LG 32LH30, S-IPS 1080pTV $379+Free Shipping if Amazon Prime

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Roland00

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That is a great deal, I have one already and it makes a great monitor. Too bad I can't fit two of them on my desk.
 
My friend got a 32LF11 off Newegg a few months ago for $399. It is a beautiful TV, he uses it for HD Cable, PS3 and as a PC monitor at times. I am almost tempted to buy this 32LH30 because it is quite a step up from his model for $20 dollars less. Hehehe.
 
Omegas said:
96" of pure sexy EyeFinity! How's the input lag?
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In landscape it is really about 85" and in portrait about 54" disregarding the bezels.

We have been looking for a new bedroom TV and have a wall mount already, does anyone know what size mount it takes (100 x 200, 200 x 200)?
 
I have this as a computer monitor. Much better than the 28" Hanns-G. I've owned both.
 
Panel Lottery

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but very few of them are S-IPS any longer, quite a few are AUO VA panels, and the newest ones seem to be Chi Mei panels. The Chi Mei panels are reported to be the worst of the bunch.

More info at AVS, especially in the last few pages of the giant LH30 thread.
 
Using one as a monitor and love it, but the bezel is really thick on this panel - I wouldn't consider using in a triple display setup.
 
SJetski71 said:
Panel Lottery

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but very few of them are S-IPS any longer, quite a few are AUO VA panels, and the newest ones seem to be Chi Mei panels. The Chi Mei panels are reported to be the worst of the bunch.

More info at AVS, especially in the last few pages of the giant LH30 thread.
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Agreed, I clicked on this thread just to post that but I see you beat me to it. I am using one and I have the AUO panel. I don't have anything to compare it to but this monitor rocks. Its worth the price IMO.
 
you dont need a prime account for free shipping...
 
I'm pretty sure my current one is also the AUO due to the mfg date of 10/09 and no access to the config menu. That said, I've still been extremely happy with it. I had the 28" viewsonic version of the Hanns-G monitor previously and this blew it away in quality.
 
blairellis said:
Agreed, I clicked on this thread just to post that but I see you beat me to it. I am using one and I have the AUO panel. I don't have anything to compare it to but this monitor rocks. Its worth the price IMO.
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Ya, i noticed that many people with the AUO panels were satisfied (though more serious+picky gamers have been returning those), but the newest ones are coming with Chi-Mei panels.

Despite being a VA panel, the Chi-Mei still has terrible blacks, and bad smearing with movement, even in a desktop environment. Actions scenes are also a blurry mess, and forget about multiplayer gaming.

The LH30 days are pretty much over imho, unless of course your willing to play the lottery with the deck stacked against you :p
 
You know, I'm getting pretty damn sick of this panel lottery crap. If releasing something with a good panel of signficantly more value, and then changing to a cheaper one with no notice to the average consumer isn't bait and switch, I don't know what is. I'm honestly curious why no state attorney's aren't looking into this practice.
 
Thanks for bringing up the panel switch I saw this on gold deal of the day and I wondered what type of panel it had and lg listed it as an s-ips on their own website, even listing it as a selling point compared to the cheaper lg models. Bullocks for panel switching
 
Obi_Kwiet said:
This crap should be illegal.
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I don't see how moving inventory without a hidden perk should be illegal. At this price point they need to be just above adequate without gouging.

When were the S-IPS panels produced, May-July? Prices have fallen, they're starting 2010 inventory, and who knows what happened to all the smaller suppliers in 8, 9 months.

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I'd love to buy a basic Gateway or Dell and find awesome parts in there (more RAM, SSD, etc.) but that's not necessary.
 
