LG 32 LH 7000
32"Flat-panel LCD
Introduction
Family trees don't always run in perfectly straight lines. But while the twists and turns of real life often result from personal weaknesses or a stroke of fate, the confusion in TV-manufacturer LG's family tree seems to be pure coincidence. Whatever the cause may be, the fact is: You cannot tell where LH-series TVs fit in the family simply from their model numbers. So, the top model in the 32-inch class is not the LG 32 LH 7000, but the LG 32 LH 5000. But: The LH 7000 series comes just below and still belongs at the high end of the manufacturer's portfolio. Despite this, the TVs aren't overly expensive: For the LG 32 LH 7000, the manufacturer's recommended retail price is 700 GBP in the United Kingdom. Televisions.com runs through what LG offers for that price, along with what you can find in the competition.
Picture Technology
With the old 4:3-format CRT screens, the standard screen size was 28 inches (70 centimeters). The natural successor to this in the widescreen era is the 32-inch (81-centimeter) screen - the height of the screen is comparable, and the extra space taken up by the 16:9-format screen was often occupied by side-mounted speakers anyway. The 32-inchers therefore enjoy great popularity, and it's no wonder that this is the class in which manufacturers and retailers choose to hold their bitterest of price-wars.
Those viewing this TV from normal living-room distances won't be able to distinguish the Full HD resolution (1,920 x 1,080 pixels). For the human eye, the finest details will simply blur at a distance of more than two meters. But the extra helping of sharpness won't do any harm, either: Current flat-panel TVs are ideal for use as an extra-large computer monitor or as a monitor for video editing. Here, the user sits significantly closer to the screen. Of course, all of this relates only to high-definition video sources, such as Blu-ray discs or HD camcorders. With traditional PAL-format TV or conventional DVDs, the source itself is limited to a resolution of 720 x 576 pixels. You can find details on the ideal viewing distance and optimal screen size in our "TV Buying Guide".
Liquid crystal displays (LCDs) have always dominated the 32-inch class - it's no wonder, therefore, that LG uses LCD in the 32 LH 7000. Cold-cathode fluorescent lamps (CCFLs) shine through the LCD screen in order to produce a visible image.
LCDs have two fundamental weaknesses: Firstly, the CCFLs also shine when the TV is displaying dark images - nighttime scenes always therefore look a little milky. Another fundamental weakness of LCD models will also be visible here, although less dramatically than in larger screens: The picture quality depends strongly on viewing angle. To make sure we're not giving the wrong impression: In earlier generations of LCD TVs, these problems were much more pronounced and often irritating. While the weaknesses do still exist today, manufacturers have worked hard in the last few years to minimize them.
LG takes these efforts even further: Using 100-hertz "TruMotion" technology, the 32 LH 7000 aims to display the edges of moving objects more clearly and precisely. Blu-ray movies should appear at the original movie frame-rate thanks to "24p Real Cinema", and the "Intelligent Sensor II" attempts to adjust the picture settings automatically to suit the ambient illumination.
Additional Features
In the Stone Age of television, the video recorder was the viewer's savior whenever nothing interesting was on. These days, many users store multimedia files on their PCs - video clips, digital photos, or music. And with the LH 7000-series TVs, these files needn't simply gather dust on the hard disk: If you copy them onto a USB stick, you can play them back on the TV.
This feature of the LG is extraordinarily versatile: The TV accepts videos in DivX versions 3.11 to 6 (also in HD), XviD, MPEG-1, MPEG-2, and MPEG-4 (H.264, AVC). It also plays back JPEG photos and MP3 music files, according to the manufacturer. And there's a racy extra for mobile phone users: Using Bluetooth, 7000-series LG TVs can also access photos and music wirelessly from certain models of phone. Some competing models (see below) can access multimedia across a PC network - the LG 32 LH 7000 must admit defeat in this discipline.
Tuner
The manufacturer paints a confusing picture when it comes to what type of signals the LG 32 LH 7000 can and cannot receive. So here are the facts: The LG 32 LH 7000 has tuners for analog cable, DVB-T, and digital cable TV (DVB-C). Wherever broadcasts exist, it will also receive both digital standards in HDTV. But LG doesn't mention the tuner's digital-cable capabilities in every country - this is because the TVs in the LH 7000 series lack support for the forthcoming CI Plus encryption standard. As a result, it's impossible to say for certain which channels the TV will continue to receive in the future in some EU countries.
Customers that want to use DVB-C should set the TV's location to Sweden or Finland during installation - the on-screen menu's language setting is independent of the TV's location. In the United Kingdom's digital cable network, you would only receive the basic channels. In any case, however, Virgin Media forbids U.K. customers to attach third-party equipment to the cable network, so cable customers will still have to live with a set-top box. Satellite-TV viewers needn't worry about all of this: They'll always need a set-top box.
There's much less confusion surrounding the analog inputs: Through these, the TV accepts video signals in the PAL, Secam, and NTSC formats - that is, in every analog format that is (or was) in use worldwide.
Connections
This TV's bigger brothers sport a slender design, and therefore sacrifice the space needed for a side-mounted connections panel. The 32-inch model, however, doesn't adhere to the diet, and its indulgences benefit the buyer - unlike the larger models in the LH 7000 series, the LG 32 LH 7000 has a side-mounted S-Video connection for camcorders.
All of the other connections correspond to those of the larger models: LG's 32 LH 7000 is well equipped for modern AV requirements, providing four HDMI inputs for devices such as Blu-ray players, satellite-TV receivers, and games consoles. The two Scart sockets are, in theory, sufficient for conventional video equipment, but only one supports RGB, and neither supports S-Video.
There's also a cinch socket for composite video signals, as well as a headphone output. If you've got a stereo Bluetooth headset for your mobile phone, you can use it to listen to the TV's sound wirelessly.
In the professional sector and in some home-theaters, the inconspicuous RS-232 connection on the TV's rear connections panel might come in handy, allows users to control the TV from a PC remotely via a cable.
LG's website also offers a disappointing lack of clarity when it comes to the TV's connectivity. The information at Televisions.com is based on telephone inquiries with LG's product management and on our team's practical experience with other LG TVs.
Models and Pricing
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