LG 50PG60

The LG 50PG60 is the second of two HDTVs we've reviewed with THX display certification, and it proves that even the three letters formerly associated with George Lucas can't guarantee picture quality parity. The first such THX-certified TV, Panasonic's TH-50PZ800U, impressed us in just about every way, and the 50PG60 just doesn't quite measure up. Its blacks are a bit less black and its color a bit less accurate, and the inability to adjust the THX mode makes those ills difficult to address. The 50PG60 can still produces a commendable picture, and for people who like to tweak beyond a single picture preset, it certainly has plenty of settings. Finally we'd be remiss in not mentioning the 50PG60's gorgeous styling. Although people looking for plasma perfection will probably choose something else, the 50PG60 still presents an attractive package and is easily highest-performance LG display we've tested.

Design
Externally the LG 50PG60 cuts an elegant figure that's completely at odds with the company's ostentatious "Scarlet" models, such as the 47LG60. The big plasma is fronted by a single pane of glass, behind which appear the screen and the black border around it. Below the screen is a simple angled-back horizontal strip, accented only by the chrome arc of the power switch on the left side. The sides are edged in metallic silver that matches the pedestal on the swivel stand, which is shaped in its own arc mirroring the power switch. In our opinion the LG 50PG60 is one of the best looking flat-panel TVs of the year.

With stand, the 50-inch plasma measures 48.6 inches wide by 33.4 inches high by 14.3 inches deep and weighs 100.7 pounds. Remove the stand for wall-mounting purposes and the panel itself measures 48.6 inches by 31.2 inches by 3.1 inches and weighs 91.9 pounds.

LG's remote is disappointing especially for such an otherwise well-designed HDTV. We found the cluster of similar buttons around the cursor control difficult to differentiate without constantly having to look down at them. A little illumination would have gone a long way. We were also really annoyed that LG neglected to include a dedicated button to toggle between aspect ratio settings, instead including a "Simplink" key for compatible HDMI-connected gear that most people will never use. The remote can command three other pieces of equipment beyond the television itself.

The company has completely overhauled its menu system from last year, and the changes are mostly for the better. The stark black-on-light-gray menus are legible and large, and we liked that the input menu, which is arranged horizontally, grouped active inputs near the left where they were easy to select quickly. We would have liked to see text explanations accompany menu items, and navigating the extensive Expert menu (see below) can be quite tedious, but overall we liked the simple arrangement. We also appreciated the Quick Menu, which allows control of aspect ratio, picture presets, and other options without having to deal with the full menu system.

Features
THX display certification is the LG 50PG60's claim to fame, and it basically means that this TV has passed that company's series of standards for a variety of picture quality areas, including contrast ratio, color accuracy, video processing and others. Nowhere does THX outline its exact standards--company representatives told us that doing so would be giving away their "secret sauce"--but at least the certification allows the PG60 to claim superiority and tout an appropriately named picture mode. Check out Performance for more details.

The THX Cinema picture preset doesn't allow users to adjust any of the picture parameters.

Said picture mode is the only one of the 50PG60's that cannot be adjusted. Like other 2008 LG HDTVs, this plasma features oodles of picture adjustments in other modes, all six of which remember settings independently per input. If you're counting, that's 66 total "slots" over the set's 11 inputs, for a range of adjustability that should satisfy even the tweakiest of viewers. We also liked that all of the main picture modes indicate whether they're at default or custom settings with the presence or absence of "(User)" printed after the mode name.

The two Expert modes allow even more adjustment, starting with a more comprehensive color temperature control than any HDTV we've tested, moving beyond the three presets with both 2-point and 10-point adjustment options. The latter allows calibrators to really home in on the D6500 standard and create a more linear grayscale than would otherwise be possible. Expert also adds a full color management system for tuning the primary and secondary color points, again a boon for careful calibrators. A raft of other adjustments are available too, the most important of which includes gamma and noise reduction. See below for our complete picture settings.

The Expert picture modes allow adjustment of just about every parameter, including a unique 10 point adjustment for color temperature.

The 50PG60 includes a healthy five manual-aspect ratio modes and a sixth that detects incoming content and attempts to adjust aspect automatically. LG chose to call its zero-overscan mode Just Scan, just like Samsung, and we'd recommend using this mode with HD content unless you notice interference along the extreme edges of the screen, which can occur on some cable ad satellite feeds.

LG threw in a variety of settings to combat potential burn-in, such as an all-white screen, an inversion mode that shows colors in reverse, and a pixel orbiter that slowly shifts the entire image around the screen. We also appreciated the three levels of power saving, which limit light output to cut down on the plasmas thirst for electricity. Check out the Juice Box below for our results testing the highest power saver setting.

The LG's back panel includes every jack you'd expect in a high-end HDTV, starting with three HDMI inputs.

Connectivity is as strong as we expected on the LG 50PG60, and the star of the show is the quartet of HDMI inputs, three on the back and one on the side. Two component video jacks, a VGA-style PC input (1,920x1,080 maximum resolution), an AV input with S-Video and composite video, an RF input or antenna or cable, both optical and coaxial digital outputs, and an RS-232 port for custom installation round out the back panel. Another composite video input is stashed on the side panel, along with a USB port for digital photo display and MP3 playback from USB thumbdrives.

