). As with most LCD's, the brightness is more than abundant, making it a good TV for any room. It also has a matte finish, which makes it difficult to see reflections.

==Aesthetics==

The bezel of the TV is 1" on top and sides but almost 3" on the bottom. The bezel and stand are a high-gloss black with very simple contours and slightly rounded edges. Overall, it looks plain but also attractively understated. It would be a good choice for a professional environment as well as a home.

==Build==

The LG 42LV4400 is fairly light, making it easy to setup by oneself. The stand seems sturdy enough, but a little more weight would have been comforting. The stand doesn't offer any tilt and doesn't swivel too well. The inputs are...streamlined: there is one component input and no composite inputs besides; no dvi. The three HDMI inputs are ample though and the USB port is a good addition. The buttons on the TV are not in the most convenient place, being recessed on the side by 2.5". The buttons feel cheap, but are responsive. Most people will use the remote anyway, which is more of the same. The remote feels cheap as well, but looks okay and works fine. Since there aren't a ton of features on this TV, the remote is simple enough. There is no ethernet nor wi-fi.

==Motion Handling==

One option I always look for right away is smoothing out motion (sometimes separated into blur and judder). Most LCD's have issues producing clear, smooth, flowing video of motion. This is a major disadvantage vs. plasma, which does not suffer the same problem. The refresh rates (120Hz or 240Hz instead of 60Hz) are used to adjust the way your eyes see the motion on the television. In the best TV sets, the video is processed so that there is no stuttering and also no "Soap Opera Effect," a problem introduced when there is too much processing that can make any video look unnaturally smooth as the processing tries to correct the normal variations in speed that us living things tend to do so much when we move about. Unfortunately, with the 42LV4400, you have almost no control over the motion handling, aside from selecting a picture mode (Cinema, Game, Sport, etc). In Game mode, the motion handling is turned off to reduce input lag. In Sport mode, it is turned all the way up, so you can see a football gliding from the quarterback to receiver without too much choppiness.

==Calibration==

If you plan to calibrate this TV yourself, you'll be sorely disappointed. My older 42LH90 has settings for 10-point IRE gray scale and color/tint settings for primary and secondary colors. Such features as those may only interest videophiles with a spectrometer at their disposal, but the 42LV4400 completely lacks the ability to adjust the gray scale. Most other TV's I've come across in the last few years at least have a 2-point IRE gray scale adjustment. I assume more calibration settings are available in the service menu, but I haven't found how to access that, despite reading through the manual on the included CD.

==Other Features==

The picture menu lacks some important settings, but does let you create a fairly convincing picture overall. See the end of the review for my settings (though every panel is different). Parental controls are well laid out. The Game mode seems to work well enough to play FPS, though a game like Rock Band may still need some adjustment in-game. Sound is okay, but I'd recommend using external speakers with any TV. Unfortunately, the USB access will only let you view pictures. You can't view movies or listen to music from the USB port like you can on some other LG models. Also, I did run into a peculiar issue where this TV failed to input any signal from my DVDO video filter. Both functioned normally when paired with other devices.

==Conclusion==

The 42LV4400 lacks the features necessary to be considered a high-end TV, but it is capable of producing an excellent picture that will rival any mid-range TV. I'd recommend this model to anyone trying to get the best picture for the least amount of money. It would best fit a consumer who typically doesn't bother adjusting the settings on their TV and isn't bothered by the way some LCD's poorly handle motion. It would also be a great fit for professional settings, like a conference room or waiting area.

UPDATE: I just measured the input lag of this TV compared to my HP ZR24w (S-IPS LCD, not CRT) computer monitor and using game mode. The LV4400 averaged roughly 10-15ms behind. In the other modes it crept up to around 30-40ms. These results are very good and likely reflect the moderate use of video processing.

--My Settings (2 sets)--

Aspect 16:9 -- Set by Program

Energy Saving: Auto -- Medium

Picture Mode: Cinema -- Standard

Backlight: 30 (can't change if energy saving is Auto) -- 70

Contrast: 80 -- 88

Brightness: 60 -- 52

Sharpness: 56 -- 50

Color: 55 -- 65

Tint: 0 -- 0

Color Temp: Medium -- Medium

Fresh Contrast: High -- High

Fresh Color: Low -- Low

Noise Reduction: Medium -- Medium

Gamma: High -- Medium

Black Level: Auto(cant change!) -- Auto(can't change)

Eye Care: Off -- Off

Real Cinema: On -- On

69 of 74 people found the following review helpful.

Very Good Picture Quality, A Basic Feature Set, Poor Quality Control


By Anthony Pantliano

The LG LED LCD TV is a fairly basic set with very good picture quality, but some unfortunate quality control problems.

The LG is very simple looking in its design. It has a piano black bezel and a swiveling base that is also done in piano black. There is a small piece of opaque gray plastic trim that runs along the bottom and a very discreet LG logo on the TV. On the bottom of the set are the stereo speakers. The set is very thin and is about 1.75" at its thickest part, not including the base. The set is very light in weight and easy to move for one person. Construction quality and materials are good, but the swivel base allows the TV to move a few degrees in either direction easily. I find this quite annoying as the swivel base on my two Panasonic flat screen TVs have no play at all.

