4k Led Hdr Tv Review Blinded by the Light
TechRadar Verdict
Although at that place'south a newer model available, the LG C1 OLED remains one of the best TVs at whatever price. It'due south missing the new OLED evo panels going into the G1 OLED, but even in their absence the C1 produces colorful, bright and rich pictures with support for most types of HDR. There might be 1 or two areas for improvement, merely otherwise the LG C1 OLED remains a nifty selection.
Pros
- +
Beautiful 4K/HDR picture
- +
Four HDMI 2.1 ports
- +
WebOS is fantastic
Cons
- -
Reflective glass surface
- -
Blood-red hues in faces
- -
No HDR10+
Ii-infinitesimal review
Although it'southward since been eclipsed by a newer model, the LG C1 OLED was the follow up to TechRadar'due south best TV of 2020, the LG CX OLED, and won the first-place spot on our list of the best TVs of 2021. At present, of course, there's a new LG C2 OLED out there that'south sweeping awards - but that doesn't mean the C1 OLED is destined for the dump.
That'southward because, every bit it stands, the LG C1 OLED is yet a perfectly feasible selection for a new OLED TV. Information technology uses LG's Alpha a9 Gen. 4 processor for great upscaling and virtual surround audio audio, and with four carve up HDMI 2.1 ports, it's gear up for the PS5, Xbox Series 10, Xbox Series S, and whatever next-gen consoles can throw at it. Gamers volition also appreciate the new Game Optimiser menu that gives yous the option to quickly adjust brightness, contrast and VRR on the fly.
Equally with this year's model, you'll find back up for both Google Assistant and Amazon's Alexa, who can exist summoned using buttons on your remote, and a nigh-consummate repository of streaming services that includes Netflix, Hulu, Disney Plus, Amazon Prime Video and many more.
The LG C1 isn't flawless, every bit nosotros did encounter problems around how the new Blastoff a9 Gen. 4 upscales faces, and how reflective the all-glass screen is in the daylight, but the issues are few and far between.
There are, of course, higher resolution TVs out there right at present like the LG Z1 OLED, which offers 8K resolution, and the previously mentioned LG C2 OLED and LG G1 Gallery Series that uses the coveted OLED evo panels that offer better brightness. However, if you tin find one at the right cost, the LG C1 OLED is still an incredible purchase, and one that comes highly recommended by our staff.
LG C1 OLED: toll and release date
- Bachelor now
- Available in 48-inch to 83-inch screen sizes
- Pricing starts at $ane,499 / £1,699 (around AU$ii,999)
The LG C1 OLED is part of the LG 2021 Television receiver lineup that includes the new LG A1 OLED, LG G1 OLED and LG Z1 OLED, likewise as the new QNED TVs like the QNED99, QNED95, QNED90 and QNED85. The LG C1 is the cheapest OLED in the lineup that uses the new Alpha a9 Gen. iv processor (the A1 OLED volition exist cheaper but uses the a7 processor), however it'southward withal not exactly what we'd consider cheap:
US pricing and release date
- 48-inch OLED48C1PUB retails for $1,499
- 55-inch OLED55C1PUB retails for $1,799
- 65-inch OLED65C1PUB retails for $ii,499
- 77-inch OLED77C1PUB retails for $3,799
- 83-inch OLED83C1PUA retails for $five,999
UK pricing and release date
- 55-inch OLED55C14LA retails for £ane,699
- 65-inch OLED65C14LA retails for £2,499
- 77-inch OLED77C14LA retails for £4,499
- 83-inch OLED83C14LA retails for £half-dozen,999
Commonwealth of australia pricing and release date
- 48-inch OLED83C1PTB retails for AU$2,999
- 55-inch OLED83C1PTB retails for AU$iii,499
- 65-inch OLED83C1PTB retails for AU$four,699
- 77-inch OLED83C1PTB retails for AU$viii,999
- 83-inch OLED83C1PTB retails for AU$12,599
If you compare those prices to last year, the LG C1 OLED costs the exact same as the LG CX OLED cost when it beginning came out concluding twelvemonth, though you lot can now find the latter at a discount now that the LG C1 is readily available. Because there'southward not a significant difference between the ii other than the processor, it'south probably worth picking upwardly concluding year's model at a steep discount if you tin can find ane.
Information technology makes sense that last twelvemonth's TV is now cheaper, but how does the C1 OLED'due south price compare to other OLED TVs? Compared to the new Sony A80J OLED that costs $2,799 for the 65-inch version, the C1 OLED is a bit cheaper for US buyers, but UK buyers volition be paying £four,199 for the 65-inch Sony A80J so the £2,499 C1 OLED is a steal in comparison.
There are cheaper alternatives, however, like the Vizio OLED Television set that starts at just $1,199 for a 55-inch model or the Panasonic HZ980 that costs just £1,098 from Currys. There are some drawbacks to both those TVs (starting with the lack of HDMI two.i ports) but they are cheaper and provide similarly deep blackness levels.
