I purchased this TV to replace my 3-year old Samsung Series 3 32" LCD TV in my master bedroom because I wanted a larger size TV now that prices have dropped a good bit (paid over $1,400 for my 32" a few years ago). I debated between this one and a 40" Samsung for the same price, both were 60hz models, which is fine since I'm only using this for my DVR. Since I've seen a few older LGs before that had decent picture quality, I went with this one for it's larger size with slighly better specs than the Samsung, although I've always preferred Samsung. I figured since this was a newer model than those I've seen, with better specs I couldn't lose.... I was wrong!
I put this one on the wall where my old one was and my first night watching it I was quite disappointed! Although the picture is sharp and vibratant, it's only that way if you are directly in front of it. The viewing angel is terrible with this set, especially vertically below, which is my problem since I'm using this on a wall in my bedroom and viewing it from the bed, which puts me slighly below the screen (the TV is just above my dresser, maybe 3 feet above the floor). In this position, the screen washes out terribly, much like some of the older laptop displays did. Blacks become gray and colors very washed out. My Samsungs don't have this problem, neither my old 32" or my 52" in the living room. The construction itself is also very flimsy compared to the Samsung models I've owned. It's strange though, that I installed a 42" LG for a friend that's over 2 years older than this one and it was much more solid and has a better picture and viewing angle than this one.
I realize this is a lower-end set, and I did not want the best just for the bedroom, but considering that I replaced a 3 year old set with only 30,000:1 contrast ratio and 720p with this one that is supposed to be 100,000:1 and 1080p and yet my old one produced much deeper blacks and vibrant whites and colors, I'm quite dissapointed. Also, another reviewer mentioned that he didn't notice any backlight coming out of the back, but that's not my experience. While I've seen worse, this one projects a good bit of backlight out through all the vents onto the wall. I guess I can live with it, but why? None of my others had this issue either.
I was considering returning it, but don't feel like going through the hastle and don't want to spend a bunch more money to get a higher-end set. I decided to change my wall mount to a tilt mount and angle the TV downward, with it slighly higher on the wall and that helps a good bit because it gets the viewing angel of the TV perfectly alligned with my viewing area, so it looks pretty good now and I can deal with it.
Bottom line, I'm going to be happy with it, but I'm not truly happy! I wouldn't recommend this one personally and if I had to do it over I probably would have gone with the 40" Samsung instead, or paid a little more to get a 42" or 46" Samsung.
Update on 6/23/2010
After trying to make myself like this TV for 3 days I decided to return it. It is just that bad! Even with the tilt wall mount it still isn't good. The blacks are still very gray and there is so much bright gray coming thru the LCD panel that it just washes out everything and lights up the lower half of my bedroom brightly, even when there's no picture displayed. That and all the backlight purring out of the back onto the walls, which is now much more noticeable with the tilt mount.
I went ahead and ordered the 40" samsung that I probably should have got it the first place and Amazon is making the process easy. They said they will pick up the bad one when they deliver the new one.Get more detail about LG 42LD450 42-Inch 1080p 60 Hz LCD HDTV.
