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I finally found it – on sale for almost two-hundred off (exactly eight-hundred-and-nine dollars). Would still be a great value at a thousand dollars.

I’d rather have too much control than too little with my electronics. The 42LH30 delivers all the control I want and more, but it also provides several nice presets for the type of content I’m watching (movies, sports, games, standard). It also lets me build 2 presets myself for exactly what I want. I can be picky or I can be lazy and still get a great picture for any situation.

The 50,000 dynamic contract ratio and 5ms refresh speed make for a superb picture/performance combo.

I was very close to going with a 120Hz 42″ Vizio. They have been getting decent reviews. When the LG 42lh30 went on sale, it was a deal I could not refuse.

Some things I really like.

1) Outstanding picture (no compromises with colors)
2) Great performance (sports and movies don’t judder at all so far)
3) Energy Star (several low power modes – I love flexibility)
4) Lighter than most (easy to hang on wall – I use an articulating arm)
5) Anti-glare awesomeness (I have lots of windows in my 3-seasons room)
6) Outstanding PC screen (when I just have to surf on the 42″)
7) Upconverting DVDs look phenomenal (blu-ray player is next purchase)
Sound is more than acceptable on TV (I usually output audio to my Home Theater system if I will be watching for more than a few minutes)

Things I would change:

That said, the sound quality seems a bit sub-par compared to other TVs in the market. I also noticed some light leakage on the far corners of the TV – other than for Sony or Samsung this seems a problem for all other big TVs. Also, for those of you watching TV with over the air signals, please note that this TV does not pick up the OTA Electronic Program Guide (EPG), which was a big surprise to me, since those dirt cheap TVs you buy at Walmart or during BF sales too have them. Big goof-up at LG design, I should say. Lastly do not expect a Samsung or Sony style processing of low-fidelity signals (SD, ED). Standard-Def signals look rather grainy and poor – I guess the processing chip is where LG cheaped out. Invest in a good quality up-converting player for your DVDs and change the channel if you run-into non-HD programming as a work-around.

Lastly the customer service is no-worser than that of Samsung or Sony. A bunch of air-heads, quite a bit of wait-time and frustrating responses. But do not discount the TV for that – like I said – this is how all TV manufacturers support their TVs (I have a Sony and Samsung), so no big deal. Wish the industry was overall better, thatz all.

I actually ordered the LG 42LG50 (through Amazon from TigerDirect) but they must have run out of them because they sent me the better LG 42LH30.

Excellent color, great response (for a 60Hz), SD signals (VCR) look surprisingly good, the menus are intuitive, the remote is laid out very well, and it has a great overall look.

The only down side that I wasn’t expecting is that it has no analog audio out (no RCA L/R out) so you’ll have to have a digital receiver if you want run the sound through external speakers.

To begin, the off angle is just fine and unless you have a living room wider than 15″ and viewing from only 6″ back, you’ll be fine.

The remote that comes with the tv is so wonderfully simple that I’d trust my mother to use it. 2 simple buttons sum up this ease of use (input, and avmode). The buttons are not only labled well, but the resulting popups make it very clear what you’re doing.

Hooking up the tv was incredible. The inputs are very easy to reach without moving the tv sideways. Aside from that, the available side inputs are also easy to plug in.

One feature I wish the tv had was avi/mp4 playback. Though it has usb functionality, the tv is only capable of loading images and (music? cant recall)
— This should not deter you since the super low price makes buying a Play Station 3 with this TV a great option and one that I chose to do, especially since adding the PS3 means you can play video from usb, get wireless onto the tv, and stream shared files from your computer, in all, a major win, especially since the two combined keeps the price under the midrange samsung w/ internet plus you get the added blueray and upscaling bonus.

As far as picture quality goes, I have had the chance to watch HDTV, DVD, BLURAY, and PS3 games at 720 and 1080. The results of this viewing made me feel very good about my purchase. Though I’m sure the PS3′s ability to upscale played a part in DVD looking superb, I have to say that Tony Soprano looked like he was in the livingroom. I also watched Princess Mononoke which has a lot of fog/type scenes (lots of greys swirling) and to my pleasant surprise, no noise, artifacting, nothing. I got off the couch and stood 4 inches from the TV and couldn’t believe the picture was that good for only 1100.

Gaming is excellent. I really like the game mode (and I do recommend pressing the AV-Mode button and utilizing the feature). I tried out MGS4, Killzone 2, Ratchet and Clank, and Lego Starwars. The colors though not as vibrant as perhaps the 2700 dollar samsung, were none the less incredible and vibrant.

The sound on the tv is great and LOUD. I keep it at 14-20 (the tv goes up to 100)!!
Even still, I decided to take advantage of my surround sound, and purchased a 4.50 optical audio cable off Amazon to hook up my stereo.

Some other thoughts:

The tv is crazy light, I set it up myself (it really is only 37 lbs) so if you can pick up a 2yr old, you can pick this thing up.

The tv has a nice cable management feature, but I don’t use it since I only have 3 cords going into my tv (HDMI from cable box, HDMI from PS3, Optical audio out to surround sound), ya, it’s that awesome.

The TV was delivered 2 days later! The delivery man carried it up to the second floor for me and I set it up myself. It not only works, it’s the most beautiful picture! When I first turned it on it seemed a bit garish but I played with the settings just a few minutes and voila! I don’t see any artifacting or blurring, the colors are amazing. It makes me feel like I’m having a theater experience. I think the sound is just fine for normal tv viewing, in fact I love the voice feature that boosts the human voice over the background music. I’ve also noticed commercials don’t blare as loud as they did on my other tv. It’s not surround sound, but what tv would give you that without adding speakers. The unit itself is sleek and pretty to look at even when it’s not on. This is a great size for a small or mid-size living room.

The only thing I was expecting that didn’t happen was from the website it looks like they send someone to set it up for you. That didn’t happen in my case. I’m not sure why, if I didn’t click on a button somewhere or if the tv is just slightly too small for that service. It didn’t matter, it was easy to set up myself. As a woman, I had no trouble getting it out of the box and putting it on the stand, by myself. It has so many HDMI connections that hooking up all my peripherals to it was a breeze.

This tv sits in my living room which gets a lot of ambient light. The auto adjust feature means I have a great picture no matter what time of day.

I couldn’t be more pleased with the TV or with the delivery. Highly recommend!