LG 42PX4D, 42LP1D User Manual
LCD VS. PLASMA: WHICH IS RIGHT FOR YOU?
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LG Electronics 42LP1D LCD HDTV
and 42PX4D Plasma HDTV
LCD and plasma go head to head…sort of.
It’s (Almost) All in the
Black Level
Of all of the video Face Offs we’ve
done over the last few years, the
winners had one thing in common:
black level. They either had the best
black level or were tied with
another display for the best black
level. So, in a Face Off between an
LCD and a plasma, it’s pretty safe
to say that the plasma would win.
Even the LCD panels with the deepest black levels are still noticeably
higher than the black levels that
plasmas can produce. So, if that’s
what you’re looking for, look no
further. Rarely, though, is black
level the whole story.
BY GEOFFREY MORRISON
LG’s 42LP1D LCD
^
is a good display choice
for use in a room with
lots of light.
The 42-inch display size has
become a battleground of sorts
between liquid crystal displays
(LCDs) and plasma displays. Ironically, the older technology, LCD, is
the relative newcomer here. Prices
on both sides have dropped quickly.
You can now buy an HDTV (qualified by both resolution and the integration of a tuner) for just a little
Home Theater / August 2005 > www.hometheatermag.com
more than the price of an EDTV
just over a year ago. LG Electronics
is one of the only companies with
their feet on both sides of this issue
(the other biggie being their acrossthe-Han rival, Samsung). LG also
makes an LCD in a 42-inch size,
which is rather rare. Most are either
smaller or slightly larger. There are
lots of questions and misinformation about these technologies, so
hopefully we can clear a lot of that
up. This isn’t a true head-to-head
Face Off; let me tell you why.
What and Where
The most important question you
have to ask yourself before you
start looking for a display is how
you’re going to use it. If you
answered “To watch TV, stupid!”
roll up this magazine and hit yourself with it. We only need one
smart ass here, and it’s obviously
me. How you use your display is
crucial to which flat-panel technology you should consider.
For example, say you’re looking
to replace the TV in your family
room with something sexy and
flat. A poster of the cast of Lost is
probably out, so you have your
eyes set on a flat panel. Most
Photography by Cordero Studios / Screen image courtesy of Universal
family rooms are pretty brightly
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IRE
Color Temperature
Color Temp - Before
Color Temp - After
Color Temperature
Blue
Green
Red
LG Red
LG Green
LG Blue
D6500 K
0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
0.7
0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7
DTV Phosphors
D6500
Color Temp - Before
Color Temp - After
lit, either by fashionable lighting
from your local Ikea or by big
widows and doors. If this is the
case, and you intend to watch TV
during the day, plasma isn’t the
best choice. There are several reasons for this, the first being reflections. The front of a plasma is
glass…reflective, shiny glass.
(LCD panels tend to be less
reflective due to their polarizing
nature.) In a room with a lot of
ambient light, the image on a
plasma is harder to see. To
counter this, you tend to turn the
contrast all the way up.
This leads to the other big
reason that plasma isn’t the best
choice for a room with lots of
ambient light. Plasmas have phosphors, which glow so that you can
see a picture. The adage “twice as
bright, half as long” comes into
play here. For the best longevity
of a plasma, you don’t want to run
it full-bore all the time. Partialbore will be just fine. Turning the
contrast all the way up is also a
great way to invite burn-in. As
you probably know, burn-in happens when a phosphor doesn’t like
getting turned off and stays partially lit for a time after it was
instructed to go out. On the
screen, this appears as a ghost of
whatever image was on the screen
before. Plasmas are getting much
better at preventing burn-in
(either by using different phosphors, different gas, or some electronic gadgetry). If you turn your
contrast control down, though,
this will help even more.
Or, say you have a dedicated
home theater room. When you
watch something in there, it’s usually dark. In that case, an LCD
isn’t a good choice. LCDs are
bright. Generally, they’re brighter
than plasmas. Some LCD panels
have adjustable backlights that let
you vary the light output, but not
all do. Regardless, they are capable of tremendous, blinding light.
In a dark room, a really bright display can be very fatiguing. Often,
if the LCD doesn’t have an
AT A GLANCE
adjustable backlight, adjusting the
contrast control won’t make the
display very dark. Worse, turning
down the brightness control further (assuming you have it set correctly) also won’t make the display
any darker. So reducing the contrast control just reduces your
LG 42LP1D LCD HDTV
> FEATURES
Type: LCD
Screen Size (diagonal) 42 inches
Native Resolution / Aspect Ratio: 1,366 by 768 / 16:9
Lamp Life: 60,000 hours
Wall Mount or Stand Included?: Stand
Dimensions (H x W x D, inches): 31.6 x 50.8 x 9.7 (on
stand)
Weight (pounds): 101.4 (with stand)
Price: $7,000
HT Labs Measures: LG 42LP1D LCD HDTV
0.147
>Full-On/Full-Off Contrast Ratio—966:1;
ANSI Contrast Ratio—473:1
>Measured Resolution with the Leader LT-446:
480: 480 (per picture height)
720p/1080i: out to the limits of the 1366
by 768 panel
>DC Restoration (poor, average, good, excellent):
Average (poor in daylight mode)
>Color Decoder (poor, average, good, excellent):
Good
>Measured Color Points:
Red Color Point: x = 0.636, y = 0.342
Green Color Point: x = 0.284, y = 0.603
Blue Color Point: x = 0.147, y = 0.074
142
> CONNECTIONS
Inputs:
Video: HDMI (1), RGB (1), component video (2),
S-video (2, shared), composite video
(2, shared), RF (2)
Audio: optical (2), stereo RCA pairs (4), stereo
mini-plug (1)
Outputs:
Video: composite video (1)
Audio: optical (1), stereo RCA pair (1)
Additional: CableCARD (1), FireWire IEEE 1394 (2),
CF Memory Card Slot Type 1/II (1),
Memory Card Slot for most other type
(1), Remote control mini-plug (1),
G-Link (1), RS-232 (1)
The left chart shows the 42LP1D’s gray scale relative to
its color temperature at various levels of intensity, or
brightness (20 IRE is dark gray; 100 IRE is bright white).
The gray scale as set by the factory, in the warm colortemperature mode and the nighttime picture mode,
measures very cool with dark images and gets somewhat warmer with brighter images. After making
adjustments using the Photo Research PR-650, the
gray scale measures within 670 Kelvin of D6500, the
accurate color temperature, across the entire range
(though mid-tones start drifting cool).
The right chart shows the gray scale (or color temperature) relative to the color points of the display’s red, green,
and blue color filters. These are fairly close to those
specified by SMPTE. Green is slightly blue-green. Red is
slightly reddish-orange. Blue is pretty much accurate.
Using a full-field 100-IRE white (142 foot-lamberts)
and a full-field 0-IRE black (0.147 ft-L), the contrast
ratio was 966:1. Using a 16-box checkerboard pattern
(ANSI contrast), the contrast ratio was 473:1.—GM
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