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223 of 239 people found the following review helpful.
Good TV but very clumsy "Smart" features & interface
By Michael Sandman
The LG LS5700 is an OK TV. If I could, I'd give it 2-1/2 stars. The LS5700's selling point is supposed to be the "smart" features that let you connect to the Internet, get content from Netflix, Hulu Plus, etc. and share content from other devices in your network. It does have a nice crisp HD picture after you tweak the color settings, and so-so sound, as expected. But if that's all you want in a TV there are less expensive alternatives. Unfortunately, the interface for using the "smart TV" features is very clumsy. And although the manual does a good job of showing how to connect the TV, it has almost nothing on how to use the "smart" features. The built-in menus are supposed to do that. The on-screen menus and LG's online support are minimal at best, and just plain wrong in one case (see below).On the plus side, the TV connected easily to my home network, using either WiFi or an Ethernet cable. And the "smart" features do work, if you can stand the interface However, this is TV is not the user-friendly web-integrated TV I was hoping for. That's still some time in the future.The TV includes a remote that's used to access the "smart" features and also to set up the TV, connect to your WiFi network, etc. It has sort of an air mouse pointer that shows up on the screen. When you use features that require entering text, there's an on-screen QWERTY keyboard that you click on with the remote control's pointer. Using the on-screen keyboard is just plain horrible. It's very slow and the remote's pointer is slow and somewhat jerky. If you get into the TV's setup menu you can change the pointer's setting to "fast", which helps a bit, but the on-screen keyboard is hopeless.It's not mentioned in the manual, but you can attach a wireless keyboard through a USB port. That lets you enter text more easily than you can with the on-screen keyboard. But the wireless mouse that pairs with my new wireless keyboard doesn't work. LG tech support says the set can take only one user input even though there are three USB ports. (They responded very quickly -- within hours -- to their credit.) So you have to use the remote control to do the pointing. What this TV really needs is a remote with a decent pointer and a little pull-out keyboard or a keyboard on the back. Samsung, Sony and Viszio (among others) do that; I would have been a lot happier with the set if LG did the same thing.There's an iPhone app from LG that could (in theory) make the interface better. It's supposed to allow you to control the TV from an iPhone. The app doesn't have a keyboard, according to reviews on iTunes, so it's not perfect. Far worse, although the LG web site specifically mentions that the LS5700 series is compatible with the app, the app doesn't work with this model. This was confirmed by LG tech support, and the app's information tab has a list of supported models includes the LW5700 series, but not the LS5700 series.To access music, photos or video on your home network using the DLNA capability, you need to download an application from the LG website to your computer. The TV's setup menu does mention that you need to have media sharing software, but you have to dig deeply into the on-screen menus to find out.Perhaps LG intends to update the iPhone app, or the set's firmware, or offer a compatible remote with a keyboard and a better pointer. But until then, avoid this model if you want easy-to-use "smart TV" features. The interface on this set is not ready for prime time. (EDITED 3-30-2012)
72 of 79 people found the following review helpful.
Good "smart" HDTV
By Elizabeth
This was not only my first HDTV purchase ever, but my first TV purchase, period. I'd managed to live with hand-me-down and garage-sale TVs up til now, but I decided I wanted something nice for a change. I don't subscribe to cable or satellite television, so I wanted something that had some built-in "smart" capabilities. I also wanted something that wasn't going to break the bank. I really dislike 3D content, so I decidedly did NOT want a 3D TV. Finding a nice TV that has smart features and *isn't* 3D is getting harder and harder. For the most part, this TV has fit the bill, and I've been happy with my purchase.I thought about putting together a list of pros and cons, but that didn't really seem to work too well with this particular review, so I've listed some general notes below:-- PICTURE QUALITYIn a word, excellent. Granted, I don't have a whole lot to compare it to, but it's one of the best I've seen. Blacks are good, as are whites. Images are nice and crisp when viewing HD content.-- TURNING OFF TRUMOTIONThe one thing that gave me a real headache with this TV was figuring out how to turn off the TruMotion setting. I know some people are really jazzed about the 120 Hz view and the lack of motion blur, but to me, it made everything look like I was watching a soap opera. (Don't know what I'm talking about? Google "soap opera effect.")So I turned it off. That was easy enough: Settings -->' Picture '--> Picture Option '--> TruMotion '--> OFF. There, fixed! Or so I thought. It fixed it for the TV input. But then I started watching something on Netflix (via the app on the TV), and the dreaded soap-opera effect was back!It took me several days of online searching and talking to friends before I figured out that you have to REPEAT THIS process for EVERY SINGLE INPUT. (e.g. Input '--> HDMI 1 -->' Settings '--> Picture '--> Picture Settings '--> TruMotion '--> OFF.) And for the built-in apps, like Netflix, you have to start a video, then go the QMENU -->' Set Video -->' Picture Option '--> TruMotion -->' OFF.Once you've set it for each input and app, though, it does stay defaulted to that. So at least you only have to do it once, not every time you start a new video. I found no online documentation ANYWHERE that specified this, though, so I thought it was definitely worth mentioning in this review. Hopefully it will help someone else.-- SOUND QUALITYNot as great, though not as bad as some flat-panels I've heard. You can turn it up as loud as you want, but after about the half-way point on the volume scale, there's not much difference. It's the same way with my parents' LG HDTV, which is a few years old. I solved this problem by hooking up an external home stereo system (Sony BRAVIA DAV-DZ170 Home Theater System) and bypassing the TV's built-in audio altogether.