LG 42LH70YR Scarlet 2.0 LCD TV

New model alert! This is LG’s latest Scarlet LCD TV, a popular model with now major re-inforcements like IPS (in plane switching) LCD panel, Bluetooth etc. We got the 42 inch model, the LG 42LH70YR Scarlet 2.0 LCD TV, and looks pretty snazzy and promising. So let’s check it out.

Design and features
Drawing on its typical red streaked aesthetics like previous Scarlet series, this model clearly looks better than many other models we’ve seen. LG always manages to make their bezels very ritzy, with a clean cut design and smooth surfaces, gloss black in this case. The red accentuation is on the bottom panel, and around the rim of the stand’s base. Thin frames is the ‘in’ thing these days, and this LG model too is very thin. Not as much as the edge lit LED model inthe market, but for this price point it’s really neat and thin. The power button is a circular transparent one that fills up what, in previous Scarlet models, was a cut out hole through the bezel. This too is fully touch sensitive.

The connections available are more than satisfactory, with 3 HDMI 1.3a inputs, 2 component ins, PC input (Mini D-Sub), one RS-232, plus the all important USB 2.0 inputs. The USB can play MP3s, JPEGS and also DivX and MPEG 4 movies. The DivX playback is limited to SD playback, plus there is no head phone out, and it comes with inbuilt stereo regular speakers, though invisible from the front view. The stand joint is really wobbly. We were cleaning the screen to photograph it, and it just wobbled away like a see saw.

The new Bluetooth feature is a first for LCDs in India, kudos to LG for that, but usage wise you can only hear music on wireless headphones, and listen to music from your phone on TV. The panel, as mentioned previously, is IPS, not the first in India, but LG markets it heavily. The panel is 1920 x 1080 full HD, Brightness is 500 cd/m2, Viewing Angle is 178 /178, Response time is 2.4 ms.

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Performance
The UI is quite familiar, with large illustrated icons and access to their latest XD video engine. The home screen has options to go into USB, Bluetooth etc. First we’ll see the image quality, then check out the bells and whistles. There are lots of options ranging from color temp presets, Edge enhancers, 24p movie mode etc. to use for calibrating.

The first step was to check grayscale and black white extremes, which we found that the TV has quite a deep level of black, at least for LCD standards. Low end black and also high white bars had good separation. Brightness is not spectacular like an LED lit model, but this one is quite bright, and also the whites are commendably pure, no real coloration or tinges. I like the vibrancy in the image, it’s a marked improvement over previous Scarlets.

Colors, were good but I fear not amazingly accurate, as in normal color temp setting, colors looked cooler (in temp) than usual, but this is something we can see in test patterns, and on normal film viewing and TV watching, it’s fine.

For motion we played Iron Man, and used games like Pure and Prototype. Beside the test footage on DVE test DVD was also used, and it yielded quite a high level of detail, even on the DVD footage. It’s not picture perfect though, there are jaggies and a little moiring issues in 480p DVD video. Full HD stuff looks way better, and the film mode makes a difference for sure.

The USB port works just like a normal HDMI connection would treat the video. The sound system is loud