But, while the 42SL9000 can deliver sometimes fantastic pictures, they're not always the unqualified success we'd hoped for. For instance, while the set's black levels are good, they're not spectacular in the way that blacks on some rival LED screens are. There's definite greyness over the blackest parts of the picture. Indeed, there's enough to hide a degree of shadow detail during the darkest scenes.
It doesn't help, either, that the screen's viewing angle is extremely limited, with backlight inconsistency becoming quite pronounced if you have to watch the image from even a small angle. We also have concerns with the TV's motion-handling capability. The set's 100Hz engine throws up more processing side effects than we'd like, particularly shimmering around large moving objects. Yet, without the system in play, moving objects and camera pans can look rather soft.
Talking of softness, the 42SL9000's high-definition pictures don't consistently look quite as crisp as we'd like. Also, while colours are mostly very good, skin tones occasionally look slightly sickly, while pure whites tend to have a rather salmon-pink appearance.
Extravagantly thin TVs like the 42SL9000 traditionally struggle to produce decent sound. But, while the 42SL9000 doesn't produce the bass or treble extension that you might get with a good-quality chunky TV, the resulting mid-range compression isn't bad enough to lead to regular harshness, muffling or distortion. At any rate, the 42SL9000's audio definitely outguns that of Samsung's super-slim TVs, if not by a particularly massive margin.
Conclusion
Glorious to look at, exceptionally well-specified and boasting plenty of features, the LG 42SL9000 makes an admirable attempt at stealing Samsung's super-slim-TV crown. But a few shortcomings in the picture-quality department make it a likeable rather than irresistible TV, and, unusually for LG, it struggles to justify its cost.
Edited by Charles Kloet
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gadget123 16 December 2009
Good: slim line , glass borderless outlook
Bad: the lack of depth in colours , although it claims to be high contrast
Comment: The overall outlook is good , modern classy finishing,
yet dissapointment comes from the picture quality that compares to other led lit tv like the samsung 7000, the black level not really impressive though it claims 3000000 : 1 . greylish black level. the input was direct from the back, leaving a big space to mount , make it slim yet fat on wall mount. so entirely if its on a table stand should be decent.
no local dimming , not realli attractive for some high end model
if its going to be a low price tag , then its worth considering.
not really impressed by the colour tone and black level.
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