LG 50UM7500PLA Review: UM7500 50 Inch Alexa Enabled TV
7.5/10 (Expert Score)
Live in wonder with New Intelligence. The LG UM75 UHD TV with 4K Active HDR technology utilises an Advanced Colour Enhancer and DTS Virtual: X sound to deliver mesmerising film experiences. The state-of-the-art Quad Core processor supports the advanced picture processing required for bright,…
£399.00
Description
When you’re looking for a new Television, LG will most likely have crossed your mind. They’re starting to produce some fantastic televisions, with exceptional prices.
The question we ask today is; does the LG 50UM7500PLA meet the requirements for a new television?
This Television was introduced in 2019. It boasts the 4K UHD (3840 x2160) resolution, with an LCD Screen that offers 50/60Hz refresh rate. It also supports HDR10 and HLG, which is very surprising for a £399 set. Any fears of cheap compartments can be countered with the fact that this TV comes with a Quad Core Processor, which upscales low resolution to Ultra HD.
Starting with the Cons, this TV doesn’t have any 3D Capability. I’ll be honest, it’s not a requirement for a modern tv, but more of a Fad. If you’ve got your friends round, you’d want them to be in Awe of the 3D Capabilities. You can’t impress your 3D hungry friends, sorry!
This set also doesn’t have Dolby Vision, which optimises the television & mobile phones for various environment changes. ALTHOUGH, Dolby Vision is only a Firmware Update away from being on this model, as we learnt earlier this year. It also doesn’t have Dolby Atmos.
What is does boast though, is a brilliant Wide Viewing Angle. You can put this almost anywhere in your living room and still have a great sight of the screen. LG have also been improving their colour depth fantastically & this is another TV which looks great.
It keeps up with Live Sports very well, which is the reason we purchased this model (It went inside a Man Cave/Home Bar setup!).
If you’re purchasing this for a Home Living Room setup, the in-built speakers will be completely fine. If you really want to leave a mark, invest in Home Audio and you’ll be able to have fully immersive cinema styled viewing.
LG 50UM7500PLA Review: UM7500 50 Inch Alexa Enabled TV Prices
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Additional information
Specification: LG 50UM7500PLA Review: UM7500 50 Inch Alexa Enabled TV
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Mr A –
This review is for the 2019 UM7500PLA model. I say this because a lot of the information currently on this page, from the product description, to the user reviews, to the Q&A section is for the 2018 model and there are several significant differences.1) The 2019 model DOES come with the Magic Remote. You do not need to purchase this separately.2) The 2019 model DOES allow Alexa to turn on and off the TV, although that’s about the limit of her usefulness here (more on that later)3) I’ve not noticed any of the light bleed or burn-in issues others have reported, yet.4) This has 4 HDMI ports, not 3. It also has two USB ports, optical/toslink output, some RCA connectors and bluetooth. It does not have a headphone jack, which may or may not be a concern.The TV is pretty much what you’d expect for a mid-range 4K TV. Picture quality is pretty good overall, there’s a variety of customisation options for colour, contrast, etc. It does support HDR (which is far more impressive than 4K itself IMHO). The distance between the feet is about 1m. You need a hefty space to put this TV on, or you’ll need to buy an aftermarket stand as I did.Some negatives:Alexa integration is pretty poor. It takes a lot of faffing about, including enabling both LG Thinq Alexa skills to get the functionality working, and even then, it’s not great. If you’ve ever owned a Fire Stick, and found Alexa’s ability to link to an Echo and then launch apps, find programmes across multiple services, and all that lovely stuff convenient, you can forget about it here. She doesn’t even know how to launch the Prime Video app. If you ask her to find a specific programme like you can on the Fire Stick, she might occasionally say ‘Here’s what I found’ and nothing happens.If you’re running through a Sky box (and presumably other types of STB), Alexa doesn’t seem able to pause, rewind, etc. although the Magic Remote can do this manually.If you have a hard-of-hearing family member, LG has unfortunately removed the ability for the TV to output audio to two separate devices at once UNLESS one of those devices is the TV’s own speakers. My previous LG TV, a ~2016 model, with a headphone jack, could output to the headphones and a soundbar at the same time. With the headphone jack now removed, it doesn’t seem possible to do this without aftermarket products, even if you hookup headphones to the RCA connections.Some of the default video settings can hurt more than help. Trumotion, for example, has limited use but a lot of the default profiles have it enabled by default. Turn off in Advanced Picture settings if you’re getting the Soap Opera effect.Positives, and room for improvement:TV is very fast. Apps don’t take forever to load, and although WebOS is a little unintuitive in places, it’s easy enough to get the hang of. You will probably find yourself ‘Erring’ through menus early on, trying to find certain functions, but soon it becomes pretty clear how to do what.The Magic Remote, a sort of Universal-remote lite, is very useful. The pointer can be a little temperamental, but being able to control your TV, Sky box, Xbox, soundbar, and other devices too (supports Fire Stick) is very helpful. I find the buttons are a little compact for my stubby fingers, but that’s a minor issue.Image quality is very good. HD is very clear, the colours are vibrant and sports, movies, games, etc. all look fantastic. Obviously, 4K looks good – although I don’t find HD to 4K to be a massive leap – but the HDR is what shines. Watch some of the Netflix Originals, like Stranger Things, in 4K HDR and you should be very impressed, especially during the darker scenes. It really helps bring out the mood of the lighting.