-- "SMART" FEATURESThe "smart" features were one of the selling points for me. When it comes down to it, though, I only really use 2 of them - Netflix and Hulu Plus. Some of the reviews (and comments on reviews) suggested that this unit might have an Amazon Instant Video app. It does not. Let me repeat: THIS TV DOES NOT HAVE AN AMAZON INSTANT VIDEO APP. And from what I can tell from various sources online, it never will. No idea why, since there are other LG HDTVs that do. This one just isn't one of them. One user suggested that it just required a firmware update. My firmware is up to date, and there is still no Amazon app. Sorry, people. It just doesn't exist.The "premium" apps this TV comes with (or at least, the ones mine came with) are:-- Vudu-- Hulu Plus-- MOG-- AccuWeather.com-- MLB.TV-- Netflix-- CinemaNow-- YouTube-- NHL-- vTuner-- Associated Press-- Facebook-- Picasa-- Google Maps-- Twitter-- ViewsterThe LG app store is a joke. Forget finding anything you would ever want, much less be willing to pay for, in that store.The online browser is also a joke. If you have to view a website on your TV (e.g. a network television website or Amazon Instant, etc. to view a video), your best bet is to hook up a computer via HDMI. Don't bother trying to do it with the built-in browser. It may work, but it won't work well, and it will be a painful experience. Trust me, I tried.The YouTube app is pretty weak. It works, but it's less user-friendly than even the mobile YouTube website. Good luck finding anything specific.The Netflix and Hulu Plus apps work well enough. They're not as user-friendly to navigate through as their respective websites, but that's to be expected, and I've found that it's easy enough just to queue up things on the computer first, and then play them from the TV apps. That saves you a lot of annoying "typing" with the magic remote.I haven't tried any of the others. I see absolutely no reason why I would want to view Google maps, Associated Press content, Twitter or Facebook on my TV. I don't watch sports, so the MLB.TV and NHL apps are of no use to me. I have no idea how well they work. I'm a pretty loyal Pandora user, so I haven't tried MOG. I just plug in my iPhone to my stereo system when I want to listen to music.-- SMART SHAREIt works, but it's not very user-friendly, in my experience. I was able to connect my Win7 laptop to the TV without much difficulty, but it's virtually impossible to search for a particular song or album or artist via the Smart Share interface - browsing seems to be the only option, and that can be a real pain when you have a LOT of music/videos/etc. to scroll through.Streaming music seems to work just fine, but streaming video resulted in a lot of lag, and I've got a great WiFi network set up here. Anything over about 480p just doesn't really stream well on this TV, in my experience.It also seems to lock up the TV frequently, requiring you to turn it off and on again before you can do anything.-- THE "MAGIC" REMOTEMany people have complained that this thing is annoying. I don't have a problem with it. It's like a Wii remote: you wave it around, and the cursor on screen follows your movement. There aren't a lot of buttons on it, though - volume up/down, channel up/down, Home (which takes you to the main app/input selection screen), Back (which exits out of the screen you're in), a scroll wheel that serves as channel up/down when you scroll and an "enter/select" key when you press it, a Help button, and an Input button.Since I don't have cable TV, I don't have a lot of channels to scroll through when I'm watching actual television, so the lack of a number pad doesn't bother me. But I would find it annoying to have to use a different remote or manage to figure out how to bring up the on-screen number pad if I had hundreds of channels at my disposal and wanted to go to a particular channel instead of just scrolling through them all.The remote sometimes takes a moment to register, too. I've found that you have to wave it around for a second or two before the TV realizes you want to do something and brings up the cursor. I frequently have to recalibrate it, too, by waving it around in a figure-eight motion, to get it to actually recognize my motions.-- SIMPhttp://amzn.com/dp/B007075O5W/?tag={komponelektr-20}Works nicely. It was pretty easy to hook up my home theater system so that it turns on and off automatically with the TV.-- THE INPUTSThe inputs all seem fine, and they're plentiful. I don't have that many devices that needed connecting - a DVD player/home theater system and occasionally my laptop (when I want to watch something on Amazon Instant Video or something on another website). It's easy to swap between inputs.-- THE OUTPUTSIt's a little annoying that this TV only supports digital optical audio out, with no other analog options, but I guess it's not really unexpected, given the cost of the system. It hasn't posed a problem for me, but it's something to be aware of if you have an older stereo system that doesn't support that kind of input.-- THE PHYSICAL STRUCTURE OF THE UNITI was actually pretty impressed with this. I'd heard horror stories about how unstable and top-heavy HDTVs could be. I bought the 42" and have it mounted on the stand that came with it. It feels pretty sturdy to me. I have cats who seem to think the space between the back of the TV and the wall is the perfect hiding place, and while I definitely do not approve of them being back there (and make them move every time I witness it), they haven't even nudged it.The swivel feature is also useful, since I have it positioned at one angle when I'm watching alone, but want it angled more to the left when there are more people watching, due to the position of my sofa. Swiveling the TV on the stand doesn't feel unstable at all, which I was a little worried about initially.-- PRICEThe price on this unit is excellent. You won't find a lower price anywhere, and if you do - even if it's after you've already made your purchase (as long as it's within 14 days of delivery) - Amazon will honor it, per their "TV Low Price Guarantee" (http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=200556860). I purchased this unit at $749, and by the time it shipped, the Amazon price was already $20 lower. They reimbursed me the difference, which was really nice. I see now it's even cheaper. While there are some quirks with the system, this is an unbeatable price for a great TV.
71 of 78 people found the following review helpful.
"magic remote" is pretty annoying
By kuznetsov
"Magic remote" is pretty annoying. TV itself seems to be good - reasonable sound, reasonable image. I decided to buy this model because of good viewing angle range and better than average sound. I do not care much about the 3D features that manufacturers are promoting.Please note - the "magic remote" was the only one provided. IMHO this is one of those occasions when being cute and creative trumped being useful. I really wish I would have a more traditional remote together with this TV. Changing options and settings is not very easy.
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