Is LG Infinia 47LV5500 too expensive for home use?

LG Infernia

It was tough to find an LED-lit TV that had this set of features for anywhere near this same price range. Samsung was the only one that came close, and the Samsung set did not have included wi-fi, nor did it have both Netflix and Amazon capability. So, we took the plunge and got the deep discount LG set from amazon.com.

The most significant problem we've had with the set is that the wireless streaming is very, very spotty. It would constantly lose its connection to the wireless router, forcing us to reconnect (including inputting the passphrase) every minute or two. Totally unacceptable. I don't know if the problem is with the TV, or with the included wireless adapter (a USB device about the size of a thumb drive). We wound up having to purchase an ActionTec adapter (the MOCA-compliant one, as we are FIOS customers) so we could hard-wire the TV. Fortunately, unlike other sets in this price range, the LG has an ethernet input. So, if you're specifically looking for a wireless device, this may not do the job.

The other feature I disliked was that when the screen was set up to auto-dim based on ambient light, it was almost always FAR too dim. I don't recall what the setting was that I had to tweak, but basically I turned off the auto-dim function.

And audio volume: I don't know whether this is an issue with the TV, or with the upstream providers, but we've found that when we watch a movie from Amazon or Netflix, we have to crank the volume up to 60 or so. When the movie is over and we go back to regular TV, we have to adjust the volume down to 20 or so FAST, or we get our eardrums painfully blasted by the loudness.

Other than these minor problems, we've been very pleased with it. We have a bunch of devices connected to it, including a blu-ray player via HDMI, a cable box via HDMI, a Wii using the component inputs, and a VHS player connected (I think) via the coaxial input. There are a total of four HDMI inputs so we could hook up a couple of other devices as well if we wanted to. The picture quality is great. When watching something with a lot of black backgrounds (e.g. a very dark scene), reflections can be a bit distracting but otherwise that's not been an issue.