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Scarlet — the colour of arterial blood, the colour of Ferrari racing loyalties, and now a shocking new entrant in the hitherto staid LCD TV market. Shocking much in the same vein as the colour of a baboon’s posterior, though…the Scarlet’s rear panel is adorned in an unapologetic shade of red — yes, you guessed right — scarlet.
It may well be argued that having a red rear panel is rather pointless for a TV that spends a majority of its time being watched from the front. Not if you install it on the mirror-finished stand, which allows you to tastefully angle it to show off the bold red flourishes.
Not that the scarlet rear is the only standout design feature in the 32-in LCD panel — a shiny see-through hole in the middle of the TV’s bezel lets you see right through to the back of the TV. Illuminated in a restrained grey while you’re watching TV, the transparent circular panel turns to scarlet when the TV is on standby.
As a result, the enlarged lower bezel (the border around the screen) allows LG to pack in something that otherwise detracts in most LCD TVs’ design — visible speakers. The bezel itself works as a downward-firing set of speakers, with a number of drivers embedded in the bezel. And they’re fine-tuned by audio guru Mark Levinson, whose previous works include high-end audio equipment. All in all, the slim TV manages to take some design risks and comes out the better, making for a pleasing yet stylish addition to any living room or lounge.
And it’s not just a pretty face — the spec sheet is impressive as well. The 32-in model supports a maximum resolution of 1366 x 768 pixels at a 16:9 aspect ratio. And while it’s not running at Full High Definition resolutions, it supports HD resolutions of upto 720p, and to its credit has a quick 4ms response time and boasts of a jaw-droppingly huge claimed dynamic contrast ratio of 50,000:1.
Having said that, contrast ratios quoted by manufacturers are notoriously unreliable…but clearly, the Scarlet benefits from an intelligent backlight system that reduces the image’s brightness during dark scenes to boost black levels. Such systems are found on mostly all other high-end LCD TVs as well, so I’d take this number with a pinch of salt.
Brightness levels are excellent, with a maximum brightness of 500 cd/m2, and the picture is visible without any noticeable fade-out at viewing angles up to 178° vertically and horizontally. An Intelligent Sensor in the Scarlet senses colour temperature (colour temperature measures the kind of light in a room — yellow-red colours are considered warm, and blue-green colours are considered cool — and adjusts the screen accordingly) and ambient light in the room and optimises the brightness, contrast, colour, sharpness and white balance to render better images with the given parameters.
Connectivity options abound as well, with an AV In, S-Video and USB port on the side, and an array of connectors at the rear. Other features worth noting include the latest version of LG’s XD Engine system (designed to improve colours, black levels, sharpness and motion); an ‘eye care’ feature that can limit the screen’s brightness so that it doesn’t damage your eyes; and a Clear Voice mode that emphasises spoken dialogue if you find it getting muted in the audio.
Do we have a winner in the Scarlet then, or is the beauty merely skin deep? Well, you cannot fault the Scarlet for its brilliant colour reproduction and excellent contrast ratio, nor for the low response time which benefits fast paced action scenes.
Honestly, I had only two complaints — one major and one minor. For me, the image sharpness, even on a digital signal, wasn’t upto par for a high-end LCD TV, and lacked the crispness that some of the competition bring to their offerings. The sound system, while delivering some amazing amount of detail, tends to be troubled by the mid and low end of the sound spectrum, with some occasional distortion — definitely not Mr Levinson standard.
At Rs 57,000 for the 32-in model, the price seems to be a little too high, and one cannot help but feel you’re paying a ton for the design elements alone. No doubt, it’s a looker all right, but I’d have preferred more of a performer at this price.
Quick Specs
 32LG60UR – Scarlet
Resolution: 1366 x 768p
Brightness: 500 cd/m2
Dynamic contrast ratio: 50000:1
Viewing angle (Degrees): 178 horizontal /178 vertical
Response time (ms): 4 ms
Colour reproduction (R,G,B): 8bit
Analog broadcasts: PAL/SECAM-BG/DK , PAL-I , NTSC-M
Aspect ratio: 16:9
Ports: Side – AV In, S-Video In, HDMI/HDCP Input, USB 2.0
Ports: Rear — RF In, AV In, AV Out, Component In + Audio, RGB In, PC Audio In
Features: Onboard MP3/JPEG/DivX/Xvid playback via USB, Mark Levinson-tuned invisible speaker system, 1080p input-ready, Two HDMI 1.3 inputs
Sound output: 10W+10W, Surround SRS TSXT, 2 Way 4 Speaker
Power: 100-240Vac 50/60Hz, consumption: 150W
Dimension: Set (WxHxD) without stand - 805.6 x 587.4 x 96.2 mm
Weight: Set without stand: 12.2kg
Rating: 7/10
Price: 32LG60UR — Rs 57,000, 42LG60FR — Rs 1.09 lakh and 4 7LG60FR — Rs 1.6 lakh
URL: http://www.in.lge.com/scarlet/index.html
One for all
I just love gadgets that aim to please, don’t you? Like the PowerLink from Macally, which ostensibly looks like an iPod synching/charging device, what with a 30-pin iPod connector on one end, and USB on the other. And when your iPod runs out of juice and you’re nowhere near a power source, the PowerLink’s in-built battery acts as an emergency back-up battery to extend the life of your device. As an added bonus, you’ve even got 2GB of flash memory crammed into this baby, so it’s useful even as just a USB flash drive. Talk about doing more for less!
URL: http://www.macally.com/EN/Product/ArticleShow.asp?ArticleID=232
Price: $49.99
Super snapper
Statutory warning: Read this only if your name figures somewhere in the ‘richest folks in the world’ lists — the Hasselblad H3DII-50 isn’t meant for mortals like you and me. Then again, I wouldn’t know what to do with a camera with a 50-megapixel sensor — that’s twice the size of the largest 35mm digital SLR sensors — that generates 300MB files at one frame per second. And for the price, you get the option of eye and waist level viewfinders and an integrated sensor cooling mechanism.
URL: http://www.hasselbladusa.com/products/h-system/h3dii-50.aspx
Price: $40,000 upwards
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