Mr. T. Edge –
Well this is disappointing, I’ve had this TV for 2 months. Overall I was pretty happy with it. Nice picture, better than average sound and nice features. Then go to switch it on and no picture but sound and a blinking LED. After some research this turns out to be a fairly common problem across the brand.The best bit is I have to PAY to send it back and get it fixed. Sure I don’t have to pay for the repair. But being told to expect to be without my TV for 2 weeks and have to pay to send it back to get fixed is a bit of a cheek.Wont be buying this brand again.
Mr A –
This review is for the 2019 UM7500PLA model. I say this because a lot of the information currently on this page, from the product description, to the user reviews, to the Q&A section is for the 2018 model and there are several significant differences.1) The 2019 model DOES come with the Magic Remote. You do not need to purchase this separately.2) The 2019 model DOES allow Alexa to turn on and off the TV, although that’s about the limit of her usefulness here (more on that later)3) I’ve not noticed any of the light bleed or burn-in issues others have reported, yet.4) This has 4 HDMI ports, not 3. It also has two USB ports, optical/toslink output, some RCA connectors and bluetooth. It does not have a headphone jack, which may or may not be a concern.The TV is pretty much what you’d expect for a mid-range 4K TV. Picture quality is pretty good overall, there’s a variety of customisation options for colour, contrast, etc. It does support HDR (which is far more impressive than 4K itself IMHO). The distance between the feet is about 1m. You need a hefty space to put this TV on, or you’ll need to buy an aftermarket stand as I did.Some negatives:Alexa integration is pretty poor. It takes a lot of faffing about, including enabling both LG Thinq Alexa skills to get the functionality working, and even then, it’s not great. If you’ve ever owned a Fire Stick, and found Alexa’s ability to link to an Echo and then launch apps, find programmes across multiple services, and all that lovely stuff convenient, you can forget about it here. She doesn’t even know how to launch the Prime Video app. If you ask her to find a specific programme like you can on the Fire Stick, she might occasionally say ‘Here’s what I found’ and nothing happens.If you’re running through a Sky box (and presumably other types of STB), Alexa doesn’t seem able to pause, rewind, etc. although the Magic Remote can do this manually.If you have a hard-of-hearing family member, LG has unfortunately removed the ability for the TV to output audio to two separate devices at once UNLESS one of those devices is the TV’s own speakers. My previous LG TV, a ~2016 model, with a headphone jack, could output to the headphones and a soundbar at the same time. With the headphone jack now removed, it doesn’t seem possible to do this without aftermarket products, even if you hookup headphones to the RCA connections.Some of the default video settings can hurt more than help. Trumotion, for example, has limited use but a lot of the default profiles have it enabled by default. Turn off in Advanced Picture settings if you’re getting the Soap Opera effect.Positives, and room for improvement:TV is very fast. Apps don’t take forever to load, and although WebOS is a little unintuitive in places, it’s easy enough to get the hang of. You will probably find yourself ‘Erring’ through menus early on, trying to find certain functions, but soon it becomes pretty clear how to do what.The Magic Remote, a sort of Universal-remote lite, is very useful. The pointer can be a little temperamental, but being able to control your TV, Sky box, Xbox, soundbar, and other devices too (supports Fire Stick) is very helpful. I find the buttons are a little compact for my stubby fingers, but that’s a minor issue.Image quality is very good. HD is very clear, the colours are vibrant and sports, movies, games, etc. all look fantastic. Obviously, 4K looks good – although I don’t find HD to 4K to be a massive leap – but the HDR is what shines. Watch some of the Netflix Originals, like Stranger Things, in 4K HDR and you should be very impressed, especially during the darker scenes. It really helps bring out the mood of the lighting.
Apple –
Absolutely raging. Seen the adverts about Alexa and how you can control the TV with Alexa. I had the 2017 version of this TV which doesn’t have Alexa integration. I wanted Alexa to control my TV as she controls everything else in my home, so I sold my 2017 TV and bought this 2018 model.Upon setting it up (which was not straight forward), I started using the Alexa controls. The voice commands don’t always work, but the one that really annoyed me is that once you turn the TV off, you can’t turn it back on with Alexa.I thought this was a problem with the TV and contacted LG, they got back in touch advising that none of their TVs able to switch on the TV with Alexa, as the wireless adapter is not powered up in standby mode…My intention was to get rid of the remote or to be able to stop digging down the sides of the sofa. This obviously will not be the case and I spent £160 upgrading my TV for this feature alone.Furthermore, LG were rude and said they never advertised the ability to turn on the TV with Alexa. When I explained that they advertise the ability to control the TV and that I believe any reasonable person would class turning it on and off as a basic level of control, the adviser disagreed with me and said he didn’t believe it was misleading advertising…As I said raging!
humanperson –
Great. Good picture. Lots of features. Magic Remote is good. Program Guide takes a second or to two refresh which could be faster or at least it could cached so you didn’t have to wait for it to populate.
veronicmannin0 –
Were are very happy with this TV having had a 42inch LG before and been very happy with that it was only natural to stay with the LG brand,also a mention for once again the excellent service provided by A O.com.Thankyou.