I have the AUO panel and it is still significantly better than the Hanns-G 28". For $379 shipped, it's still a good price. Not sure about the Chi Mei panels though. I haven't seen one to compare.
 
singe_101 said:
I don't see how moving inventory without a hidden perk should be illegal. At this price point they need to be just above adequate without gouging.
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So if I start up Oldie PC's, and come out with the Oldie2012 model, and send it out to reviewers. It gets reviewed with an I7 920, an x-25 SSD, and 12GB ram inside. Then I sell it like that for a month, then suddenly switch it a P4 rig with 512MB DDR, and an 80GB IDE drive....as long as I still call it the Oldie2012 that's fine? I mean, it still connects to the internet, and plays games, it just doesn't do it quite as well as the earlier revision of the model. What's the problem? I'm pretty sure if you were the first guy to get the revision 2, you'd be on my doorstep for a refund and calling the police.

This TV is probably still a good deal for $379, it's just good to let people know it may not be the same unit they can read about in reviews.
 
Oldie said:
So if I start up Oldie PC's, and come out with the Oldie2012 model, and send it out to reviewers. It gets reviewed with an I7 920, an x-25 SSD, and 12GB ram inside. Then I sell it like that for a month, then suddenly switch it a P4 rig with 512MB DDR, and an 80GB IDE drive....as long as I still call it the Oldie2012 that's fine? I mean, it still connects to the internet, and plays games, it just doesn't do it quite as well as the earlier revision of the model. What's the problem? I'm pretty sure if you were the first guy to get the revision 2, you'd be on my doorstep for a refund and calling the police.

This TV is probably still a good deal for $379, it's just good to let people know it may not be the same unit they can read about in reviews.
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Agreed.

It's not like you're just switching out a motherboard in a PC you're selling. LG is selling a TV and they're switching out the SCREEN. Unacceptable.
 
^^^ I don't know...it's definitely shady to swap out panels, but the computer example is a little extreme.
 
Given the quality difference between some of these panels, it's not nearly as extreme as you think. Sharpness, color accuracy, viewing angles, are all substantially different on cheaper panels.
 
It is unsavory and a bit of a shell game. But it's hard to knock a company that was pleasing the selective buyers (S-IPS) and the masses (not charging more, consistently less than a Sony or 1080p Sammy). And if their S-IPS suppliers asked for a 40% payment increase, etc. or had lots of failures they won't come out and declare that or (apparently) pass the price onto consumers.

I also don't know about the Chi Mei panels or how inferior they are. But to me it seems like a lottery where some get a big prize but everyone breaks even, with a 1080p unit under $400. The S-IPS is just the golden ticket on the Wonka bar.

I know companies just have really odd decisions sometimes. My dad a few years ago test drove a new Pontiac and loved it, but no cruise control on an automatic. Same basic price, but a head scratcher. Delta is charging more for bags, to where they basically can be sent UPS and back. Passengers aren't comfortable but would probably pay a $10 "cover our fuel" fee per flight or something.
 
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Oldie said:
Given the quality difference between some of these panels, it's not nearly as extreme as you think. Sharpness, color accuracy, viewing angles, are all substantially different on cheaper panels.
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I agree that a bad panel makes a big difference. I guess I'd have to see them side by side to compare before passing judgment though. Like I said, I got a "cheaper" AUO panel and it still has a pretty decent picture (especially for $400 that I got it for 3 months ago). Am I disappointed I didn't get a S-IPS panel? Yes, but not enough to send it back. The picture is still much better than the 28" Hanns-G I was using before, and is better than the 23" Dell I have here also.
 
I bought one of these on Black Friday for $460ish after tax. It had the AUO panel and honestly it wasn't bad at all. I ended up returning it because that Monday overstock.com had the Panasonic 37S1 (37" guaranteed IPS) for $1 more than I paid for the LH30. This TV was cool when it was either IPS or AUO but now that a third panel has been introduced into the mix it seems like a stale deal. I've noticed a lot of entry level panels have had their price slashed recently. My guess is the new stuff is coming out soon...
 
singe_101 said:
I don't see how moving inventory without a hidden perk should be illegal. At this price point they need to be just above adequate without gouging.
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It's not a hidden perk. They released the TV with certain specifications at a certain level of quality. People buy the product based on reviews of that screen and what they have seen of it on displays in other people's homes. They are just taking advantage of the fact that the specifications they provide are are meaningless to deceive the people purchasing their TV into thinking that they are as good as they have always been.

