A really good TV for the price point. – Looks great in shiny black. – Great picture, compared with all others in the shop (720p resolution is good on 32″) – Backlit (not Edge) LED – gives great contrast and colours – 100 HZ – good motion clarity – good digital freeview reception – easy to use 7-day guide with alarm features – touch controls on frame (when u can’t find the remote) – very easy setup – 8 screws for stand, connect, switch on and the startup menu is intuitive (auto scans) – great USB capabilities – very high success with my varied movie file types – all kinds of picture wizards and sound modes which you don’t need
There will always be missing latest features – this does not have 3D, DNLA, and other smart TV features. Sound is only as good as expected in the slim TVs. The model lacks a bit in input options, but works for most setups. The provided manual is basic but I didn’t miss it at all as the remote is intuitive. If you are looking for a good TV that does the basics well at a very reasonable price, I definitely recommend it.
(The advisor at Tesco had said that since it has Component-In it may not take the Composite input from the Wii – he was wrong, it takes the old red+white+yellow wire inputs too – shown in manual)
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This review is from: LG 42LS3400 42-inch Widescreen Full HD 1080p Direct LED TV with Freeview (New for 2012) (Electronics)
Update 25/09/12 – The price of this TV is up and down all over the place. If you get it for £350 or less then it’s a real bargain.
Update 07/09/2012 – NOTE – when I wrote this review the Amazon price was about £349, same as I paid at Argos(on 27/08/2012). The price of this seems to be going up! Before you buy this, check the price of the 42cs460(seems to be the same TV but with conventional fluorescent backlight. At the moment on Amazon, the 42cs460 is about £120 cheaper (when I bought mine, there was only about £30 difference). For that price difference I’d buy the 42cs460 instead. I’m still very happy with this TV – the sibilants remain annoying however.
Pros:-
As far as I know this TV is designed and made by LG in their Polish factory and probably contains a fair percentage of LG made parts (as LG make panels and components for many other brands). Many other budget TVs are made by Vestel in Turkey (supermarket brands and lower end TVs from well known brands).
Great picture quality – miles better than my old Sharp 32″ LCD – colour accuracy seems better and the blacks look black not charcoal grey.
Lots of picture settings to tweak – LG TVs score well with reviewers for being able to deliver close to reference level picture quality.
IPS panel – means that viewing angles are good, horizontally and vertically (LG don’t actually say that it has an IPS panel but mine has – yours may differ).
Relatively cheap.
LED backlit without local dimming – all the benefits with none of the drawbacks in my opinion. Local dimming can give better contrast but can also introduce other problems – most reviewers don’t seem to think it’s a great feature especially as all but the most expensive sets only have a few “zones” that can be dimmed – I’m happy without it. LED backlit LCD means no edge/corner bleeding of light that seems to plague many LED edge lit TVs – the backlight in my screen is very even, and can go very bright. There is also more room for air flow as the panel is quite thick – more air flow means better cooling. This might not seem important as the TV doesn’t give off any heat, but the LEDS themselves need to have proper heatsinks to prevent them overheating, and this needs room. If LEDS run too hot their effective life is drastically reduced.
Simple to use – once picture is set how you like it, there isn’t really anything else to fiddle with – no DLNA or SMART or networking or much else to be honest. I haven’t tried playing content from a USB stick.
Cons:-
Gloss black finish and glossy screen. Too many reflections – my old Sharp was matt all over and much the better for it.
Thick panel. This doesn’t bother me and actually has many benefits, but if you want a super slim TV this isn’t it.
Sound. Although the volume is fine, and quality is OK for the most part, sibilants in speech seem very exaggerated and almost painful to listen to. I haven’t found any way to reduce this effect other than use a separate sound system.
No sound out port of any variety – so no headphones/sound bar. If you want to use a separate sound system, you will have to pipe the sound directly from an external device (PVR, Blu-ray player etc.) directly into the sound system. This also means you can’t output the sound from the internal tuner into your sound system.
No HD tuner. Should be in a 2012HD TV.
Only 1 Scart, 2 HDMI, and 1 component/composite input. Enough for me, but pretty skimpy.
That’s it – I own this TV (bought from Argos without seeing it or any reviews for it apart from those on Amazon). Still haven’t seen any professional reviews for this TV, but I’m very happy with mine. I wrote this as I couldn’t find too many useful personal reviews.
Thanks for reading.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
This review is from: LG 42LS3400 42-inch Widescreen Full HD 1080p Direct LED TV with Freeview (New for 2012) (Electronics)
Delighted with this LG Led TV set!Great display right across the board,used it with Xbox 360,Ps3,Humax Freesat HD,Blu-ray dvd and good old fashioned standard def stuff as well!Certainly the best quality set at this price,its a cracker!
