Lloyd 3DLED55 3D LED LCD TV

Several brands are jumping on the 3D bandwagon nowadays, from 3D Blu-ray players, to 3D home theatre systems to 3D HDTVs. The consumer is spoilt for choice when it comes to electronics these days. With the festive season of Diwali drawing near, manufacturers are offering great deals on products that are otherwise rather expensive. Lloyd is a popular brand for electronics and home appliances such as air conditioners, washing machines, televisions, etc. The company has launched a 55-inch 3D LED TV that boasts full HD video playback capabilities, high dynamic contrast ratio, USB ports and various other features. So should you consider this television this Diwali? Read on to find out.

Sturdy base for this large television

Design and Build Quality
When we first saw this television, it was like deja vu. From the front, it looks a lot like the LG LW6500. It looks good with its slim form, which is similar to that found on most LED televisions these days. Like the LG HDTV, this television too has a glossy black bezel with the edges being finished in clear plastic. It, however, does have a red hue between the black bezel and the clear plastic edge.

The bezel is quite wide, which is fine since this is, after all, a 55-inch display. Though the bezels of high-end LCD TVs are getting slimmer these days, Lloyd has stuck to a chunkier one with this model. The touch sensitive controls are located at the bottom right of the front panel and light up when touched. Like the red glow coming from the controls, there is a red LED indicator above the Lloyd branding at the centre of the bezel.

The back panel is made of metal, unlike TV’s from most other manufacturers, who stick with plastic. Due to the metallic finish, the television retains its sturdy feel. Connectivity options for this television are located at the back. These I/O connections are side and downward facing. There is a wide variety of ports and this TV can actually compete with the Samsungs or LGs in the market. There are three HDMI ports along with two USB ports, and single component, coaxial, VGA, 3.5mm audio and Ethernet ports.

Rear connectors are well spaced

The base of the stand looks quite nice and is made of plexi-glass. We don’t find too many transparent stands nowadays, so Lloyd has done well to deviate with the look of this base. The build quality of the stand is really good and it supports the television without any problems. The remote control has a glossy black finish so one can expect a lot of finger prints on it while it is being used. The buttons are well spaced and the overall build of the remote is good. Bundled with the television is a pair of passive 3D glasses. These glasses are lightweight and very comfortable. Along with the glasses, the company has thrown in micro fiber cloths to help keep the glasses clean.

Though the 3DLED55 is not one of the best looking televisions we have seen in the recent past, it certainly is not the worst, and where build quality is concerned, it can rival the best in the market.

Features
The feature list of the 3DLED55 is pretty vast. The main feature, of course, is the 3D capabilities it possesses. One can watch 3D content by connecting a 3D Blu-ray player to it and running a 3D Blu-ray disc. Apart from that, a common trend found in 3D televisions is the ability to convert 2D content into 3D. The depth of the 3D can also be adjusted from the 3D settings menu. We found this to be the best feature of the TV by far. Flicker is a common phenomenon of 3D televisions that use active shutter glasses. Lloyd has removed this annoying trait by using passive glasses.

Glasses are extremely comfortable

Another interesting facet is the ability of the USB ports to read NTFS drives in a plug-and-play manner. Unlike FAT32 drives, the NTFS format allows you to plug in external hard drives drives and play back files that are larger than 4 GB, which is usually the case with HD movies. This television supports many media extensions, including the popular AVI and MKV. The interface is really quite good. It looks similar to the XMB (X-cross Media Bar) that is found on Sony players and televisions. Though it is similar looking, the Lloyd has a lot more colour and widgets. Understanding the interface is pretty simple and one can get used to it in a matter of minutes.

The speakers are downward firing, which is not an uncommon feature in LED TVs. Most LED television nowadays feature 1080p video playback, and this one is no different. The 3DLED55 has packs in Smart TV capabilities, whereby you can stream video over the Web through video sharing sites like YouTube. This can be done easily by connecting an Ethernet cable to the rear of the television. The 3DLED55 is really quite feature-rich and stands on level ground with industry-leaders such as LG, Sony, Samsung, etc.