By Oo Gin Lee

I first saw Scarlet at Las Vegas in January. She was slim, had a bright red posterior and she was revolving on a pedestal, ever so slowly, to the music.

I felt a tinge of jealousy as several pairs of hands, mostly men's, ran across her body, feeling her smooth curves and sleek lines.

It was the Consumer Electronics Show and Scarlet - the LG 60 LCD TV - was getting oohs and aahs from the visitors on the show floor. Two weeks ago, I got her all to myself (for this review) when the 42-inch version of Scarlet arrived at my doorstep, making her vivid presence felt in the living room.

The first thing that catches your eye is the bright chilli red back panel of this TV. I have no idea who would want to look at that side of a TV, especially when this one appears to be designed for wall mount. (Out of the box, it does not have the base stand attached yet.)

Scarlet scores top marks for her looks. For a 42-inch model, she is amazingly slim at the sides and is great eye candy in the living room. Her front panel bezel is glossy black with a tinge of rose red.

The sound quality is decent but what is amazing is that you won't see the speakers. That's because they're hidden in the extended lower bezel of the front panel.

There is an opening in the middle of this bezel which you can look through. It's not a peephole but a design element. It turns red when the TV is on standby mode. Just put your hand in and touch the underside of the hole to turn the TV on, and touch it again to turn it off. Whenever the TV is turned on, you hear a melody to tell you Scarlet is ready to rock and roll.

With full HD 1,920 x 1,080 resolution, three HDMI ports, two component and two composite, there's more than enough connectivity to plug in all the home entertainment devices like a Blu-ray player, DVD player, game console and more. There's also a USB port for you to put a USB stick in to enjoy your pictures, movies and music.

The picture quality was good with accurate reproduction of colours.

Watching the polar bears and melting ice lakes of the BBC production, Planet Earth, shot in 1080p, was very realistic. The viewing angle is wide and I could get an undistorted view even when looking from the side.

However, I found the power of the built-in speakers a little weak and the menu of the remote control was not very intuitive. I also had some problems trying to hook up my DVD player via the component cable as I could not get an image but had no problems with composite and HDMI.

FINAL SAY

At $3,299, it's not the cheapest of 42-inch full HD TVs but still a decent price for a good looker with an attitude and good picture quality.