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  • Introduction

  • Tour & Design

  • Blacks & Whites

  • Color Accuracy

  • Motion

  • Viewing Effects

  • Calibration

  • Remote Control

  • Connectivity

  • Audio & Menus

  • Formats & Media

  • Power Consumption

  • Vs LG 32LG40

  • Vs Samsung LN40B650

  • Vs Toshiba 40XV645U

  • Conclusion

  • Series Comparison

  • Introduction
  • Tour & Design
  • Blacks & Whites
  • Color Accuracy
  • Motion
  • Viewing Effects
  • Calibration
  • Remote Control
  • Connectivity
  • Audio & Menus
  • Formats & Media
  • Power Consumption
  • Vs LG 32LG40
  • Vs Samsung LN40B650
  • Vs Toshiba 40XV645U
  • Conclusion
  • Series Comparison

Introduction

Tour & Design

Front


On the front of the LG 37LH55 you find an indicator light on a small, stylish, outcrop at the bottom right.

 

Back


TKTKTK For information about the ports on the back of the LG 37LH55 see our Connectivity section.

 

Sides


TKTKTK For information about the ports on the back of the LG 37LH55 see our Connectivity section.

Stand/Mount


The LG 37LH55's stand rotates, and is glossy black, just like the rest of the HDTV.

 

Controls


The LG 37LH55's controls are located on the right side of the television.

 

Remote Control


The LG 37LH55's remote is all plastic, but has an interesting faux-leather texturing.

 

In The Box*(7.0)*


The LG 37LH55 ships with a remote, batteries, manual and a cleaning cloth. Setup does require you to assemble the stand and LCD display, but this is not an onerous process.

 

Aesthetics*(6.0)*


The LG 37LH55 has a relatively typical glossy black finish, but has subtle details like a clear edging and interesting power indicator that add a touch of style.

Blacks & Whites

Black Level*(5.47)*


The LG 37LH55 didn't have the deepest black level. We measured it at 0.32 cd/m2. To put this in perspective, our current average is 0.21 and a good score is below 0.10. LCD HDTVs typically have a problem with reaching a deep black because they use a backlight. Plasmas, on the other hand, do not have a backlight and therefore are capable of a very deep black level.

The reason black levels are important is because they allow the TV to have greater detail in dark scenes. The majority of movies have at least one night scene, or something involving a spooky cave or haunted, dimly-lit mansion. If you were to watch these scenes on a TV with a poor black level, you lose detail in areas too dark for the screen to display. Intricate patterns will show up as a flat patch of darkness.

 

Peak Brightness*(9.05)*


We found the 37LH55 had a decent peak brightness level. It was capable of outputting a bit over 370 cd/m2, which is better than our current average of 270. A high peak brightness means you won't lose details in bright areas and external light sources won't wash out the picture.

 

Contrast*(6.26)*


Due to the TV's poor black level, its contrast ratio wasn't anything to write home about. We measured it at about 1156:1. Our current average is almost twice that, at a little over 2076:1. Contrast ratios are important, because the human eye is keen to pick up on differences between light and dark areas.

 

Tunnel Contrast*(9.88)*


In this section, we test to make sure the black level remains constant retardless of what percentage of the screen is actually comprised of black. The 37LH55 did well on this test, with a rock-solid black level across the board. Even when the screen was overwhelmingly white, the black level didn't increase much.

 

White Falloff*(9.81)*


This test is the same as the one above, only we're testing brightness instead of black level. We keep the center of the screen white, then gradually make our black frame larger and larger, until only a tiny part at the center of the screen is white.

The 37LH55 did well on this test as well, which a consistently high white level.

Typically LCDs do well on this test and the one above. Plasmas usually do poorly, being unable to maintain its brightness as the percentage of white on the screen climbs.

 

Uniformity*(8.25)*


The 37LH55 had a uniform screen overall. We really didn't have many complaints. On a white screen we noticed some shadowing towards the left and right edges, and on a black screen that was some slight flashlighting at the corners. Otherwise, the screens were uniform and smooth.

 

Greyscale Gamma*(7.06)*


The TV has a pretty solid greyscale gamma. This means that black will transition evenly to white, which means all the degrees of grey between the two will be emphasized an appropriate amount. TVs with a poor greyscale gamma lead to a loss of detailing, as it leads to poor differentiation between two different brightnesses.

