With Christmas draining your bank account and the January sales rolling in, I thought it worthwhile today to take a look at what appears to be a bargain of gargantuan proportions, at least on paper. In fact, LG’s 47LH3000 is gigantic in every way. That’s because its LCD screen expands to a movie-loving 47 inches, and its bezel extends a few inches beyond that.
Of course, with some brands, a bezel as chunky as that on the 47LH3000 would look amateurish and unattractive. But typically, LG has actually used some subtle curves and an ultra-high-gloss finish to make its TV’s size seem like a stylish difference rather than a budgetary compromise.
Needless to say, not everyone is going to love the design, especially when they’re trying to fit the largest screen into a small space. But I definitely like it anyway. And it certainly fits with my dear old granny’s theory that getting what you pay for should have at least as much to do with quantity as with quality!
Speaking of which you get what you pay for it reminds me that I haven’t mentioned the price yet, having opened the review by saying what a bargain the 47LH3000 is. So there we go: we spotted it in the shop at Richer Sounds for pennies under £600. Insane.
In fact, it’s so insane that when I received the TV I couldn’t help but fear the worst in terms of the 47LH3000’s capabilities. Surely even the budget maestro LG couldn’t deliver real quality at this price point?
However, as I shifted my attention from the bold front of the set to the back, I was pleasantly surprised to find a really solid set of connections. The three HDMIs, for example, should be convenient enough to meet the digital HD needs of the typical budget-conscious TV buyer, while a PC connection is available for people wanting to double the 47LH3000 as a PC monitor.
I think it’s a shame that there aren’t any multimedia options beyond the PC socket. The USB port provided is only for support service upgrade instead of playing your photo and music files on TV. But instead of getting maudlin about it, I’ll just refer you back to the price of the 47LH3000 and move on quickly.
Examination of the spec sheet of the 47LH3000 shows that it is far from the overly basic model you would imagine for the money. First off, it’s Full HD resolution – something that, even now, can’t be considered a dead certificate given the 47LH3000’s kind of money.
It also features a dynamic backlight engine capable of producing a totally respectable 50,000:1 contrast ratio, LG’s solid and improved XD Engine with its multi-faceted video processing engine, and even a special Real Cinema processing mode for playback from 24p Blu-ray sources.
There’s no 100Hz processing, but even the most perennial optimist couldn’t really have expected to find this on a £600, 47-inch TV.
Other good news concerns the 47LH3000’s on-screen menus. Because these use the same bold, graphics-heavy approach as LG’s premium models, and the result is one of the easiest-to-use TVs we’ve come across.
This is despite the fact that the menus actually contain a fairly large list of functions. Particularly intriguing is the discovery of the ISF presets, proving that the TV was deemed flexible enough by the Imaging Science Foundation to be professionally calibrated by one of their engineers.
Some of the tweaks that anyone who calibrates the 47LH3000’s images will likely tinker with include dynamic color and contrast systems, gamma adjustment, noise reduction routines and various tricks aimed at boosting black levels.
If you’re keen on calibrating the device yourself but are a little scared, LG has got your back, courtesy of a built-in picture wizard – meaning a series of test signals, complete with brief explanations of how to use them to enhance your images to make it look better exactly. Provided, of course, accuracy is what you really like about your video images!
Running on a typical selection of HD games and Blu-rays, the 47LH3000 unsurprisingly falls short of the picture richness reported by one or two higher-end LG sets we’ve reviewed recently. But before you get too downhearted, I can also say that the 47LH3000 produces pictures far, far above anything else that offers the same sort of screen size for just £600.
LG has long had an uncanny knack for instantly winning your AV hearts with aggressive brightness and color presentations on its LCD TVs. And that strong approach extends to the 47LH3000, which instantly sidesteps the familiar dull, muted look of so many mega-budget rivals.
This should prove very helpful for the 47LH3000 in a store environment as it will help the screen hold its own in terms of raw AV ‘charisma’ against screens that sell for a lot more. But of course, what’s good for a shop in terms of image characteristics is rarely, if ever, good for a darker home environment. So it’s good that the 47LH3000 offers just enough flexibility in its options to allow images to look punchy without having to tolerate too much overly aggressive tones or too little black level response.
The 47LH3000 also outperforms its price class when it comes to the sharpness of its HD images. There’s plenty of evidence of the kind of picture minutiae that even now sometimes inspires a sigh of satisfaction from AV lovers, and crucially, despite the lack of motion blur, the picture doesn’t succumb to nearly as much as I would have expected from the 100Hz processing.
I’m not saying there is “no” motion blur. But what there is is fairly easy to live with and is certainly a million miles away from the sleazy mess often seen on other budget TVs.
Another common budget TV that’s largely adeptly sidestepped by the 47LH3000 is weak black level response. Because while its dark scenes certainly look a touch grayer and less detailed than on high-end TVs from LG and others, they’re deep enough to make everyday images look dynamic, while predominantly dark scenes look miles more natural than they’re typical of entry prices.
As you’ve probably – hopefully – realized by now, the 47LH3000’s accomplishments are comparative rather than earth-shattering. Also, it has other issues that I haven’t mentioned yet, such as: B. a fairly limited viewing angle, slight stuttering when watching Blu-rays despite the 24p mode, and a slightly noisy appearance on all but the highest quality standard definition sources.
Yet since the 47LH3000 also uses its considerable bulk to produce a well-rounded audio performance (complete with – shock, horror! – a decent amount of bass), the bottom line is that no matter how critical you try to look at it, the 47LH3000 is almost a budget triumph.
“‘Verdict”‘
The 47LH3000 can currently be found as the definition of ‘bargain’ in the Oxford English Dictionary. Take a look for yourself if you don’t believe me.
How we test televisions
We test every TV we review thoroughly over an extended period of time. We use industry standard tests to properly compare features. We will always tell you what we find. We never accept money to rate a product.
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Used as the main TV during the period
Tested over a week
Tested with industry calibrated tools, discs and real world use
Tested with broadcast content (HD/SD), video streams and demo discs
points in detail
functions 8
value 9
picture quality 8
design 8
sound quality 8
characteristics
| size (inches) | 47 inches |
| display type | LCD |