LG 55LS5700 Review

55"1080p LED HDTV with Smart TV

by Jack Burden, Reviewer

The 55LS5700 is the top tier, non 3D LED television from LG. It is a 1080p, 120Hz LCD panel with LED edge lighting. It has the full Smart TV online suite and the Magic Wand remote control.

Picture Quality

The LS5700 series is similar to the two LED series above it although it lacks the Cinema 3D feature that higher tier models have. The non 3D picture is just as strong as the models above it with good color and black level performance and good off angle contrast.

Color

Colors on the 55LS5700 are displayed well with a nice, realistic look. Colors are not oversaturated and warm tones and flesh tones look particularly good.

Black Level and Contrast

Contrast and black level perfomance on LS5700 is above average, the black bars on the top and bottom of movies are a dark inky black but in dark scenes the black can overpower some detail in the picture. The dark black does give the 55LS5700 its strong color rendition.

Side Angle Viewing

LG's LED televisions have had good off angle viewing performance in the past and the 2012 models are no exception. Compared to many LED edge lit models the LM5800 still looks good at angles around 35 degrees off center where the other will start to have the contrast degrade at 20-25 degrees.

TruMotion 120Hz

The 55LS5700 uses LG's 120Hz TruMotion, after much testing, we recommend locating this feature in the settings, tuning to the User setting and changing the Judder Reduction component completely off to 0, and Motion Blur at level 9 with the exception of sports programming or fast action in broadcast programming for which the feature actually adds quality. This tradeoff will produce lots of jerky judder but it's worth it.

Internet Applications and Connectivity

LG's Smart TV suite is also available on the 55LS5700 and includes the more than 1000 Apps the company now has along with the typical premium content channels some paid and some unpaid like Netflix, Hulu Plus, YouTube, MLB.tv, Facebook and Twitter. It's overall a very complete solution and enables lots of play time with unusual little Apps that users may or may not find worth the 99 cents to $2.99 that they usually cost.

Magic Wand Remote

Included with the 55LS5700 is LG's innovative Magic Remote, also called the Magic Wand Remote. This secondary remotes operates using motion control. To interact with your TV you point the remote at the screen and move a crosshair with you wrist to select items on the menus or in the Smart TV suite. We think it's a fantastic little gadget and are glad to see it being included in more of LG's series in 2012.

Product Specifications

• Resolution
  • 1920 x 1080p
• Dimensions
  • Screen Size: 55" Class (54.6" diagonal)
  • Without Stand: 49.7" x 29.7" x 1.4"
  • With Stand: 49.7" x 32.4" x 12.4"
• Key Features
  • Edge LED
  • Triple XD Engine
  • TruMotion 120Hz
  • Resolution Upscaler
  • Full HD 1080p Resolution
  • Smart Energy Saving
  • Intelligent Sensor
  • Clear Voice II
  • Picture Wizard II
  • Slim and Narrow Design
• Smart TV Features
  • Magic Remote
  • Home Dashboard
  • Smart Share
    • Intel Wireless Display (WiDi)
    • Network File Browser
    • Wi-Fi Screen Share
• Inputs
  • RF In (Antenna/Cable) 1 (Rear)
  • AV In 1 (Rear)
  • Component Video In 1 (Rear)
  • (Y, Pb, Pr) + Audio
  • Digital Audio Out (Optical) 1 (Rear)
  • HDMI™/HDCP Input 4 (Side)
  • RGB In (D-Sub 15 Pin) - PC 1 (Rear)
  • PC Audio Input 1 (Rear)
  • USB 2.0 3 (Side)
  • LAN 1 (Rear)

Jack Burden has been reviewing and writing reviews in the consumer electronics category for 7 years with CEAG. He considers grayscale gradation, film patterned retarders, and focus field drives to be fun topics. Read more about Jack