I’ve Examined Over 80 TVs and LG’s G5 OLED Is the Greatest One But

8.8/ 10
SCORE

LG G5 Sequence

Execs

• Highest brightness of any OLED TV but
• Gorgeous picture high quality

Cons

• Brightness enhance not seen in all content material
• Distant is inferior to earlier variations
• Costly

OLED TVs have persistently demonstrated the most effective image high quality in response to our head-to-head exams — with the most effective shadow element, distinction, coloration and black ranges. But, there may be one factor LCD-based TVs have all the time accomplished higher: sheer brightness. That’s, till the LG G5 got here alongside. Lastly, OLED can reclaim its place on the prime of the TV expertise chief board with a mannequin that performs brilliantly in nearly each single respect.

When LG claimed its G5 had a 40% brightness enhance I used to be skeptical as a result of firms make all these bulletins on a regular basis. Moreover, OLED has sometimes been an incremental expertise, with small positive aspects made yearly. The yr 2025 is an exception and LG has made a serious leap ahead in mild output. The G5 is brilliant. Very brilliant. 

Primarily based on my measurements, the claimed enchancment is correct on the cash. Remember that it is just one of many first 2025 OLEDs, and whereas I’ve in contrast its brightness to the Samsung S95F (overview forthcoming) and the LG gained, there are nonetheless others, just like the Sony Bravia 5 II, to come back.

The catch to all that brightness is that its affect varies with several types of video. Whereas I used to be watching typical Blu-ray films or streaming HDR TV exhibits, it was tough to inform the distinction between the LG C4 from 2024, the cheaper C5 I reviewed earlier and the G5. It was primarily in console gaming or notably well-mastered 4K materials that I noticed the benefits. The additional brightness helped in brilliant rooms too.

For a roughly $600 premium on the 65-inch C5, the G5 gives practically twice the potential brightness and higher coloration saturation too. Whereas most OLED generations have skilled a small bump, the G5 is demonstrably higher than some other OLED TV available on the market. If you’d like the punchiest OLED image accessible proper now, it is the LG G5. 

As a counterpoint, if you would like most bang for buck, then final yr’s C4, at a financial savings of greater than $2,000 on the G5, is the OLED to purchase.

Learn extra: I am a TV Reviewer, and Gaming on This New LG OLED Blew My Thoughts

LG G5 OLED TV sizes and sequence comparability

I carried out a hands-on analysis of the 65-inch LG G5, however this overview additionally applies to the opposite display screen sizes within the sequence. All sizes have very comparable specs and may present very comparable image high quality. 

The G5 evo AI sequence, to make use of its full title, is the corporate’s premium wired TV for 2025. The flagship M5 introduced at CES is similar panel but it surely includes a wi-fi connection to the enter field. The remainder of the vary is manufactured from the mid-level C5 and the entry-level B5.

Class from the bottom up

Whereas the C sequence goes for a slim profile, the G sequence is loads chunkier, being about an inch thick. It goes with out saying that whenever you’re watching TV on both of those the variations in thickness do not matter. The G5’s bezel design is stylish with a skinny, black border and a faint metallic rim.

One factor I admire concerning the G5 is that it features a slim wall mount within the field — no extra flailing round on Amazon for an acceptable mount, it is proper there. The corporate additionally produces a separate “desktop stand” which is a gun metallic pedestal. I used the stand as an alternative of the wall mount and located that it was simple sufficient to connect.

Whereas I’m used to the “infrared thermometer” distant that has shipped with LG OLEDs for the previous decade, the 2025 fashions change it up with a extra conventional candy-bar form. It is nonetheless a “magic” distant with a motion-sensitive cursor I might wave across the display screen, however you may as well use it as if it is a common clicker. It has fewer buttons than earlier than, but extra with AI features, and I do miss the devoted enter button (you now want to carry down Residence).

