Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)I bought the LG 55LX6500 HDTV as a bundled deal that included an LG BX580 3D/Network/BluRay player and four LG 3D glasses. In addition I bought the SquareDeal 4-year warranty and took advantage of the Amazon.com Store card's 24 month no interest special financing deal, which was the deal-clincher for me. The entire bundle was around two and a half grand. I've seen that on this same model in Best Buy just for the TV, so the Amazon bundle was quite a deal. The entire bundle was free shipping (and no taxes). Overall, it was a deal I couldn't pass up.
DELIVERY
The LG TV arrived in less than a week, the BluRay player afew days earlier, and the 3D active-shutter glasses arrived a couple weeks later. Neither the BluRay player, nor the HDTV comes with an HDMI cable. What LG supplies is the wimpy yellow, red, white low-resolution analog cable trio. Not including an HDMI high speed cable is, in my opinion, a poor marketing decision by LG because you can't get the best picture without an HDMI cable hookup. But don't be discouraged by it - the LG puts out a fantastic picture, and you can buy HDMI cables fairly cheaply on the internet, although the bubble wrapped varieties in retail stores are very pricey.
When the LG HDTV arrived, the delivery service was supposed to hook it up and verify it works -- power and picture, and sound - that's all. They also advised me to keep the shipping box for at least a week, in case I decided to return it. They basically carried the unit upstairs, put the base together, mounted the TV on it, plugged it in, got the LG logo up on the screen, and static on the speakers. It was obvious they didn't know squat about electronics, so I am happy with them not doing more. Anyway, I didn't expect white glove service, and I'm happy with them just hauling it up the stairway.
MOUNTING THE TV
The base pedestal that comes with the TV swivels +20 degrees, but it does not tilt. So if that's what you'll be using, you'll want the screen more or less at eye-level from wherever you're viewing. The TV itself is mostly only an inche thick, but the pedestal base will require about 13-1/2 inches of solid, level surface, which gives you plenty of wall clearance to plug in your cables. The manual recommends tying the screen to a wall to keep it from inadvertently tipping forward.
If you are going to mount the TV up on a wall, you will want a mount that both swivels and tilts. You won't be able to mount the TV flush to the wall - it needs at least 4 inches of clearance, which most mounting systems will give it. All the suitable wall mounts I've seen run around $100 and up.
HOOKING UP THE HDTV
Most of us are going to hook up to our cable or satellite decoder box. The hookup choices are coaxial cable, red-white-yellow RCA cable trio, red-blue-green composite video cable (plus the red-white audio cable), and HDMI cable.
Coaxial cable - That coaxial cable connector on the HDTV is only for an external antenna. But probably like most people upgrading from standard 3:4:5 analog TV to wide-screen HDTV, I just hooked the HDTV to the same coaxial cable out of the cable decoder box I just unhooked from the analog standard TV. BIG MISTAKE - DON'T DO IT - that old coaxial cable going from your cable decoder box to your old standard TV is absolutely the worst hookup to use for the HDTV! You will get a blurry picture and ghosting. Take that coaxial cable and stash it or trash it. The reason that coaxial cable causes such poor picture on your new wide-screen HDTV is that the digital signal into the cable/satellite decoder box is transformed into an analog radio frequency with an attendant loss in much of the digital information that HDTV requires to give you a superior picture. I even read some reviews where some buyers sent their new LG HDTV back because the picture was blurry. It's the coaxial cable hookup that causes the bad picture, not the HDTV.
red-white-yellow RCA cable trio -- This was the standard analog hook up for audio-video peripherals for years. Most of us have these cables lying around, and one set is supplied with this LG HDTV. This connector type is there for backwards compatibility with your legacy peripherals that don't have HDMI connectors. You can hook up the HDTV using this type cable to most cable/satellite decoder box. While it is significantly better than the coaxial cable, it still results in significant video and audio digital information loss. The yellow lead carries all the video signal as an analog signal - not digital, which results in the loss of full HD digital video information. The red and white leads are right and left audio channels only, and the full multi-channel sound out put of the TV is lost.
Red-blue-green composite video - This cable trio is for the video signal only, you still have to have a separate audio cable, at least the red-white RCA left-right, two-channel connector. The component cable results in a much better picture than the red-white-yellow RCA. The composite video connection is an analog signal, so there is still some loss of HD digital information.
HDMI highspeed - This is the cable designed and intended for High Definition devices. If you don't have one, get one or even two. You will not only get the best picture, but full multi-channel audio capability also. When I hooked up the HDMI cables - it was a fantastic, superb, gangbusters, sharp, detailed, picture - plus the sound was noticeably better.
