The LG 50PQ3000 is one of a small category of televisions.  It's a 'small' family in more ways than one: plasma screens are in the minority, but the 50PQ3000 also has a HD Ready resolution of 1366 x 768 pixels instead of the Full HD resolution of 1920 x 1080 that's increasingly becoming the norm.

Build Quality & Design

That doesn't mean it isn't well-equipped though, with three HDMI inputs and a USB port to access MP3s and JPEGs. In short, it should have enough to please the majority of users. On the other hand, people looking for a more complete package, including an Ethernet port to access content online or over a DLNA network will have to look elsewhere. That's just not the kind of thing you find on a product at this price point.


Image Quality

Our test results were quite close to those for the LG 50PS6000. Blacks were reasonably dark, the contrast was reasonable and brightness was average for a plasma TV--or, to put it another way, a lot worse than an LCD TV. Colour handling has even improved a little from one model to the next.

The 50PQ3000's main failing is its HD Ready display. Although SD sources look very similar to the way they did on other LG plasmas that we've tested, like the 50PS3000 or the 50PS6000, HD sources really suffer from the lack of detail. This was already a problem on the PS3000 and the PS6000, which were a little blurry for Full HD TVs. Now, it's even worse, and the PQ3000 struggles with both our test cards, SD and HD:

The results we achieved with a PC also lacked detail, but we can't recommend you use a plasma with a computer because of the risks of screen burn.

Sound Quality

Even if it sounds good, the audio from the PQ3000 won't make you forget what you can see.

Power Consumption

The 50PQ3000 is one of the few plasmas TVs whose energy consumption remains close to that of LCDs. Although it does use almost twice as much as other plasmas, it requires almost no power when on standby.