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131 of 136 people found the following review helpful.
A great value for HD and 3D. A must buy.
By Mike
I was a little skeptical, when I made this purchase, that I would be disappointed with the picture quality and functionality of this TV. I was pleasantly surprised when I got it hooked up and began watching broadcast TV in 3D!I will attempt to address the concerns I had when buying a 3DTV for the first time, and how this TV met all of those requirements. This is a legit review. I'm not one of those guys who cuts and pastes the specs from the LG website. These are my opinions/ observations based on my experience. I've done my homework. Price matched; visited big box stores (Sam's, BJ's, Costco); shopped BestBuy, Sears, HHGreg; checked out web deals; AND read reviews on 3D (active vs. passive)- Finally, realizing that this was the best TV for the money out there today.1.) My requirements when buying a new TV- My wife and I had an older model 42" LCD that was on its last leg. Our budget was $800 (not a lot compared, considering what I wanted vs. what she said we needed). I also needed a TV that would fit in an alcove above our fireplace. I measured the space and reailzed that bigger wasn't going to work or us. This 47" (measured diagonally) fits perfectly (wall mounted) in the cutout. It's just at 46" wide from side to side. Our room can get quite bright during the day, so I needed a TV that could handle the "light pollution." I wanted a 3DTV because- well- it's just a cool feature. I was concerned that it would be disappointing or that it wouldn't be compilable with my two year old receivers, BluRay, or my Xbox 360.2.) Picture quality- The LG 47CM565 delivers. It displays (like any TV, including the most expensive) whatever resolution it is being fed. Display rates can get a little confusing sometimes. So, basically, if all you have is a DVD or a non-HD digital cable box, you're not going to be able to take full advantage of 1080p. I hooked this LG up to my bluray via HDMI and we were able to watch in 1080p- also we stream Netflix through the BluRay player- also in 1080p. Regarding my bright living room, the LG 47CM565 has a feature that adjusts its brightness levels to accommodate for the lighting in the room. Fast motion images on the screen are displayed perfectly- no issues with a blurry image (it's silly that manufacturers (and sales people) even tell you that you should worry about a blurry image. Did your old tube tv have a blurry image when you were watching the game back in 1998? Nope, because it's not an issue and never has been. Back when I bought my first LCD, they didn't publish refresh rates because it wasn't necessary to know. Now, refresh rates (60Hz, 120Hz, etc.) are used purely a marketing thing. You'll see a TV with a higher refresh, "240Hz," and think that it's going to be a better experience. You're eyes can't tell the difference. Picture quality for me means watching my shows in HD and having it look like HD (having it look better than my buddies' TVs).I rate the LG47CM565 5 out of 5 in picture quality.3.) 3D performance: Active vs. Passive and the LG 47CM565- Like I said before, i wanted 3D because it's cool. I hadn't had a 3DTV before, but I was in Vegas when Sony unveiled their new active shutter technology. It was really neat- I played PS3 in 3D, I watched a minute clip of a concert in 3D... all kinds of "neat," right? Yep. Until I got a headache. The way active 3D works (and why everyone on the internet says it's rubbish) is it has battery powered glasses that darken the lenses of one eye at a time, in sync with the image on the screen, resulting in a 3D image. This happens 30 times a second so you don't see the darkening- except when you do. What I mean by this is that some times the glasses get out of sync with the TV- when they do you have to charge them or replace them if they're broken. Replace them at around $130 a pop. The sick feeling I got was from the shuttering of the glasses. Now I'm not one of those people who whines and moans about being sick all the time- but it was really disconcerting wearing those heavy glasses and feeling dizzy. Finally (an I won't go on about the drawbacks on active 3D anymore), I don't have children, but I do walk around in the dark- and I would be POed if I stepped on my $130 3D glasses (btw- passive are only about $5 a pop).Passive glasses and the performance of the LG 47CM565: Passive technology uses the same type of glasses as movie theaters. If