The side panel adds a fourth HDMI input as well as a USB port.

Performance
All told the LG 50PG60 produced a very good picture, but it wasn't quite up to the best plasmas we've tested. The THX mode resulted in relatively accurate color, although it could be improved especially in saturation and shadow detail. False contouring also showed up in some scenes.

As usual we adjusted the LG's picture as well as we could before beginning our evaluation. After our experience with the THX certified Panasonic TH-50PZ800U, we were a bit surprised when selecting THX mode on the LG didn't deliver quite as accurate a picture. Comparing between the two, the LG's color temperature was much bluer and its color decoding less accurate; red and green in particular were quite undersaturated compared with the Panasonic. Primary colors were very accurate, however. Since the LG's THX setting unfortunately doesn't allow any adjustment, we calibrated the TV as usual using the extensive settings available in Expert mode, which improved color decoding and grayscale at the expense of primary color accuracy; despite the LG's color management system, we couldn't tweak its primary and secondary colors to approach the accuracy of default THX (for what it's worth, the final grayscale was also less-accurate than what we achieved on LG's 47LG60, but still superb).

Comparing the THX mode to the post-calibration Expert setting, we decided we liked the picture produced by THX mode slightly better, mainly because of the primary color issues with Expert. So while we recommend setting it in THX mode, we'll still include our complete Expert mode settings for anybody who's curious.. For our comparison and imge quality tests we set the LG up next to a couple of other high-end plasmas, the THX certified Panasonic TH-50PZ800U and the Pioneer PDP-5080HD, along with a couple of newer, good-performing LCDs, the Samsung LN52A650 and the Sony KDL-46W4100. This time around we checked out Pan's Labyrinth on Blu-ray played via our PlayStation 3.

Black level: Compared with the Panasonic and the Pioneer, both paragons of deep black, the LG couldn't come as close to true black in dark scenes. When Ophelia visits her mother's bedroom, for example, the darkened walls behind the headboard and the shadow-obscured blanket looked noticeably darker on the other plasmas, although the LG did out-black the two LCDs by a hair.

Shadow detail, such as the folds of the pillows and the edge of the mother's face, also appeared less distinct on the LG than on the Panasonic, even though both were in THX mode. In general this issue lent many scenes a slightly less natural, darker look where clear details were occasionally obscured, and lack of shadow detail is one of our biggest issues with the LG's THX setting.

Color accuracy: The LG exhibited excellent primary colors in THX mode, balanced by a somewhat bluish overall color temperature and less accurate color decoding. These issues appeared, for example, in the slightly bluer tinge to the blank page of Ophelia's book, and when the bloodstains appear across it they looked less saturated and bloody than on the other displays. Her pale face looked a bit too ruddy somehow, and we noticed a slight greenish tint compared to the rosy blush on the other displays. The grass outside the compound was again less-saturated and punchy than we'd like to see, although the tint of green looked natural enough.

Video processing: The LG showed no problems here, displaying every line of 1,080 resolution sources and providing as sharp an image as we expected. Of course, compared with the 1,366x768 Pioneer, the 1080p LG didn't look any more detailed, but that's par for the 1080p course. The 50PG60 properly deinterlaced film-based 1080i material, unlike many sets we've tested.

Uniformity: Like most plasmas, the LG exhibited excellent uniformity across its screen surface and excellent viewing angles. Unfortunately it introduced more false contouring than we expected in a high-end plasma. Along the edge of Ophelia's darkened cheek, for example, we could occasionally see a distinct edge of color where there should be just a smooth transition from one color to the next. Contouring also showed up elsewhere, such as in the subtle color transition across the blank page and the edges of shadows in the back of the room.

Bright lighting: The LG performed about as well as the Panasonic at attenuating ambient light reflecting off the screen, which is to say a bit above average for a plasma, but not as good as the Pioneer or, of course, the matte-screen Sony LCD.

Standard-definition: With standard-definition sources, the LG turned in an average showing, delivering every detail of the DVD format and providing a relatively sharp rendition of the stone bridge and grass from our HQV test disc. It removed jaggies from moving diagonal lines to a large extent, but didn't eliminate them completely. The noise reduction did a fine job of squelching the moving motes and video "snow" in low-quality shots of flowers and skies, for example, and we could see a good progression from Low to High in the NR setting. Finally, 2:3 pull-down kicked in quickly and effectively.

PC: Via a digital HDMI connection PC performance was as perfect as any 1080p TV we've seen, with every detail resolved, no edge enhancement or overscan. Via the VGA input the story was similar, and while we did detect slight edge enhancement around text and some interference in the highest-resolution areas, the LG's analog PC picture was still very good.

Juice box

LG 50PG60	Picture settings
	Default	Calibrated	Power Save
Picture on (watts)	401.02	329.92	244.56
Picture on (watts/sq. inch)	0.38	0.31	0.23
Standby (watts)	1.04	1.04	1.04
Cost per year	$124.77	$102.76	$76.34
Score (considering size)	Poor
Score (overall)	Poor

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