Interesting experience with lowish end 32" LG TV

[NeilF]

Thought I'd replace our aging 28" LG TV in our bedroom (an LG 28LF491U) with a 32" LG 32LQ63 which was reduced from over £300 down to about £200 during Prime Day.

Even after a lot of time in menus it because clear the TV struggled to give any real brightness to the image, and the sound also sounded worse than the old TV.

The old LG 28LF491U is an IPS panel and easily pushes out a bright nicely coloured image, while the new LG 32LQ63 was dim in comparison and the colours were not as seated (even after a lot of time in menus).

Strange how TVs at similarish price points, many years apart, seem to have gone down so much in quality/ability.

I've also compared against an LG 28 Inch 28TQ525S from about a year ago, and while that isn't as bright as my old 28LF491U, it gives a far better image in brightness and colour than the latest more expensive LG 32LQ63 from 2024.


Anyhow... Just thought it might interest a few folks...


ps: As regards the more lost/tinny sound on the LG 32LQ63 I noticed the speakers were not up against the bottom sound vents (like with other TVs) but instead a few inches up in the TV away from the vents. So in effect the sound is going down a couple of instead of plastic tube before getting out of the TV. Odd design!

 

[NeilF]

Oh yes...

Literally can't fathom how the brightness and colour palette seemed so poor on this new 2024 model (LG 32LQ63) compared to a similarly (lower) priced LG from like 6+yrs ago (LG 28LF491U). And like I said, even the modern variant from a year ago (LG 28TQ525S), while better than the 2024 model I tried, also isn't as bright and 'well coloured' as the 6yr old one.


EDIT: The viewing angle on that new LG 32LQ63 were also bad. Anything from say ~30 degrees from true you could see noticable brightness drop etc.

 

[NeilF]

I don't like LG as a company anyway, after the Nexus 5x thing, I wouldn't buy anything from them again.

I've got three of their TVs, all the way from a 7yr old E7 OLED (why do they not make OLEDs with integrated soundbars anymore ) to other cheap bedroom TVs, and this is the first bad experience I've had with them quality wise.

I must say their TV registration with an LG account now seems a bit clunky/painful.


I think if I go for anyother bedroom TV I might try Samsung next time though.

 

[NeilF]

I've got a B7 OLED and would gladly have another of their OLEDs, but my parents have two LG LCD TVs and I'm not keen on either of them. The 55" one has terrible edge-lit backlight dimming when it tries to do HDR which results in annoying vertical bars of light dancing across the screen, and the smaller, newer 32" one is quite slow to navigate the Home screen and menus, and kept crashing until I was eventually able to get it to install a software update without rebooting.

Well, maybe their lower end quality has dropped then in recent years. As I said my 7yr old cheap 28" LG has a nice bright well composed IPS image, better than the recent 32" and 28" models I've tried from LG.

 

[NeilF]

As for sound, the ones in my LG OLED are laughably bad, supposedly 45W or something. The bass - what of it - is just distortion. Treble is fine, but no midrange at all. OK in amount of volume, but I would reduce bass right down.

Not in the case of my E7, which has what can be considered basically an integrated sound bar. It does an excellent job across the board and while doesn't compare to the umph a surround system will deliver, it's very very very good.

Just a shame LG seems to have dropped the notion of including such variants in their models now Suspect I'd get a Sony OLED next for the good sound they're suppose to deliver.

 

[NeilF]

The E models were quite a bit more expensive than the panel only types. Why spend money on a sound system that is part of a TV, when you can buy a seperate soundbar- when you change the TV the soundbar stays.

a) Primareily asthetics; the E7 is super neat and tidy with no sound bar sitting infront of the TV etc.
b) When I got the E7 there was a £500 discount to be had, which due to LG not thinking it through I got twice - Smaller retailers were allowed to discount by £500. Bigger retailers could give a £500 cash back. So I price matched John Lewis to a smaller retailer to get £500 off their price, then applied for the £500 cash back to get another £500. So £1000 discount

As it stands now I'd probably pay the £500+ premium for the Sony OLED to get the neat and tidy superior sound solution integrated etc. Unless LG do another E7 type variant in the future

 

[NeilF]

£200 for a 32inch fhd TV sounds expensive

(I bought a new 50inch Toshiba 4k qled for £220 back in the spring)

£200 was it on a deal. It's around £300 normally.

Alas 32" in a bedroom is my limit. ie: 50" would not fit. TBH 28" is about the perfect size for me.

 

[NeilF]

The speakers issue is physics. Old CRT screens had plenty of room and the speakers were bigger. Now it's a fad of making them as thin as possible and reducing speaker size (which ironically most people don't care about) is an easy one to cut. I say most people as in my mind as an enthusiast I only use surround sound so I never use the TV speakers, whereas dorris with a hearing aid probably can't even tell.

Well, again, my E7 somehow has great sound with it's built in sound bar. ie: Just two inches of speakers across the bottom. And then we have the Sony OLEDs which somehow produce great sound with speaks built into the screen which frankly is just voodoo to me!

 

[NeilF]

Maybe they have cut costs in some other way, although you say the E was more expensive. Guess it's all down to the price point and what can be reduced without the consumer noticing. Built in soundbar implies more than 2 speakers so maybe that's the extra cost.

Yeh, but I'll happily pay a premium for a TV with soundbar quality integrated, like an E7 with 2" beautifully integrated under the screen, or Sony's voodoo speakers in the screen.

ps: I have an old small Sony TV in the garage which although small has still nice sound because it has **shock horror** front firing speakers!

 

[NeilF]

It's really hard buying a TV in that size, which is a suprise as 32" is still a big screen.

Yeh, I could't believe how bad the picture/sound composure was on what is basically a £300+ 32" screen. Especially when I've bought such TVs before, for less, which have proved far far better.