LG C1 OLED: design
- Unibody stand feels hefty and condom
- Razor-thin near the top
- Reflective drinking glass surface
- Fantastic Magic Remote
Information technology tin can feel giddy to talk about how a Telly looks on the outside – information technology's the picture that matters nearly, later on all – but y'all tin can't ignore how nice the LG C1 OLED is pattern-wise. The front end of the Television set is pure minimalism – in that location's a long silvery stand that holds the TV upright and just a millimeter or two betwixt the picture and the edge of the display.
If y'all were to mount it, pretty much all you lot'd see is the screen, but putting information technology on its (quite hefty) stand still looks groovy. That extra heft prevents the Tv set from wobbling and gives the C1 a depression center of gravity.
Spin the Tv set around to the side and you'll meet the razor-sparse OLED screen; it's thinner than your smartphone and it looks a lot nicer, also. Toward the bottom of the TV, about where the stand screws in, the Television set'southward a bit thicker to house the components and the speakers, but fifty-fifty that section isn't larger than most total array LED-LCD TVs.
In fact, the only real trouble with the C1'south pattern is that the forepart all-glass screen is fairly reflective. Put information technology in a moderately lit room with streams of light coming in and it's piece of cake to catch a glare. Sure, that glare subsides some when you've got vivid and colorful content playing on the screen, but whatever night or space scene will have a glare if you can't shut the blinds.
Outside of that one sore spot, however, the rest of the design gets full marks. In terms of ports, the C1 has iv full-spec HDMI 2.1 ports that support 4K at 144Hz, plus y'all've got 3 USBs, RF tuner, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and optical digital audio output. Final just non to the lowest degree, i of the HDMI ports supports eARC/ARC, which is neat for folks with an AVR or soundbar who don't similar to accept more than than ane remote in use.
Speaking of remotes, the LG C1 OLED comes with the wonderful LG Magic Remote that's Bluetooth-enabled and has a born microphone for vocalisation searches. The remote feels groovy in the hand and runs off two AA batteries. What we beloved most is that the UI can either be controlled using Wii-style motility controls or the directional pad, or you can employ the iv quick launch buttons down at the bottom to the most pop apps.
LG C1 OLED: smart Tv
- Back up for nearly every major streaming service
- Quick, responsive UI with AirPlay and Casting
- Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant built-in
If you've used an LG Tv set in pretty much the by decade, you'll know what to look with the C1 OLED – yep, it's WebOS. What makes WebOS an onetime staple of LG TVs is its flexibility to add new channels every bit soon as they ascend, and back up of multiple partners. Put simply, because it doesn't have whatsoever allegiances to Google, Amazon or Apple, WebOS supports all of the in a higher place simultaneously with a zippy UI and robust customization system.
The just major modify this yr is that in that location's more of a focus on the actual ThinQ AI home screen that you'll run into every time yous press the dwelling button. Hither, you'll find your most oftentimes used apps also every bit whatsoever devices you've continued to ThinQ AI.
Speaking of apps, well-nigh every major app is presented and deemed for, including Netflix, Amazon Prime number, Hulu, Vudu, Sling TV, Disney Plus, Paramount Plus and Apple TV. For music streaming your options are slightly more limited, but yous tin can nonetheless pick from Spotify, Plex, Pandora, Amazon Music and more. Apple Music is now available through the Tv too.
- See the consummate list of WebOS apps on LG's website
While WebOS hasn't added many new features this yr exterior of the new homescreen with more rows, there are however some overnice additions from last yr worth calling attending to. Chief among them is Sports integration where, if you tell the C1 what your favorite sports teams are, WebOS will requite you lot score updates and remind you when your teams are playing.
More useful, however, is the support for Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant built correct into the TV that tin can be accessed by pressing the corresponding buttons on the remote, as well every bit support for AirPlay and Casting from your telephone or tablet. We had a bit of problems getting AirPlay to work properly during our testing – just Casting worked perfectly.
LG C1 OLED: picture quality
- Doesn't use the new LG OLED evo panel (but still looks skillful)
- Upscaling is amazing, with one minor exception
- Supports HDR10, HLG and Dolby Vision, but not HDR10+
LG'south 2021 OLED Boob tube lineup is divided into ii categories this twelvemonth: OLED TVs with LG's new OLED evo panels and those without it. For those wondering, the LG C1 doesn't have it – and yet, even without the new panel it's however one of the best OLED TVs nosotros've seen.
What the OLED evo console adds is boosted effulgence through a new lighting element in the cocky-emissive pixels. That's absent-minded from the LG C1 OLED, only we found that it isn't really lacking in brightness. In our moderately vivid (i.e. some ambient low-cal) living room, the movie looked gorgeous. Certain, the reflective glare ate into the inky black levels, but we constitute the brightness of the screen to compensate nicely for the ambient low-cal.
The reason the C1 is able to exercise that is because the lite sensor congenital into the Boob tube measures levels of ambient light and calibrates the film appropriately. If the Telly sees that there's more than lite in the room, it adds actress brightness to the screen. That tiptop brightness still isn't as loftier as, say, the peak luminance on the new Samsung QN900A QLED, but it's getting closer to the one,000-nit mark that rival LED-LCD TVs shoot for.
