5. The LG 32LP1D's Reactivity

We measured the panel's actual LCD latency using our own method.

The curve shows the different latency values for different levels of gray. A black-white alternation is shown on the curve by a point at X-axis 255; a black-gray alternation produces a point at X-axis 125; a black-gray alternation shows as 50, etc.

The official ISO latency rating specified by the manufacturer is only for black/white transitions (0/255). While the value we measured may agree with the manufacturer on this point, it's not of much value in judging the panel's actual responsiveness in practice.

The results show that overdrive technology has clearly been used, with an average latency of 17 ms. That is far from meeting the manufacturer's claims, but still the latency never exceeded 20 ms, and it would be nice if all LCD TVs could match that.

Video Quality

(Score: 3)

The LG 32LP1D showed good color reproduction, but it will take a little tweaking to get the colors just right. Bright colors tended toward blue, and the picture looked a little cold at first. Video noise was fairly perceptible. Naturally, the 32" diagonal is in its favor, since the viewer will be sitting fairly far from the panel. Yet despite that, noise was visible even at close to 7 ft. from the screen.

Interpolation

The miracle we expected didn't come true. Things already weren't fabulous with a DVD movie, and video games were a real problem. The image coming from game consoles was very jagged.