LG 55LW9800
The good: The LG 55LW9800 exhibits excellent color, shadow detail, and properly handles 1080p/24 sources. Its well-designed Smart TV Internet portal utilizes built-in Wi-Fi streaming, and the TV includes a cool Wii-like secondary remote. The LG’s passive 3D has minimal crosstalk and is brighter than active 3D, and four pairs of 3D glasses are included.
The bad: This expensive full-array LED TV can’t match competing models in picture quality, with lighter black levels and poor gamma and shadow detail in the most forgiving picture modes. Its screen performed poorly in ambient light, and blooming was relatively common. The Smart TV’s search function is next to useless. 3D image quality was worse overall (softer image, more artifacts) than active 3D.
The bottom line: The expensive LG 55LW9800′s picture quality doesn’t live up to the promise of its full-array local dimming LED backlight.
As we describe in detail in our explanation of the confusing world of LED backlight configurations, our favorite variety is known as (deep breath) “full-array with local dimming.” Unfortunately, it’s exceedingly expensive to implement, at least to judge from the sticker prices of the only currently shipping 2011 HDTVs to offer this feature: Sony’s XBR-HX929, Sharp’s Elites, and the LG 55LW9800 reviewed here. The LG is unique among the three as the only one with passive 3D TV capability–combining local dimming with the brightness, crosstalk, and practicality advantages of polarized 3D glasses. If you want passive 3D and have money to burn, this 55-inch model (it’s not available in any other size) seems appealing on paper. In person, however, despite myriad settings and our best attempt to calibrate them, it fails to fulfill those high expectations.
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