It’s been over a year that I’ve been contemplating buying a new TV to replace the 14″ Panasonic Sophia CRT TV in my bedroom. I mean the situation was so bad, I had to literally sit not more than 4 feet from the TV to make sense of what is displayed.
Sample Image thanks to Google. The TV in this picture is 21". I had a 14" TV
It was so bad that the laptop I am using ‘Dell D620′ has got a 14″ wide screen
When I buy gadgets, I make sure it is future-proof by ATLEAST 3 years, so going for another CRT TV was totally out of the question. Plasma TVs start at 42″, which was again too much for my viewing distance of 8 feet.
With my viewing distance of 8 feet, I decided on buying a 32″ LCD panel (Calculated the ideal panel size per viewing distance here)
Had lots of options to choose from, Samsung, Sony, Panasonic, LG, Toshiba, etc. The list is endless.
Sony was too expensive
Samsung was equally expensive – No goodies
Panasonic was too crappy – Picture quality on DVD was bad
Same goes for the Toshiba
LG was my final choice – A well known brand, good customer support (though a tad expensive, but the after-sales is good, per personal experience), relatively cheaper parts, etc.
Next was the decision on the FULL HD or a HD READY TV (Full HD = 1080p; HD Ready = 720p) – Neither really mattered to me since we have Standard Definition signals in India, and no matter how expensive the TV would be, the picture quality on regular cable will be shitty. No second word on that.
My priorities on the decision were:
1. Should fall inside my budget of Rs 35000
2. Should have USB connectivity in the TV supporting DivX formats
3. Freebies ! (who doesn’t like them ?)
4. Respectable sound (Since buying an external home theatre system would overshoot my budget)
After a LOT of R&D (and trust me, a LOT), I decided on getting the LG 32LH80FR (Commonly known as LG Jazz Full HD). It was falling under my budget, had the features and since it was Dassera festival time, there were good deals floating in the newspapers.
LG Jazz - LG 32LH80FR
The prices as of 4-Oct-2009 were as follows from different vendors
1. eZone – Rs. 37500 (No freebies)
2. Croma – Rs. 35500 (No freebies)
3. Reliance Digital – Rs. 42000 (No freebies)
4. Jumbo Electronics – Rs 46000 (No freebies)
5. Vijay Sales – Rs 34,000 (With free LG DV388 DVD Player with USB-DivX support)
Guess which one I chose ? 
I picked up the TV from Vijay Sales at Palm Beach Galleria Mall in Vashi for Rs. 34,000 – Since they did not have the DVD player in stock, they promised they will arrange for one this week. Payment was done via EMI with Bajaj Finance, who honestly, have the lousiest ‘customer care’ representatives. Formalities took over an hour to finish and I reached home at 11 pm. Obviously I could not wait to hook up the TV, so I got started off (After the awesome unboxing experience). Took me about 20 minutes to get the TV up and running (All you need is a Philips screwdriver – Would recommend a magnetic one since the screws are quite long)
Unboxing pictures:
LG Jazz Unboxing - Box - Front
LG Jazz - Unboxing - Side
LG Jazz Unboxing - Contents
The contents of the box are as follows:
1. LG 32LH80FR TV (well, like, DUHH !)
2. Base Stand
3. Bracket connecting the TV and the base stand
4. Wall mounting bracket (Not applicable for me, though I did get one)
5. Remote control with 2 AAA Batteries
6. Power Cord
7. Content CD (Haven’t checked what it contains’
8. 8 Screws in total for Base Stand and Bracket
9. Anti-Static wiping cloth (Did they pick it up from Apple ?)
10. User Guide and Warranty card
So, to sum it all up:
Pros:
1. Matte finish screen
2. USB Connectivity with DivX, Audio and Image file playback (AVI for the people who dont know rat about DivX) in the TV
3. Decent Sound quality (It has a woofer at the back, 2 speakers at the side and 1 at the front-bottom of the TV)
4. LOTS of connectivity slots (HDMI, Composite, etc)
5. Absolutely BRILLIANT quality when watching movies over USB
6. The very fact that I have my own LCD TV ! (Shouldn’t this be number 1 on the list ?)
7. Future proof (This one is a FULL HD)
Cons:
1. Wobbly stand (but I can live with it)
2. The remote control is tall as hell ! (I guess every LCD TV now ship with long-ass remotes)
3. Quality loss in SD Signals (regular cable TV for the rest)
I will be posting an extensive review of this TV in a couple of weeks.
Feel free to drop in your comments!
#1 by Tanmay on October 5, 2009 - 2:59 pm
Congrats Bro! 1080p at just 35k
Nice unboxing pics too 
Also if you can do include Full Specsheet in your post, would be helpful.
#2 by CeeTee on October 5, 2009 - 6:01 pm
@Tanmay It is Rs. 34000, and not Rs. 35000
Will scan the spec sheet later today and upload it here
#3 by Colly on October 12, 2009 - 3:13 pm
Congrats dude!