Speaking of brightness and contrast, the C1 OLED supports most major flavors of HDR – including HDR10, Dolby Vision and HLG – with the minor exception existence HDR10+. That concluding chip means you lot won't run into shows from Amazon Prime alive up to their full potential, simply services like Netflix, Vudu and Disney will all have Dolby Vision content enabled.
Watching the opening of Falcon and The Wintertime Soldier, the crimson reds of Captain America'due south shield and the deep dejection of the sky looked outstanding. And while no office of the show blinded united states with vivid HDR highlights – once more the LG C1 OLED doesn't utilize the new OLED evo panels like the LG G1 OLED – any dark scene looked significantly richer on the C1 OLED than on whatever LED-LCD we tried in the concluding 12 months.
Because the pixels themselves are cocky-emissive, in that location's little to no light drain and objects moving across the screen look cleaner than on LED-LCD TVs. There'due south nevertheless a chip of motion blur, but LG's move processing has seen a real improvement in the concluding few years.
In fact, the just area that could stand to be improved in terms of picture quality is the fashion the Alpha a9 Gen four processor handles faces – leaving a bit of a blood-red hue and graininess. Watching shows like The Grand Tour on Amazon Prime, y'all'll see a dash of redness in the hosts' faces while faces on characters in Hard disk content upscaled to 4K can have some noticeable grain. LG is enlightened of that fact, clearly, as that's a major focus for the Alpha a9 Gen four processor, simply at that place's still a fiddling more work to exist done in that area.
Thankfully, the processor does an splendid chore at upscaling. Films from the mid-2000s await similar they were shot and distributed in 4K despite existence streamed in HD, as does content from an HD OTA antenna – which is a existent feat of engineering.
Speaking of engineering, it's definitely worth talking most the new gaming features on this year'south C-Series OLED as that'due south where the bulk of the innovation is this year. For starters, there's that new Game Optimiser setting that allows you to apace adjust the White Stabilizer, Black Stabilizer and VRR. You've also got back up for ALLM when the OLED detects an incoming game signal through any one of the iv HDMI 2.i ports and a Prevent Input Delay feature that drops input latency to sub-10ms.
Of course, non every game is going to play at 4K/120Hz right now – few even play at 1440p/120Hz or 1080p/120Hz – but y'all'll appreciate those that do. Forza Horizon 4 is amid the chosen few, though, and information technology looks incredible on the C1 OLED. Taking cars out on the backcountry roads feels slick and responsive without compromising on visual fidelity.
Long story brusk, if yous're a gamer-turned-cinephile or vice versa, the LG C1 OLED is competent enough to delight both camps in the visual department and is well worth the upgrade from an LED-LCD TV.
Last but not least, it's worth noting that the LG C1 is totally customizable and great for calibration. If you're someone who loves tweaking flick settings, the C1 has deep customization options for white indicate balancing and individual colour calibration. If that sounds too challenging, however, we found the default Calibrated settings with a neutral color tone instead of warm really makes the Goggle box wait great.
LG C1 OLED: audio functioning
- 40W of Dolby Atmos audio
- two.ii-channel system
- Dialogue can get lost in the mix
- Dolby Atmos passthrough with eARC
Picture enhancements aren't the but tricks up the LG C1 OLED's sleeve this year – information technology's as well got a pretty neat AI Sound upscaling characteristic that transforms basic stereo audio tracks into virtual 5.1.2 Dolby Atmos sound with a off-white amount of verticality and that makes the LG C1 OLED sounds a heck of a lot amend than your standard Telly speakers.
Admittedly, it's non quite ameliorate than a standalone soundbar – especially if you pit it against one of the all-time soundbars like the Sonos Arc – only out-of-the-box sound should be more than acceptable for most people.
The merely real issue we noticed is that, if you don't accept audio leveling turned on, audio can be a bit all over the place – meaning you'll hear booming bass and nearly sibilant highs with weaker dialogue when watching that big new Hollywood blockbuster. For us, it happened during Falcon and The Winter Soldier where the sound effects were fantastic but the actual actors' voices were getting lost in the mix.
Thankfully, if you notice the same effect, you can tweak that past either setting the default sound profile to Enhanced Dialogue or turn on book leveling. Both might mean forgoing some of the booming bass, but the result is a more counterbalanced sound that'south easier to heed to for extended periods of time.
Yet, if you are a soundbar owner or will become one in the nigh futurity, the LG C1 supports ARC and eARC through one of the four HDMI ports. That will allow y'all to laissez passer Dolby Atmos audio from the TV to the soundbar and employ a single remote to control the volume. It'southward extremely convenient, and worth taking advantage of if y'all don't already.
Should you buy the LG C1 OLED?
Purchase information technology if…
Don't purchase it if…
Offset reviewed March 2021.
Source: https://www.techradar.com/reviews/lg-c1-oled-tv-oled65c1
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