The LG 47LB5D is the company's new entry in the LCD space, and it is quite a looker.

LG has established itself as another major player in the LCD TV market. As with Samsung, LG was a little known Korean brand in the United States until only a few years ago, but today they are among the leaders of the pack. Much of the success can be owed to delivering a good product to the consumer at a fairly reasonable price, and this includes this year's line of LCD sets. 

We really liked the stylish design of the 47LB5D, which features a thin glossy black bezel. Sleek and low-key is the trend for the most chic of the LCD sets we've seen this year, and we're very impressed in how the speaker bar is positioned just below the screen and is almost invisible from the front. The twin 10-watt speakers do an ample job of providing sound for TV and movies.

About the only disappointment was that the matching stand, which is also in matching glossy-black with gray accent, doesn't actually swivel. This is a feature that Toshiba has included with its LCD sets and is something that comes in handy.

On the plus side, we did like the connectivity options with the LG 47LB5D, which includes a total of three HDMI inputs as well as two component inputs, one RGB PC input and composite/S-Video input in the rear, and a side composite and S-Video input.

This set features both optical digital audio output and coaxial digital audio output, which makes it a snap to use the TV set as a pass-through with multiple digital sources to save inputs on your home theater stereo receiver. The LG 47LB5D also features a side USB input for viewing of JPEG digital photos.

The picture of the LG 47LB5D is very good, and this 1080p model features a variety of customizable options, including three color temperature presets, and multiple aspect ratio modes including four modes with high-definition sources. The picture is good, but we did find the black levels to be a little on the pale side, and blacks are more of a dark gray than true black. This has been an inherent problem with LCD sets in general, and it seems that LG has a little ways to go to deliver the black levels that we'd consider rich or deep.

Fortunately there are a number of presets for users, and these include Dynamic, Standard, Mild, User1, User2, Expert1 and Expert2. User1 and User2 can be fully adjusted, and this is independent per input--so you can tweak away and get the picture just the way you like it to match the room's typical lighting conditions. Additionally there is the LG "Intelligent Eye," which can detect room lighting and adjust the picture accordingly. Thus you can use this feature if you're tuning into some afternoon football, and then come back later to watch a late, late movie in HD with the room lights down.

LCD sets are generally a good option for those users who have a lot of concern about ambient light, and the LG 47LB5D reflects very little light. However, while the picture looks good in a variety of lighting conditions, the same can't be said for off-angle viewing. This is one of those sets where the best seat is dead center and off-angle viewing suffers greatly.

The LG 47LB5D features a native resolution of 1920x1080 and supports full HD 1080p content, while handling 1080i and 720p HD sources as well. This set does a reasonable job with standard definition content, and with three HDMI inputs can handle the latest full HD content from Blu-ray and HD-DVD, as well as still leaving a connection for the PlayStation 3. While the black levels aren't quite perfect, this set can certainly handle your HD viewing needs and much more.

Pros: Excellent price, three HDMI inputs
Cons: Not the best black levels, not the best for wide-angle viewing

Warranty
1 year, limited