We see it everywhere:  in TV ads, on billboards, on the sides of buses and in the subway.  LG’s new Full HD TV, the LG6000, has made a name for itself which is none other than Scarlet, personified in ads by an attractive brunette, Natassia Malthe.   In fact, Scarlet is the name of a new television series where the actrice will have the starring role.  LG has taken advantage of this to launch its ad campagn by associating it with the event.  There is therefore some confusion around this ad. Scarlet is actually the name of the television series and not the TV.  We ourselves have to admit that after having read the ad, we thought Scarlet was the name of the product.  And we also have to admit that LG6000 isn’t as sexy.  In fact, we took the liberty of using this name in our test to personify the TV as the ad suggests.

''Scarlet'' makes an entrance

We were able to get our hands on the 42 inch version which we were more than happy to take a closer look at.  By the way, the word ‘’Scarlet’’ doesn’t appear anywhere on the packaging and there is just the reference number 42LG6000.

Design and ergonomics

We can’t say that the 42LG6000’s design doesn’t stand out.  The frame around the panel is wider on the bottom and there is a hole in the middle (that you can see right through) with a tactile on/off button.  While this particularity is relatively discreet when the TV is placed on a stand, on the wall the small circular block becomes more bothersome.  By the way, the base is rotative.

The back of the TV is entirely covered with a scarlet red and hence gives this model’s name.  Besides the rare installation which will enable seeing the back, this red is finally not too visible because the front is entirely black lacquer.

From a practical point of view, note the presence of 4 HDMI.  LG therefore was quite serious here as this TV can be simultaneously connected to all types of supplementary sources (Blu-ray player, game console, etc.).  Three connections are found on the back while the fourth was placed on the left hand side.

Menus are very pratical as the graphic interface is clear, modern, and intuitive.

Menu icons enable rapidly seeing the functions of each category.


Content is quite rich with a multitude of image settings which will please experts.  This group will even find them a bit too numerous and be happy with just the base menu that is quite satisfactory.  Without the Expert menu you can already adjust colors, the contrast, backlighting, brightness, sharpness, tint, color temperature, light zones (contrast and color), noise reduction, the gamma, black levels and the fluidity of movement (TruMotion, only on the 42 and 47 inch).  We will come back to this last option later.

Measurements and movies

Now is the time to see what the Scarlet really has under the hood.  We placed our sensor on it and...it was catastrophic! As usual, default settings – Vivid mode – activates all of the filters and pushes them to the max.  The image is therefore the most artificial it can be.  We almost get the impression we are looking at images that have been touched up.  Once again, when switching to the predefined Cinema mode we found the best quality.  Colors were then excellent in SD as they were in HD.