 

Resolution Scaling*(5.77)*


The 37LH55 can display 1080p content, but currently the only way to get true 1080p is via Blu-ray. The harsh reality of HDTVs is they'll need to upscale (or, for lower-end sets, downscale) content. This processing can often cause artifacting or other anomalies to crop up, which is precisely why we have this section. 

480p*(7.15)*

This format is more commonly referred to as 'standard definition.' The 37LH55 did a pretty good job with 480p content. We ran into some minor issues with legibility and fine patterns with high contrast, like zebra stripes or herringbone patterns. The TV also had a 1% overscan. Though this suffered from slight issues in a few categories, none were particularly significant on their own. Overall, the 37LH55 did well here.

720p*(6.75)*

While the TV didn't have any overscan here, it did have slightly bigger problems with fine patterns. One pattern, which was alternating black and white stripes, lost a lot of differentiation between the stripes.

1080i*(4.50)*

Surprisingly, 1080i had the most problems of all. Although there was no overscan, all of the other aforementioned problems were present and exaggerated. Fine details that were supposed to be black and white had a green cast to them. Also, text tended to run together, even medium-sized lettering. Further, alternating black and white stripes looked like blocks of grey.

 

Color Accuracy

Color Temperature*(7.96)*


The LG 37LH55's color temperature was good, but not perfect. It shifts a bit between blue and red, but these changes won't be all theat noticeable to the human eye.

Color temperature basically dictates whether or not your TV has a color cast. The hotter the temperature, the more blue it will appear, the cooler the redder. We calibrate to make the TV as close to 6500 Kelvin as we can, because this is the ideal neutral color temperature.

RGB Curves*(7.97)*


All the colors on a TV are comprised of red, green, and blue lights. We test each of these colors' performances individually, which lets us determine how well the TV will display any given color.

There really isn't a lot of red on this TV, and it does peak ever so slightly towards the high end. Really, the high end doesn't have a lot of differentiation in it, which might lead to a loss of articulation of bright reds.

The 37LH55 did well with greens.

Our eyes are very sensitive to blues, which is why the curve is so shallow. The curve here is a bit choppier than we'd like to see, which means color doesn't increase as evenly as it should. If you were to display a blue gradient across the screen, it might look like there were a series of color bands as opposed ot a smooth transition across the color range. While this is a bit of an issue, it isn't a particularly severe one.

Again, the 37LH55 did well on these tests. It wasn't perfect, but it was pretty good.

 

Color Gamut*(6.11)*


The color gamut describes the total range of colors the TV is capable of displaying. All TVs are supposed to follow an international standard for the colors it displays, called Rec.709.

The 37LH55 does well here: its greens and reds are spot on. Its blues are shifted a bit, however, with the most intense blue falling slightly towards green and not extending into the depth of blue it should be.

Below are a bunch of measurements for the various colors' performances compared to the Rec.709 standard.

 

Motion

Motion Smoothness*(7.25)*


If you're going for smoothness, you have to turn on the TruMotion 240Hz feature. Without it, we saw significant blurring on our test pictures. Solid blocks of color tended to trail slightly, but not any more than the average HDTV. When we performed the same tests in 1080i, we noticed a decrease in blurring.

Motion Artifacting*(6.25)*


We didn't see troublesome artifacting in 1080p playback. Edges and fine patterns had a rolling shudder effect, but it wasn't particularly pronounced. The same wasn't true for 1080i playback, which had some significant artifacts with alternating black-to-white gradients. The thinner strips would flash in sections. Turning off TruMotion 240Hz helped matters by blurring everything to such a degree that the flashing wasn't noticeable, but this obviously isn't an ideal solution.

With the exception of that one major artifacting issue, the 37LH55 did well on this test.

 

3:2 Pulldown & 24fps*(8.50)*


For 24 fps you're going to want to turn off TruMotion 240Hz. This will cause some significant artifacting issues in fine patterns. We tried enabling and disabling Real Cinema mode, but it didn't seem to add or subtract from picture quality.

The 37LH55 did well on our tests once TruMotion was turned off. There was still a slight crawling effect over fine patterns, such as empty stadium seats, but nothing major. 

