LG 50PZ950

There are many of aspects to appreciate about the LG 50PZ950 ($1,500 – much less than the original $2,000 MSRP). This behemoth plasma screen has features aplenty. Just by buying an LG with internet connectivity, you get one of the best user interfaces, with the Home menu acting as a central hub for all types of media possibilities. There are plenty of connections in the back for new and old devices, and you can watch 3D movies if you have the Blue-ray player to do so.

Talking strictly about performance, there is also plenty to like. The viewing angle, even for a plasma, was one of the best we’ve seen. A large gathering of viewers spread across the room PN59D8000 can watch an unadulterated picture at the same time. The contrast ratio is excellent, using a peak brightness that is hard for a plasma screen to achieve. This makes the 50PZ950 versatile for watching in a range of lighting scenarios, instead of just a dark room like most plasmas. Further, the reflectance testing showed that lights are properly diffused and will not distract from your watching. In the motion tests, this LG retained detail at a level that bested all of the top line competition.

However, we cannot really recommend purchasing this television. This TV’s ability to transition smoothly along a greyscale gradient or a color gradient was so bad that we assumed something was wrong with our testing. The gamma scale shows us that many values are not used and there is a lack of detail in shadows. You will see a good amount of banding in your images. The colors were just plain wrong, as you can see from our testing in the Color Section. When we retested, and had extremely similar outlying data at the exact same moments during the test, we concluded that this TV isn’t that great. For the price, for the claims of being the best, we have to tell you to look elsewhere. Here are three LG televisions, the LG 42LV5500, the LG 47LK520, and the LG 47LW5600, all from this year, for less money, with far superior color and greyscale performance, one of which has 3D imaging and internet features. ’Nuff said.