LG 32LG70

Black Level (6.29)

For our black level test, we set the TV to display an all black screen, then measure its luminance with our CS-200 ChromaMeter. This value is measured in candelas per square meter. Anything under 0.1 cd/m² is great, anything around 0.2 cd/m² is  average, and our benchmark for 'not good' is over 0.3 cd/m².

The LG 32LG70 is pretty average. An all black screen will have that 'bright black' look to it, but it isn't so bright it'll distract you while watching actual content. The main issue with an average black level is, during dark scenes, fine details will get washed out. We think the 32LG70 will be fine for a mainstream audience, but those with discerning eyes should look elsewhere.

Black Level
Compare the LG 32LG70 to other HDTVs
Samsung LN32B460 32 inches	JVC LT32P679 32 inches	Vizio VO320E 32 inches

Peak Brightness (8.85)

On our peak brightness test, we set the TV to display an all white screen, then again employ our CS-200 ChromaMeter to measure the screen's luminance. Dull whites result in a  loss of detail in bright scenes, or in bright areas.

We didn't have any issues with the 32LG70 on this test. We measured its peak brightness at 349.63 cd/m², which is very bright. External lights shoulnd't wash out displayed content, and bright areas should look sufficiently bright.

Peak Brightness

Contrast (6.80)

Contrast refers to the ratio of the deepest blacks to the brightest whites. Since our vision is based on detecting contrast, this ratio is an important specification on a TV. Unfortuantely, lots of manufacturers pad their own measured ratios to make them seem much more impressive. One common trick is to measure the black level when the backlight is off, then change the settings to boost brightness before measuring the peak white. Since both measurements use different settings, the resulting contrast ratio isn't possible during normal viewing.

We measured the TV's contrast ratio at 1589:1, which is decent, but not great. The TV's shallow black level is what really hurt it here. Again, while this should suffice for the average viewer, it won't satisfy a picture quality enthusiast.

Contrast

Tunnel Contrast (9.96)

This test aims to catch TVs that cheat and lower black levels when the majority of the screen is dark. While this results in a deeper black, it comes at the expense of detailing in brighter areas and doesn't add any additional detailing in the darker ones.

Fortunately, the 32LG70 doesn't resort to such underhanded methods of spec boosting. We commend the LG 32LG70 for its honesty, and have awarded it lots of points.

Tunnel Contrast

White Falloff (9.83)

The white falloff test is the same as the test above, only it measures the peak brightness instead of the black level. Plasmas are terrible at this test, since they can't draw enough power to maintain a solid brightness over large areas of the screen.

The 32LG70 performed admirably at this test, by having a very solid peak brightness level regardless of the percentage of white on the screen.

White Falloff

Uniformity (8.0)

This score hinges on the presence of blotches on the screen, or other manufacturing abnormalities that can affect picture quality. We didn't see much wrong with the 32LG70 other than some minor, common issues.

Greyscale Gamma (7.64)

Greyscale gamma describes how the TV scales its greys to white and black. Since we 'see' logarythmically, there should be very minute luminance differences towards the black end of the spectrum and very large differences towards the white end. If the TV doesn't have the proper greyscale gamma, fine details will become harder for our eyes to register. When the TV's greyscale is plotted logarythmically, it should result in a straight line with a slope between 2.1 and 2.2. There is a bit of wiggle room here, but typically anything below 2.0 or above 3.0 is less than ideal.

The LG 32LG70 did well on this test, with a measured gamma of 2.59. This is a bit high, but well within acceptible limits. As you can see below, the line is relatively smooth, with only minor bumps. These bumps represent lost detail due to a lack of differentiation between adjacent shades.

Greyscale Gamma

Resolution Scaling (7.88)

Your HDTV use will likely not be limited to the TV's native resolution. Standard definition content is in 480p, DVDs play at 720p, streaming HD content is 1080i, and Blu-rays are run 1080p. Since we're awesome and thorough, we test all the non-native resolutions your HDTV could feasibly display.

480p (8.65)
We didn't see any issues with 480p content. We couldn't get images to be as sharp as we'd like, however, without ugly artifacting. Also, some fine patterns had a faint shimmer effect to them. Otherwise, the 32LG70 performed well on this test. 

720p (8.5)
Like our 480p runthrough, we didn't find any issues worth harping on with 720p playback. The sharpness issues are slightly worse here, though, as the different elements of fine patterns tend to blur together. 

1080i (6.50)
The 32LG70 took a bit of a nose dive with 1080i playback. We saw a lot of false coloration in fine patterns, where a series of black and white stripes would somehow acquire a pale green hue. The individual elements of these patterns were sometimes utterly blurred out, so the pattern itself looked like a solid block of grey (or greyish pale green).

Other Models in the xxLG70 Series
This is a review of the LG 32LG70. The other sizes of HDTVs in this series should be similar in terms of performance and usability. For details about any differences, click on the image to jump to the Series Comparison page.
LG 32LG70 32 inches	LG 42LG70 42 inches	LG 47LG70 47 inches