 

 

Viewing Effects

Viewing Angle*(3.69)*


The TV didn't have the best viewing angle. We found the TV hit 50% its max contrast level at a shallow 20º viewing angle, meaning it only has a total viewing angle of about 40º. Our current average for total viewing angle is about 75º, meaning the LG 37LH55 falls quite a bit short of average.

 

Reflectance*(6.50)*


For this section, we shine an array of LEDs at the screen. We found that the 37LH55's screen was more diffusive than reflective, but we were still able to make out all the individual points of light. Further, the resulting glow took up a large portion of the screen. If the light isn't shining straight at your TV, however, it won't make a significant difference in your viewing experience.

 

Video Processing*(2.50)*


The 37LH55 had a few video processing features, some of which caused a visible effect, some of which didn't do anything noteworthy. We're also at a bit of a loss about what they were supposed to do, since the screen doesn't have any explanatory pop-ups and the manual is mum on the subject.

 

 

  

Calibration

Calibration


[

](http://www.displaymate.com/)Since HDTVs rarely come out of the box perfectly calibrated, we tinker with their settings ourselves before we run our tests on them. This way we know we're testing each TV at its best. To calibrate things we use DisplayMate and a CS-200 ChromaMeter. Below we've listed all the stuff we've changed around. If it isn't listed below, we didn't change it. 

 

 

 

Using this setup, we were able to get a color temperature of 6904, while maintaining the best combination of high contrast and good color representation.

 

Video Modes


The 37LH55 has seven video modes, two of which are expert modes. The expert modes give you more control over different picture settings. The preset modes don't have a ready description, either on the TV or on the manual, but have fairly common names: vivid, standard, cinema, sport, and game.

Remote Control

Ergonomics & Durability*(5.6)*


The LG 37LH55's remote is made of black plastic, although they have added a faux leather texturing onto the plastic to try and add some style. The buttons on the remote are soft plastic, including the directional pad, and feel comfortable to press, although we would have liked to feel more tactile feedback. The remote isn't very heavy, although it is rather long. We do feel it's ever so slightly, and annoyingly, out of balance when holding it with your thumb over the directional pad, but it's light weight makes this a minor problem. Of more concern is how slick the plastic is, this remote will fall easily out of your hand. Combined with construction that doesn't inspire confidence that makes us worry about the durability of the remote in the long term. We also wish there was a backlight for use in the dark.

 

Button Layout & Use*(6.2)*


The buttons on the LG 37LH55 are a good size, not overly large, but not tiny either. They are clearly labeled, although the aforementioned lack of a backlight means this won't matter in the dark. We found that the main controls, the directional pad along with volume and channel up/down, are placed just far enough apart that a person with small hands will likely have to shift a bit to reach them all comfortably. Those with larger hands should have no problem. The number pad will require you to shift your hand down the body of the remote, which is risky given how slick it is. We were able to control the 37LH55 at a wide angle using its remote.

 

Programming & Flexibility*(1.0)*


The LG 37LH55's remote can be used with other pieces of LG home theatre equipment using their proprietary SIMPLINK technology. This allows you to control those devices as long as they are connected to the 37LH55 via an HDMI cable. We're not fans of such proprietary software, as such we are only awarding a single point for it.

Connectivity

**

Input Ports***(7.5)*


The LG 37LH55 has ports on both the back and the left side of the television. On the left side you'll find a composite video input, with associated analog audio input, along with an HDMI input. You'll also find the USB port located here.

On the back of the 37LH55 you'll find three additional HDMI ports, for a total of four on the television, another composite video input and two component video inputs, each of which has its own analog audio input. There's also a VGA input for connecting the HDTV to your computer, along with a 3.5mm audio input for getting audio from your computer. Finally there's the RF input.

 

Output Ports*(1.0)*


Unlike most HDTVs we've seen the LG 37LH55 offers only a single output port, a digital audio out, located on the back of the television. Most HDTVs also offer an analog audio out, although this is beginning to change.

 

Other Connections*(0.0)*


The LG 37LH55 doesn't offer Wi-Fi, Bluetooth or any other wireless connectivity options.

 

Media*(1.0)*


The LG 37LH55 has a built-in USB port, located on the left side of the television. This can be used to view photos or listen to music stored on a USB device.

