LG 42PW350 42-Inch 720p 600 Hz Active 3D Plasma HDTV
- Bring your content alive with full 720p HD 3D technology
- Incredibly high contrast ratio of 10,000,000:1 delivers incredibly vibrant colors and deeper and darker blacks
- Energy Star qualified so your entertainment experiene uses less energy
- The 600Hz Sub Field Driving virtually eliminates motion blur
- At less than 1″ wide the new TruSlim Frame trims away the distraction of a wide frame.2D-3D conversion.
If you’re big on sports and fast action, but not big on bulky frames, the PW350 3D Plasma is the HDTV for you. It’s got a blistering 600Hz refresh rate that keeps up with the fastest action, so there’s a clear picture with virtually no blur. Think plasmas have to be bulky? Think again. The TruSlim Frame gives it a sleek, thin profile that makes it stylish on or off.
3D Technology Checklist
This product is 3D-related. To help you get a great 3D experience, use the checklist below to ensure you have everything you need. 3D viewing requires:
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A Display First, you’ll need a 3D-ready display–whether it’s a 3D HDTV, 3D projector, or 3D computer monitor. These displays have more processing power than standard 2D models for displaying 3D images in rapid succession. |
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A Source Your display may be ready for 3D playback, but you’ll still need a device to read 3D content. This can be a cable box with a subscription to a 3D channel, a 3D Blu-ray Disc player, or a PlayStation 3 system. |
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3D Content 3D content–the actual entertainment, in other words–will be played back using the source mentioned above, whether it’s a 3D broadcast from your cable provider, a 3D Blu-ray Disc, or a 3D video game. |
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3D Glasses For now, the vast majority of 3D HDTVs require glasses for 3D viewing. Many use powered “active shutter” glasses, others polarized “passive” glasses. You’ll need one pair per viewer, and they’ll have to be compatible with your display, whether they’re the same brand, or a pair of “universal” glasses designed to work across brands. |
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HDMI Cable To connect your source (such as a 3D Blu-ray Disc player) to your display, you’ll need a high-speed HDMI cable. Cables with this designation feature bandwidth speeds up to 10.2 Gbps (gigabits per second), for carrying the 3D signal without any loss of quality. |
| If you want to get more information about 3D, shop our 3D products, watch videos, or interact with other customers, we invite you to visit 3D 101, our customer center about everything 3D. | |
Internet-Ready Television
Internet-ready TVs use your broadband connection to deliver dynamic content, whether it’s streaming video from Netflix, new music from or a quick glance at today’s weather forecast.
Although there is overlap, each manufacturer offers a unique bundle of free or paid services, including streaming video and music, social networking apps, online photo galleries, news and financial updates, weather info, sports scores, and a variety of other smartphone-like applications.
Manufacturers continue to add new content to their offerings, keeping customers current through firmware updates, and making a bit of research a prudent step in your buying decision.
Learn more about Internet TVs, how they work, what services are offered by different manufacturers, and exactly what you’ll need to get started at our Internet TV 101 customer center.
(June 2011)
ADDITIONAL FEATURES
- See and experience more.
- Pictures are sharper. Colors are more vibrant. Entertainment is more real. Everything looks better on an HDTV.
- Save more than energy.
- Earning the ENERGY STAR means a product meets strict energy efficiency guidelines set by the US Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Energy. For TVs, it means they save energy both in standby and active (when they’re on) modes. ENERGY STAR qualified TVs use about 30% less energy than standard units.
- Find the perfect picture.
- Get easy self–calibration with on–screen reference points for key picture quality elements such as black level, color, tint, sharpness and backlight levels. Take the guesswork out of picture adjustments with this simple–to–use feature. It’s not actually magic, but it will sure seem that way.
- View it in the right light.
- Let your TV do the adjustments for you. Intelligent Sensor automatically optimizes the picture to the lighting and color conditions in the room for a more enjoyable viewing experience.
- Wise and not wasteful.
- With our Smart Energy Saving Features, you can conserve money and energy.
- ISFccc ready.
- LG’s ISFccc Ready HDTVs contain the detailed standards necessary for professional calibration of brightness, contrast, tint, sharpness, color levels and much more to meet local lighting conditions for both daytime and nighttime viewing. Settings are added to preset modes for easy access from your LG remote.
* Disclaimer: For a small percentage of the population, the viewing of stereoscopic 3D video technology may cause discomfort such as headaches, dizziness or nausea. If you experience any symptoms, discontinue using the 3D functionality and contact your health-care provider. 3D glasses required and sold separately.