you have a passive TV and disagree let me qualify my statement: the LG 47CM565 uses the same technology as the cinema. In fact, my wife and I are teachers and get movie tickets from our students as gifts. So, we've gone to the theater and seen six or seven movies in 3D over the past year or two. Well, being the cheap guy I am, I keep my glasses because I had to pay $2 for them. The main selling point for the LG 47CM565 is that those cinema glasses actually work with the TV- so, we have about 10 pairs of working 3D glasses for our new LG 47CM565.So what can the LG47CM565 do with 3D? Well, after I scanned through all the HD channels I figured I'd give 3D a whirl. The TV can upconvert 2D into 3D. What this means is it can take regular 2D broadcast and make look 3D. And it really does a great job. One note though. The higher the resolution (1080i, 720p, 1080p) the better it will be. Regular analog TV is kind of 3D- but honestly- no TV on the market can make analog TV look 3D. There's not enough information in the broadcast. I watched about 30 minutes of the news in 3D (HD channel) and it was impressive. Netflix on our bluray was perfect also. You'd think that you were watching native 3D. The real test was on the Xbox 360. I have Call of Duty: Black Ops and it has a setting to display the game in 3D. I read a lot online that suggested it would only work on an active TV- well I guess they didn't try the LG47CM565. The LG47CM565 has 3 settings for 3D (apart from up converting 2d to 3D), and guess what? There are three ways for devices to display 3D. The LG47CM565 WILL be able to play all of your 3D content in native 3D. As a side note, I also played a non 3d game in 2D to 3D upconversion (Fallout: New Vegas) and it was really awesome. It didn't have the "pop out" like COD, because it wasn't made in 3D, but it still made the front images come forward and away from the horizon. I am really impressed by what this TV can do.My rating for the 3D on this TV is 5 out of 5.4.) Plasma, LDC, LED?- I'll begin with the biggest question. Is LED better than LCD? My opinion- Not when I have to pay $300 to $500 more for it. The LG47CM565 has an LCD screen- all LED TVs have an LCD screen. The LED label comes from how it's lit. LED uses hundreds of little LED bulbs in the edge of the screen to light it. The LG47CM565 uses long bulbs. What does that mean- LED is brighter, but not necessarily better. If one of those little bulbs go out, you will have a dark spot in the display and (according to the salesman at HHGreg) the company won't repair it unless 20% of the screen is affected...ugh. If a bulb goes in an LCD and you have basic repair skills, you can change it yourself- not with LED though.Plasma- costs less, but doesn't always have the ability to display 1080p- most under 55" are 720p only. You might not notice a difference, but that's not a train I was willing to get on. I had $800- i didn't need to settle for plasma. If you only have $600, you'll get what you pay for (sure you might be a rich guy and say the same thing about the LG47CM565, but I got a TV that's comparable to the $1100 LG LCD's at the big box stores).My rating for the LCD on this TV is 5 out of 5.5.) Sound- I usually use my receiver for my sound, but was anxious to try 3D so I didn't hook it up right away. The speakers are what you would expect from any flat screen. They are at the bottom and angled downward so if you plan to hang the TV on the wall or use the stand, you won't have any issues. They are nice and full of base, but not muffled. My situation is a little different because there isn;t any clearance between the bottom of the tv and my mantle. I use my receiver anyway, so I don't have a problem. This isn't an issue with the TV- just a unique setup for me.My audio rating for the LG47CM565 is 5 out of 5.6.) Summary- I can find anything wrong with this set. Make sure you used HDMI cables to achieve 1080p (this is true with any tv). Read the manual to understand how to set up your devices for 3D (and yes, you do have to buy a 3D BluRay player to play 3D BluRay in 3D). Buy this TV and use the glasses you get from the theater. Hook up your PS3 and Xbox and play (via HDMI) in 3D. Watch broadcast TV in 3D with the upconversion feature.I hope that this is helpful. I am incredibly satisfied with my LG47CM565. If you're looking for a 3D set that is not to pricy and will display the latest and greatest in full HD 3D and won't break the bank- BUY THE LG47CM565!!!
19 of 21 people found the following review helpful.