I am also planning to buy the same model, 32LH80FR .. and I have few questions. Thanks to your review, I was able to get some answers from that. Others below.
1. In quite a few sites, I have seen people mentioning that, there is no difference between a full HD and HD ready LCT TV, if the size is 32” or lesser. They all recommend to go for a full HD if the size is 42”. Whats your view on this ?
2. Did you try watching a Full HD movie via USB? How is it ?
#4 by CeeTee on October 12, 2009 - 4:15 pm
@Colly:
1. There is not much of a difference if you intend on watching regular cable or DTH TV. IT WILL LOOK SHITTY. No matter how good your service is. The resolution at which the signals beam to your TV are the culprit. India still supports 4:3. So watching regular cable on a 16:9 will make it look stretchy. If you don’t intend on buying a blu-ray player and blu-rays, no point getting a full HD TV.
The reason I got it was that I was getting a KILLER deal
2. I have not watched a full HD movie just about yet, so can’t really comment
Biggest thing you need to keep in mind is BARGAIN as much as you can. Since it is season time, you WILL get good deals.
Good luck on your purchase
#5 by Ronak Bhagdev on October 12, 2009 - 7:25 pm
Congrats!!
And Nice Review also…
Btw FYI only- LG offers 32″ Plasma. I just saw it today. But didn’t get Good Review. So just gave up the idea to purchase it.
#6 by Colly on October 13, 2009 - 9:09 pm
Thanks CeeTee.
I will be looking forward to your detailed review.
#7 by Prince on October 20, 2009 - 8:23 am
Hey bro, can u tell me how would be the quality if i use it with tatasky dth? Some say airtel dth is better with mp4 signals but i think all are standard definition signals. So doesnt really matter. And tata sky has got really comparable picture detail to other dth providers.its really clear,sharp and detailed on my samsung 29” flat tv. Whats your opinion on this? And which dth are you using?
#8 by CeeTee on October 20, 2009 - 10:24 am
@Prince I have not been using any DTH, so no updates on that yet. You are right, the DTH services in India are still beaming at standard definition (4:3), which will look good on the “non-widescreen” TVs. The quality should definitely be better than what you see with regular cable. The MP4 compression is all marketing BS and it all doesn’t matter. Your eyes will get used to the quality and the pictures on your TV. All-in-all it is a good purchase and considering this is a 1080p, this is definitely an investment when/if High-def TV comes to India.
#9 by Vikram on October 20, 2009 - 3:41 pm
What about the DVD Player you got free with LCD? Have you used that and your reviews?
I believe it has got HD port and HD upscaling too, did you see any difference in upscaling thing?
#10 by manu on November 2, 2009 - 12:12 am
hey did u get this in blore, im frm blore and I have enquired today in most of the showrooms and they said its 36k. Can u pls suggest me where to get this for 34k.
#11 by manu on November 2, 2009 - 12:13 am
hw is d lg dvd player ? by the external looks its sucks, i mean looks very cheap ? how is the quality ?
#12 by CeeTee on November 2, 2009 - 12:30 am
@Manu I bought this TV from Vijay Sales, Vashi, Mumbai. He was offering me just the TV for 36k. We bargained like MAD and got it for 34k with the LG DV 388 DVD player – The DVD player is decent – You can find the review for it on http://www.techtree.com. I basically use the USB port on the TV directly. Grandparents use the DVD player
#13 by Vinay on February 2, 2010 - 3:10 pm
Hi Chetan,
I’m currently having regular CRT TV with standard Cable connection (not digital or set top box). I’m planning to buy an LCD TV (32 inch) soon but I do not want to switch to DTH because I’m happy with the current quality of cable TV on my CRT. Most of the channels appear clearly and also the cable charges are inexpensive.
I would like to know whether DTH on LCD makes such a big difference that I should switch or can I continue to use the cable connection on LCD TV as well without too much loss in quality compared to now?
Do let me know your thoughts on this…
Thanks!
#14 by CeeTee on February 2, 2010 - 5:27 pm
@Vinay Indian DTH still has not adopted HD video, so the picture will look stretchy when you watch TV (be it DTH or regular cable) – There is not much difference in either (if you say that your cable reception is good) – The compression technologies (MP4 and STR whatever) are just marketing gimmicks coz in the end, you still have a Standard Definition (4:3) aspect ratio signal. I would not recommend you going for a Full HD if you do not intend on watching Blu-Ray movies or use the TV as an output to a PS3/XBox, etc – Go for a ‘HD-Ready‘ (720p) and that should be good enough – My recommendation would be a Panasonic Viera or a Sharp or a Hitachi. Please do check with the service center availability in your city. Good luck on your purchase!
#15 by Vinay on February 2, 2010 - 6:18 pm
Thanks for your valuable inputs, Chetan!
Appreciate it.