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
covers all essential bases very well,
A really good TV for the price point.
– Looks great in shiny black.
– Great picture, compared with all others in the shop (720p resolution is good on 32″)
– Backlit (not Edge) LED – gives great contrast and colours
– 100 HZ – good motion clarity
– good digital freeview reception – easy to use 7-day guide with alarm features
– touch controls on frame (when u can’t find the remote)
– very easy setup – 8 screws for stand, connect, switch on and the startup menu is intuitive (auto scans)
– great USB capabilities – very high success with my varied movie file types
– all kinds of picture wizards and sound modes which you don’t need
There will always be missing latest features – this does not have 3D, DNLA, and other smart TV features. Sound is only as good as expected in the slim TVs. The model lacks a bit in input options, but works for most setups. The provided manual is basic but I didn’t miss it at all as the remote is intuitive. If you are looking for a good TV that does the basics well at a very reasonable price, I definitely recommend it.
(The advisor at Tesco had said that since it has Component-In it may not take the Composite input from the Wii – he was wrong, it takes the old red+white+yellow wire inputs too – shown in manual)
Was this review helpful to you?
|great budget tv,
Update 25/09/12 – The price of this TV is up and down all over the place. If you get it for £350 or less then it’s a real bargain.
Update 07/09/2012 – NOTE – when I wrote this review the Amazon price was about £349, same as I paid at Argos(on 27/08/2012). The price of this seems to be going up! Before you buy this, check the price of the 42cs460(seems to be the same TV but with conventional fluorescent backlight. At the moment on Amazon, the 42cs460 is about £120 cheaper (when I bought mine, there was only about £30 difference). For that price difference I’d buy the 42cs460 instead. I’m still very happy with this TV – the sibilants remain annoying however.
Pros:-
As far as I know this TV is designed and made by LG in their Polish factory and probably contains a fair percentage of LG made parts (as LG make panels and components for many other brands). Many other budget TVs are made by Vestel in Turkey (supermarket brands and lower end TVs from well known brands).
Great picture quality – miles better than my old Sharp 32″ LCD – colour accuracy seems better and the blacks look black not charcoal grey.
Lots of picture settings to tweak – LG TVs score well with reviewers for being able to deliver close to reference level picture quality.
IPS panel – means that viewing angles are good, horizontally and vertically (LG don’t actually say that it has an IPS panel but mine has – yours may differ).
Relatively cheap.
LED backlit without local dimming – all the benefits with none of the drawbacks in my opinion. Local dimming can give better contrast but can also introduce other problems – most reviewers don’t seem to think it’s a great feature especially as all but the most expensive sets only have a few “zones” that can be dimmed – I’m happy without it. LED backlit LCD means no edge/corner bleeding of light that seems to plague many LED edge lit TVs – the backlight in my screen is very even, and can go very bright. There is also more room for air flow as the panel is quite thick – more air flow means better cooling. This might not seem important as the TV doesn’t give off any heat, but the LEDS themselves need to have proper heatsinks to prevent them overheating, and this needs room. If LEDS run too hot their effective life is drastically reduced.
Simple to use – once picture is set how you like it, there isn’t really anything else to fiddle with – no DLNA or SMART or networking or much else to be honest. I haven’t tried playing content from a USB stick.
Cons:-
Gloss black finish and glossy screen. Too many reflections – my old Sharp was matt all over and much the better for it.
Thick panel. This doesn’t bother me and actually has many benefits, but if you want a super slim TV this isn’t it.
Sound. Although the volume is fine, and quality is OK for the most part, sibilants in speech seem very exaggerated and almost painful to listen to. I haven’t found any way to reduce this effect other than use a separate sound system.
No sound out port of any variety – so no headphones/sound bar. If you want to use a separate sound system, you will have to pipe the sound directly from an external device (PVR, Blu-ray player etc.) directly into the sound system. This also means you can’t output the sound from the internal tuner into your sound system.
No HD tuner. Should be in a 2012HD TV.
Only 1 Scart, 2 HDMI, and 1 component/composite input. Enough for me, but pretty skimpy.
That’s it – I own this TV (bought from Argos without seeing it or any reviews for it apart from those on Amazon). Still haven’t seen any professional reviews for this TV, but I’m very happy with mine. I wrote this as I couldn’t find too many useful personal reviews.
Thanks for reading.
Was this review helpful to you?
|A Bargain LED TV,
Delighted with this LG Led TV set!Great display right across the board,used it with Xbox 360,Ps3,Humax Freesat HD,Blu-ray dvd and good old fashioned standard def stuff as well!Certainly the best quality set at this price,its a cracker!
Was this review helpful to you?
|