Awesome 3D and 2D tv, best picture
By TJ
I just purchased this tv about 3 weeks ago and all I can say is Awesome! I purchased at wal**** and before I did, i spend about 3 hours watching and comparing all the other tv's to this tv and all I can say is wow! This tv has such an awesome picture. I have never scene a better picture. As far as the 60hz goes, I am ok with this. I have viewed the other tv's with the 120hz and I personally don't care for the artifacts that cause the "live set" aka "cheap set or fake set" appearence that 120hz causes to 2d programming. Granted I am not saying that 120hz is no good, it actually is a nice feature and does some amazing things to the right movie and format. I just dont like the cons that i mentioned above so I had no problem getting the 60hz tv, plus this tv has super high response times of .0001ms so with that alone the picture with 60hz is just awesome. By the way, I got the .0001ms response time from targets website showing specs for the LG 47cm565 tv. The response time did seem extremely low but that was the only website I could find showing the response time specs for this 47cm565 tv so that's why I am going with that time. Anyways, for the price and picture you can not go wrong! It is such a beautiful picture its hard to believe. Thanks and Happy viewing. By the way, I put this review up here because when i was going to purchase, i could only find 1 review for this product which is the review above mine. So thats why I wanted to get my review here after viewing the tv set for few weeks. Amazon has some amazing prices for this tv, I recommend getting it from them. Like I said, I got mine from the Wal but thats because I had a credit card through them so I was limited where I could purchase it from. Thanks for reading and with this tv you can't go wrong!! Ps: I saw the 3d in action at the Best *** store and the passive 3d was Amazing and thought much better then the active 3d tv's although active 3d's are nice too but it comes down to prefference and the passive doesn't seem to make me sick to my stomach. All the reviews I was able to read on passive vs active seem to make passive the better way to view 3d but once again it comes down to preference. Thanks again
12 of 13 people found the following review helpful.
Amazing TV and a Great VALUE!
By Bort84
I won't get into too much detail because I am far from an AV pro, and some of the other reviewers on this page have done a wonderful job describing this TV in detail for those that are curious (I agree with the 5 star reviews whole-heartedly). I don't do reviews often (ever?) but this TV deserved more applause.I just want to say: WOW! Consider my expectations met and blown away (even after stalking this TV for a few months and reading lots of positive reviews). For this price, I just don't see how you could do better without some sort of crazy going out of business sale (and even then). I have done exactly zero tweaking at this point, and the picture is stunning. Clear, crisp, and bright with beautiful colors. The picture is perfect in our way too sunny living room, and the blacks are quite good too (one reason I was considering plasma, but decided to skip because of the amount of light we get during the day).So far, the TV has been exceptionally easy to use and set up. You could figure it out without the manual, no sweat.3D: despite often being belittled as a "gimmick" by a lot of places, it looks great. My husband was on the "gimmick" side of things until I had him come watch some 3D content to test it out. We ended up watching a movie we had no intention of sticking with for a solid 30 minutes because we were enjoying the 3D effects = ) At this price, the 3D option is basically free, so I figured, why not? So glad we did.Sound: For a thin TV, the speakers aren't bad at all. You could use it without speakers, but we do plan to get separate speakers to enhance the viewing experience.60hz: Personally, I dislike the "soap opera effect" that is often present in LCDs at 120hz or 240hz. I think this 60hz TV looks fantastic, even for sports.Appearance: The TV looks great too, though I could do without the shiny finishes (we have pets, and that slick surface attracts it like a magnet). It's sleek looking as well as light. I was able to set it up by myself, and I'm far from a strapping female.Smart TV: We plan to use it with an Apple TV, so I'm not missing the "Smart TV" features at all. Everything I've read says it's often best to pay less for a TV and then get a separate "smart" unit of some sort that suits your needs better.Again, I'm far from an AV pro, and those who've spent a lot of time sitting in front of a variety of high-end TVs analyzing them might find some fault with this set. However, for the price, and for our purposes, this TV deserves at least 5 stars.We've only had this TV for a short time, but I will update if we run into any issues.
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