LG 47LM960V Pro Reviews

Like with most recent LED LCD televisions, the most remarkable thing about the LG 47LM960V is its styling. LCD picture quality seems to have peaked, with the main advancements being made in internet-connected functionalities and aesthetics. The LM960V does well in these areas: the display’s rounded edges, silver trim and basically non-existent bezel mean that it’s going to turn many heads, and the addition of the Magic Remote means that the web browser on the TV is something that you’ll actually want to use. There is also an exhaustive array of calibration controls (and we mean “exhaustive” in every sense of the word!), which allow the HDTV’s overall accuracy to be brought up to an excellent standard. As for picture quality, the performance was basically as we had expected from an LG LCD product using an IPS panel. Overall picture quality can be good, with the IPS strengths of better-than-typical LCD viewing angle performance and little in the way of panel-generated motion artefacts being present. However, the Korean conglomerate has seen fit to programme quite obvious noise reduction into the video processor which squanders the latter strength of the LCD panel, and introduces smearing into Blu-ray Disc movies, particularly during dark scenes. Contrast performance is what we expected from an IPS LCD, and while the Local Dimming feature improves the perceived black levels, it can obviously dim white areas in dark scenes.

LG's designers deserve a serious bonus for the 47LM960V's looks. It's stunning. But it doesn't rely on looks alone to justify its flagship status. For instance, it also serves up a spectacular combination of online Smart TV features, as well as multimedia playback from USB sticks or PCs/Macs. It's amazingly easy to use, too, given how many features it's got, thanks to its innovative remote controls and sumptuous onscreen menus. Unfortunately, however, it falls at the picture hurdle, as its Nano technology fails to deliver dark scenes with anything like the authority we'd hope to see from a flagship TV - especially a direct LED one.