LG 42LD520 42-Inch 1080p 120 Hz LCD HDTV

This is a Full HD television anyone would be happy with, at almost any budget.

It’s great for sports and fast action, along with offering the Core Technologies that make every LG television something better.


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LG 42LD520 Key Specifications

• Screen size: 42-inch class (42 inches diagonal)
• Resolution: 1920 x 1080 (1080p Full HD)
• Dynamic contrast ratio: 100,000:1
• Viewing angle: 178 degrees horizontal/vertical
• Response time: 2.4ms
• Built-in tuner: ATSC/NTSC/Clear QAM
• Audio output: 20 watts (10W x 2)
• Speaker system: 2-way, 4 speakers
• Dolby Digital decoder: Yes
• Surround system: Infinite Sound
• Input labeling: Yes
• Swivel stand: ±20 degrees
• VESA compliance: 200mm x 200mm
• Warranty: 1 year parts and labor

Connections

• HDMI (version 1.3, HDCP): 2 rear, 1 side
• Component: 1 rear
• Composite A/V: 1 rear, 1 side
• RF: 1 rear
• PC input (15-pin, D-Sub): 1 rear
• PC audio input: 1 rear
• Digital audio output: 1 optical, rear
• USB: 1 side
• Headphone out: 1 side
• RS-232c input: 1 rear 

LG 42LD520 42-Inch 1080p 120 Hz LCD HDTV


 Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing!, June 27, 2010

By Richard L. Morrow -
Might not appeal to the people who can afford a $2500 TV..aka the videophile, but I'm in love with this. For 95% of people this should be more than enough. After months of shopping around and doing my homework, I went against the grain and decided to try the LG. Purchased this set through Walmart site to store. It was $70 more than the LD450 model on the shelf. But in my eyes well worth paying a little extra and waiting another week for it. The extra hdmi port alone justifies the $$$$.

Picture Crisp! Bright. Color is deep! Pops off the screen when in high def. Nothing in 480 (standard) looks good on this though . Keep that in mind. Initially struggled with adjustments. In the end a couple of tweaks to cinema mode were all it took. Looks as good (maybe better) than the comparible Sony's and Samsungs.

A word of advice... I saw one of the 450 models on a store shelf...which basically has the same picture with a few less features. It looked horrible next to a Sony. Huh? The sales guy tried to tell me that the LG wasn't getting as good of a signal. Ummm...why does the 47" inch version way down on the other end also look bad next to the Sony? Or even the Sanyo? Why do I see the same thing when I visit the store down the road in fact? The answer? LG's 'store demo' presets are horrible. I'm not sure why they did this. But they badly misjudged something. Once you get the picture correctly adjusted, you'll see what I'm talking about. It's an "oooh and ahhhh" kind of thing when you see what it is supposed to look like.


Final Settings: Aspect Ratio 16:9
Energy Saving Off
Cinema
Backlight 30
Contrast 90
Brightness 75 (adjusted)
Sharpness 50
Color 50
Tint 0
Color Temp W50

Advanced Control

Dynamic Contrast Low (adjusted)
Dynamic Color Low (adjusted)
Clear White Off
Skin Color 3 (adjusted)
Noise Reduction Off
Digital Noise Reduction off
Gamma Medium
Black Level Low
Eye CAre Greyed Out/off
Real Cimema Off
Color Gamut Standard
xvYCC Auto
Trumotion Off




THOUGHTS:

Intellegent Sensor is useless. Makes the picture WAY too dim. It might have been good if they weren't so conservative with the energy savings. I could achieve 100% power savings by unplugging it, but what would be the point? Options to adjust Itelligent Sensor are greyed out too. The IS logo that pops up on the screen is also annoying. Blech! . Strongly recommend disabling this feature.


Trumotion=much ado about nothing. Doesn't add anything great to the experience and in many cases makes things worse. Thankfully it's easy to disable. Interloping of frames just creates an artificial feeling to everything. Even on low it's bad. If motion blur/judder is an issue to you, then you to look into Plasma. I really don't notice it though. NBA finals and World Cup matches looked amazing WITHOUT this feature enabled!!!!!