It would be one thing if they sold new revision as a different model, but they are cutting corners on the most critical component of the product, and telling consumers that the product is they same as it has always been. This is fraudulent.

It's not any different than if a car company started selling cars with inferior engines in the same year's model, but was able to publish the specifications in such a way that the general public could be deceived about the change.
 
singe_101 said:
I don't see how moving inventory without a hidden perk should be illegal. At this price point they need to be just above adequate without gouging.

When were the S-IPS panels produced, May-July? Prices have fallen, they're starting 2010 inventory, and who knows what happened to all the smaller suppliers in 8, 9 months.

I'd love to buy a basic Gateway or Dell and find awesome parts in there (more RAM, SSD, etc.) but that's not necessary.
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I am calling bullocks

1) It would cost the panel manufacture almost next to nothing to print, rev 2.0, rev 3.0, etc on the packaging material. Boxes are not all bought at the same time and all they had to to do was change 6 characters on the packaging material.
2) IPS panels is a completely different technology than MVA. Thus having on your website information that is stating that this TV this technology panel is false advertising. As soon as you use different technology panels (instead of the same panel technology but different supplier) you need to pull the incorrect information from your website or make an addendum saying the old tvs use this type of panel and new tvs may use panel technology X or Y.

LG didn't make an addendum on their website
http://www.lge.com/about/press_release/print/21049.jhtml

Hell their press release states that all LG HDTVs (but not monitors) use S-IPS. From the above press release.
...For a crisp, clear viewing experience, all of LG’s LCD HDTVs use the Super In Plane Switching (S-IPS)** panel structure which provides faster response times and better color and contrast, even at the most extreme off-axis viewing angles...
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Notice the two little asterisks. In the link above LG doesn't explain those two little asterisks. On another document on their website they do explain it, this document is the original press release to the public instead of a website document that "pretends" to be the original press release. If you look at the original press release (not the link I posted above, see info below) it states that this information is misleading and it is really X, Y, Z models that are S-IPS. The 32LH30 is on this list of S-IPS panels. Notice though the information detailing this little detail is not on the "pretend" press release on LG's Website that I link above.

Well on the original word document they sent to the press this information is detailed. See here. This is the "real" link not the "pretend" one.
www.lge.com/about/press_release/download/22779.jhtml

So if you are going to modify the original press release (truncating information), thus admitting you do modify documents yet pretending the info is the same as the original, it would cost LG almost no time, effort, or money by adding a new asterisks saying that the above information is no longer correct. Not doing so is false advertising.
 
singe_101 said:
I know companies just have really odd decisions sometimes. My dad a few years ago test drove a new Pontiac and loved it, but no cruise control on an automatic. Same basic price, but a head scratcher. Delta is charging more for bags, to where they basically can be sent UPS and back. Passengers aren't comfortable but would probably pay a $10 "cover our fuel" fee per flight or something.
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The car industry is the best example. They make revisions from year to year of a car model and tell the customer it's the same car from the year before. Real car enthusiast know the difference and are specific about which year a car model was made.

Example: A car was made with a turbocharger and manual transmission. The next year the car is made with a turbocharger, manual and automatic transmission. The year after that the turbo is replaced with a supercharger and automatic transmission only. The car manufacture will still call it a GT model from year to year, but it's a big performance difference between the three revisions. When it comes to great stuff, it's good to be one of the first to have one because quality goes out the window in additional revisions. The PS3 also for example.
 
Most people expect at least some changes between model years, but changing things within the same model year is a different issue.
 
WorldExclusive said:
The car industry is the best example. They make revisions from year to year of a car model and tell the customer it's the same car from the year before. Real car enthusiast know the difference and are specific about which year a car model was made.

