Well, just for FYI, LG Philips are using their own S-IPS panels and if offers a wider viewing angles at equal sharpness and colour saturation but of course, this panel is only available for LG's LC7R series. I've seen it in action and no doubt, it's impressive. Other than that, Panasonic is using IPS-Alpha in its recently launched 32' 700 series LCD tv, it's also the same technology as LG Philips. All these panels originated from Hitachi, it was licensed to LG Philips, they named theirs as S-IPS panels, mostly made in Korea. The other panel called IPS-Alpha is used by Hitachi, Panasonic and Toshiba. The specs should be the same, just the naming is different. Dell and Apple monitors are using S-IPS panels because it produces the best colours with the widest viewing angles whereas the S-PVA panels used by Sony and Samsung might have better constrast and better blacks but looses out of some minor ghosting and smearing issues. They're using the overdrive mode to achieve decent refresh times but honestly, for your HD gaming, their flaws are quite evident on a 60 fps game like Ridge Racer. I guess that's all I've found out so far.

Why don't you call the technical folks from LG to check on your set? Probably something wrong with the backlight. A nearby coffee shop in my area has been using this model for more than a year, the colour is still spot on and good like a brand new set. No harm giving them a call since your set is still under warranty.