LG G6 (OLED65G6V) UHD 4K TV Review

Does the performance justify the price?

by Steve Withers
MSRP: £5,999.00

What is the LG G6?

The G6 is LG's flagship or as they like to call it 'Signature' model in their 2016 OLED TV range. As such it includes all the features found on the cheaper E6 but adds a movable soundbar stand and some other cosmetic changes. Naturally the G6 still uses a 10-bit Ultra HD 4K panel, it is Ultra HD Premium Certified and includes a wider colour gamut, along with support for High Dynamic Range (HDR) and Dolby Vision. There is also support for passive 3D and the G6 comes with two pairs of glasses included, along with two remote controls and four HDMI inputs. LG have packed just about every feature they can think of into the G6, including Harman/Kardon sound and the latest iteration of their excellent WebOS Smart TV platform. The G6 comes in two screen sizes, the 65-inch OLED65G6V which costs £5,999 and the 77-inch OLED77G6V, which will set you back a whopping £24,999 as at the time of writing (August 2016). So the big question is does the 65G6V offer enough of an improvement in terms of performance and features to justify an extra £1,000 compared to the superb 65E6V? Let's find out...

Design

The G6 has a similar design ethos to the cheaper E6, so you get what LG refer to as 'Picture on Glass' construction. The OLED panel is bonded with a transparent plane of glass, resulting in a TV that is just millimetres thick but remains strong and robust. The design is certainly striking, creating a TV that is both minimalist and contemporary in appearance. Aside from a black border around the screen and the glass backing there is nothing to distract the eye from the picture itself. The build quality is excellent and despite being so thin, the G6 remains solid and well-engineered with the feeling of a premium product that befits its status as LG's flagship Signature TV this year. In terms of measurements the G6 is 1461 x 883 x 243mm (WxHxD) with the soundbar down and 1461 x 892 x 68mm with it up, whilst the TV weighs in at 31.7kg.
LG OLED65G6
LG OLED65G6

Although the E6 also has a built-in soundbar, the G6 has gone one further with all the rear-facing connections and electronics being housed in the soundbar stand, along with the speakers and amplification. This means that the G6 is genuinely thin across most of the panel, aside from where it actually connects to the soundbar. Since almost everything is in the soundbar stand, it can't be detached from the panel itself but LG have come up with an ingenious solution. The soundbar can sit flat and act as both a set of forward-firing speakers and a stand or it can be rotated back, so that it fits behind the panel with the connections now facing upwards. In this configuration the G6 realigns its audio, so that the sound is still being fired forwards. So you have the choice of stand mounting the G6, which will require a surface that is at least as wide as the TV itself, or wall mounting the TV using 400x200 VESA brackets.
The G6 incorporates LG's 'Picture on Glass' design with a movable soundbar for stand or wall mounting

Connections & Control

All the connections are built into the soundbar and face rearwards when the G6 is stand mounted and upwards when the TV is wall mounted. On the left hand side are the AV inputs, which use break-out cables for composite and component video input, along with analogue audio. There are also connectors for the built-in terrestrial and satellite tuners, as well as an optical digital output, a headphone jack and RS-232 for serial control. Finally there's an Ethernet port for a wired connection, although the G6 also has built-in wireless capability using the 802.11 a/c standard and support for both WiDi and Bluetooth.
LG OLED65G6
LG OLED65G6

On the right hand side there are four HDMI 2.0a inputs, the second of which supports ARC (Audio Return Channel). There are also three USB ports (two 2.0 and one 3.0) and a CI (Custom Interface Slot). We tested the HDMI inputs and were surprised to discover that the G6 was incapable of accepting a 4K 50/60p signal; if we used anything higher than 4K 30p the TV just didn't recognise the signal. According to an EDID check that we performed with our Murideo Fresco Six-G, the HDMI inputs should be able to handle up to 4K 60p, so we can only assume there is a bug in the software. We also noted that only HDMI inputs 1 and 2 support HDMI Ultra HD Deep Colour – when all four inputs on the E6 support it – which is strange when you consider that the G6 is the flagship model.
LG OLED65G6
LG OLED65G6

The G6 comes with exactly the same remote controls as the E6, the only difference is that the G6 controllers have a black and champagne gold finish and the words 'LG Signature' on them, otherwise they are identical. Not that it's a bad thing because this higher-end version of the Magic Remote is attractive, well made and comfortable to hold. It's ergonomically designed to be easily used with one hand and as a result controlling the user interface on the G6 was seamless. All the main buttons are sensibly laid out with the navigation controls and track wheel in the middle and the remote includes voice control. The pointer function is responsive and precise, perfectly complimenting the WebOS smart TV platform, making controlling and navigating the G6 easy. If for some reason you find the larger remote unwieldy or too complicated, there is also a smaller remote control included which offers a stripped down set of buttons that covers the most frequently used functions. If two controllers aren't enough, there is also a free remote app for both iOS and Android that is quite effective.
The G6 is feature-packed with Dolby Vision, passive 3D, dual remote controls and WebOS 3.0