LG 2011 Plasma Feature Comparison
| Series |
PZ950
|
PZ750
|
PZ550
|
PW350
|
PV450
|
PT350
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Models: |
50″, 60″
|
50″, 60″
|
50″, 60″
|
42″, 50″
|
50″, 60″
|
42″, 50″
|
| High Definition Resolution |
1080p
|
1080p
|
1080p
|
720p
|
1080p
|
720p
|
| LG Smart TV/NetCast |
LG Smart TV
|
LG Smart TV
|
NetCast
|
|||
| TruBlack Filter |
 |
|||||
| THX 3D Certified Display |
|
|
||||
| 600Hz Max Sub Field Driving/600Hz Sub Field Driving |
600Hz Max
|
600Hz Max
|
600Hz Max
|
600Hz |
600Hz Max |
600Hz |
| Contrast Ratio |
5,000,000:1
|
3,000,000:1
|
3,000,000:1
|
3,000,000:1
|
3,000,000:1
|
3,000,000:1
|
| Magic Motion Remote |
|
|
||||
| Wi-Fi Ready |
|
|
|
|||
| DLNA Certified |
|
|
|
|||
| 3D Ready |
|
|
|
|
||
| 2D to 3D Conversion |
|
|
|
|
||
| TruSlim Frame |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| ENERGY STAR Qualified |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Intelligent Sensor |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Picture Wizard II |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Smart Energy Saving |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| ISFccc Ready |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| HDMI/USB |
4.2
|
4.2
|
4.2
|
3.1
|
3.1
|
3.1
|
List Price: $ 699.99
Price: $ 699.99
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Excellent entry level 3D TV,
I’ve had this TV for more than a week and spent some time playing with it and have watched different TV shows, several movies, both 2D and 3D. I think I now have a pretty good idea about how this TV performs.
First of all, let me start with a brief summary of pros and cons:
**Pros:
- Inexpensive
- Pretty good looking
- 3D
- Many advanced controls for tweaking picture quality, ISF calibration ready, as LG put it. This is a huge plus for an entry level TV
- Excellent picture quality and color accuracy, especially after being properly calibrated
- Low power consumption for a plasma TV, has built-in smart power-saving feature. After being calibrated, it’s less than 100 watts in 2D mode which is very low for a plasma TV and within the territory of LCD TVs.
**Cons:
- Only 720p. This actually doesn’t bother me because I hardly notice any difference in picture quality compared to my 1080p TV unless I get very close, something like 2-3 feet or so.
- A small annoying issue I found when I tried to calibrate the TV. No big deal but still annoying. I will explain later.
- Looks like a mirror. This is actually a problem for all plasma TVs, the technology itself. If your room is not dark enough, or the TV is facing a window, the reflection can be pretty bad. High end plasma TVs have some sort of filter or something like that to reduce reflection but they cost a lot more. If your room is pretty bright, get ready to buy a dark curtain.
Now let me go into some more details of my calibration process and how this TV performs.
In fact, the TV has very good color and gray scale accuracy in “Cinema” picture mode. I used my colorimeter, downloaded a free copy of ColorHCFR calibration software and AVS HD 709 calibration pattern disc to test the colors and gray scales. I found Cinema mode has good gamma, color temperature, and luminance accuracy. It’s not perfect, but it’s not too far off. The contrast should be a little higher but for an out-of-the-box mode, it’s very good. If anyone doesn’t bother with calibration, just switch it to Cinema mode and increase the contrast a little bit, and it’s good to go.
For those who are interested in more advanced calibration, the TV does come with 2 advanced picture modes called “expert 1″ and “expert 2″ with small “ISF” logos. These two modes have all you need for advanced calibration, either by an ISF-certified professional or do it yourself (Although I dig into these “expert” modes, I’m not an “expert”, not even close BTW). Go deep into one of these two “expert” modes, you can adjust individual RGB channels (both Contrast and Brightness), turn on color filters for adjusting color saturation and hue. The TV even has 20-point gray scale curve controls. Although this can be hard to use, it allows much more accurate gray scale adjustment. You also find primary and secondary color controls for CMS (Color Management System), which are rarely found in entry level or even mid-range TVs.
I spent a few hours playing with these advanced controls and the results were amazing. The luminance, gamma, color temperature curves were all very close to the targets with very low deltaE values. Of course they are not as low as what I can get with my graphic monitor, but those numbers and graphs are excellent for a TV. After calibration, the colors look natural and smooth, the skin tones look great. 3D movies look great as well. I did notice some crosstalk/ghosting in some dark scenes but it looks like this problem depends on the content as well. I saw very little ghosting when watching Tangled 3D, almost no problem with the Ultimate Wave: Tahiti 3D and a little more in Shrek 1 and 2 3D.
However, this was also where I found an annoying issue as I previously mentioned. The picture modes seem to work independently in different viewing modes like TV and Blu-ray. I have a blu-ray player connected to one of the HDMI ports. All my calibration was done in this viewing mode with the use of my blu-ray player. After everything was set and I achieved my desired results, There’s no way to apply the calibrated parameters to all inputs. I calibrated the “expert 1″ profile (in blu-ray viewing mode) and “expert 1″ in TV mode doesn’t have the same parameters, it actually doesn’t change at all. I had to manually copy the numbers to my notes and transfer them one by one. I found this very annoying even though it’s not a big deal and I could get around it. But it’s very strange.
Another issue I found pretty odd is the “expert” picture profiles are disabled in 3D view mode. So all your calibrated results have no meaning if you’re watching 3D movies. I understand that all energy saving features are disabled in 3D mode but the calibrated profiles are gone too? Very odd indeed. Fortunately, the “Cinema” picture profile still works and as I said, it does a good job.
