With prices for LCD TV's falling rapidly, i decided it was time to
replace my 5 year old 20" Sharp EDTV and step up to HD. A side by side
comparison made it clear that i had made the right decision. The LG's
picture quality is superior in almost every way.
Pro's
-----
-There aren't many quality 26" tv's out there and the 26LV2500 is one of
the better ones i've seen so far.
-The picture is vibrant and sharp and comparable to some mid-range
32" non led-backlit lcd's i looked at in store. Response time looks
good to my eyes.
-Most 26" tv's include 2 hdmi ports, the LG has 3.
-The LG is attractive with its glass-like bezel.Thin and bright, thanks to
the LED backlight.
-The Intelligent Sensor works rather well and is surprisingly
useful.
-Menu system very well laid out with useful functionality.
Con's
-----
-Off angle viewing is pretty bad. Colors wash out slightly when i stand up
and noticeably when moving to the sides of the screen. My old Sharp LCD was
actually a lot better in this regard.
-The Sharp used a matte screen, the LG has a glossy screen and in a bright
room the image is mirror-like, particularly in dark scenes. Very annoying.
-Audio quality is as bad as expected and comparable to other TV's this
small and thin. Turning the bass all the way up and the treble nearly all
the way down makes things bearable.
-Black levels and screen uniformity is as expected for a tv in this range
with some backlight bleeding in the edges. This of course is only
noticeable in a black screen with the backlight set to max and will not
matter under normal usage conditions.
Bottom line
-----------
The 26LV2500 is a feature packed and thoughtfully designed LED back-lit TV.
If you're in the market for a 26" TV, you can't go wrong with the LG and
you will not be disappointed as long as you take it's limitations into
consideration.
However, if you have space for a larger 32" TV, there is a wider selection
worth looking at here. With the LG, you are paying more for the LED
backlight and thinner bezel rather than picture quality. At around $350,
you can easily get a 32" 720p NON-LED LCD that is either as good or better
than the LG. LG 26LV2500 26-Inch 720p 60Hz LED-LCD HDTV
I was looking for a small LCD TV for our guest bedroom and decided on the LG 26LV2500. This seemed to offer the most features at the lowest price for the use it would get--only when we had guests in our spare bedroom. The set arrived very promptly in the mfg. original packaging and there was no damage to the carton and everything was there. It was easy to assemble and set up. Since I was using a basic cable connection(no box) I needed only the coax connection. The set scanned for and found all my cable provider's digital channels, both HD and SD(There are no more analog transmisions in my area). The picture is bright and clear(at least when viewed from bed) and although "only" 720p it looks as good(to me)as the two large 1080p sets that I already have. The sound is certainly fine for the use it will get. All the settings are easy to access and adjust and there are many more inputs than I will need on this set. I did resurrect an very old(non blueray) DVD player and connected it using the composite input--it produced a nice picture with standard DVD's. The only thing I found a bit strange was the power brick. Instead of the set getting power directly from from a 120V outlet, you plug a power brick into the outlet, which has a cord that plugs into the TV. I assume this is used because it is cheaper and/or easier that trying to design a 120V to 24V power supply that will fit into this very thin TV. So overall I am pleased.
The TV certainly looks very sleek. It has a very nice "piano" finish, and is extremely thin. The base is also quite small, so it takes minimal space from your table top. As nice as it is, however, it's image quality is not Samsung. You have to make extensive adjustments to the picture, by adjusting contrast/brightness/sharpness/this that and another. The Samsung was sharp and ready to go right out of the box. I am mostly going to use this TV set as a large monitor for my computer, and I'm quite upset. To use for computer, I highly recommend using a VGA cable instead of HDMI, as it will allow you to use in the standard aspect ratio of the TV. VGA will also give you near the same quality as HDMI, so you won't have to compromise quality either.
Nice TV. One of the screws on the mounting bracket would not bite, but seems secure with only one screw. It is fairly light weight.
Glossy plastic sides will reflect ambient light .. a bit annoying.
Volume is ok for a small room, but could be better.
Great picture.
Overall, this is my first LG appliance and I am very impressed.
I almost didn't buy this TV because there were so many negative comments about the fall off in picture quality related to viewing angle. I bought this TV to replace a Samsung 22 inch LCD TV, mounted in the kitchen that I watch while I cook. The 2 x 3 Watt speakers in the Samsung were pitiful. With the sound turned up to the max, I couldn't here the sound when the dishwasher, hood fan and oven fan were on. The 2 x 5 Watt speakers in the LG 26LV2500 were the attraction (Samsung doesn't have these). To make a long story short, the fall off in viewing angle was better than in the Samsung and the sound was fabulous. Remember, this is a tiny TV with tiny speakers.
I love this TV
it is for small room 6'x7' (small but advanced hair salon) so size is great but if you need it for a big or average size bedroom I would recommend 32" at least and 1080p would be beneficial too especially if you want to connect PC to it.
CON
Energy saving mode Auto-dimes the screen so terribly it is impossible to watch and there are not much options to regulate it so I just turned of energy saving mode and use it constantly on 70% brightness
PRON
USB is so great I use USB all the time for watching movies, slide show, and music play I was surprised to find out that It can play music and make a slide show from USB simultaneously so it serves my hair salon very well
it is very light so it will be easy to install on the wall
OTHER
some people mentioned bad viewing angle but they were wrong. Viewing angle is great.'
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