Good TV and AI

The LG G5 comes with the most recent model of the corporate’s webOS software program, which options dozens of streaming apps in addition to integration with the corporate’s ThinQ good platform. Progressively, firms similar to Samsung, Google and LG are focussing on the TV as the middle of the good dwelling and allow you to management your suitable units. As proof of this, the LG distant’s ThinQ button brings up a house display screen of your good units in addition to the TV’s inputs — though I nonetheless desire a devoted enter button! 

From the title alone you may inform the “G5 evo AI” is a 2025 TV and it actually goes overboard with the robots: Alpha 11 AI Processor Gen2, AI Image Professional, AI Tremendous Upscaling and AI Concierge. Whereas most of those features relate to image processing, and are one thing TVs have accomplished in an un-AI guise for years, the Concierge is new. 

I examined the TV’s AI Concierge characteristic on the cheaper C5 and did not discover it to be all that useful. Whereas the AI is meant to be taught out of your watch historical past it is extra restricted than that — it bases its content material suggestions in your interactions with the AI. That is separate from utilizing one other voice assistant or simply the distant management to choose your content material — some folks might discover use for this AI characteristic however I foresee many individuals giving up rapidly.

Like most TVs immediately, the LG C5 has a gallery mode that additionally consists of the power to create your personal AI artwork or add a photograph gallery.

Watch this: LG C5 vs. LG G5: Which OLED Provides the Most for Your Cash

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Greater brightness is simply the beginning

The G5’s OLED panel options the corporate’s Brightness Boosting Final tech, which magnifies every particular person pixel, and it boasts a new 4 layer design (“4 stack”) that features two blue filter layers. It is a departure from the G4 that had a micro-lens array however the variations equate to the upper brightness.

The G5 has an anti-reflective remedy that has been licensed by security group UL as “glare free.” The G5 comes with a 120Hz native refresh price for smoother movement, in addition to Dolby Imaginative and prescient and HDR 10 for extra vivid gaming and film watching. The TV is suitable with Nvidia G-Sync and AMD FreeSync Premium with 165Hz VRR for console and PC gaming. 

• 120Hz Native (VRR 144Hz)
• 4 HDMI inputs with HDMI 2.1, HDCP 2.2
• Three USB 2.0 ports
• Optical digital audio output
• RF (antenna) enter
• RS-232 port (minijack, for service solely)
• Ethernet (LAN) port
• Wi-Fi 6E

Whereas LG was one of many first adopters of the NextGen TV (ATSC 3.0) normal, the corporate has not included tuners in its TVs since 2023.

Excessive-end OLED comparability: LG G5 vs LG C5 vs Samsung S95D 

TV and films

Whereas I used to be capable of get a wonderfully nice image by way of Netflix or Fandango at Residence I did not notice the TV’s full potential till I broke out the Blu-ray participant. With the best materials, the G5 is noticeably brighter than the G4.

From my expertise, Fandango at Residence is among the greatest methods to observe streaming films, with higher-than-normal bit charges. But, when set to their respective Filmmaker Modes, the LG C4, LG C5, LG G5 and Samsung S95D all behaved very equally when watching my choice of take a look at films. I additionally in contrast these TVs in opposition to a TCL QM8, and it was the one one which demonstrated essentially the most important variations (spoiler, it regarded worse than the OLEDs).

The opening scene of It Half One is a good take a look at of a TV’s capabilities with its high-contrast photos and I used to be a little bit stunned to see the 4 OLEDs carry out to an analogous degree. As Georgie begins to descend the steps into the basement you will notice an space of wall subsequent to the railing with some low-level shadow element. The C4, C5 and TCL shadows regarded a little bit extra detailed than the G5 and Samsung but it surely was solely by a small quantity — I needed to look actually laborious. 

Within the intercut photographs of his brother Invoice, the view by the home windows regarded loads brighter and bluer on the TCL than the OLEDs. The drawbacks of LCD expertise had been additionally on show within the cellar as there was a little bit little bit of blue hazing in utterly black areas of the display screen — and that is one thing that OLED does not do, the pixel is just off.

