LG 42PG6900

23 JAN 2009

Launching a big-screen TV with ‘only’ HD-Ready, 1024x768 resolution might seem a little optimistic these days, but LG’s not taken leave of its senses. Its new 42PG6900 plasma TV isn’t aimed at Blu-ray enthusiasts or gamers, it’s for hardened TV enthusiasts, viewers with an insatiable passion for broadcast TV in all its free-to-air glory.

Here’s why. First, the LG’s native resolution makes perfect sense for a daily diet of broadcast TV plus the odd DVD thrown in: it means the onboard Faroudja DCDi upscaler doesn’t have to work so hard to deliver good-quality pictures from standard-definition broadcast pictures.

Second, the 42PG6900’s 100Hz picture processing means it can cope well with fast-paced motion. And third, as with many plasma sets, the LG generates denser black levels and more convincing contrast than many a same-priced LCD alternative. There’s a fourth reason too, but we’ll get to that in a minute.

Stunning off-air picture
Thanks to its thoughtful design, the LG’s off-air TV pictures look really good – better, in fact, than on many sets with theoretically superior Full HD resolution.

The quality of the TV tuner helps: it delivers crisp, sharply defined edges and low levels of background noise, plus minimal digital blocking.

Review continues after the break...

 

DVD fares just as well, and should you want to watch the odd Blu-ray, the LG copes happily with 1080p/24fps content, scaling it appropriately to suit the lower native resolution of the TV’s display panel.

It’s a gutsy listen too, thanks to its Mark Levinson-tuned speakers. And while purists might bemoan the set’s inability to display 1080p on a pixel-to-pixel basis (unlike most price rivals), in practice there’s little to complain about in quality terms.

Built-in PVR
And now we come to that fourth reason why this is such a brilliant TV for day-to-day TV viewing: it’s actually a PVR as well as a TV, thanks to a built-in hard-disk video recorder plus twin Freeview tuners.

It’s a brilliantly implemented system that makes this set an ideal low-fuss solution for someone looking for an easy-to-use way to timeshift their favourite TV.

The LG’s 160GB hard-disk will support up to 60 hours of recording at high quality, and as with most PVRs it offers useful functions like pause live TV, instant rewind and fast-forward of your recordings and the ability to record one channel while watching another. Recording quality is really good too – it’s almost impossible to discern the differences between live TV and recordings.