LG 42PG2500

After CES 2009 in Las Vegas, the Korean manufacturer LG announced that they would continue to market plasma screens so as to be able to offer large screens at a reasonable price. This is exactly what we have in the case of this 42PG2500, an HD Ready (1024x768).

Hardware to a minimum, but sufficient

Even at this price it has an HD compatible digital TV tuner and a base that pivots. The rest of the hardware and connectivity options are fairly standard and pretty much what you get on many entry-level TVs: 3 HDMI sockets, an optical audio out, no USb or SD sockets and backlighting without settings options as this is a plasma panel. You get the same remote as on all the most recent LG TVs that we have tested (LG3500, LG5500, LG7500).




A "small HD Ready"

The first measurements with the sensor give black levels at 0.20 cd/m². Good, but not good enough for plasma. With plasma we’re easily used to going under 0.15 or even 0.1 cd/m². The ANSI contrast ratio varies between 450:1 and 700:1 depending on the type of image shown. In fact plasma does tend to increase the brightness of whites when the image is dark overall and reduce it when the image is generally light. The first figure then is for a dark image with 50% white and the second only 10% white. All these measurements were taken with settings on the default Cinema mode. In the same mode, the colours were good, with a deltaE of 4.5.

In practice, the image from SD sources is significantly better than from HD sources. You have to recognise that the panel with its 1024x768 resolution can’t hope to render the 1920x1080 res of a Full HD encoded with Blu-ray. Here, the loss in precision is easily noticeable, above all if you put yourself 2.5 metres from the screen.


We don’t recommend you get any closer however, as you’ll start noticing the flickering that all plasma screens are prone to. This is something that is due to the technology and not to do with image quality itself as the 42PG2500 can be set at 100 Hz. For the same reason there is no ghosting. The image does however jump sometimes. This TV doesn’t have LG’s TruMotion function, a filter that makes images more fluid. Only top end models come with TruMotion. We also noted the annoying reflections due to the panel’s glossy sheen. Indeed, this is a problem for almost all plasma screens on the market. In contrast, viewing angles are more or less infinite whereas LCD screens can’t handle more than an angle of 100°.
Even if the use of a PC isn’t recommended because of screen marking issues, there are no problems in terms of framing or deformed characters. Everything works fine. Unfortunately a light image shown for too long does risk marking the panel permanently and remains as a “ghost” behind the displayed image. This is the main constraint of plasma screens: no long pause, no long game sessions and no PC! Also watch out for the logo when you’re watching the same channel for a long time.

The sound is neither good nor bad but remains pretty much average in terms of what current TVs offer... nothing amazing that is. Speakers worthy of the name have not yet appeared on modern sets.