(two), plus PC RGB, two HDMI inputs and two IEEE 1394 jacks (for
connecting a DVD recorder, D-VHS or digital camcorder). Audio con-
nections include a digital input and a digital output, plus standard
stereo ports.
The heart of the product isn’t the hard drive, but rather the user
interface, specifically the on-screen guide. If you have to scratch
your head and refer to the manual to figure out how to record a show
or find one you’ve already recorded, the product isn’t fulfilling its
duty. While ReplayTV and Windows Media
Center adherents may put up a fuss, the
real king of the DVR world is TiVo. It’s
made the process of finding and recording
shows, and then finding recordings, so
easy that my six-year-old daughter is
already pretty proficient at it.
The TV Guide On-Screen feature pro-
vides the program guide and on-screen
recording interface. In order to use the
guide to check listings or schedule record-
ings, you must initialize it, then turn off
the TV and leave it alone for the night
while it populates channel listings. In my
case, it actually took about two days for
the program guide to fill in all of the
blanks. Once that’s done, you can scroll
around to see what’s playing and schedule
recordings. The remote itself is adequate,
but the buttons are small, with many hid-
den under a panel; there are no direct
access buttons for switching inputs, either.
TV Guide On-Screen is no TiVo, but
searching, recording and accessing record-
ings is fairly intuitive. It stores up to eight
days of data. In the guide screen, you high-
light a program you want to record and use
the record button (or enter button) to
indicate your recording preference. There
are actually three ways to access your
recorded shows: you can find them
through TV Guide On-Screen, by pressing
the recorded programs button on the
remote, or by pressing the X Studio but-
ton, which brings up a number of other
options as well. You can search for pro-
grams in standard genres—drama, come-
dy, mystery, et cetera—to find something in the future. The guide
works well most of the time. There were some places where it had no
information, and it’s not quite as intuitive as TiVo’s service, but you
don’t pay an extra $12.95 a month for it, which you do with TiVo and
some cable company equivalents. At 160 GB, the hard drive can
store about 13 hours of high-definition or 63 hours of standard-defi-
nition programs.
Like some other new TVs, this one reads camera memory cards
in order to display instant slide shows. LG goes a bit further than
most in that this set is compatible with nine different memory card
types, so no matter what camera you use, it should be able to read
the card. The set also reads MP3 music files from memory cards
and plays them either through the built-in speakers or connected
external speakers. The card slots are behind one of the speakers,
but the TV swivels on its base so you can easily access them. You
can even load pictures or music onto the hard drive. All of this is
accessible through the strangely-named X
Studio button, which brings up a menu
from which you select TV recordings,
music or photos; you can also get into the
other TV menus and the guide from there.
To get started with the TV, I first hooked
up a Terk (by Audiovox) HDTVlp indoor
antenna. Using the menu to scan for avail-
able digital signals was easy. From our
12th-floor location in downtown
Philadelphia, I was able to pull in 24 digi-
tal signals from as far away as Atlantic
City, Allentown and Reading. I attribute
these amazing results to LG’s excellent
tuner, Terk’s very effective antenna and
our high location with no surrounding
obstructions. Of course, less than half of
the channels were actually broadcasting
in HD, but those that were came in per-
fectly. You can also get HD via cable and a
CableCARD.
I spent some time tweaking picture con-
trols before really watching anything.
High-def pictures looked fantastic—as
good as I’ve seen on a plasma. Colors were
intense without being over-saturated.
Detail was very realistic and contrast was
quite good, even in darker scenes. For
DVD, I watched a bit of
Alien Resurrection
and an IMAX film on the Amazon. Both
looked great, particularly the Amazon
scenes of jungles and exotic animals. The
dark, murky
Alien Resurrection
was well-
conveyed, from saliva dripping from the
alien’s mouth to the space station’s low-lit
hallways.
Flat-panel TVs are compelling on their
own, but this one goes beyond any I’ve seen. It does so much more
than just offer a good picture; it’s by far the coolest plasma I’ve ever
used. Sure, the feature does come with some compromises compared
to TiVo, but it more than makes up for it in other areas. The list price
of the package is a bit more than those of many 50-inch plasmas, but
at the time of this writing, it was available for $5,999 from some major
retailers, which puts it in line with the others. Plus, you get all of the
bonus features.
II
E Gear
Performance Review
Terk HDTVlp Antenna
For this review I used a Terk HDTVlp indoor antenna.
Why indoor? In our office where much of the testing
takes place, there is no roof access. At my home, I can
get up on the roof, but I don’t want to. Small indoor
antennas are more convenient because they don’t
require me to risk my neck on the roof. The HDTVlp is
only about five-inches high and 27-inches long, so it
doesn’t take up much room, and can easily be hidden
behind something. The HDTVlp is both UHF and VHF,
bi-directional and includes an integrated low-noise
amplifier for digital signals. It’s a bit unconventional-
looking—not your typical rabbit ears. As stated in the
review of the 50PX2DR plasma, this Terk antenna
provided exceptional results. It pulled in more than 40
TV signals, 24 of which were digital signals. Of course
I wanted to make sure it was the antenna, and not
our 12-story location that did the trick, so I took the
HDTVlp home to use on my own HDTV tuner. My home
antenna is a Zenith Silver Sensor, another good indoor
antenna. With that I can get seven digital channels.
When I hooked up the new Terk and ran a channels
scan I was able to pull in 12 channels. The difference
was impressive and had me sold. Of course, my Silver
Sensor is a $20 antenna and the HDTVlp is a $130
antenna, but considering that the HDTV programming
you get off the air is free, that’s not such a bad deal.
Reprinted from E-Gear
®
September/October 2005 © Copyright 2005, North American Publishing Co., Philadelphia PA 19130
1012_eg0905reprint 10/07/05 5:06 PM Page 62
