Combining a slim design and thin bezel with enhanced connectivity, the 55-inch LG INFINIA 55LE8500 Full LED Slim LCD HDTV features energy-saving LED backlighting, 1080p Full HD resolution for crystal-clear detail, and TruMotion 240Hz technology for virtually no motion blur. It’s also a great choice for watching sports and movies with fast action thanks to its incredible 1ms (millisecond) response time.
Recognized with a CES 2010 Innovations Award, LG’s Full LED Slim technology elevates picture quality with a slim LED structure that supports detailed local dimming, resulting in an HDTV that provides the deeper black levels and uniform picture quality which typically could not be achieved on an ultra-thin set.
Additionally, this unique technology used in this LG Full LED Slim HDTV helped it achieve picture quality worthy of THX Display Certification–the industry standard for having the correct gamma, luminance, and color temperature. This certification demonstrates that this HDTV can recreate the cinema experience at home, making the picture resemble movie theatre quality. This HDTV also includes a THX Bright Room setting, which optimizes the contrast, gamma and other settings for watching movies in rooms with a lot of ambient light.
With LG’s NetCast, you get access to TV shows, movies and more, streamed directly from the Internet to your television screen. And the LE5400 series also provides compatibility with Wireless 1080p Connectivity (wireless media kit required and sold separately).
Other features include a jaw-dropping 9,000,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio for more stunning colors and deeper blacks, two USB ports for connecting external drives for playing back MP3 audio, JPEG photo and DivX HD video files, stereo speakers with 20 watts of power and Dolby Digital decoding, and four HDMI inputs.
With the excellent picture quality of the local-dimming LE8500, LG challenges other LCD makers for videophile appeal. Produces among the deepest shades of black of any TV; superb shadow detail; exceedingly accurate color; better off-angle viewing than many LCDs; controls local dimming “blooming” well; plenty of streaming and interactive features; extensive picture controls; sleek styling with single pane design and 1.4-inch-deep panel; energy efficient.
In 2010 you can prepare to be confused by two familiar yet relatively complex TV technologies: 3D and LED backlights. Before you ask, no, 3D is not available on the LG LE8500 series reviewed here–that perk is reserved for the more expensive 9500 models–but an LED backlight is. More important, the LE8500 has a full-array backlight with local dimming, meaning hundreds of independent cells behind the screen can brighten or dim independently, which can really help improve picture quality. In contrast, most of other LED-backlit TVs available today have either no local dimming ability or attempt to mimic the dimming of a full array by creating zones from an edge-lit configuration. We know the former has little impact on picture quality, we haven’t tested the latter (which we’re calling “edge with local dimming” for now), but we can tell you after reviewing the LE8500 that full-array local dimming still works great, for the most part.
The TV is stunningly simple to look at. There isn’t a lot of extra bezel or showy manufacturer’s name plates. I love this, as I’m usually driven nuts at having to look at a constant advertisment of a product I’ve already purchased. The “LG” that lights up at the bottom when the TV is turned on, can be set to be off when the set is on. This effectively means in a dark room (as mine is), the ONLY thing you see on this TV is the picture…exactly as it should be. The only exception is a small set of lights along the bottom that are only powered during power on and off to inform the viewer of this.
My general impression on the picture quality is mostly very impressed. I’m not a display expert so I’ll only state what I notice as a slightly more “techy” than average viewer. These sets do seem to have a screen uniformity issue. Large and bright, white or very light colored sections of the screen will show light horizontal bands. These bands are light, but can be distracting depending on the viewer. It seemed to get better with more hours on the first set, but it could have been the firmware issue. Either way, know that if you watch a lot of content containing mostly white screens, you may want to look at another TV. Some people claim to not be able to see this. Others state they see even more of it during panning scenes. Perhaps there is some difference from one panel to the next. Either way, I have seen it on two sets, so anyone looking at purchasing the set should expect it, unless there is an update (software or hardware) to the set at some time.
I looked at a backlit/local dimmed set like this for one big reason though…CONTRAST. Buying this set to watch solid bright screens would seem to be a waste. Where this particular set really shows it stuff is in the black level it can achieve. Movies are beautiful. I thought my old RPTV had a nice picture, but the sharpness and clarity of the 55LE8500 really put my old set to shame. As mentioned above, when you turn off the LG logo, all you see is the picture. Even if there is letterboxing, you will only see the picture. The rest of the screen will be as black as the bezel, and in a dark room, you won’t notice it as letterboxing at all.
Colors are vivid and natural looking. The settings from the factory are pretty decent, but count on using the two extra ISF settings that can be customized to your liking. Having a knowledgable Tech to come over to properly set up the TV would be wise if you can afford it, but it’s not neccesary to achieve a nice picture. There is even a built-in menu system to aid you in doing so.