After inconclusive outcomes with It I attempted various colourful and really dynamic films together with Mad Max: Fury Street. In Mad Max (at 4:48) there’s a second in a chase scene the place the warfare boys are preventing Max in a water-filled room. There’s a flame on the proper of body which regarded a little bit brighter on the G5 than the others. The G5 additionally had a little bit extra solidity to it, however once more not a lot. 

I adopted that up, then, with a 4K Blu-ray take a look at disc from Spears and Munsil comprising largely static footage and, other than gaming, right here is the place the C5 and G5 confirmed the variations in efficiency. The C5 nonetheless regarded superb, with deep distinction and loads of coloration saturation, however the G5 confirmed the place the additional $600 was going: brighter photos and clearer, less-green snowy fields. White was extra vibrant on the G5 whereas the C5 was a little bit inexperienced and coloration popped a little bit higher on the G5, too. Most films do not appear to be take a look at discs however not less than I might lastly see a distinction between the 2.

Learn extra: How We Check TVs

Brilliant room

With its ultra-high brightness the LG G5 is already an awesome candidate for brilliant room viewing however this OLED additionally does an awesome job coping with annoying TV glare. By way of reflectivity I graded every of the OLED TVs subjectively from worst to greatest: LG C4> LG C5 > LG G5 > Samsung S95D. The G5 had the second-least reflective display screen however the “winner” Samsung had one other potential challenge. It had the lightest black ranges that translated to form of grey in a lit room. That is the compromise with the Samsung vs the LG G5, you may select both deep blacks or extra reflectivity.

I’ve examined the brightness of the flagship 2025 Samsung S95F and located that it’s not as brilliant, about 2100 lumens, however have but to check it formally head-to-head. Watch this area.

With its gamma of roughly 2.4 in Filmmaker Mode, the G5 is designed to be watched in a darkish room, though its excessive brightness offsets this a little bit.

Gaming

I might argue that the 2 important causes to purchase a high-end TV like this are to a) watch films and b) play HDR video games. Effectively, having examined it, I can say these ARE the 2 causes to purchase it — it is nice at each. Gaming picture high quality is the place the G5 actually pulled forward of the others, with extra consistency than with films.

In a lineup of 4 OLED TVs, the G5 had the clearest-looking gaming mode on my Xbox Sequence X — brighter than the Samsung and two C sequence LGs. I performed Name of Responsibility, which had higher HDR distinction on the G5, though the Samsung did have barely higher coloration.

I performed a number of completely different video games on my four-TV setup and it was right here that the largest variations between the G5, particularly, and the remainder of the lineup appeared. Whereas the C5 regarded pretty much as good because the higher-end Samsung S95D throughout video games, it did not stand as much as the G5. The G5’s pixel response time as examined with the Leo Bodnar take a look at models was about 9ms with Recreation Optimizer Increase mode enabled (Settings>Normal>Recreation Optimizer>Recreation>Stop Enter Delay>Increase). This response time is equal to the most effective I’ve seen with TVs just like the Samsung S95D or the Roku Professional Sequence. The TL:DR is: this TV is nice for gaming.

Uniformity and viewing angle

The G5 was in step with most OLED TVs in that its image was uniform throughout the panel. When considered off-angle there was no considerable coloration shift which suggests the G5 will look good whether or not you are within the useless heart or sitting within the grandparent chair. 

Image settings and testing notes

In testing — each in measurements and in the actual world — the G5 is an enormous enchancment over the G4 from brightness to paint and extra.

It is value mentioning that some TVs may give a greater response in darkness than the G5, which has a Gamma 2.4. This “gamma curve” could also be an trade normal however in our exams, 2.2 provides a greater expertise with extra shadow element.

Filmmaker mode proved to be the general greatest image mode on the G5, each from our quantitative measurements and with the naked eye. Cinema mode was an in depth second but it surely permits some smoothing, which might create the usually undesirable cleaning soap opera impact.

Portrait Shows Calman calibration software program was used on this overview.