LG 50PK990 TV Review Take that LED HDTV for All Digital media Player, Music, Internet and THX Cinema

The LG 50PK990’s HDTV backyard generous is a good way to describe, which is stuffed with ins and outs. A total of four HDMI inputs one on the side is accompanied by an Ethernet LAN a Wi-Fi dongle is also available and a Common Interface slot useful if Top-Up TV adds Sky Sports channels, while on the screen’s left is a brace of USB 2.0 ports.

The latter HDTV is a hint at the 50PK990’s ambitions with digital media. Able to play DivX and WMV video files, those USB slots can also display DivX HD files. If that’s impressive, it gets better; the software that handles digital files is quite superb – nicely designed, simple and fast – while the quality of the high-def files, especially, is awesome.

The one downside is music; although, again, the software is excellent pictures can be viewed while you listen to MP3s for music, the audio from the TV’s speakers is underwhelming.

Also worth shelving for now is the NetCast feature. Like the other brands’ early attempts at broadband TV, its time will come, but the provision of Picasa, YouTube and AccuWeather just isn’t enough to hold our attention.

The all-important picture quality is much more involving. Most TV’s preset picture modes can leave colours and detail off-kilter, but LG kindly supplies an effective THX Cinema mode that puts this set’s 600Hz tech to great use, though arguably there are plasmas out there with deeper black levels. It’s hard to argue with the colour, which helps create dizzying realism and depth, helped out by the almost total lack of blur. Take that, LED.