The only assembly required is to attach the swivel stand, if desired, and that was a very simple procedure that I was able to do myself and took no more than 5 minutes.

On the left hand side of the set from the front, hidden behind the bezel, are the Power, Menu, Input, Channel and Volume buttons along with 1 USB port and 2 HDMI ports. One the back left hand side of the set are 1 RGB PC, 1 Composite or Component (it's either used for one or the other, not both), 1 digital and 1 analog audio out, 1 RF cable and 1 HDMI port.

Using the set is very simple. The on-screen menu system and the remote are both easy to use. Feature wise the set offers and few different picture presets (with individual setting saved for each input), a sleep and schedule timer, closed captioning and the ability to view photos on a USB jump drive. One feature I really like is the ability to turn off the screen but still hear the audio, which is nice if you like to fall asleep to the sound of the TV, but the screen's light bothers you. The set does not have 3-D capability, nor does it have access to any streaming web services such as Pandora, Netflix, or Amazon Video On Demand. Also, there is only a basic printed owner's manual included with the TV. If you want the detailed manual you have to view the PDF on the included CD.

Picture quality is the highlight of this reasonably priced LED set and indeed the high definition picture is sharp and clear with nice color, smooth motion, and detailed bright scenes (I get my HD picture by hooking the TV directly to my cable using the RF jack). The SD picture looks good as well, but it a lot softer than the HD picture, as expected. Where picture quality falters, however, is in the shadows and during dark scenes. Compared to my 50" 3-D Panasonic plasma the darker sections of the LG's picture lack contrast and detail. Watching high definition TV I was able to compare the picture on the two sets directly. In one scene where the actor was standing in front of a black wall with a floral pattern in a slightly lighter shade of black I was able to easily make out the pattern on the Panasonic Plasma, but on the LG LCD the wall was a solid black. For an LCD TV the picture is great, but for true videophiles a high-end plasma set is a better bet. For reference I have the picture settings on the LG set as follows; Backlight: 90, Contrast: 85, Brightness: 48, Sharpness: 35, Color: 40, Tint: R4, Color Temperature: Medium, Gamma: Medium, and all the other adjustments set to off.

Another area where the LG disappoints is in its viewing angle. If you sit directly in front of the TV it has great contrast and saturation, but when you start to move a couple of feet off center the contrast and saturation drop dramatically and the picture starts to wash out. Compared to my plasma, and even to an older Panasonic 32" LCD, the LG has a very narrow viewing angle.

Sound quality is good, but to get the true big screen experience you'll want to hook the set up to a surround sound system.

The last, and most important thing I want to mention about the LG is that there are two small specs of plastic stuck behind the screen. They are both black plastic triangular shaped slivers. One is about the size of a pixel and barely noticeable, and the other is about three pixels long, and depending how close you are to the TV, can be picked out without too much trouble. These plastic specs aren't enough to ruin the viewing experience, but they do speak to LG's lack of quality control for its screens. I will say, however, that the screen has no dead pixels. (You can see the photo I uploaded for more information)

All in all... a no frills set with very good LCD picture quality, but a lack of quality control.

11/16/2011 Update: One thing I forgot to mention is that the screen is matte and not glossy. That makes this set an excellent choice for a room that has lots of windows because the screen does not have any glare issues.

P.S. Feel free to leave a comment if you have any questions and I will answer then as quickly as possible.

45 of 55 people found the following review helpful.

A Solid TV, With Some Pros and Cons


By S. Smerud

The LG 42LV4400-UA was incredibly easy to set up. The picture is above average, though with high definition 1080p, most would notice only small differences in picture quality between different TVs. There is a little blurring when watching sports, which is common in my experience. The screen has a matte surface, which reduces glare. By comparison, my Samsung with a "glossy" screen displays a better television image, but also reflects almost like a mirror. The sound quality is average, maybe a little below a Visio with speakers on the front, and a little above a Samsung. Anyone who seriously cares about great sound will probably be connecting this TV to an alternative audio source. It can be set to automatically detect the aspect ratio being broadcast, so fewer programs have the image stretched or squished. There is also a parental lock feature.

The 42LV4400-UA comes with an owners manual and CD, remote control with two AA batteries included, a cleaning cloth, power cable, stand with screws, and one safety screw. The included stand allows the TV to swivel up to 20 degrees. Depending on your room setup, this can be helpful to further limit glare during certain times of day.

On the left side (if looking at the TV display) are two HDMI ports and one USB port and the television controls. On the bottom of the TV is the cable/antenna input, one additional HDMI port, DVI and audio ports for connecting a computer, component video inputs for audio and video (which can also be used as composite inputs), and an optical digital output.

On the downside, there is no Ethernet connection. This means the TV does not now and will not ever be able to display content from a home network or the Internet. It also will not be able to be updated or improved with firmware updates. If you're connecting this TV to a set-top box like Roku, or a Blu-ray player, you'll probably have access to Internet content through those devices anyway.

The LG 42LV4400-UA is a solid basic television that will meet the needs of most people. After considering the price of competing products and the features you need, you won't be disappointed with this TV.

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