LG 47LE9500

Display Size & Technology

The LG 55LE9500 is a 55-inch LCD. It uses LG's Full LED Slim technology, which means the screen has 240 local dimming segments. Local dimming is when the TV turns off a section of its backlights, which allows for deeper blacks. The main problem with local dimming is it also dims any bright details in the same segment. With 240 segments, however, it's getting harder and harder to write off localized dimming as a buzzword feature that doesn't actually improve picture quality. Although we thought the model we saw had some crushed blacks, the show floor isn't an ideal location for judging picture quality. We'll reserve our judgment until we can get some objective, scientific data.

The 55LE9500 has 240 local dimming locations.

Formats & Resolution

The TV runs 1920 x 1080, which is 1080p. That means the TV will be able to display Blu-ray discs without any artifact-inducing processing.

Brightness, Blacks and Contrast Ratio

As mentioned above, the TV has localized dimming. This is neither a good nor bad feature, though most TVs border on the bad. Typically local dimming doesn't have 240 zones to play with; most have fewer than a dozen zones. This means that any bright details caught up in the to-be-dimmed zones will also be dimmed. This results in a loss of detail, because the bright details will be  harder to see. This feature doesn't really increase the TV's contrast, since everything in a given zone is being dimmed.

Of course, this rhetoric is only applicable if a TV has the average amount of dimmer zones. Since the 55LE9500 has a full 240 zones, we're not so sure if its localized dimming will be a picture quality godsend, or if it'll just be the next evolution of a mediocre feature. We're definitely excited to get the TV into our testing lab once we get back from CES.

Color

We didn't notice anything particularly noteworthy that had to do with color. The footage we saw was a bit oversaturated, but that's not surprising for a TV at CES. Manufacturers tend to think oversaturation is the bee's knees, so they set their TVs to Vibrant and crank it to eleven.

Motion & Refresh Rate

The TV features a 480Hz refresh rate. That's pretty fast. Even when displaying 3D content, you'll still be able to see a 240Hz refresh rate in each eye.

Viewing Angle

The TV looks to have an average viewing angle for an LCD. We got a few steps away from dead center and we definitely noticed a drop in contrast ratio.