LG 71PY1M 71" Plasma TV Review

Almost every television manufacturer these days is in a rush to bring large flat screen display units to the market. Advancement in technology and fierce competition makes these giant TVs go on sale quickly. Take for instance this 71" LG Plasma TV which came into the market recently with a price tag of $15,399.95! You can now find it at some retailers with a price reduction of almost $3,000.00. When a new model is introduced people start looking at the previous models with a mind that they may not work anymore or be current with technology. If this was true then your Grandma's TV which is probably older than you would not work today but many still do. It is true there are rapid changes in technology these days but that doesn't mean the electronics become obsolete right away. As a matter of fact if you find these high end display units at a sale price and know how to connect them properly, you can enjoy a Full High Definition picture and your electronics can go a very long way.

The LG 71PY1M™ is Full HD 1080P 71" Plasma HD Monitor by LG Electronics®. The monitor may not be 100% up to the new technology but it has many advanced features which can help you in enjoying a big picture in the comfort of your own home. This elegantly designed TV is now less than 4" deep. It can be used in a lobby, living room, club house and of course in a dedicated Home Theater.

HDMI, the new Savior
HDMI™ is a new standard for digital connections and sending and receiving uncompressed audio and video transmissions over a single digital cable. Lots of money can be saved by replacing all those audio and video cables by one HDMI digital cable. Space behind the monitor can look clean. HDMI is supposed to make life easier and simple. On the contrary people don't fully understand its benefits. They get more confused when they hear words like HDMI version 1.2 or HDMI version 1.3. Don't worry the new version is coming soon. These are simply new editions which allow more functions while retaining the old ones. In terms of technology HDMI is backward compatible. So when people think or say, �It's not gonna work", just think again and ask an expert.

Performance
The picture out of box is good. Analog sources also produce very good pictures as the on board XD Engine®, the scaler does a good job in mapping the incoming sources to the monitor's native resolution. Pictures fed in through Blue-Ray™ DVD looks well but don't give a Cinema-like look. In the case of Cinemascope movies the unused black bands on the top and bottom of the picture are not completely black. They have a slightly shiny look. This degrades the picture quality and reduces the contrast in the displayed image.

Pros and Cons
The monitor has 2 HDMI inputs but these are under 1.2 versions which means though they will accept Full 1080P HD signal, they will not be able to process DeepColor™ information. The video signals can go in 60 Hertz or 24 frames per second. The best solution to enjoy Full 1080P picture from an HD DVD player will be to send the picture @60 Hertz. If you want to enjoy lossless sounds such as Dolby TrueHD™ then send the Digital Bitstream from HD DVD player to the HDMI receiver such as the Onkyo TX-SR605™ under 1.3 version and then simply send the picture to LG monitor through HDMI 1.2 version in 1080P @60 Hertz. For other Dolby Digital sounds such as from a satellite receiver you can feed the HDMI signals directly into the monitor and then send the audio signals to the back speakers through the external speaker outputs.

The brightness and contrast ratio as compared to other high end plasma televisions is lower on this monitor and the contrast ratio is only 2000:1. You still get a nice and bright picture in 10 bit processing through HDMI. So the overall picture is good and it allows the HD pictures to be displayed in their full bandwidth.

Some other important features it lacks are Cable Card, V-Chip for parental control and an HD Tuner.

Specs
LG 71PY1M™ is a 1080P High Definition flat panel Plasma Television. Resolution is 1920x1080 pixels. Brightness is 300cd/m² while the Contrast Ratio is only 2000:1. Native Aspect ratio is 16:9 and an on board scaler, XD Engine® scales the incoming signals to the monitor's native resolution.

The TV has screen functions such as Picture in Picture and Split Screen. The life of Plasma Screen brightness is 60,000 hours and after that it is decreased by 50%.

The monitor comes with a table stand and it can also be wall mounted with an optional wall mount. For installing it on the wall please hire a professional as the monitor weighs 191.1lbs. The design and looks of the monitor are elegant as it is only about 4" deep. The connection panel for the input terminals is at the bottom of the TV so that you can reach the desired plugs easily when it is wall mounted. The input terminals include 2 HDMI under version 1.2, 2 Component Video inputs, 2 Composite Videos, 1 S-Video, 1 15 Pin VGA, 1 DVI and speaker out for external speakers.

The viewing angle on the TV is 160° that means it can be watched without any stress from corner to corner.

Manufacturer's Warranty on Parts and Labor is 2 years. LG provides in-home service.

Evaluation
This is still one good large sized plasma television that you can hook up with HD DVD player, HD Satellite system and high end 7.1 digital surround sound system. It will be a good choice for a family entertainment center if you can find a good sale price on it. As far as the advanced technology is concerned it will still go a very long way.