LG 47LH50 first look

Design The LG LH50 lacks any overt, eye-catching styling cues to set off its glossy black sheen. Its most remarkable external feature consists of the thin, transparent strip along the left and right edges of the frame. That frame rounds slightly along the top edge and is thicker below than above. A bump on the bottom right edge houses the blue-lit power indicator. The stand swivels and matches the panel with its glossy black LG’s remote is relatively disappointing. We found the cluster of similar buttons around the cursor control difficult to differentiate without constantly having to look down at them. A little illumination would have gone a long way. On the plus side, it’s easy to find the different-colored buttons for “Netcast” (for Netflix, YouTube, Yahoo Widgets, and local photos and music streaming) and Widgets (for Yahoo Widgets, again), and there’s another prominent button labeled “Energy Saving” that directly accesses said control and a little energy saving graphic to provide enviro-geeks a warm fuzzy. The remote can’t control other brands of gear directly with infrared commands. The menu system is quite extensive, so the easy-access quick menu for aspect ratio, picture and sound modes, the timer, and other oft-used functions is welcome. The main menu is laid out the same as last year’s model, with the addition of a new onscreen “simple manual” that provides basic setup and function information. One miscue: we’d really like to see explanations of menu items …

Tagged as: 47LH50, First, Look