LG 50PC5D

I have not had good luck with LG. I made the serious mistake of buying direct from LG, which means they absolutely flat-out refused any refund when I had problems. They just kept sending me problematic new TVs. I am on my third TV set from LG in 3 months, and I am now stuck with this model. I originally purchased a 42" Full HD 1080p LCD-TV. That was the model I wanted. It had a problem with clouding in the LCD. LG refused to replace it, because the said LCD clouding is "normal" and "within specification." After much pain and many calls, they finally replaced it with an identical set which had even worse clouding issues. They refused to admit any problems, despite the fact that the problem was even worse. I have photos if anyone cares to see them. The tech guy suggested I try a plasma, because plasmas don't suffer from clouding. They then allowed me to pick out a similar-priced Plamsa, and I got this 50" model (which, I deeply regret, is not 1080p). At first glance, this model looks very good. Unfortunately, after you watch it for a time at home, the shortfalls of this TV become readily apparent. One is the false contouring (banding) issues via HDMI. I noticed it immediately when I saw my PS3 menu. It also shows up in movies as well. My LG LCD had the same problems, but not to this extent. I now feel like I am watching a cheap dithered screen. Almost a watercolor look on some material at standard definition DVD. A real disappointment. Another problem is the buzzing. Different manufacturers have problems with this. My set buzzed terribly loud (I could hear buzzing 10 feet away with volume at 40 percent). After two service trips, and one where they again denied any problem, the buzzing was finally fixed. The final serious problem with this set has been with my PS3. It has issues accepting the PS3 signal at 1080i. It works, but there is an excessive and problematic line-jumping problem with white text. My PS3 works fine at 720p, but not at the 1080i setting on this TV. It worked fine at 1080p on the other LG set. My PS3 is not the problem, because it works great on my girlfriend's Samsung LCD at 1080i. It looks, however, like the problem is likely with this TV's HDMI port. LG's solution? Just watch it at 720p. I'm sorry, but I didn't buy this 1080i-capable set (which actually downscales to 768p, or 1366x768) to watch it at 720p. LG has tried replacing the boards inside, but to no effect. The problem is still there, and even if it's fixed, the banding issues are driving me insane. All I wanted after the first set was to get my money back. My mistake for purchasing an LG TV, and my mistake for buying it directly from LG.

I have since learned that the component inputs on this TV work just fine. I now run my PS3 using component, and it's better. Not quite as sharp as with HDMI, and I lose the special RGB enhancements available on the newer PS3 updates, but at least it's not plagued by the odd line jumping/interference problems that HDMI has. Also, via component, the TV seems to process out most of the banding/false contouring that HDMI shows. Avoid this TV, if you can. LG has made some major improvments over last year's model, but they still don't have a proper HDMI solution.