The Infinia 50PZ950 comes with a wealth of peripherals, including the Wi-Fi USB dongle, a pair of active shutter glasses, and two remote controls: a regular, backlit remote, and LG's new Magic Motion remote. The latter is a wand-shaped remote equipped with only a few buttons--power, home, volume up/down, channel up/down, mute, enter, and a directional pad. The Magic Motion remote supports gestures such as flicking, rotating, and pointing, and works reasonably well. It reminds me of Nintendo's Wii controller, but it isn't as accurate.
The standard remote is thin, light, and comfortable to hold--and it looks a lot like previous LG remotes we've seen. It has large numbers, several convenient buttons at the top (such as 'Energy Saving', 'AV Mode', 'Input', and 'TV'), a directional pad surrounded by dedicated buttons ('Home', 'Quick Menu', 'Info', and so on), and media playback buttons. The standard remote also has a welcome but somewhat weak backlight.
Internet-Connected TV, Basic Setup, and Onscreen Menus
The Infinia 50PZ950 can access the company's Internet-connected LG Smart TV platform. LG Smart TV contains a Web browser for accessing the Internet directly, plus several preinstalled apps, including Cinema Now, Facebook, Hulu Plus, MLB.tv, Netflix, Twitter, and YouTube. You can find and download additional apps from LG's app store. The Magic Motion remote comes in especially handy with LG Smart TV--it's a treat to be able to point and click in apps, rather than having to use a joypad to move a "mouse" across the screen step-by-step. In case you still long for a keyboard, LG offers a free QWERTY keyboard app that you can download for your iPhone or Android device.
LG's initial setup wizard is quick and perhaps a little too simple. It covers channel setup and nothing else. You can't even connect to the Internet until you plug in an ethernet cord or open your Wi-Fi dongle; perhaps that's why LG skips all the extras. Once you're set up, the onscreen menus are easy to navigate, though a bit busy. Hitting the Home button on the standard remote brings up a list of apps across the bottom of the screen, as well as two columns of apps on the right side, with the picture relegated to a box on the left.