LG Scarlet: Exciting TV, irritating marketing campaign
In a world where marketing budgets are getting bigger and bigger, what can one company do to prevent declining sales? The fate of the TV world is in the hands of one fictional woman
If you've been tramping around the Internet much recently you will almost certainly have seen adverts about a hit new TV show called Scarlet. It turns out that there was no hit show at all, and it was all a big publicity stunt for a new LG TV 'series' (meaning range) called Scarlet. There was even a party at some vile, trendy dive in Central London that caused one TV reviewer to launch into what can only be described as a Kermodian rant.
The TV is called Scarlet because it has some distinctive red highlighting, and because 'red' has already been taken by a much better cause. The rear of the TV is totally finished in red, and at the front there's a small circle cut out of the bezel, which contains a red 'eye'. It looks smart, and it's clearly designed for people who want a talking point for their lounge as well as a television.
From a features perspective, it's well-endowed TV. Available in 32, 37, 42 and 47 inches, all but the 32-inch are 1080p. The 42- and 47-inch models offer 100Hz smooth motion support, with the smaller 32- and 37-inch screens only having lowly 50Hz panels.
The TVs also have something called Green EYEQ, which is supposed to reduce the TV's power consumption drastically. The eye-ring in the middle of the TV is a light sensor, which dims the LCD backlight depending on the ambient lighting.
As for sounds, the Scarlet features the now popular 'invisible speaker system' that means the TV's frame is unbroken by ugly speaker grilles. To speaker and audio systems are tweaked by audio expert Mark Levinson, and include 'Clear Voice' mode -- designed to increase the clarity of dialogue.
All-in-all, it's not a bad-looking TV range. It's just a shame about the overblown and frankly tedious viral marketing campaign that surrounded the whole thing. -Ian Morris
Update: A previous version of this story mentioned a 52-inch Scarlet model with 120Hz. We've just been informed this beaut isn't coming to the UK. Boo.
Further update: Read our full LG 32LG6000 review.