I wasn't even in the market for a 3D TV, but when my Sony HDTV blew yet another bulb, I decided it was time for something new.
Initially, I planned on getting one of the new Sharp 60" Quattron models, and headed to a nearby big box store to check out the selection. Picture quality was most important to me, where I was willing to accept a plasma if it blew me away, but I was definitely siding towards LCD or LED. I wasn't too shocked to find that while plasmas were nice, they weren't "that" nice, and settled in to the Sharp.
On my way out, I thought I'd check a couple of the 3D displays, just to be 100% sure I wasn't making a purchase I'd regret as soon as 3D content became more widespread. I looked at a couple of Panasonic models with active shutter glasses, and found that the 3D looked acceptable, but the glasses weren't comfortable on my head or to my eyes. A DirecTV rep all but insisted that I look at a high-end Samsung model connected to a DirecTV receiver, and I immediately noticed that getting the thing to display 3D apparently required messing with the DirecTV remote, the Samsung remote, and continually re-syncing the active glasses. "No, thanks." I thought.
Then I noticed an unloved LG display, with a bucket (yes, an actual bucket) of scratched passive glasses. No way was this going to look good, but it wasn't like I didn't have a few minutes to spare.
I was absolutely blown away. By far, the best 3D experience I've seen. Standing about six feet from the screen, there was a scene from an IMAX documentary where a fish seriously looked like it came out about halfway between where I was standing, and where the TV was. And I could see parasitic fish on the nose of that fish, moving around. It was incredible, clear, and I knew it had to be pretty expensive. Much to my surprise, it was in the same league as the Panasonic models. I had to have it.
Doing more research online, I saw that Amazon's price was even better (better, in fact, than a national warehouse club sells the non-3D version of this TV for). I ordered on a Monday, and scheduled my (free) shipping for Thursday afternoon. The delivery people came 15 minutes from the start of my four-hour delivery window, with no hassle at all.
Out of the box, the picture quality on this TV is pretty awesome. Better than I remembered it being in the store, for sure. But, I did notice that motion seemed really... weird. I wasn't sure if it was my satellite receiver, or the TV, but things just didn't seem to move naturally. After spending some time adjusting the dejudder and deblur settings, I was able to make the motion normal. But then, I figured, I might as well calibrate everything. Using a combination of the calibration feature on the Life Blu-Ray and recommended settings on various forums, I was able to achieve an absolutely stunning picture. Seriously, this thing looks like it cost hundreds upon hundreds more when it's calibrated.
1080i / 1080p content looked absolutely brilliant. SDTV, on the other hand, isn't the best I've seen. It's certainly acceptable, and arguably on the better side of what's commonly found on LCD / LED models, but I'd probably consider getting something different if most of your viewing is going to be sub-DVD quality content.
Then it was time to break out the 3D. I snagged a copy of Tron: Legacy (Four-Disc Combo: Blu-ray 3D / Blu-ray / DVD / Digital Copy) and spent most of the movie sitting with a dumb smile on my face. The picture quality and depth were outstanding. Don't fall for the "active / passive" hype. Watching 3D content with the LG's passive glasses is certain to please anybody who can see. And going back to my memory of the Samsung set, when the LG detects 3D, a box pops up that tells you to put your glasses on. That's it. No messing around endlessly with modes to get it working.
I then decided to play with the 2D-to-3D function on some HD channels and standard Blu-Ray discs, and was actually pretty surprised. More often than not, the TV seems to process the image as you'd expect to see 3D. It's not something I'd want to do all the time, but I have to say, watching Moulin Rouge! [Blu-ray] with 2D-to-3D was actually pretty awesome.
The built-in applications were kind of a mixed bag. Getting the TV on my WPA2 wireless network was pretty simple, and the Wii-inspired remote worked better than I had expected. The Netflix and Amazon On Demand apps were both very solid -- arguably better than what you'd find on a Roku, and miles ahead of the ones built in to my Sony Blu-Ray player. The other apps were less than impressive. Bringing up the weather app is more time consuming than just tuning to the Weather Channel, for example. The included web browser is fine for "Hey, look what my TV can do" showing off, but you're probably not going to want to fire it up to look at IMDB in the middle of a show.
All things considered, this is probably the best value around. While I lost 5" of screen real estate over what I planned on buying originally, the difference in picture quality alone was a decent tradeoff. Getting 3D was gravy, to say the least. Unless this thing sets my house on fire, I'd be hard pressed to recommend anything else within a couple hundred dollars. LG Infinia 55LW5600 55-Inch Cinema 3D 1080p 120 Hz LED HDTV with Smart TV (Included: Four Pairs of 3D Glasses)
I have to say I was really impressed by this set when i first saw it being demoed. I love 3d but have never wanted to own a set because the active shutter 3d makes me dizzy and sick after about 10 minutes of watching it. The passive 3d offered by this system is great. No sickness, little to no eye strain and a great 3d image. People have complained that the way the 3d is created halves the resolution, this is not noticeable at all with 3d blu-ray. I did notice lining in the image when i was very close to the tv, closer than I would want to sit comfortably. One complaint I have, though it is a small one, is that 3d gaming is noticeably lower in resolution. I have only tried this with one game(killzone 3) and only with this 3d format so cant really compare weither the other 3d format(active shutter) offered would be better for gaming. Still an amazing gaming experience regardless.'
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