LG 32LG5000 review

Performance
Out of the box, we weren't that impressed with the picture quality of the LG, but with a little tweaking, it is easily possible to greatly improve how the picture looks. This is generally the case with TVs, where manufacturers seem to forget who is paying the cash for their product and simply set up everything to look good in a shop.

Once we'd finished tweaking, we settled down to watch some daytime TV. We would suggest that you don't attempt to adjust the picture settings when David Dickinson is on -- his luminous skin tone isn't the most natural, and can cause you to incorrectly dial the brightness down to compensate.

HD gaming from our PlayStation 3 offered plenty of thrills and spills. Switching the TV to 'Game' mode did produce a likeable image, and the excitement from Colin McCrae Dirt was plentiful, with great colour and no motion blur or other unwanted artefacts.

The HD picture quality is very good too, and although this set is a 720p model, it has no problems at all displaying 1080p pictures, albeit downscaled to fit on the 1,366x768-pixel panel. It can even accept 24p video from Blu-ray -- handy if you're a film fan. Movies played back on our PS3, such as Resident Evil: Apocalypse, had oodles of detail and colour. Although not the sharpest picture we've ever seen, it was still pleasing.

We were also rather taken with the sound quality. The invisible speakers are exactly that, and that can mean trouble on LCD TVs, which aren't known for their brilliant audio quality at the best of times. The LG5000 managed to pump out a surprising amount of sound, however, and was clear, with no signs of muffling. If you haven't seen this Resident Evil film, you won't know that each and every line of dialogue is painfully written and packed full of so many clichés that it's a miracle everyone in it isn't just grimacing the whole time. Still, the TV does a faithful job of recreating the sound, even if what's being said is idiotic.

Conclusion
We like this LG5000 TV. Freeview pictures are strong, and once we'd invested some time setting it up properly, we felt that the picture was fairly impressive. If you're looking for a good all-round performer, but have no need for a massive 1080p TV, this could be the sort of TV you're looking for. Other options include Toshiba's 32CV505D (we reviewed the 37-inch version) and LG's own 32LC46, which is even cheaper.

Edited by Jon Squire