Franz Bicar - Franz has worked in telecoms and consumer electronics for over 10 years, working in quality control, allowing him to get his hands on the latest gadgets. He’s been writing reviews on these for over 5 years now, as well as news and blogging with a number of online publishers.
If your looking for an affordable HDTV with all the features that you need, then you have to take a look at the LG 32LG40. It’s most attractive, and more importantly its money-saving feature, is is built-in DVD player that is hidden in its slim and sleek design. Now, you won’t have any trouble with all those wires as the 32LG40 takes care of that with a built-in, slot-loading DVD player that’s nicely hidden in the side of TV. This 32-inch LCD also features extensive picture control options, which contribute to its accurate color and natural-looking picture.
The set isn’t perfect though. Black-levels could be deeper but hey, you in this world, you can’t expect to have everything without paying for it.
As for the television’s design, the 32LG40 stands-out a little when placed inside a room. The bezel surrounding the screen is glossy black, and along the bottom there’s a thick strip of deep red plastic, similar to that Samsung’s other set. The set sits on top of a circular swivel stand, with a distinctively skinny stem that connects to the TV.
The most interesting feature of the 32LG40, as mentioned before, is its built-in DVD player. DVD playback can be controlled with the same remote as the TV. The LG 32LG40 has a native resolution of 1,366×768, which is perfectly fine at this particular screen size.
Like other 2008 LG HDTVs, this LCD features tons of picture adjustments in seven different picture modes, all of which remember settings independently per input.
The 32LG40 includes a healthy five manual aspect ratio modes and a sixth that detects incoming content and attempts to adjust aspect automatically. LG chose to call its zero-overscan mode Just Scan, just like Samsung, and works really well HD content.
Connectivity on the 32LG40 is mostly comprehensive. The back panel includes a pair of HDMI inputs, a PC input, a component-video input, one AV input with composite and S-Video, an analog audio output, and an optical digital audio output. The side panel adds a third HDMI input as well as another AV input with composite video.
As for its overall performance, the 32LG40 is pretty solid. As mentioned, black levels aren’t really all that black. The black levels on the 32LG40 were about a shade lighter than the other sets in this same category. However, the 32LG40’s picture quality was greatly enhanced by its abundant controls. You can even improve color temperature accuracy and grayscale tracking by calibrating the set.
As a PC monitor, the LG 32LG40 performs excellently over HDMI. There’s no overscan in 1,360×768 mode, and even small text is clear and readable from several feet back. Using VGA it displays the same resolution but the image is slightly off-center. It also looks a bit softer, although small text is still readable from several feet back.