 

Placement*(7.5)*


The ports on the LG 37LH55 are placed well. The few ports on the left side are relatively easy to access, although they are recessed back quite a bit for ports on the side of a television. This is made up for by the fact that the television is relatively small, that the ports on the back are within easy 'reach-around' distance from the front, and the fact that the stand swivels for even easier access.

Audio & Menus

Audio Quality*(5.5)*


The 37LH55's speakers weren't bad. When the surround sound mode was off, the sound was a bit flat. It didn't have much bass and there just wasn't a lot of presence to the sound. Turning surround sound mode on gave a bit of depth to the overall sound, boosted bass quite a bit, and gave the high end better articulation. It didn't, however, do much to actually create a 'surround sound' experience.

 

Menu Interface*(7.0)*


The 37LH55's menu system is fairly intuitive. Pressing the menu button will let you chose from one of eight different items. Selecting one will bring up a second screen, where the eight main items run down the left side and the selected menu is expanded to the right.

The menu system is very basic, but we really don't like the initial screen. Since you can tab through the main menu items in the second screen, there's really no functional benefit to the first screen other than to familiarize you with the icons. If the second menu screen had been larger and contained labels, they could have eliminated an otherwise superfluous round of navigation.

There's also a quick menu. This is presented like a rotary dial: left and right rotate the wheel of menu items, and up/down alter its settings. This is tehcnically quicker for changing certain items, but the rotation animation slows the process down a bit.

 

Manual*(4.5)*


The 37LH55's manual really isn't great. The only thing it does well is pictures, which are very detailed and employed frequently, if they are a bit small. The table of contents is very limited, there isn't an index (although there is a brief appendix), and the pages aren't tabbed. The font size is a bit on the small side as well.

The main complaint we had, however, is it really doesn't answer a lot of questions. The manual is really only good for setting up the TV, not explaining how to use its features. We aren't entirely sure what features like Eye Care and Edge Enhancer actually do.

 

Formats & Media

Formats*(10.5)*


The LG 37LH55 is a full 1080p television, with a resolution of 1920 x 1080. This means it can natively handle the highest quality HD content available, typically only from Blu-ray discs. It can also handle lower quality content, including 1080i, 720p and 480i/p. The television also supports film-like content at 24 frames per second, both natively and via the 3:2 pulldown process. There is also support for the xvYCC color gamut, which allows the television to display a wider gamut of colors if the content supports it.

 

Photo Playback*(3.5)*


The LG 37LH55 supports viewing photos form a connected USB device. The photo playback interface is a bit cluttered, with a file browser view and a full-screen view. There is no support for a standard slideshow, so you'll need to move between photos using the remote. You can have music from the USB drive playing in the background, however.

 

Music & Video Playback*(2.5)*


The LG 37LH55 can play back Mp3 music files from a connected USB device. The interface is similar to that for photos, with a file browser view allowing you to select the folder where you music files are located. There is support for embedded album art, but not for playlists. When music is playing you get a player on-screen that moves around to keep burn-in from occuring. There is no support for playing back video files from a USB device.

 

Streaming Playback*(0.0)*


The LG 37LH55 does not directly support streaming content from the internet.

 

Other Media*(0.0)*


There is no DVD, Blu-ray or DVR buil into the LG 37LH55.

Power Consumption

Power Consumption*(8.94)*


You don't stop paying for your HDTV once it's in your home. The thing obviously need power to run, and this can sometimes add up to a hefty monthly cost. To figure out monthly costs, we hook the TV up to a voltage meter then assume the TV will be used for 5 hours daily and be in standby or off for the remainder. With different calibrations, these costs could change.

Even with maximum backlight, the LG 37LH55 will only use up about $33 per year. This is pretty cheap. If you turn the backlight down to the 200cd/m2 mark, which is bright enough to provide optimal viewing without wasting power, you'll save $10/year, roughly.

Below is a chart comparing the 37LH55 to other, similar HDTVs. It's the cheapest one in the chart, followed very closely by another LG set.

 

Vs LG 32LG40

Value Comparison Summary


The 32LG40 comes with a built-in DVD player. and slightly worse performance overall compared to the 37LH55. It doesn't do that much worse, however, and is less expensive. If you can use the DVD player, it's a good bet. If you're going for best overall quality, the 37LH55 and its 240Hz mode is probably better for you.

