Editors' note: The rating on this review has been lowered because of changes in the competitive marketplace.
The Good
The Bad
The Bottom Line
The LG 50PG20 is the company's least expensive 50-inch plasma, competing against similar entry-level models from Samsung and Panasonic. It doesn't have the 1080p resolution of higher-priced plasmas, but we didn't really miss that extra detail. What we did miss with this LG, namely deep black levels and more accurate color, causes us to prefer the panels of those other brands in terms of pure picture quality. The 50PG20 has a lot of picture adjustments and slick styling, however, and all told it still outperforms no-name budget plasmas.
Design
We liked the looks of the LG 50PG20, especially considering its price. The glossy black frame, which is as thin as we've seen on any consumer 50-inch plasma, has sleekly rounded corners and the bottom angles back to provide an understated visual accent. The speakers are concealed under the bottom of the cabinet and face straight down. The only interruption of the gloss comes courtesy of an LED power indicator near the silver, rounded power button, and the LG logo.
Including the matching, rounded, nonswiveling stand, LG's 50PG20 50-inch plasma measures 48.2 inches wide by 33.4 inches tall by 14.3 inches deep and weighs 92 pounds. Without the stand, it shrinks to 48.2 inches wide by 31.1 inches tall by 3.4 inches deep.
LG's remote control is a bit disappointing. We found the cluster of similar buttons around the cursor control difficult to differentiate without constantly having to look down at them. A little illumination would have gone a long way. Unlike the remote of previous LG TVs, about which we complained, the 50PG20's remote actually has a dedicated "ratio" key to toggle between aspect ratio settings on the a "Quick Menu." The remote can command three pieces of equipment other than the television.
The company has completely overhauled its menu system from last year, and the changes are mostly for the better. The stark black-on-light-gray menus are legible and large, and we liked that the input menu, which is arranged horizontally, grouped active inputs near the left where they were easy to select quickly. We would have liked to see text explanations accompany menu items, and navigating the extensive Expert menu can be quite tedious, but overall we liked the simple arrangement. We also appreciated the Quick Menu, which allows control of aspect ratio, picture presets, and other options without having to deal with the full menu system.
Features
With a 1,366x768-pixel native resolution, otherwise known as 720p, the LG 50PG0 lacks the 1080p resolution found on more expensive models, such as LG's own 50PG30. That's not a big deal, however, since the extra detail afforded by those extra pixels is usually quite hard to spot, and the PG20 was no exception (see Performance for more information).
The range of picture controls on the PG20 is very good, especially for an entry-level model, although it lacks the company's 10-point grayscale calibration that we liked so much on higher-end sets, such as the 50PG60. The two-point version available in the PG20's Expert menu isn't bad, however, and really helped us adjust the TV's color temperature beyond the typical three presets. There's a few other advanced controls, including gamma, black level, and a complete color management system.
We liked the prodigious number of picture modes, seven in all, each of which can remember settings independently per input. If you're counting, that's 63 total "slots" over the set's 9 inputs, for a range of adjustability that should satisfy even the tweakiest of viewers. We also liked that all of the main picture modes indicate whether they're at default or custom settings with the presence or absence of "(User)" printed after the mode name.
The 50PG20 also provides a plenty of control over aspect ratio, with six total choices for high-definition sources and four for standard-definition. As a 720p HDTV, we didn't expect this set to eliminate overscan completely, so that was nice to see as well.
Beyond picture adjustments, the LG 50PG20's feature set lacks picture-in-picture, although we were happy to see three power-saver modes, which dim the picture to cut down on the TV's power consumption. During initial setup, the 50PG20 also asked whether we were viewing in a store or a home environment. Answering "home" on other HDTVs, such as plasmas from Samsung or Panasonic, typically causes significant reduction in power use, but in the LG's case, it didn't help much. See the Juice Box below for details.
LG equipped the 50PG20 with standard connectivity for the a budget HDTV, with one exception: an RS-232 port is available for custom installation and control, although we doubt most buyers in the PG20's price range will take advantage of it. For audio and video sources, there are two HDMI inputs on the back panel and one more on the side. A pair of component-video inputs, a VGA-style PC input (1,360x768-pixel recommended resolution), an RF input for antenna and cable, an AV input with composite and S-Video jacks, and an optical digital audio output complete the rear jack pack. In addition to that third HDMI port, the side panel has another AV input with composite video only, along with a USB port that's for service only (it can't accept digital photo files or music).
For our usual calibration, we took advantage of the LG's numerous picture controls to bring the color temperature more into line and the results were very good (see the Geek Box). We had less luck with the color management system, however, and couldn't quite get primary and secondary colors to look right, although we were able to improve them somewhat. The CMS also allowed us to tweak color decoding, which was off quite a bit by default, but again the results were less satisfactory. We chose the High gamma setting for optimal shadow detail, while the High black level setting was the only one that would pass blacker-than-black video signals (setting it to Low, in case you're wondering, only obscured details in dark areas after calibration; it didn't actually improve black levels). For our complete picture settings, check out this tip.
We didn't have any entry-level 50-inch plasmas on-hand to compare with the LG, but we did have a selection of higher-end models, including the Panasonic TH-50PZ800U, the Pioneer PDP-5020FD, and the Samsung PN50A650, along with the Samsung LN52A650 to play reference LCD. We chose to watch The Bank Job on our PlayStation 3.
