why we bought this TV & first impressions, April 7, 2011

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D. Lees – See all my reviews

  

we’ve had this TV for 4 days now, and we couldn’t be happier! i’ve been writing a running commentary of our initial impressions which i’ll now consolidate to make for easier reading. we really benefited from all the reviews and advice that other people took the time to write, so we wanted to “pay it forward”

first, some background:

CONTEXT & SKILL-SET: we’re a 1 TV household, averaging around 20 hours a week. we use the set for TV and DVD’s only; no gaming. we were replacing a wonderfully dependable but huge, 10 year-old samsung tube toad. we did a lot of research before buying the lg 50PZ950, but we’re not particularly knowledgeable about A/V stuff in general. why tell you all this? because it’s important to know any reviewer’s knowledge base (low-middling in our case) and context (moving from a CRT to a flatscreen). our perspective may not be relevant to all readers.

WHY PLASMA: lack of motion blur for sports makes my husband happy, and the rich, immersive movie experience at night makes me happy. our only experience with LCD is our imac, and while watching movies on the mac is great (vivid and sharp) it doesn’t provide the rich, deep, “pull you in” sense that plasma does. IMO, anyway.

WHY 3D: frankly, we didn’t really care about 3D, but thought it might be fun once in a while, so why not?

WHY THE INFINIA: like a lot of people in our price range (~,600) we started out choosing between the panasonic & the samsung. based on consumerreports.org reviews for last year’s models, we included the lg infinia as well. all three were highly rated; all within 1 point of each other. plus the advance word from the 2011 CES was very encouraging. we were pretty confident we wouldn’t be making a mistake with any one of the 3 brands. in the end, it came down to 2 factors: looks & the user interface. the infinia looks beautiful: on or off. and the user interface is simple and straightforward.

WHY WE BOUGHT FROM AMAZON: we’ve always been very impressed with amazon, especially their customer service. and never more so than in this case. the first PZ950 we received was broken. fortunately, amazon uses special delivery service: they unpacked the TV for us so we were able to plug it in. the spiderweb break wasn’t apparent until the set was on. they immediately took the set back and amazon arranged to get another one here pronto, in time for my husband’s b’day. thank you amazon! and thank you home direct.

ok, now our impressions based on 4 days of loving this tv…

PICTURE: the picture quality is wonderful. even better than i’d hoped. deep blacks and lush, rich true-to-life colors. lots of depth. sometimes almost looks 3D when not in 3D. fabulous detail on HD… and obviously less so on SD (standard definition.)

DAYTIME VIEWING: we have the set in a very bright room (lots of south-facing windows). daytime glare was our initial worry, before buying the set. turns out, no problem. yes, the screen is reflective when off, but the reflections drop out when on. NOTE ADDED 3.17: viewed tv today for first time at max sunlight (noon-ish): saw reflections of myself and everything else in the room. not so bad that i couldn’t comfortably watch the set, but wanted to let you know in case that’s a deal-breaker for you. fyi, we have a large bank of 6′ unshaded south-facing windows in this room which flood the entire room with direct sunlight mid-day. still adore this tv, and the reflections are not a problem for us, but wanted to let you know.

NIGHTTIME VIEWING: heavenly! totally immersive experience when watching movies at night.

AUDIO: the sound quality is excellent, and the clear voice II feature is particularly useful for those of us a little longer in the tooth thus harder of hearing. and the auto volume setting keeps commercials from jolting you out of your chair.

3D: well, i bought the wrong glasses so we haven’t seen 3D yet. but based on consumerreport.org’s ratings of last year’s version (the 50PX950) and other reviews on this year’s models, i know it’s going to be great. fyi, you need the lg AGS250′s — not the AGS110′s.

REMOTES: it comes with 2 remotes: one traditional (back-lit) and one magic wand thingee. i didn’t think we’d use the wand, but we do; it’s great. in addition to being an on-screen pointer, it’s also distilled down to just the essential buttons: on/off, home, volume rocker, channel rocker, and select. easy, intuitive, and fun.

MEDIALINK: this is great! let’s you wirelessly access all the photos on your computer, all the music & more on itunes. pictures look great — better than when you view them on the picassa app. plus there’s smart share (which we haven’t used yet) which lets you import via USB thumb drive.

NOTE FOR MAC USERS: the TV comes with nero…

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Great TV…Love Amazon…Hate the Shipper they used, April 19, 2011

