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We do expect any LCD TV worth its salt to be HD Ready these days, though, and thankfully in this key respect the 32LZ55 doesn’t let us down. Completing the HD Ready job started by its DVI and component connections is a sufficiently high native resolution of 1,366 x 768, and the ability to show 720p and 1080i HD pictures.

While we’re on the subject of specifications, LG claims a really very respectable contrast ratio of 1200:1 for the 32LZ55 (which promises some decent black levels) together with a higher than usual brightness output of 600cd/m2.

A search for other features in the 32LZ55’s locker kicks off with a disappointment: there’s no digital TV tuner. But we guess this shouldn’t really come as too much of a surprise given the 32LZ55’s puny price.

In fact, more of a surprise is a feature the 32LZ55 has been able to cling on to: LG’s XD Engine image processing. Designed to deliver improvements in contrast, motion, noise, colour tone and vibrancy, XD Engine has delivered some respectable results on some of LG’s other flat panel TVs - so it’s a real bonus to find it operating here, in the lower reaches of LG’s current LCD range.

With little else to detain us on the feature front, we might as well head straight into the 32LZ55’s picture performance. And the sad news is that it’s really rather average.
Let’s get the bad news out of the way first, starting with colours that all too often just don’t look very believable. This is particularly noticeable where actors’ skin is involved, as it tends to take on a rather sickly pallor – especially during dark scenes.

But even some quite vivid, full tones look either a bit off key, or else vaguely cartoonish.

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