Top critical review
3.0 out of 5 starsFrustrating Alexa, CEC, Stutter.
Reviewed in the United States on January 30, 2023
For me, a TV is 50/50 picture/convenience. This is a zero on convenience. (Update 3/19/23 I'll Never buy an LG tv again).
Forget the nonsense about "oleds don't get that bright". People are just saying stuff that they hear the pros saying because it's a couple hundred nits lower than an LED set. It's plenty bright for HDR highlights and daytime viewing. I have to squint my eyes. And if you're like most people who work a 9-5 and mostly watch tv in the evenings - you'll find it bright enough. Come on people.
Let's start with the UGLY:
CEC: NIGHTMARE
I have a PS5, XBSX, Shield Pro. Whether these devices are all plugged into tv then ARC-> Yamaha receiver, -OR- everything plugged into a new Denon 760H receiver then eARC-> tv, it's equally faulty. The tv likes to turn on my PS5 whenever I hit the input button (it shows the row of inputs first like it should, but then turns on and switches to PS5, also whenever I hit the back button from the ThinQ menu (I need to remember to hit the HOME button instead) and other odd buttons it fires up the PS5. Last night it did this when I hit the settings button ?!? Cannot get the Shield Pro to turn the tv on when it powers on. Yet, it will turn the tv on when it's connected to my 10 year old Yamaha receiver (eARC to tv).
The Universal Control Management is terrible. So much bloated crap on this TV.
Auto-resume?!? Pause while watching netflix. 3 minutes later it starts playing. Watching something on plex- exit to home screen. 5 min later it switches to Plex and resumes movie.
ALEXA: HORRIBLE
This has to be the WORST Alexa integration EVER. My 3 year old Sony 900h connected on day one and has been FLAWLESS. Same with my $400 TCL roku tv. I say "Alexa, turn off xxx tv" and it would work 100% of the time. NOT ON THIS TV. It took me a week to troubleshoot, uninstalling apps, reinstalling (why are there 2 different LG devices on the Alexa app?!?). I'd say it works 10% of the time. Usually it says "LG tv is not responding, please check it's network and power connection). If I grab the LG remote and hit the Alexa button and tell it to turn off it will work. But I could obviously just hit the power button on the remote.
UPDATE: try calling the Tv "tv" instead of "lg tv" . ALSO-" the tv has its own Alexa built in. Our echo dots are all named "echo" so this actually works quite well. Try calling "alexa" to the tv and issuing command. This has been working lately rather than telling my dot "echo, pause the tv". We'll see tomorrow. /update. (This still only works 50% of the time. Usually says " network error". 3/19/23)
LEARNING CURVE: STEEP AF
Make sure to register at AVSFORUM and read up/post your questions. The menu settings are very confusing and oddly placed. Read the manual, do your research. Go onto RTINGS.
REMOTE: LOVE/HATE
The pointer wheel is kind of cool and probably quicker most of the time. It's like using a Wii remote but far more accurate and stable. The problem is when you just want to click over and select something (by pressing the wheel in). But my finger slips and instead of pressing the wheel in it turns the wheel which brings up the pointer and takes much longer to do what I need to do. There's also no Play/Pause button, you need to press in the wheel.
I consider myself a person of average intelligence but it's 2023 All remotes should have 3 things MANDATORY:
1. ALL buttons need to light up when lifted (like the Shield remote).
2. There ABSOLUTELY NEEDS to be a sliding LOCK BUTTON to prevent accidental button press (and kid mischief).
3. It needs to have a remote finder. Go into the app, hit a button, the remote makes a sound.
(4). It would be nice to have a few learning buttons and customizable app buttons, not just Netflix.
"Gallery" feature is a missed opportunity. It only appears if you are on an external input after the device has been powered off. Or you can select the gallery app manually. Here's a stellar idea - why not use the gallery as the screensaver instead of the ugly fireworks or clock?
