Find tech advice for business here
- Average user rating: 3.5 stars out of 11 reviews Back to product review
- My rating: 0 stars
Full user review
-
1 out of 2 people found this review helpful
4.0 stars
"NOT the best as a monitor!"
Pros: - HIgh resolution
- 585 sq. in. of screen surface (32" = 438 sq. in.)
- nice menus, lots of settings, EXCEPT...Cons: - No 1:1 pixel mapping using the HDMI inputs!
Summary: I bought this TV to use as a computer monitor 90% of the time, and 10% as a TV. I am returning it to
- Colour rendition could be better
- Black level, dynamic range could be better
Best Buy because of what is essentially an oversight on the part of LG engineering.
When connecting a PC to the 37LG50 via a VGA cable, the TV has no problem detecting a 1920x1080 60Hz
signal and displaying it with a very crisp 1:1 pixel mapping. Each pixel from the PC's graphics card
is mapped directly to each corresponding pixel on the screen. However, due to the analog nature of
this signal, there is a bit of loss / interference over the cable. This results in some ghosting and
shakiness, which is most noticeable when viewing text.
My intention was to connect to the 37LG50 via a DVI-to-HDMI cable. This should result in the best
possible picture, since DVI is a digital signal and should not be subject to the signal degradations
you get using VGA. Using this connection, the TV wants to overscan the image, meaning your Windows
taskbar and maximized windows will fall off the screen. This setting (16:9 in the TV menus) is
definitely not 1:1. There is a setting called "just scan" which nearly accomplishes what I am looking
for, but not quite. It seems to be taking the overscanned image and then squeezing it back down, so
that it fits on the screen. But it is definitely not presenting those pixels at 1:1. In this mode text
looks fuzzy, and images appear somewhat softened.
I found a way to 'trick' the TV into doing what I want: Connect 2 PCs, one over VGA, the other with a
DVI-to-HDMI cable. Switch between the two inputs in the TV menu a couple of times, and bingo! 1:1
pixel mapping with the HDMI connected PC - the best possible image quality that this TV is capable of.
However, I am not too keen on booting up my old PC every time I want to use my main one with the
37LG50.
LG tech support was a joke, they did not seem to really understand what I was talking about. My 3rd
clarifying email has gone unanswered, and the TV is going back to the store!
LG 37LG50:
