LG LU7000 (22LU7000) review

The picture is also pleasingly bright for such a small screen, delivering enough potency -- even when the backlight and brightness levels are reduced to boost black-level response -- to be perfectly effective in a conservatory or kitchen. You're certainly not restricted to putting the set in dark environments like a study or bedroom. This brightness helps emphasise the TV's sharpness too.

We were quite taken with the vibrancy of the 22LU7000's colours as well. Together with the set's brightness, the colours contribute to a vivid, eye-catching image that holds your attention unusually well for such a small screen.

While colours are very vibrant, though, they can also be inconsistent, particularly in dark parts of the picture. In fact, during our tests, we often found bright parts of a particular picture exhibiting really pleasing tones, while people standing in the shadows of the same picture could look far too red or orange.

We also found the 22LU7000's black-level response rather hit and miss. During generally bright scenes, dark parts of the picture can look pretty punchy. But predominantly dark scenes suffer from a pall of greyness. Even worse is that the set exhibits a degree of backlight inconsistency -- extra brightness is apparent all around the picture's edge. During normal TV viewing, this backlight seepage isn't a problem. But many of our favourite films are full of dark parts.

The 22LU7000's motion presentation isn't particularly consistent either. Much of the time, we found ourselves enjoying an action film without being disturbed by LCD technology's classic motion-handling issues. But just occasionally, especially with low-quality Freeview sources, some really overt blurring could set in, if only for an instant.

Given its movie-playback credentials, we hoped that LG might have put extra effort into the 22LU7000's audio. But, although the set doesn't sound bad -- it can even handle action scenes with a fair amount of clarity and minimal distortion -- it lacks the power and bass response to totally involve you in what you're watching. It's hard to think of a small TV that does any better in this regard, though.

Conclusion
The LG 22LU7000 is let down by a few performance issues. But it has plenty to offer those seeking a combination TV that's practical rather than fiddly.

Edited by Charles Kloet