Black level: The LG didn't produce as dark a shade of black as the other displays in our test, including the Samsung LCD. The difference was most visible in darker scenes, such as when the robbers stumble across an abandoned crypt. The LG's letterbox bars and areas of shadow and black, such as the darkness and piles of bone beyond the flashlight beam, appeared relatively lighter, and thus lost some punch and realism.
We didn't have a lower-end Panasonic or Samsung plasma, such as the TH-50PX80U or the PN50A450, on-hand to compare with the LG, but in our review of the 42-inch Panasonic (which has the same contrast ratio and so should produce similar blacks to the 50-incher) we mentioned that its blacks were about the same as a Samsung plasma, so we'd bet that the 50PG20 has lighter blacks than either one. The difference between the LG and the Samsung A650 we did have on-hand was relatively small compared with the others, but it was still easily visible.
Details in shadows, such as the brickwork along the top of the tunnel, were also a bit obscured compared with the other displays, an issue we lay primarily at the feet of the LG's lighter blacks. They were still relatively solid, however.
Color accuracy: Despite significant tweaking during calibration, we never got colors to look quite right on the LG 50PG20. In its favor, the display's grayscale stayed relatively accurate in bright and midbright areas, so skin tones like the stunningly angular face of Martine should have appeared relatively natural. Color decoding was incorrect even after we used the color management system, however; the biggest issue was that red appeared desaturated significantly, which caused her skin to be a bit paler than it should have been, for example. The LG's lighter blacks reduced apparent saturation of all colors, so colorful scenes, such as the wedding of the young mechanic, seemed less rich than we'd like. In very dark areas the LG tended to veer into blue according to our measurements and observations, which showed up in near-black objects like a dark suit or the floor of the darkened bank vault.
Finally, despite the extensive color management system, primary and secondary colors appeared less accurate. Greens like the Lloyd's Bank sign were the most obvious culprits in side-by-side comparisons, and even the blues, which most displays reproduce more accurately, appeared off.
Video processing: The LG earned fine marks in this category, deinterlacing 1080i sources properly for both video and film. It handled 1080i, 1080p, and 720p sources with as much detail as we'd expect from 720p according to test patterns, and with high-quality program material, including The Bank Job, it was difficult to tell the difference between this 720p display and the 1080p displays we were using to compare. The difference was most obvious in text such as the PS3's menu system or the menu of the Blu-ray, which did appear a bit softer on the LG, but with the film, including detailed areas like Stratham's stubble and the hair of Martine, we had a hard time noticing any difference from our seating distance of 8 feet.
Bright lighting: In a bright room with the window shades up, the screen of the LG 50PG20 was pretty ineffective at reducing in-room reflections compared with the others. Both the Panasonic 800U, which has the same antireflective screen as all other 2008 Panasonic plasmas, including less expensive models, and the Pioneer did significantly better job making those reflections dimmer and thus less-distracting, and while the difference between the Samsung A650 plasma and the LG was less apparent, we still give the edge to the Samsung. Only the shinier-screened Samsung A650 LCD showed more obvious reflections than the LG.
Standard-definition: The LG performed well with standard-definition sources, passing the full resolution of the DVD format and delivering somewhat sharper details than the other displays in our comparison in the stone bridge and grass from the Detail test on the HQV disc. It squelched jaggies very well on moving diagonal lines and a waving American flag, and the three levels of noise reduction worked well to remove those motes of dancing snow in shots of skies and sunsets. The LG did engage 2:3 pull-down detection quickly and effectively.
PC: Via VGA the LG accepted a 136x768 signal, but the resulting image of the PC desktop was worse than we expected, with chunky text that wasn't as legible as we'd like. According to test patterns on DisplayMate, the LG only passed half of the horizontal resolution via VGA. We also checked HDMI and the results were better, with clearer text, and while resolution tests looked a lot better than on VGA, the set still didn't pass the full horizontal resolution. Perhaps part of the problem is that the "Just Size" aspect ratio, which eliminates scaling, was inexplicably disabled when we fed the TV our PC signal via HDMI.
| TEST | RESULT | SCORE |
| Before color temp (20/80) | 6537/6983 | Good |
| After color temp | 6529/6553 | Good |
| Before grayscale variation | +/- 426 | Average |
| After grayscale variation | +/- 100 | Average |
| Color of red (x/y) | 0.651/0.34 | Average |
| Color of green | 0.264/0.665 | Poor |
| Color of blue | 0.144/0.069 | Average |
| Overscan | 0.0% | Good |
| Defeatable edge enhancement | N | Poor |
| 480i 2:3 pull-down, 24 fps | Y | Good |
| 1080i video resolution | Pass | Good |
| 1080i film resolution | Pass | Good |
| LG 50PG20 | Picture settings | ||
| Default | Calibrated | Power Save | |
| Picture on (watts) | 284.64 | 257.59 | 180.3 |
| Picture on (watts/sq. inch) | 0.27 | 0.24 | 0.17 |
| Standby (watts) | 1.3 | 1.3 | 1.3 |
| Cost per year | $88.91 | $80.53 | $56.61 |
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| Score (considering size) | Good | ||
| Score (overall) | Poor | ||