This TV doesn’t have any…
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|WAS Absolutely Awesome! – UH OH!,
This TV is amazing, I highly recommend it. Great quality construction/design, great quality sound, great quality picture. What more can you ask for? Thanks LG!
UPDATE:
Haha So, the above post was when I originally bought my TV (2 months ago). Well, I have had it hung on a wall since purchased and everything has been awesome. Well, today after having the TV on for about an hour it made a loud “POP” noise and shut off. It won’t turn back on. Boooo LG. It’s 2 months old and died. I keep a very clean living space so I know dust is not the issue, I keep the temperature around 74-76 degrees. So, I can only sum it up to faulty hardware? Maybe this particular TV is the only one with this issue, I don’t know. But, “Life’s Good”? Now, “Looked Good”.
Amazon will not refund the purchase amount because I am outside the 30 day return window.
Thanks again LG!!
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|3D Awesomeness Ensues,
NEW EDIT (1/20/2012)
PROS:
Cheap 3D plasma TV
Great Calibration options for greyscale
Good Calibration options for primary/secondary colors
Decent picture (really good for the price point)
Good 3D
Thin and attractive looking tv
CONS:
-1024 X 768 resolution (note: this technically falls under 720p but normal 16:9 720p is 1280 X 720 which is 921,600 pixels which are 1:1 or square shaped, the 1024 X 768 is more commonly found in PCs, it’s 786,432 pixels that are 4:3 shaped) this is usually for 4:3 televisions/monitors. So the 720p here is actually a lower resolution 720p than that found in most 720p HDTVs (ie, has fewer pixels).
-black levels not really great for a plasma set, comparable to other budget tvs
-Energy saving modes are terrible
-image retention may annoy some or scare some folks
- 3D glasses, LG glasses have a 10 minute aauto-shutoff so most people have to resynch a few times during a movie (not a big deal, you just push a button on the glasses)
Everything still works fine and I am not easy on my electronics. The tv is on for 8+ hours at a time, used for all day gaming sessions, I smoke in my apartment too. Just a few quick updates.
This plasma display does show quite a bit of image retention. This is NOT the same as burn-in. Burn in is permanent, image retention is just an afterglow of phosphors. The image retention goes away pretty fast, isn’t very noticeable unless there is a black or white field. Anyone using this set should set the image retention protection to orbit/orbiter/orbital (not 100% sure what they call it), this is far better than the normal setting. Also note that if you change this to white wash or the color wash…when you exit the menu it will default back to normal and you will have to reset to orbit.
I have calibrated my tv with the eye-one colormeter, the free program ColorHCFR, and a free test pattern disc from avs forum called AVS HD709. I recommend this over the DVE disc because it’s FREE, and much easier to use, also includes APL (average picture level) patterns which is a better way to calibrate a plasma.
I do wish the blacks were better and the color gamut was closer to the 709 spec. Blues are a bit undersaturated and the hue isn’t quite right. When I try to fix one of these issues, the luminence gets worse so you need to compromise on this as luminence and saturation are both controlled by “color”, hue is controlled by “tint”. For most users who don’t calibrate with a meter and aren’t that picky about it, you probably won’t even notice these inaccuracies, you probably wouldn’t notice with calibration off a disc either, I only noticed it when using a meter.
NEW EDIT (10/07/2011)
I have finally calibrated my tv with the DVE disc, which I also bought from amazon. I give LG 2 thumbs up for the calibration. If you go into the picture settings and go to isf-expert settings you will find that this tv has red, green, and blue filters….AWESOME (yes DVE has the color filters but it’s easier to calibrate with the tv filter). You can also independently adjust each color along with the combinations (magenta, cyan, yellow, etc). The color calibration is much easier this way. BUT I have to also give a thumbs down…..you cannot output audio from the USB source through the optical out on the tv…BOOOOO.
The LG50PW350 is probably the cheapest 50 inch 3D capable tv you can buy right now. It’s not 1080p but 720p looks darn good and is good enough for me. Sure there are better plasma tvs out there and you aren’t going to get the black levels of a kuro pioneer but the kuro is over 3K and this tv is only around 750.
I chose this over a panasonic 1080p 50in 3Dtv because it’s 500 bucks cheaper, and it has a pc input using the old VGA (15pin D-sub). There is an optical out…I thought it was weird and useless but it’s actually a good idea since you can use a USB flash drive or external drive for movies and the sound can go to the receiver for decoding. read edit above…this doesn’t work)
Video formats:
Through the USB this tv supports:
H.264, mpeg 1,2, or 4 formats for video.
MP2, MP3, DD, AAC, HE-AAC, LCPM for audio
(and since you don’t have to use FAT32 partition like with the stupid PS3 you can play larger files without streaming from PS3).
One caveat: the energy saving star thing is kind of BS. If you want a good picture you will have to turn off energy saving mode otherwise the whites are terrible (like looking at the tv with sunglasses on).
If you have lots of cash and want the best….this ain’t it and I’d probably get a kuro for high end (3K+ dollars) or a panasonic or samsung plasma for mid-priced set (1-2k bucks). But you get quite a lot of tv for the money with this one.
I would highly recommend this tv for people who…
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