First I would like to warn everyone on a delivery scam that Pilot trucking is pulling on Amazon and its cutomers.My TV was shipped to their Atlanta hub and arrived on April 4th…delivery estimate April 8th.I called Pilot on the 8th about 4pm to see whats up.They said they did not have the TV anymore it was picked up by another company J.P.Hall for final delivery.OK called Hall about the TV….a little snicker and a no way today,was told they would have a truck in my area next tuesday the 12th and next thursday the 14th..of course I picked Tuesday.On monday I received a call from Hall saying a truck was in Athens Ga with my TV but the helper was sick and if I could help get it off they would deliver it that day.I had to tell them because of my bad health there was no way I could do this.They said they would bring it tommorow.Ok Tuesday comes around no TV.I call Hall they say the Driver is waiting to pick up someone to help him.The Driver calls me about 5pm and tells me the guy didnt show up and asked again if I could help him.I said no again and He promised me first off tommorow Wed.OK wed. gets here no TV about 4pm I call Hall nope no help today no delivery…Thursday….I told them I have been forced to be home for 4 days now and need it by noon thursday because I had plans that afternoon.They said they would make it Happen..Thursday 10am the truck shows up….No helper just a driver.They put it off on Him because he was a large strong guy..but a 160lb TV one man?To get the TV I helped Him get it off and unpacked and set up…Thru the grace of God after riding around in 3 differnt Hall trucks for over a week it was still intact…I felt sorry for the driver being put in this situation.After talking to the Driver found out They dont have two people on any truck to do white glove delivery that Amazon promises.they try to hook up with another driver to get this done.Thats why they kept asking for my help.Shame on Pilot for letting this happen.6 months earlier they delivered a 2 lb fishing rod in a big truck with 2 guys.lol The delivery bill I signed was a Pilot bill of shipping so Amazon would think they deliverd it

I called Amazon about it and they were shocked and concerned their customers were getting this kind of service.

they apologized and gave me a nice amount of cash for my inconvenance.and they were glad I called them and would resolve the problem.I love Amazon service.

Now for the LG60PZ950.I did great research ob LCD…Backlit LCD-LED and Plasma TV’s…After 4 years of suffering with a samsung DLP that just died DLP was out.Finaly went with Plasma…three real brands to pick from..Samsung..Panasonic and LG.Samsung is out because of poor service and bad design of the DLP and stories of high pitch sounds…Panasonic was my frontrunner till I heard of color problems on newer tv’s and Panasonic not addressing the problem…read great reviews on the LG…but what sold me was seeing the LG and Panasonic and Samsung all at once…The LG won on all accounts to me.

Iam so glad I bought this TV…The best picture I have ever seen as good or better than my friends Pioneer.

Out of the box the color was right on..I broke it in ,if it is really needed?,by running 24-7 for 5 days on the THX setting overnight on HBO HD movie channel…no problems at all.Picture quality is great…3D was bought for my 11 year old and is exceptional…PS3 has a firmware upgrade so you can watch 3D blueray disc and play 3D games very cool.Netflix offers 3D disc sent to your home,not alot yet but sure more will come..

hooked the TV up hardwired to my DSL…upgrade TV software(took about an Hour)gave mr more apps…now have about 12 apps and lots of games…The browser works fine but will probably use my computer much faster on my pc..Used the optical out to hook up to my receiver optical input for 5.1 sound when we watch movies…set up was easy tons of ways to hook up multiple things…the built in speakers are fine for everday use…but a surround sound system makes it killer..Ther is not anything about this TV I dislike…I bought the 4 year Square deal warranty and thanks to the cash Amazon gave me it was almost free.Iam watching it now as I write this and So glad I picked the LG60PZ950 and would recomend it to anyone…

UPDATE 04/22/2011…Ok tried to get my Netflix to load on my LG.Received an activation number from the TV went to netflix and actavated the number…successfully….but when I click on Netflix on the LG it comes up with a software error…repeated the process like 10 times…same deal…called Netflix they said it was the TV not them.If You wanted to know about LG’s service here is what happened…Called LG within 3 mins I was talking to a servis ReP…This was like 10pm Wed.She said she would have a certified LG tech at my house Friday between 12-5pm..he called at 12:30 and was here at1pm..check tv couldnt get netflix to work…We both figured the…

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Big Thumbs Up, April 16, 2011

After pouring through different reviews, forums and any other info I could find on the latest and greatest for 2011, I narrowed my search down to the Panasonic GT30/VT30′s or the LGPZ950. I saw a lot of good things about the VT30 from Panasonic but it seemed like the new LGs had a lot of the same features and some extras. The price was right and it was available while the panasonics still had a ways to go before launch so I took the plunge and ordered the LG. Sooooo glad I did. This TV is awesome. Set up was a breeze. The set looks beautiful. Sleek and seamless. The picture is as good or better than anything I’ve ever seen. Both 2D and 3D look amazing and i didnt get dizzy at all watching 3D like i do in the theaters or on other TVs I’ve seen at the big box stores.

The apps and media share are great features. The UI in the home screen is very easy to navigate. Setting up wireless connection was also very easy. Everything just kind of worked right out of the box. Integrated Netflix and YouTube is a nice touch, not to mention all the other apps for your social networking. I don’t know how much I’ll use that stuff since it’s way easier just to check those things on a computer really quick, but the option of being able to do it on your TV is nice. The web browser is ok, definitely not going replace your laptop or PC but good enough if you don’t want to get up and go to your other tech to look something up or post an update.

I am very pleased with this purchase. I may just be in the honeymoon phase but it is definitely a lot more than I expected. Cheers to LG for a great TV at a very reasonable price.

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