LG 47SL80YD

If up-market styling and promising picture quality are on the top of your list, the "borderless" LG 47SL80YD is definitely worth a closer look.

Philip Wong Associate Editor

Philip Wong is an A/V, PC, photography and gaming enthusiast. Besides spending countless days and late nights fiddling with his home theater system and watercooled PC, he also hits the roads frequently on his iron horse to sweat it out. Now, who says geeks don't work out?

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Philip Wong

Dec. 7, 2009 5:59 p.m. PT

2 min read

LG launched its range of "borderless" TVs recently, and the 47SL80YD is part of this line-up. The SL80 shares many features with the costlier, LED-edge-lit SL90-series, including a 200Hz TruMotion engine and Bluetooth wireless connectivity.

Price-wise, the 47SL80YD retails at a slight premium, though we suspect fashion users will appreciate the panel's stylish aesthetics. However, it's also the same price as the AU$3799 Samsung LA46B750, and lacks that model's web content and network multimedia streaming functions.

Upside

Besides Panasonic, LG is the only other major electronics brand which currently offers borderless televisions. The 47SL80YD is a cut above the lesser displays with a flush fascia moulded out of a single sheet of glass. This conventional LCD panel is also one of the slimmest in its class with a 45.5mm-thin panel depth. Beyond these stylistic touches, the 47-incher has a Super-In Plane Switching (S-IPS) screen — a technology renowned for colour consistency over extended viewing angles. This is in addition to the high 150,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio and 200Hz scanning backlight for smoother motion.

The TV contains two other unique propositions, the first is Bluetooth which enables users to use a wireless headset for private listening as well as stream JPEGs and MP3s to the screen from a compatible device. Secondly, HD movie file support allows 1080p video playback from MKV files (commonly used for storing Blu-ray movie rips) and the latest DivX HD clips via a built-in USB port.

Downside

After using the SL90, we found that displaying photos through Bluetooth is an interesting but impractical feature due to the slow JPEG transfer speed. We clocked an excruciating 30 seconds to get an 8-megapixel shot to show up on-screen, while USB took just over two seconds for the same job. As for affordability, the AU$3799 47SL80YD is the priciest 200Hz scanning backlight entry if we compare it to the Toshiba 47ZV600A. In fact, this LG TV is priced on par with the Sony KDL46Z5500 which uses pure 200Hz frame interpolation for arguably better results.

Outlook

Cost-conscious consumers will probably save some money with a few of the competing models highlighted above. However, if up-market styling and promising picture quality are on the top of your list, the 47SL80YD is definitely worth a closer look.

Via CNET Asia