I bought this LG TV Monitor in August 09 for Rs. 14700/- from a distributor in SP Road, Bangalore and so far I am satisfied with it. I use it both as monitor and also as TV. I got the free DTH connection with it also (I had to pay Rs. 99/- using DD) and so the TV function is not used because the DTH set-top box connects to A/v port. If you plan to use it as a regular TV with cable, please be aware that it only has 100 channel memory, so you will have problem if you want to view more than 100 channels.
My DVD player connects to it using HDMI, set-top box using A/v, and I also connect my camcorder using S-video. The audio input is common between s-video and a/v, so I need to remove set-top box audio cable to connect camcorder. My PC is connected through RGB (d-sub) and PC audio input. Still I have one HDMI, DVI, and component input free.
Few DVDs audio is not heard from the monitor while others work fine. I gues it is because of encoding of the soung singals in DVD - the HDMI in the monitor only works with PCM audio, I don’t know about others.
BUILD
The build quality of the TV is just OK, it’s not cheap but not really great either. The stand has only tilt and no swivel. It can also be mounted on the wall for which you will have to buy the wall mount separately. The swichtes are on the right side edge and not very convenient to operate - you don’t need to operate them if you use remote, but in case you do, you will have to tilt your head 90 degree and bend down and squeeze you eyes to find the right button to press. The monitor can fall flat on its face so you must secure it properly. I have tied it to the table with a robe...he he ..not the way you think...I made a loop between the monitor and stand and then tied it at the back of the table.
The remote is also not very well-designed, though it is usable. Actually, now I am only using the remote supplied by Airtel since it can power-up, switch inputs, control volume, and mute the TV also. I use the TV remote only to make changes to settings like brightness / contrast etc. The remote also has dedicated keys for teletext, Aspect Ratio Correction (ARC), PIP etc.
SOUND
The volume control sucks as it increases slowly from 0 to 100 but you notice hardly any difference after 50. Who needs volume with 100 steps? 1 to 30 is quite enough I think. The sound from this monitor is not adequate for TV purpose...it just suffices. In fact, if you select the 3D sound option, the volume becomes really low. You need to select user mode, and then max all the sliders of the graphic equalizer to get a lounder volume. Fortunately, it has headphone out port and so I am able to connect it to my home-theatre speakers when required. If you find the sound is not enough, you can use the headphone port to connect powered speakers like the ones that come with PC.
Though obvious, let me state that all sound inputs are stereo, i.e. uses two separate audio channels for left and right speakers.
PICTURE
So far, I am pleased with the picture. Coupled with DTH, the picture quality is excellent for most of us. I guess that the panel quality is not really great with 5ms GTG response time and a delicate surface. However, so far I am satisfied with picture quality. For PC, it is best to use 1920x1080 mode, which is the native pixel resolution of this monitor. If you use any other mode, the image quality will be degraded as the monitor will stretch the image to fill the screen. The monitor also supports 1920x1080 24p and 30p modes which can be good for viewing films. It also has PIP so that you can watch TV or A/v (no HDMI or DVI) and RGB PC inputs simultaneously.
For display settings, there are some presets as Sport, CInema etc. and also 2 user settings per input. The user settings include backlight, brighness, contrast, sharpness, and color tint etc.
WHY
My old computer monitor needed upgrade and my TV was not working properly. I also have DVD player with HDMI, Camcorder with s-video, and camera with a/v to and so I wanted a monitor which can take all these. Moreover, I wanted Full HD also so that I get the full resolution of the movies that I will be shooting someday using my yet-to-buy HD camcorder. Also, I wanted integrated speakes, so that I do not have to use separate speakers all the time. So instead of buying a TV and monitor separately, I bought LG TV Monitor and it is serving the purpose rightly...if only the sound was little louder at max. It is a big monitor and small TV. (btw, I had to buy Wifi card and wireless keyboard also so that the PC can be put at the place near TV).