Our Verdict
While it has low input lag, the motion blur of the LG LF5500 is a bit too much to make it a good choice for gaming. Movies aren't great either, due to the low contrast ratio and poor screen uniformity. The main advantage of this LG TV is the good color accuracy at an angle.
- Low input lag.
- Good color accuracy at an angle.
- Poor contrast ratio.
- Significant motion blur.
- Poor screen uniformity.
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We buy and test dozens of TVs yearly, taking an objective, data-driven approach to deliver results you can trust. Our testing process is complex, with hundreds of individual tests that take over a week to complete. Most of our tests are done with specially designed test patterns that mimic real content, but we also use the same sources you have at home to ensure our results match the real-world experience. We use two main tools for our testing: a Colorimetry Research CR-100 colorimeter and a CR-250 spectroradiometer.
Test Results
Like most LG TVs, the stand is separated into two feet, which requires a very wide table. Our 49" (LG 49LF5500) has a footprint of 40.5" by 10".
The front of the bezel of the LG LF5500 is gray, which makes it stand out in a room. At least the bezel is quite thin.
This LG TV's contrast ratio is below average, because it has an IPS panel. In a dark room, the blacks are gray, which isn't ideal.
It has the worst gray screen uniformities that we have seen so far. It has a lot of brighter spots, which creates noticeable dirty screen effect.
The LG LF5500 maintains good color accuracy even at an angle. The picture only gets darker when viewed from the side.
Update 01/06/2017: We have changed the methodology of testing. Since this is an old TV which we don't have anymore, we extrapolated the results from 2016 TVs.
The uniformity of the black color isn't great. The edges are darker, and our unit had a few clouding spots.
Upscaled 480p content looks slightly soft on this TV, although the difference with other TVs isn't very big.
Upscaled 720p content also looks a bit soft, but once again the difference with other TVs isn't very big either.
The LG LF5500 only reflects an average amount of light. However, there is a rainbow around very bright objects (like light bulbs).
Its maximum brightness is sub-par. It should be okay for a room with a window or two, but not more than that.
The LG LF5500 LED TV has a good deal of motion blur. It isn't a good choice for sports or video games, but it should do fine for TV shows or movies.
The TV has no judder in movies when watching them via a 24p source (like a Blu-ray player). It can't do the reverse 3:2 pulldown though.
In game mode, the input lag is a low 28.4ms. The other modes aren't much higher (31ms), so feel free to use whichever you prefer.
To enable chroma 4:4:4, label the HDMI input as PC.
Very poor frequency response that only gets worse as the TV is pushed hard. This is the weakest TV we have tested in terms of loudness. However, the low-end cut off is decent.
Minimal distortion levels throughout the range, but not a big feat when the TV doesn't get loud at all.
