LG 55EC930V – 3D Picture Quality

There’s much to like about the 55EC930V’s 3D pictures. Their passive technology means there’s much less evidence of crosstalk ghosting noise than you usually get with active 3D screens – though you can still see the occasional trace of it over very foregrounded objects, and crosstalk goes from nothing to massive if your viewing angle is more than 10-15 degrees above or below the screen. Also, the absence of any of active 3D’s flickering makes long-term viewing completely unfatiguing.

The extraordinary contrast and colour performance of the OLED panel pays dividends with 3D, too, giving 3D visuals an even greater sense of depth, space and solidity than normal – which obviously makes the 3D experience feel that bit more intense and immersive.

On the downside 3D pictures don’t look as sharp or detailed as they do on a good active 3D TV due to the way the passive filtering system reduces resolution. Plus the presence of the filters can sometimes be seen in horizontal line structure over small areas of bright detail and a slightly jagged look to some object edges. Finally, motion doesn’t always look convincing, appearing a bit staccato at times with no motion processing on, or a bit billowy with the motion processing engaged.

LG 55EC930V – Sound Quality

Sonically the 55EC930V is surprisingly good and a bit average all at the same time. The positive bit comes from the fact that it produces a soundstage of more width, volume and, for most of the time, clarity than you’d imagine possible from a screen that’s so phenomenally skinny.

However, at the same time the sound doesn’t get close to the audio acrobatics delivered this year from sets like Sony’s X9005B and S9005B models, and a couple of LG’s own LCD TVs. It sounds quite compressed in the mid-range during action scenes, and bass doesn’t extend low enough to deliver explosions, male voices, gun fire and so on with as much richness as we’d like.

Other things to conside

Anyone thinking of gaming on the 55EC930V will be blown away by how colourful and contrast-rich their games look on it. Where input lag is concerned, we found that after putting it in its Game mode and turning off as much residual picture processing as we could find, the 55EC930V measured a disappointingly high 100ms of lag when fed a progressive signal, but a vastly more useful 33ms when fed an interlaced signal.

Should I buy an LG 55EC930V?

The answer to this depends on a few things. First and most importantly, are you prepared to do without a native 4K resolution? Especially on a TV costing £2000? All we can say in response to this is that while we certainly did miss 4K’s clarity and detail, the 55EC930V also reminded us in no uncertain terms that resolution is not the only important factor in TV picture quality.

You also need to decide if the curve annoys you (we actually didn’t mind it, especially thanks to the way the screen soaks up reflections). And finally you have to decide if the set’s occasional processing flaws are upsetting enough to undermine its extraordinary contrast efforts.

Personally we see the sundry problems as being relatively minor irritations rather than deal breakers given the amount of great stuff the 55EC930V does, but if you can get a demo of one before you part with so much cash, we suggest that you do so. And if you’re looking for a wider context for your decision, a couple of rivals to check out would be the almost identically priced Sony 55X9005B 4K TV and the also 4K Samsung 55HU7500.

Verdict
While the 55EC930V isn’t without its flaws, it’s still a gorgeously next-gen performer at what’s dangerously close to a current-gen price. We couldn’t quite shake the feeling, though, that the OLED tech deserves 4K resolution. We look forward to the forthcoming LG EC970V range delivering just that combo. Any day now…

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