GAMING: SUPERB
Playing Horizon Forbidden West on PS5 at 60+ FPS in 4K is absolutely ASSAULTING on the eyes. It looks incredible! TV is responsive in regards to input lag and response time. When the tv is in GAME MODE, hitting the options button on the TV brings up the GAME menu which shows you all the gaming-related options and displays the current FPS on screen. Very nice.
MOVIES: OBJECTIVE
No TV is perfect. Side viewing angle is big for me. I can see the color washout sitting 12" over on the couch while watching my Sony 900h LCD tv. Unacceptable. This TV has an AWESOME VIEWING ANGLE. Go to RTINGS to view and compare. There is no discernable color/luminance washout in any seat in my living room. You need to go off to the extreme right/left to notice it.
My dvd backups played via PLEX app on TV look incredible, thanks to the rich OLED blacks. 1080p BD rips also look fantastic (compared to my LCD SONY 900h). And of course 4k content looks great. We all know about the "inky" blacks of OLED, no need to talk about it. Image quality is the best I've seen.
STUTTER/(Judder?):
This is a big one for me. During panning shots, usually when there is something tall and thin not moving on the screen there is a HORRIBLE STUTTER effect. It's jaggy and looks like the picture can't keep up. It's extremely jarring and takes me right out of the experience. This is due to the extremely fast response time of OLED technology. I find it extremely undesirable and a flaw. Options to mitigate this will introduce the Soap Opera effect, which is worse IMO.
SOUND OUTPUT
Sound on the tv is fine. The usual. Sound output via ARC/eARC will only output the basics: stereo, Atmos, Dolby Digital and (DD+) to your receiver. And there is a difference between this DD and the DD you will find on a DVD/Blu Ray. It's a much more boring, stripped-down version (as with the Atmos I have heard) It's a lower bitrate signal. But it will suffice if you're going for a true 1-remote system. The TV will NOT OUTPUT DTS, DTS-MA, DD True HD via ARC/eARC. ***UPDATE: RECENT NEWS INFORMED THAT LG MIGHT START OFFERING DTS OUTPUT VIA ARC. IT'S UNSURE WHETHER THIS TV WILL RECEIVE THIS UPDATE*** Go onto RTINGS to check this info. Most TV's these days do not support outputting hi res audio signals which is unfortunate. The Nvidia Shield Pro is the recommended set-top box if hi-res audio is important to you.
webOS: fine
Everyone seems to hate on the webOS. Look, they ALL have ads. I much prefer the Google Android (SONY tv, Shield) OS. But this one is fine. It offers all the apps I need: Netflix HBO MAX, Hulu, Disney +, and all the other ones, and displays them in a row at the bottom of the screen. You can easily go to what you want without looking or noticing all the other ads and crap on the tv. There is also another "ThinQ" app home screen where you can look at more crap you will probably never use. I stay away from all of this and hit my buttons very precisely otherwise one wrong move and I will launch the PS5 or some other device via CEC.
HINT: If your PS5 (maybe other devices too) does turn on, hit the (...) button on the LG remote to bring up a menu where you can put the PS5 back into sleep mode.
EYES
It took about 6 weeks for my eyes to adjust to this tv. Not sure of it was the detail, the brightness (it's plenty bright for me) or the blue light - whatever - my eyes got strained. It felt like a dull pressure behind my eyeballs. I'm 43 and perhaps I have some eye issues, so this is objective. I'm sort of used to it now, however I do start to feel eye strain in excess of 2/3 hours. Sooner if gaming.
BOTTOM LINE: WOULD I BUY THIS TV AGAIN?
I don't think so, especially now with other brands (SONY) offering OLED. I just don't think I should have so much to complain about with a $2500 tv. I would expect it with HiSense, TCL, Westinghouse basement bargain garage sale tvs, but not with a top shelf LG OLED.
I would NOT choose OLED if there was another tech that offered similar gaming response time, decent black levels, and NO STUTTER during panning shots. This is like right on the edge of being a deal-breaker for me.
1/30/23 - I will update when/if things change. 3/19/23. I still hate this tv. Love the picture quality but just HATE the way it operates and all the shortcomings. No more LG for me.