Example: A car was made with a turbocharger and manual transmission. The next year the car is made with a turbocharger, manual and automatic transmission. The year after that the turbo is replaced with a supercharger and automatic transmission only. The car manufacture will still call it a GT model from year to year, but it's a big performance difference between the three revisions. When it comes to great stuff, it's good to be one of the first to have one because quality goes out the window in additional revisions. The PS3 also for example.
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Except in this case, instead of making those changes known to the consumers who want to know, TV manufacturers are just flat out lying. It's criminal.
 
As mentioned previously here, and at the AVS forums:

The first revision LH30 was the best overall (S-IPS). While S-IPS doesn't have the deep blacks of expensive VA panels, the blacks are often considered "good enough" for a monitor. S-IPS also handles motion better with less blurring and smearing compared to cheaper VA panels, and they tend to have the lowest overall input lag of all TV's.

The second revision, the AUO VA panel, was a close second but it had higher input lag and a tad more smearing, not enough reason for most to return it since it was still good quality for the price.

The third revision, the Chi-Mei VA panel, is the worst. It has poorer blacks, even more smearing, blurry action scenes and higher input lag. The Chi-mei seems to have nothing going for it. You would think that since it was a VA panel that it would have better blacks, but it doesn't.

XpediencY said:
how does http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16889253222 compare?

I was about to purchase this for my mom, but regardless of random panels from LG, is it still a good buy compared to this toshiba?
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For a budget TV that Toshiba gets good reviews everywhere. I'm sure it's better than a Chi-Mei equipped LG. And since mom will probably not play multi-player games on it, then input lag does not matter. It would be an extra $20 well spent imho.

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IMHO, if someone is looking for a cheap 32" TV to use as a gaming monitor, then look no further than the Panasonic L32S1. Hit up Google shopping and Bing shopping every day till you see it on sale. You can often sweeten the price by searching for coupons and using Bing cashback. There will be tradeoffs of course, all TV's have them, so don't expect any TV to work absolutely perfect as a monitor. None of them are "plug and play" either, all of them require some setting up, and patience, to look just right.
 
Ahh damn that sucks about the panel quality. I wonder how the LH40's are. Time to research.
 
darkpaw said:
Most people expect at least some changes between model years, but changing things within the same model year is a different issue.
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Obi_Kwiet said:
Except in this case, instead of making those changes known to the consumers who want to know, TV manufacturers are just flat out lying. It's criminal.
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Both responses make sense. I probably would have bought one, but I'm glad you all sounded the alarm.:D
 
I bought today a Philips 32" 1080p 120hz LCD for $CAN 299 at Dell.ca. There was a pricing error on their website (which got fixed in the meantime - it is now $599). I going to sell it back on eBay for a little profit.
 
RadXge said:
I going to sell it back on eBay for a little profit.
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Good thing you're going to sell it because all philips LCD TV's in north america are not made by philips, but by Funai, a low end TV manufacturer ;).

Philips TV's sold in europe are much higher quality.
 
SJetski71 said:
Panel Lottery

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but very few of them are S-IPS any longer, quite a few are AUO VA panels, and the newest ones seem to be Chi Mei panels. The Chi Mei panels are reported to be the worst of the bunch.

More info at AVS, especially in the last few pages of the giant LH30 thread.
Click to expand...

Thank you! I was just about to bite but was riding friday and saturday. My bike saves me money yet again.
 
Ended up ordering one before the warning about the Chi Mei panels. Got it yesterday and its an AUO like my previous one. I'm very happy with it just like the other. I wish I wouldn't have missed out on the Panasonic deal, but this works great.

Apparently some people with 1/10 mfg dates are still getting the LG panel so I'm disappointed I didn't, but I'll take it for the price. Maybe eventually I'll be able to get another 32" 1080P and go eyefinity. With the bezels setup to overlap on the edges it actually doesn't look too bad. They do have big friggen bezzels though.
 
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