I find it difficult to recommend the LG 42LF65. Sure it has its merits, among which its outstanding Faroudja-driven deinterlacing, accurate colour decoding, and a host of user menu options that makes D65 greyscale calibration easy. But it is utterly and hopelessly crippled by its poor black-level performance reminiscent of LCDs of yesteryears, leading to excessive black luminance, limited contrast ratio, and generalised colour washout.
Greyish blacks, colour dullness and (to a certain extent) motion ghosting are immediately apparent to the average viewer who – on the other hand – may not understand, much less appreciate the benefits of correct greyscale, deinterlacing and colour decoding. I am of the opinion that any HDTV wishing to win over the public must get its basics right... take, for example, the Panasonic TH42PX70 whose inky blacks, smooth motion and wide contrast ratio more than compensated for its deficiency in scaling and deinterlacing.
Without backlight control at my disposal, I engaged [Black Level] "Low" (over HDMI) and dialled down [Brightness] to achieve the lowest possible black level while preserving video black. Even then, the resultant contrast ratio was an appallling 244:1, so I had no choice but to boost peak brightness (by increasing [Contrast]) slightly beyond the target level recommended by SMPTE, in order to expand the dynamic image range on the 42LF65.