A word about HDMI marketing hype -- The HDMI standards setting institute ([...]) only has five authorized HDMI logo modifiers (standard, high speed, standard with Ethernet, high speed with Ethernet, and standard automotive). You want the HDMI high-speed., or the high speed with internet.The "standard" may result in some signal loss. The "with Ethernet" option just says the cable can handle the extra signal traffic. It will work in the 55LX6500 model, but internet hookup has to be through the Ethernet connector or wifi through a USB hub. The "automotive" option is for equipment on vehicles running off of 12/24 volt direct current
All the other HDMI cable claims, such as 3D, 1080p, 120 Hz, 240 Hz, deep color, BluRay, etc., etc., are supported features of the peripheral equipment the HDMI cable hooks up to - and many cable manufacturers are just using those terms as marketing hype to justify asking prices of $40 to $100 for their cable. All high-speed HDMI cables will more than meet your 55LX6500 HDTV needs. That's because it is all digital information - a $6 cable HDMI delivers the same performance as a $100 cable. You can buy HDMI high-speed cable for bout $1 per foot on-line at Amazon.com, or ebay. Don't waste money on the over-priced, over-hyped cables costing tens of multiples more.
HD CONTENT:
All HD channels are not equal, and all content on the HD channels is not necessarily full 1080 HD quality. There is still a lot of content recorded in 720 HD. 720 HD might show up on the TV screen letter-boxed (with black borders all around), or it could be zoomed to 1080, in which case it may seem blurry. Analog 480 SD will show up letter-boxed on both sides. Full (1080) HD content is increasing, but these lesser resolutions will persist for years. So don't judge your 1080 LG HDTV picture quality by just what you see on the TV channels - a lot of it is not very high quality to begin with. The really good full 1080 HD quality content is on BluRay and DVD that says on the label - "full 1080 HD."
BUILT-IN SPEAKERS
The built-in speakers can only give you at most stereo sound or simulated surround sound. That's because all the built-in speakers are fixed in front of you. But they are very good speakers, even amazing, and you get a good, distortion-free sound from them. I had the sound level all the way up to 100 which is max for the TV speakers. The sound level at max was nice and loud, with a good frequency range, and lots of depth. But of course the limited speaker size can not deliver window-rattling, bone-jarring sub-bass. Most TV channels only give you monaural sound, so the built-in speakers are all you need for watching TV shows. Very little TV content actually carries stereo sound. Most DVD content only delivers stereo sound at best, but new content out may have 5.1 sound capability or better.
EXTERNAL SOUND SYSTEM
If you want ear-splitting, cinema-quality, multi-channel, surround sound with deafening thunder and explosions, you'll have to spring for a external sound system -- which is overkill unless you have a BluRay player or DVD player capable of decoding 5.1 sound, and a source (BluRay oe DVD disc) that was recorded in 5.1 sound. The LG BluRay player I have is capable of 7.1 sound, although there is little if any content recorded in 7.1 sound. If you are going to spring for an external sound system, get a digital 5.1 or 7.1 sound system with an optical cable hookup.
3D
There are three types of 3D to view: red-green, polarized, and active shutter (also called BluRay 3D.) The LG 55LX6500 is BluRay 3D ready. You can also watch the older red-green or polarized 3D movies on this TV, providing you have the red-green or polarized lenses, normally supplied with the DVD.
BluRay 3D requires active shutter glasses, which run around $100 or more a pair. Just because the DVD says 3D doesn't mean it's the higher quality BluRay 3D. BluRay 3D will say "BluRay 3D." If it doesn't, then it's not BluRay 3D. BluRay 3D discs requires a BluRay player.
Of the three 3D technologies, BluRay 3D gives the highest quality and highest definition picture. But don't throw away your old red-green or polarized 3D glasses just yet, because there is very...Read more›
Click Here to see more reviews about: LG 55LX6500 55-Inch 3D 1080p 240 Hz LED Plus LCD HDTV, Espresso
This HDTV is Internet-ready. To view Internet apps on this TV, you may also need:
Broadband Internet service
A router
Cabling
A Wi-Fi adapter (if there is not one built in)
A PC for subscriptions or payments
To learn more about Internet-ready HDTVs, visit Internet-Ready TV 101.
3D Technology Checklist
This product is 3D-related. To help you get a great 3D experience, use our checklist below to ensure that you have everything you need. If you have any questions or want to learn more about 3D, we invite you to visit 3D 101--our center for everything 3D. To get started with 3D, please ensure that you have:
If you want to get more information about 3D, shop our 3D products, watch videos, or interact with other customers, visit 3D 101, our customer center about everything 3D.
