Why you can trust TechRadar We spend hours testing every product or service we review, so you can be sure you’re buying the best. Find out more about how we test.
While the set's slim at just 33.4mm, the rear jack pack doesn't skimp. It sports four side-facing HDMIs, one of which is ARC (Audio Return Channel) compliant, plus component and Scart via adaptors, a PC VGA input, no-fewer than three USBs, Ethernet, a digital optical audio out, plus a CI Slot if you're one of the few people left using top-up TV services. The screen has Wi-Fi built in.
The fact that all the inputs are accessible from the side of the jack pack, makes the screen perfectly suitable for wall mounting. It's compatible with the VESA standard, size 400 x 400.
The trio of USB ports allow for an external hard drive to be left attached for simple timeshifting. Of course, as there's only one TV tuner on board, this system has its limitations, but as a supplemental recording option it's more than welcome.
The second USB can be reserved for Skype. LG sells its own Skype-cam, the AN-VC400, to do the job.
While the TV lacks a card reader, the USB media player is well equipped and will read most popular file formats and containers. If there's album art to accompany your music collection, the TV will also render that. Images appear in a faux CD sleeve frame, which is rather nice. This compliance extends across a network, with the same files playing over a LAN from a variety of our test NAS boxes.
The choice in IPTV catch-up services and VoD is considerable. There's access to the BBC iPlayer, YouTube, Lovefilm, Blinkbox, Acetrax, Box Office 365, Dailymotion and more. At the time of writing there's no Netflix, although we are led to believe that negotiations are ongoing and that the service will be joining the LG portfolio soon enough.
One final feature of note is Dual Play. This takes advantage of the set's inherent 3D tech, and allows two separate 2D images to be viewed simultaneously via two pairs of appropriately polarised Dual Play spectacles (sold separately). It's designed to be used with two-player games. The set takes the split-screen image, be it divided horizontally or vertically, and creates two individual screens.
Unfortunately, you can't use Dual Play to view different inputs (although this would be the logical conclusion of the feature), not even a Freeview feed and HDMI. Still, gamers will doubtless have a lot of fun with this.
