The best HD TV brand

Let’s compare which HDTV television is best between LG or Samsung? Samsung or Sony? Toshiba or Panasonic? Though, this is a common questions which gives preference of choice when picking HDTV for home use or otherwise. So, if this question is so common, why is the answer so uncommon?  

You can’t just say “brand X is the best.” But we recognize that anyone asking this question clearly needs some kind of nudge in one direction or the other, or maybe just some guidance with their research. With that in focus, we’ve decided to pit one brand against the other in an ongoing vs. series until we’ve exhausted as many variations as possible; because the truth is, different brands do exhibit distinct characteristics and understanding those characteristics can help make a buying decision easier. Here we go.

LG vs. Samsung

Starting with LG and Samsung, These two South Korean TV manufacturers are extremely competitive. Like espionage and spying and mud-slinging kind of competitive. And while that might seem a little hard core, it turns out intense competition tends to motivate intense innovation – and that’s a good thing. LG and Samsung may be rivals, but they are both at the top of their game. The rivalry has also resulted in some different approaches to TV design and engineering. 

Aesthetic design

Every end user considers picture quality as the main priority, but we both know that the thinner and sexier a TV is, the more you’re going to want it. Unfortunately for you, Samsung and LG are almost tit for tat in this department. Let’s take a couple samples from each brand’s line-up to illustrate:

Picture quality

For LED LCD televisions:

Again, making a blanket statement here would be totally irresponsible, but based on our most recent review experiences; we’d say Samsung TV’s tend to have slightly better black levels, while LG’s sets generally exhibit superior color accuracy out of the box. Screen finishes (matte vs. glossy) tend to vary by model, so we can’t make a call there. We can say, however, that Samsung’s LED edge-lighting control seems to be just a bit ahead of LG’s at this point. From our reviews of the top-of-the-line models listed above, Samsung’s set has less blooming at the edges than LG’s does.

For plasma television:

Based on our conversations with LG, plasma is a technology the company is in the process of slowly phasing out. While LG’s plasmas do perform well, Samsung has spent a lot of time developing a plasma that can compete with the best in the world. Frankly, if the superior picture quality of a plasma TV is what you seek, you should be comparing Samsung and Panasonic televisions.

Smart TV

While LG’s Smart TV interface has shown a lot of improvement recently and stands to make a quantum improvement in the next couple of years, for now we have to lean toward Samsung’s Smart TV interface – again, this is a personal preference. You may disagree and that is just fine.

We prefer the way Samsung has broken down its Smart UI into five distinct segments, and we prefer the graphical layout for its richer, more colorful appearance. Also, Samsung currently supports Amazon Instant’s VOD app where LG does not, and that’s no small deal for us.

User interface

Not only does the user interface vary from tier to tier within each manufacturer’s line-up, but the term user interface is itself very broad. So, for the sake of this piece, let’s say the user interface has to do with the experience of navigating through a TV’s various menus in order to make changes to the settings. In that regard, the contest is a draw. Both companies have gone through a lot of effort to make the process of getting through all the menus and sub-menus as pain-free a process as possible. Neither has reached perfection, but considering how complex these TVs can get, we’d have to say both brands have done a pretty terrific job. There are some manufacturers with terrible user interfaces, and we’ll be getting to them soon enough. 

Remote control

Simply put, LG’s Magic motion remote control is our favorite stock remote right now. While Samsung’s trackpad-style clicker may resonate better with others, we prefer the point-and-click, Wii-style action of LG’s remote. It’s just more fun to use and younger kids tend to take to it quickly.

Both of these remotes come with each manufacturer’s upper mid-tier TV’s on up. As for the standard clickers on the lower-end models, we prefer anything that’s back-lit, otherwise they’re pretty much the same. 

Internet connectivity

At this point, both Ethernet and Wi-Fi connections are standard on both LG and Samsung’s Smart TV. This really shouldn’t be a consideration.

DT