A great product by LG for the HD Ready family, you can hook up this panel on a computer or watch TV for crisp video.

Sum and Substance:

Thumbs Up:

Best LCD in its class, great picture quality, plenty of controls to fiddle with for advanced users, includes USB input for digital photos and music.

Thumbs Down:

The black levels are not adequately represented, a bit expensive.

Inside the Trunk:

Remote control, bundled audio/video cables.

The Whiz Kid Speaks:

LCD TV 21.6 inch
Widescreen, TFT active matrix, Resolution 1366 x 768, Display Format 720p, Image Aspect Ratio 16:9, Dynamic Contrast Ratio 8000:1, Brightness 350 cd/m2, Color Temperature Control, Progressive Scan, Viewing Angle 178 degrees (Swivel), Display Menu Language – French, Korean, English, Spanish, Backlight Life -  60,000 hours, Analog Video Signal – Composite video, Digital TV Tuner – QAM , ATSC, Analog TV Tuner NTSC, Stereo Reception System – MTS, Secondary Audio Program (SAP)

Video Interface
HDMI , Component , Composite, HDTV Ready, Analog Video Input Signals NTSC, Input Video Formats 720p, 1080i, 1080p, 1080/30p, 1080/24p, 1080/60p
Parental Channel Lock, Closed Caption Capability

Speakers
2 x Right/left channel speaker – Built-in – 3 Watt, Surround Sound, Dolby Digital, SRS TruSurround XT, Surround Mode, Audio Controls Bass, Treble, Balance, Output Power – 6 Watt, Additional Features – Auto volume adjustment , Invisible Speaker System

Connector Type
1 x Composite video input (RCA phono) – Rear, 1 x HD component input (RCA phono x 3) – Rear , 2 x Audio line-in (RCA phono x 2) – Rear , 1 x Digital audio output (optical) (TOSLINK) – Rear , 1 x HDMI input (19 pin HDMI Type A) – Rear, 1 x Audio line-in (Mini-phone stereo 3.5 mm) – Rear, 1 x Serial – Rear, 1 x USB – Rear, 1 x VGA input (15 pin HD D-Sub (HD-15) – Rear

Power AC 120/230 V, 1 year warranty

PC Interface USB, VGA (HD-15)
Universal remote control – Infrared

Dimensions & Weight Details
Panel without stand – 21 in x 2.6 in x 13.9 in x 10.2 lbs, Panel with stand – 21 in x 6.7 in x 15.6 in x 10.6 lbs.

Razzle Dazzle:

The LG’s exterior is the same kind of gloss-black frame seen on most of the LCD screen in this class and overall, its look is unobtrusive yet distinguished. The bottom edge curves slightly, and LG’s characteristic subtly protruding, illuminated power indicator is on the bottom right of the frame of the panel, serving as its sole accent. The stand swivels sideways and matches the panel with its glossy black color.

Inside Dope:

LG 22LH20 is an attempt by LG to make a LCD panel for people who are on stiff budgets. You can use it for watching TV or you can pair it up with a computer to watch HD movies. But watching HD movies on this screen isn’t that great because it doesn’t support full HD. The maximum resolution that you get is 1366X768 which is 720p.

We were happy with the LG’s remote control, it seemed better than remote controls of other LCDs that we have tested. On some the buttons were cramped.  But you won’t have much to complain about the structure of this remote control. There is no dedicated aspect ratio button on the handset which was a disappointment. The menu key is placed and the lower left of the big cursor control which is bad ergonomics. There is an energy saving button and it is highlighted by the ‘e’ letter and picture of a leaf. The button is green in color which pretty much gives you the idea. The buttons are great to touch and you get a feel of a click when you press them. There are buttons in the bottom with which you can control a few HDMI devices.

We also like the self explanatory menu items but they are quite exhaustive which means a new user might get confused and if you have never handled such menus then you will need time to get used to it. There are explanations of menu items that appear on screen, this will help a lot since lots of options are advanced.

This is a HD ready panel and no full HD which means you don’t get that ultimate 1920X1080 resolution. Instead you get 1366×768 which is 720p resolution. HD movies cannot be played in all its glory. If you are connecting this panel to a computer you won’t be able to play HD games with all eye candy unleashed. But still the picture quality is good by the standards of a HD Ready panel and we think it will provide good competition to other HD ready panels in this class.

We cannot stop talking about the user friendliness that this TV gives you; there is picture wizard that uses internal test patterns to help you perform basic calibrations of the controls for brightness, contrast, color, tint, horizontal and vertical sharpness and backlight. Once you are finished there is a memory slot which stores your settings.

There are eight adjustable picture memory slots and they are independent per input, and they were great, aside from the two Expert slots, which indicate whether they’re in the default settings. Advanced controls abound in even non-Expert modes, black level control, wide and standard color spaces, with three color temperature presets, settings for dynamic contrast and color, noise reduction, three levels of gamma and edge enhancement, among others.

Expert modes, which bear the input and the logo of the Imaging Science Foundation, offer a plethora of controls. Our favorite is 10-point white balance system that can really help get a more-accurate grayscale, in addition to a less-extensive 2-point system. LG made it better in 2009, adding the capability to target a 2.2 gamma, internal test patterns, and even color filters for green-only, blue-only, and red-only to help set color balance.

A color management system is also featured, and we love the function which allows us to apply Expert settings to all inputs or just one at a time. Of course, most of these settings will appeal only to advanced users and HDTV geeks, but this panel offers the most complete suite of user-menu picture adjustments we’ve seen on any HDTV till today.

There are three Energy Saving settings that reduce the backlight and the power consumed is less. If you engage these settings, it will disable the standard backlight control.

There are plenty of connectivity options on LG 22LH20. There is component-video input, two HDMI ports, AV input with composite video, RGB-style analog PC input (1,360×768-pixel maximum resolution), RF input for antenna or cable and optical digital audio output. On the sides there is a second AV input with composite video and a USB port.

The only major weakness of this TV is the light black levels. The black levels on this LCD look a little gray but this is not unusual for a low budget LCD TV. We tested the LCD for picture quality and it was quite good. We also hooked up this TV with a PC and played games for awhile on the 1,360×768-pixel resolution. We were pleased with the crisp display. The sharpness was a bit too much at times and we played with the controls a bit but we couldn’t get what we want.

The panel also included a USB port for photo and music playback, it was great checking out photos on this big screen.

Nitty Gritty:

This is a great TV if you want to go for HD Ready panels. HD enthusiasts are coy over HD Ready panels, they prefer full HD, but if you are on a stiff budget then there is no better TV in this budget category.

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