LG 55 Cinema 3D Smart TV Lightning Review A Pretty Good TV for Children of the Night LG's newest LED member of its Cinema 3D line is packed to the gills with features and functionality including native support for Netflix and HuluPlus, sharing media from mobile devices and PCs, and Internet access, but you're going to have to keep vampire hours to avoid the glare.

LG 55 Cinema 3D Smart TV Lightning Review  A Pretty Good TV for Children of the Night

LG's newest LED member of its Cinema 3D line is packed to the gills with features and functionality including native support for Netflix and HuluPlus, sharing media from mobile devices and PCs, and Internet access, but you're going to have to keep vampire hours to avoid the glare.

What Is It?

A 55" Smart TV (read: Internet connected) with Passive 3D—the same as the Real 3D tech theaters keep forcing upon us, it's less crisp than active 3D (the glasses with the batteries) but easier on the eyes and loads cheaper.

Who's it For?

Night owls, home theater aficionados, and anybody who likes to watch with the lights off.

Design

Simple and Clean. It has 1/4" borders along the top and side edges with a two-inch silver band along the bottom that matches the stand. All buttons and ports are hidden from the front.

Using It

A complete joy. Being only 70 lbs, the television was a cinch to unbox and set up. The initial system setup was ludicrously simple—it found and assimilated into my Wi-Fi network on the very first try. Being a Smart TV, the set offers in-TV access to numerous streaming services as well as the Internet.

The Best Part

The picture quality. Motion blur is nearly non-existent (and actually better than if you enable the dynamic tracking), the color representation is bright and vibrant with decent black levels. I was most surprised by the utter lack of artifacts on streaming content (both Netflix and HuluPlus).

Tragic Flaw

The glare when watching during the day is nearly unbearable.

This Is Weird...

There's no way to calibrate the the remote—so if it points slightly off-center by default, you'll have to get used to adjusting for that.

Test Notes

• This set comes bundled with six pair of passive 3D frames.
• Can share content over a DNLA connection with LG phones.
• Laser remote works much like a mouse and makes inputting text much faster than having to cycle through character wheels or virtual keyboards.
• The passive 3D is what it is, pretty good depth levels on converted 2D to 3D content.
• Glasses are comfortable but you've got to make sure you're sitting front and center to get the full effect.

Should You Buy It?

With an initial MSRP of $2,300 this set was definitely a bit pricey for the picture quality. But with prices already dropping to the high $1400s online just four months after its debut, yeah, the LG55LM6700 is a pretty good deal right now