- 1. LG 42SL90
- 2. Toshiba Regza 46SV670U
1. LG 42SL90
LED-backlit HDTVs are coming out in force in 2009-2010. Here are two models in the 40-49 inch range that should suit any home theater enthusiast well.
Our Readings
| Real Contrast: | 844:1 |
| Blacks: | 0.24 cd/m² |
| Gamma Quality: | 4.4/5 |
| DeltaE 94: | 3.4 |
| Average discrepancy across whole display: | 9% |
| Viewing angles: | 3.3/5 |
| Energy Consumption: | 0.3 W / 118 W |
| Multimedia player: | 3.8/5 |
After our test of the LG 42SL80 last month, it's time to look at the next model up, the SL90. The two televisions are virtually identical, apart from two small details:
- The backlighting in the SL90 relies on LEDs around the sides of the screen (Edge-LED) rather than fluorescent tubes.
- TruMotion on the SL80 is at 240 Hz, but 120 Hz here.
Build Quality and Design
You'll find all the ports you'll need to connect the latest hardware like a HD console or Blu-ray player, as well as older equipment like VCRs or SD consoles. The only thing that's missing is the SD card reader, which has been replaced by a USB port which allows the SL90 to access a wide range of multimedia formats including AVC HD, SD and HD DivX and SRT subtitles; VC1 is the only format it can't handle. You can also access content from a networked device connected to the DLNA-compatible Ethernet port, but fewer formats are available this way.
The settings menu is clear and well laid-out. Disappointingly, it's occasionally a little slow.
The remote control is easy to use--and, better still, is backlit, meaning it's easy to use in the dark.
Image Quality
To improve performance, you need to switch to Cinema mode, where we didn't need to make any further adjustments, apart from setting the backlighting to 68 to produce whites with a brightness of 200 cd/m², the standard we always use when testing TVs.
The quality of HD video is excellent, despite a small lack of sharpness and contrast. The latter doesn't climb above 850:1 because blacks remain too light at 0.24 cd/m². It's a bad habit we've seen before on LG TVs, but it does have the advantage of producing viewing angles that are much wider than other LCD TVs. It's nowhere near as good as a plasma TV in this regard, but you can still see the image clearly up to 45° either side of the centre line.
 Colors are excellent in Cinema mode |
Upscaling of SD sources is about as good as on other televisions--which is to say, not very good at all, with plenty of detail lost along the way. For watching a DVD, a better choice would be a dedicated player which will do the upscaling for you and provide a 1080p signal directly: the final result is of a much higher quality.
The colors, which are very poor using the default settings, are excellent when in Cinema mode, with a deltaE of just 3.4.
Finally, the 120 Hz TruMotion system produces fluid movements without introducing too many problems: we only spotted some very light ghosting on scrolling text, but nothing alarming.
Sound Quality
This is one of the 42SL90's weaknesses. At just 2.9 cm thick, there isn't enough room for the speakers to produce a quality sound. Instead, the audio is aggressive and lacking in depth.
Energy Consumption
Although it might use more power on standby than some of its competitors, the SL90 still only uses 0.3 W, which will hardly make a huge dint in your electricity bill. When it's switched on, it uses 118 W, which makes it a perfectly average LCD TV.
| LG 42SL90 | |
|---|---|
| Pros | Cons |
|
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Despite having less than perfect contrast, the SL90 series produces a very good image, and the wide viewing angles go some way to compensate for this minor defect. The sound, though, is still disappointing.
- 1. LG 42SL90
- 2. Toshiba Regza 46SV670U
no one cares.
Showdown? LOL there are only 2 tvs compared!!!!
Hopefull to see full, led backligted tv, comparison in the future.
This is like fast snack... I am still hungry. But led based tvset are great interest in year 2010. In 2012 they hopefullu are obsolete by Oled, but at this moment they are coming to main stream.
Waslooking for some offerings from Vizio, Samsung, LG, and maybe the new Sony XBR10.... I hope you do a part B
I got to look at a variety of brands and models at several stores. They had the partial and full led backlit models. I can't make up my mind whether I like them better than my plasma tv.
wow. this is the weakest showdown ever
Every LED TV I've seen up close looks like crap
The most important "feature" of a LEd-Tv; LED backlight; isn't even mentioned. How about backlight bleeding, people !
Is it good? How good? It's most likely the only thing that sets a LED-TV apart from a normal TN panel.
I'm still happy with my Samsung 52" A650. In a few years I may move over but for now there's just not enough improvement to justify the cost.
Every LED TV I've seen up close looks like crap
Agreed, I have yet to see any LCD based tv look as good as a plasma or old crt. I really wish manufacturers would just ditch trying to make LCD's look decent and just concentrate on OLED tech at this point...
No one sits up close to a LED (in their right mind), I have a year old 47" Vizio and it looks great on the HD channels and dvds.
If you sit 6-8' away (like on the couch) it looks really good imo
To each their own I guess...
But I'll never go back to a crt in the living room, very happy!
Regards
LED is for suckers. Lastest generation Plasma delivers much better image at half the cost. Don't buy this hype...
Plasmas are thicker, twice the weight and eat power like there's no tomorrow. At least you can watch an LED TV in a room with bright ambiant lighting and still see the screen instean of reflections.
Plasmas are thicker, twice the weight and eat power like there's no tomorrow. At least you can watch an LED TV in a room with bright ambiant lighting and still see the screen instean of reflections.
Somebody doesn't own a plasma and/or believes everything they hear from the Best Buy salesman...
Thicker?, yes, but who cares about another inch - big whoop it's only 3" thick as it is. Twice the weight?, depends on the model, but again who cares; I'm not taking it to work everyday with me and I only had to worry about that one time, when I mounted it on the wall. More power?, yes, but on average only 150watts more at 42" size, turn off two light bulbs in your house. Ambient light issues? Mine faces a wall of windows 24/7 and has zero issues unless the sun is setting and it is directly firing at the screen, so I go close the blinds...
Ability to have deep blacks, a wide color gamut, great skin tones, zero screen door effect, no dead pixels, zero viewing angle problems, no jagged edges, SD material looks good, and it costs much less than LCD for the same screen size?! Win, win, win, win, win...Until OLED goes mainstream, Plasma all day long...
LCD and Plasma are totally different puppies. Plasma pixels can die since each image dot called a pixel is a little light bulb. Fluorescent tube backlights the entire LCD screen if a light dies your entire image will be gone since the Liquid Dynamic Crystals wont be lit anymore. This is why LED which last longer is better in a way, that is if they really last longer in reality (maybe some other piece will break). Also all energy saving lights make you depressive.
We need reviews from more than 2 sets.
At least something from Vizio and Samsung.
Just a small note. Thoughout the short article they keep calling the LCD's when it's titled LED TV ShootOut.....did they forget what their own article was about?
Just a small note. Thoughout the short article they keep calling the LCD's when it's titled LED TV ShootOut.....did they forget what their own article was about?