Features & Specs

Since the G6 is the Signature flagship model in LG's OLED range for 2016 it comes with just about every feature imaginable. There is a 10-bit Ultra HD 4K panel (3,840 x 2,160 pixels) that includes a wider colour gamut of at least 90% of DCI-P3 and support for High Dynamic Range (HDR). All LG's OLED TVs are certified as Ultra Premium by the UHD Alliance and they are currently the only manufacturer in the UK that not only supports HDR 10 but also Dolby Vision. For an OLED TV to achieve Ultra HD Premium certification it not only has to use a 10-bit panel and have a native colour gamut of over 90% of DCI-P3, but it also has to be able to deliver a dynamic range that goes from 0.0005 to 540nits. In terms of other features the G6 not only includes LG's Perfect Mastering Engine, 3D Colour Mapping and 4K Upscaling but also their HDR Effect feature and support for passive 3D, with two pairs of glasses included. The G6 comes with two remotes, including a newly designed Magic Remote Control, which has Natural Voice Recognition, Magic Zoom and Universal Control Capability. There's also a free remote app for iOS and Android, if you'd rather use your smart device as a controller
LG OLED65G6
LG OLED65G6

As already mentioned the G6 uses LG's 'Picture on Glass' construction for an elegant and robust panel and it has a built-in 4.2-channel soundbar that can be moved for wall mounting. The soundbar is designed by Harman/Kardon and includes 60W of built-in amplification, with 20W allocated to the built-in woofers. The G6 includes Dolby and DTS decoding, along with other features such as Surround Mode, Clear Voice and Wireless Sound Sync. There's also built-in WiFi, WiFi Direct and Bluetooth, along with Simplink (HDMI CEC), Screen Share and Content Share. There are four HDMI 2.0a inputs, all of which support Ultra HD 4K, HDR and HDCP 2.2 and one of which supports ARC. The Smart TV platform uses WebOS 3.0, which is now more responsive and includes the LG Content Store, a Full Web Browser and the Magic Mobile Connection. The platform also includes the main video streaming services such as Amazon, Netflix, Now TV, YouTube, Wuaki TV and BBC iPlayer. WebOS has had a few tweaks including a new zoom feature and a Magic Mobile Connection but it is essentially the same as previous generations. After all when something is both successful and influential, there seems no reason to change and it remains one of the best designed and most intuitive Smart TV systems available.

Picture Settings Video

Picture Settings - Out-of-the-Box

As is normally the case with LG TVs, the two ISF Expert Picture Modes were closest to the industry standards of Rec.709 and D65 and they also conveniently turned off most of the special features and selected the correct Colour Temperature of Warm2. As a result all we then needed to do was set the OLED Light, Contrast, Brightness and Gamma controls to suit our particular viewing environment. For our purposes we also turned TruMotion off, turned the Horizontal and Vertical Sharpness controls down to zero and turned the Edge Enhancer off.
LG OLED65G6
The ISF Expert Picture Modes provide the most accurate starting point and the out-of-the-box greyscale performance on the G6 was very good. All the primary colours were tracking close together and the gamma was tracking around our 2.4 target. As a result the overall DeltaEs (errors) were all less than three and most were less than two. However, since the G6 includes both 2- and 20-point white balance controls and a gamma control, we should be able to improve this performance still further via calibration.
LG OLED65G6
The out-of-the-box colour gamut was also very good and, as you can see on the graph above, all the colours were tracking their targets quite closely. Since the G6 includes a full Colour Management System (CMS) we would expect to improve on this performance even more, especially after we've calibrated the greyscale.
The out-of-the-box performance was very good but the overall colour accuracy was disappointing

Picture Settings - Calibrated

The G6 includes a comprehensive set of calibration controls, including both 2- and 20-point white balance controls, a detailed gamma control and a full Colour Management System (CMS), so we should be able to improve that rather inaccurate out-of-the-box performance. However LG's calibration controls have been somewhat buggy in the past, so we might not be able to correct everything. We tested the G6 using our Klein K-10A colour meter, our Murideo Fresco Six-G pattern generator and CalMAN 5 calibration software.
LG OLED65G6
We started by calibrating the greyscale using the 2-point control and then we fine-tuned each 5 IRE point using the 20-point. As you can see from the graph above, the greyscale tracking was almost perfect after calibration. All the DeltaEs were basically at zero, with the exception of 90IRE and although the error was still small we just couldn't get the controls to fully correct blue at that point. If we moved the blue control far enough to bring that colour down at 90IRE, it adversely affected the gamma, so we decided to leave it with a small but imperceptible error. However the gamma was tracking our target of 2.4 precisely and overall we were happy with this greyscale performance. At the risk of repeating ourselves, we had no problems calibrating the greyscale on the E6.
LG OLED65G6
Once we had calibrated the greyscale, all that blue was gone and the colour temperature of white was now measuring at our target of D65 precisely, as evidenced by the dot being at the centre of the square in the middle of the graph above. This immediately improved some of the hue errors in the colour gamut that we measured previously and, using the CMS, we then fine-tuned the overall colour performance. Whilst most of the colours were tracking their saturation targets quite well, we struggled with magenta which had some unfortunate hue errors. The overall performance was good but we expect better from a flagship TV at this price point and once again the E6 was more accurate in this respect.