60hz vs 120hz: The difference is slightly noticable. Will 60hz ruin your viewing experience? No. But for the slight price difference it's worth it. You'll notice the difference with Blue Ray movies for sure.

Glare almost non existant. Good job!!!

Off angle viewing isn't flawless, but I don't notice issues unless I'm watching tv from the other room.

Reported 'lip-sync' issues: I saw it do this once and the issue never resurfaced. So I'm writing this off.

Remote control simple to use. Well done. Although I can make all adjustments I need to with my Directv remote, so it will go into mothballs.

Noticed a bit of uneven backlighting when I'm flipping channels, on a pure white screen. But don't let that scare you. You shouldn't notice it 99% percent of the time. If it does become an issue to you, then adjust the intensity of the backlight accordlingly.

Sound could have been better. Meh! Having speakers in the back was a bad idea. Asthetics aside..they shouldn't have done this. But I'll be getting a home theatre system soon anyway. So it's a minor issue to me.

The stand: I had heard rumbling about the stand not being very 'secure' on the LD450 models. Definitely not an issue with the 520 series. Seems perfectly stable to me. I've bumped it a couple of times and it barely moved.

Lack of an ethernet port: Would have been nice had LG included this feature just for pulling down firmware updates. But I can live without it

BOTTOM LINE:

This tv is great! You can't go wrong....as people have said...for the money. If you are looking for something better....wait a year or two for the next generation of led-backlit sets to hit the mainstream market at a reasonable price. But I can honestly tell you that this unit provides the best balance of all worlds. It's candy for the retinas!!!!!!!!!

I wish I could give it more than 5 stars.

Well done LG

-Rick


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5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Picture Quality, Buy., April 9, 2010

By Babak (San Diego, CA) -
I spent close to an hour in the store comparing LCD TVs. This LG stood out with its sharp and bright colors. I used the store's Internet connection to check out the reviews but since it is a new model there wasn't many. The older model however was popular among gamers.

The speakers on this TV are hidden on the back and this gives it a neat look. The speakers also sound great. There are different sound options in the menu plus advanced picture controls. In "Intelligent Sensor" mode the TV adjust the brightness and color contrast according to the room lighting conditions. The picture quality is easy to setup using the picture wizard option.

This TV has three HDMI connections in the back to use with your laptop or desktop plus an RGB (VGA Cable). There is also a USB 2.0 port in the back. I connected a USB thumb drive and was able to listen to music and display my digital pictures on the screen.

Over all I am very pleased with quality of this LG model and recommend it to anyone who wants to buy a LCD TV for under $1k, and I mean not for picture quality but the size of the screen since this had as good, if not better, picture quality as other more expensive models in the store.


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5.0 out of 5 stars Nice TV, June 15, 2010

By Eric "goodadvice75" (Austin) - I bought this TV from the big box retailer that constantly rolls back prices. The TV was actually cheaper than online. Overall I like the TV very much and I think the value proposition is excellent. My local Bestbuy had this TV on display.

I have three recommendations for people who are not technically inclined - like myself - and get this TV to utilize the TV's full potential:

1. Make sure you use an HDMI cable to connect this TV to your cable box. You need to make sure that your HDMI cable is at least version 1.3.
2. Get HD cable or satellite. Having HD channels makes a huge difference.
3. Make sure your cable box is set at 1080p output signal. Our cable box was set at a much lower picture quality and it took me a while to figure this out. Some cable boxes might adjust the output signal automatically, but not all do that.

If you follow these three simple steps you should be able to enjoy the full potential of the TV. Also, think about getting netflix and one of the blue ray players that allows you to stream netflix. The quality of some of the movies is just awesome.

My last recommendation is to get an additional warranty. LCD TVs seem to be more prone to failing than CRT TVs. There are huge differences in the cost of these additional warranties. So account for these differences in your comparisons when you shop around