LG 50PM9700

By Will Greenwald

Plasma HDTVs have the potential to be high-performing, relatively inexpensive options if you don't mind their higher power requirements. A good plasma panel can produce accurate colors and dark blacks simultaneously, and plasma screens are generally less expensive than their LED-backlit counterparts. The PM9700 series, unfortunately, doesn't live up to its potential as LG's high-end plasma line. At $1,699.99 (list) ?for the 50-inch 50PM9700, the price isn't particularly inexpensive when compared with similar LED HDTVs. And while you do get plenty of features like 3D and built-in Wi-Fi, the picture quality just isn't up to snuff.

Design
The 50-inch screen is relatively slim at 2.1 inches thick and quite heavy at 59.1 pounds without stand. The bezel is a brushed dark grey surface that frames the screen, surrounded by a metal edge. A set of basic controls including Power, Channel Up/Down, Volume Up/Down, Menu, and Input reside on the left side of the bottom edge of the screen, much more easily accessible than the controls on most HDTVs. The connections are clustered on the left side of the back panel of the screen. Two HDMI ports and two USB ports face left, while the rest face out from the back, including two more HDMI ports, an RF connection, component and composite video inputs, a PC input, an RS-232C remote port, a digital audio input, and a 3.5mm audio input.

As with LG's high-end LED HDTVs like the 55LM6700 , the 50PM9700 includes LG's Magic Motion remote, a motion-sensing wand that moves an on-screen cursor to navigate menus. The wand is curved and comfortable to hold, and its few buttons (Power, Home, Back, Volume Up/Down, Channel Up/Down, Mute, 3D, and Quick Menu) make it simple to use. Most controls are performed with the motion-sensing cursor and the direction pad, with the scroll wheel in the middle serving as the click button for the cursor. The scroll wheel also navigates channels. It's easy to accidentally roll the wheel instead of clicking it, which can make the remote frustrating until you get used to it.

If you don't like the Magic Motion remote, the 50PM9700 also comes with a 9.2-inch conventional remote. Several buttons glow in the dark, the different controls feel distinct, and the navigation pad and its surrounding buttons are very easy to find blindly, so it's a good alternative to the motion-sensing remote.

The set can access online content from numerous sources through LG's Smart Hub. The HDTV features built-in Wi-Fi and an Ethernet port for going online, and it can access multiple services like Netflix, Hulu Plus, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube and downloadable apps through LG's online store. LG's Smart Hub is similar to Panasonic and Samsung's HDTV media hubs, with extensive options in both services and apps. If you want to take advantage of the HDTV's 3D support but don't have any 3D channels or Blu-ray discs, LG's 3D World section offers plenty of free nature, science, and sports-themed 3D content.

Performance
We test HDTV s using the DisplayMate test pattern software, SpectraCal's CalMAN software, and a Konica-Minolta CS 200 chromameter. After basic brightness and contrast calibration with color temperature set to "Warm," the 50PM9700 showed a relatively nice, if not bright, picture. It reached a peak brightness of 124.09 cd/m², and displayed a black level of 0.13 cd/m². The black level can be coaxed darker with a few settings, but this results in clipping shadow detail, so it isn't advised. Color levels were extremely accurate in tint, but red and green channels appeared oversaturated, as shown in the chart below (the squares represent the ideal levels for their respective colors under the CIE color space, and the circles represent the measured levels from the HDTV).

The balance between shadow detail and deep blacks showed itself on the Blu-ray of Piranha. With the calibrated settings, shadow detail was relatively clear but not particularly dark. However, by adjusting the black level settings, I could make shadow detail become inky black, but at the expense of the fine details in those shadows. There isn't a solid middle ground that gets you the best of both worlds. Colors also looked slightly off, with the usually warm, sun-drenched party scenes appearing overcast. The 50PM9700 has several color adjustment modes, including multiple white balance settings and individual hue, saturation, and luminance settings for red, green, and blue, so you can probably tweak the screen to get the right colors. Out of the box and set to Warm, though, it doesn't quite hit it. The Panasonic TC-P55ST50? proves that plasma HDTVs can offer a great picture for the price of the 50PM9700, so the price of the screen can't explain why it doesn't hit the right marks.

The 50PM9700 features a 600Hz Sub Field Driving mode that smooths motion blur. I've found that these anti-blur features look artificial and off-putting, and I usually keep my screen set to 60Hz to avoid it. Unfortunately, I couldn't with the 50PM9700, even in the Expert mode. Even when I set the smoothing setting to "Off," the unsettling effect remained. LG's smoothing mode stayed on to some extent regardless of the setting. The feature can be disabled in Game mode, but that mode limits many other picture settings.

The screen uses active 3D, which requires AG-S350 electronic shutter glasses sold separately at $49.99 per pair. This is disappointing, considering LG's Cinema 3D LED HDTVs use passive 3D and include several pairs of glasses. The active 3D effect on the HDTV is excellent, with the fish in Sharks 3D popping out of the screen. Unfortunately, the shutters produced a headache-inducing flickering effect if I looked at any light source besides the HDTV. If you want to watch 3D movies on the screen in complete darkness, it's a wonderful effect. If you have a lamp or a window near your HDTV, it's going to be painful.

For a plasma screen, the 50PM9700 is relatively energy efficient. It consumes an average of 205 watts under standard viewing conditions with no energy saving features enabled, and it uses an average of 139 watts with energy saving set to "Medium," the highest energy saving level that still shows an acceptable picture. It still can't come close to a decent LED HDTV though, which consistently consume less than 100 watts even without energy saving features turned on.

The LG 50PM9700 is a full-featured plasma set, but significant picture issues hold it back from being a great HDTV?plasma or otherwise. Its seemingly always-on motion blur reduction is off-putting, the screen doesn't get particularly dark without robbing shadow details, and its colors need calibration before they look accurate. It also requires you to spend more money on 3D glasses if you want to use that feature, because unlike LG's 3D LED HDTVs, the 50PM9700 uses active shutter glasses, but doesn't ship with them. If you want plasma, go with the Panasonic TC-P55ST50 instead, or look at LED-backlit HDTVs like the Sharp LC-52LE640U.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/bWpKXWS_SZ0/0,2817,2408293,00.asp

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