Blacks & Whites


Though neither TV had a particularly good black level, the LG 37LH55 was capable of producing a much deeper black than the LG 32LG40. The 37LH55 was also capable of a higher peak brightness, leading to a better overall contrast ratio.

 

Color Accuracy


Both TVs had very similar color representation. For those keeping score, the 37LH55 edged out the 32LG40 in every category, if only by a hair.

 

 

 

Motion


The 37LH55 did slightly better with mitigating blur, primarily due to its 240Hz feature.

 

Viewing Effects


The 32LG40 had a much larger viewing angle than the 37LH55.

 

Connectivity


The main differences here are the 37LH55 has an extra HDMI, a USB port, and no S-Video.

 

Other Comparisons


The main feature comparison you'll have to make between these two TVs is 240Hz playback vs. built-in DVD player. The 37LH55 has the former and the 32LG40 has the latter. In terms of overall value, the DVD player is probably worth more, assuming you don't already have a DVD player. Other than these two stand-out features, however, your decisions

Vs Samsung LN40B650

Value Comparison Summary


The Samsung LN50B650 bests the 37LH55 in many, many categories. While it lacks a 240Hz refresh rate, it does have a 120Hz mode, which will be more or less the same for most consumers. It's slightly bigger, has better overall picture quality, and costs less.

Blacks & Whites


The 37LH55's weak black level is soundly bested by the LN40B650's. Both have similar peak brightnesses, meaning the LN40B650's contrast ratio also ends up better. 

 

Color Accuracy


The LN40B650 does better overall on this test, with a slightly more solid color temperature and a small improvement in color representation. The 37LH55 has a more accurate color gamut, but the improvement here isn't dramatic enough to let the TV catch up. 

 

 

 

Motion


Although both had similar performance on our motion blur test, the LN40B650 fell behind with its penchant for artifacting. 

Viewing Effects


The Samsung LN40B650 has a slightly larger viewing angle than the LG 37LH55.

Connectivity


The main difference here is the Samsung's LAN port. It has a few extra ports and a second USB, but these additions aren't likely to be notable to the average consumer.

 

 

Other Comparisons


The LN40B650 gains a pretty big advantage here by coming with internet connetivity. You can use this feature to stream content off your computer or download and install widgets on the TV. This is a nice feature, and certainly better than the 37LH55's lack of internet connectivity, but not nearly as good as some higher-end internet-capable TVs that can stream video from popular content providers.

The 37LH55 counters this by offering 240Hz playback.

Vs Toshiba 40XV645U

Value Comparison Summary


The LG 37LH55 is more expensive than the 40XV645U, slightly smaller, and doesn't have a clear advantage on picture quality. While it does handles color and motion better overall, it suffers from a poor contrast ratio.

Blacks & Whites


The Toshiba Regza 40XV645U did well on this test compared to the 37LH55. The Toshiba had a deeper black level and much higher overall contrast. The 37LH55 did have a slightly brighter white, but this victory is very minor.

 

Color Accuracy


The 37LH55 solidly out-performed the 40XV645U on our color tests. It had a more even color temperature, much more accurate color representation, and a color gamut that more closely adhered to Rec.709.

 

 

 

Motion


The LG 37LH55 was less blurry and less prone to artifacting.

 

Viewing Effects


Neither TV had an impressive viewing angle, but the LG 37LH55 managed to be slightly worse than the 40XV645U.

 

Connectivity


The 37LH55 has an extra HDMI port and lacks an S-Video. No gigantic advantage here for either TV.

 

Other Comparisons


The sole additional comparison: the 37LH55 has a 240Hz mode and the 40XV645U has a 120Hz mode. Although one is ostensibly better than the other, the jury's still out on whether this is actually true. In any case, the difference isn't something the average set of human eyes will pick up on.

Conclusion

 

 

Series Comparison

LH55 Series


LG's LH55 series of LCD televisions all feature 240Hz refresh rate, for improved motion. They also include a USB port for viewing photos and listening to music from a USB device and a full 1080p resolution. The series is available in four sizes: 37, 42, 47 and 55 inches.

Meet the tester

Mark Brezinski

Mark Brezinski

Senior Writer

@markbrezinski

Mark Brezinski works on the Home Team, reviewing refrigerators, minifridges, dishwashers, washing machines, dryers, air conditioners, air purifiers, and fans.

See all of Mark Brezinski's reviews

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