Picture Settings - High Dynamic Range

We have introduced new tests to see how a TV performs in terms of mapping the PQ EOTF for HDR at up to 10,000nits, and how it tracks the Rec.2020 colour space within the confines of its native colour gamut. The G6 supports both HDR 10 and Dolby Vision but for these tests we're using HDR 10 as the basis for our measurements. When the G6 detects an HDR signal a notice appears in the top right hand corner of the screen and it automatically defaults to the relevant mode, which for HDR 10 is called HDR and for Dolby Vision is called Dolby Vision.

In the HDR mode you get three choices – Vivid, Bright and Standard Picture Modes and we would always recommend using the latter; whilst for Dolby Vision the choice is Vivid, Movie Bright and Movie Dark and in this case Dolby themselves recommend using Movie Dark. The majority of the controls default to their correct settings for HDR/Dolby Vision but we would recommend turning down any Sharpness controls, turning off the Edge Enhancement and TruMotion features and, for HDR 10, selecting the Wide Colour Gamut which should track Rec. 2020.
LG OLED65G6
The G6 delivered an almost identical performance to the E6 in our first test, which shows how well it tracks the PQ EOTF used for HDR. The measurements shown above are for an out-of-the-box performance based upon a basic setup and the LG is tracking the EOTF very closely and rolling off at around 70IRE. The greyscale is also tracking very well, aside from an excess of blue again and overall the errors are around three, until the curve rolls off at 70IRE, when it goes up to just under six. We measured black at 0.000nits and peak brightness at 680nits on a 10% window in the HDR Standard mode, which means the G6 easily meets and exceeds the minimum criteria for Ultra HD Premium certification. We also measured the HDR Vivid mode at a peak brightness of 706nits and HDR Bright Room at 725nits but those settings were horribly inaccurate. An HDR TV is supposed to map content mastered at a higher peak brightness to its native capabilities without clipping but when sending a 4,000 or 10,000nits HDR test pattern to the G6 it was clipping above 600nits, just like the E6.
LG OLED65G6
The G6 delivered a wide colour gamut, with a native measurement that was 94% of DCI-P3, which equates to just under 69% of Rec. 2020. Strangely we got slightly bigger measurements when we tested the E6. There is currently some debate over which is the best approach to measuring a display's colour gamut performance with HDR content. Some experts suggest measuring the native colour gamut against the saturation points for Rec. 2020 and others recommended measuring the DCI-P3 saturation points within the Rec. 2020 colour space.
LG OLED65G6
In the interests of completeness we have included both graphs in this review. The first shows how the G6 tracks to the saturation points for Rec. 2020 and as you can see there are some noticeable errors. The second graph shows how the G6 tracks the DCI-P3 saturation points within the Rec. 2020 container and in this test the LG does better, although there are still plenty of errors when it comes to the saturation measurements. Since neither performance is ideal, and both are worse than the corresponding results for the E6, so we feel that LG has some work to do in this area.
Although brighter than the E6, some HDR content was clipped and the Rec. 2020 tracking could be better

Picture Quality

Black Levels and Contrast Ratios


Since the G6 is an OLED TV it shouldn't come as a surprise to discover that 0IRE measured at 0.000nits and the LG also had no problems hitting our standard dynamic range target of 120nits. The ANSI contrast ratio measured at a very impressive 130,000:1 but we actually got a slightly better number out of the E6. LG have improved the gradations of black this year, which relates to the detail visible as an image transitions out of black and into the very dark grey parts of the image. To improve this performance LG have built a slight dip into the gamma curve just above black that reveals more detail but you might also need to move the brightness control up a couple of notches to avoid additional crush, depending on your viewing environment. Although there was no doubt that LG have improved the near black performance of their OLED TVs, we did see some slight noise and blockiness in areas just above black on occasion

Screen Uniformity, Viewing Angles and Image Retention


As we had already discovered when we reviewed the C6 and E6, LG have made significant improvements in terms of the banding that was visible just above black on previous generations of OLED. Although it was still apparent if we went looking for it with test patterns, we were never aware of it when watching actual content. The other major issue with previous generations of OLED has been the vignetting or dark edges that tended to manifest when the TV was showing images with dark scenes just above black. In would appear that LG have largely managed to eliminate this problem, with vignetting not being an issue on any of the OLEDs that we have measured this year, although have a heard a few reports of owners experiencing the problem.

We're pleased to say that in testing our review sample had absolutely no issues with screen uniformity, yellow tint or dead pixels; nor was there any of the banding, lines on the screen or other issues that have been reported by some owners. The G6 was also free of any uniformity, discolouration or other issues and simply delivered a lovely image that was basically identical to the E6 that we tested earlier.

As we would expect from an OLED TV the off-axis performance was also exceptional, allowing us to watch the screen from just about any angle without the contrast performance or colour accuracy dropping off. LG have gone to great lengths to ensure that their OLED TVs don't suffer from image retention or screen burn, which includes safety features such as dimming the screen if a static image is left up and washing the panel whilst in standby mode. Although we didn't have any issues with image retention on the G6 with normal content, when using test patterns we did occasionally see image retention, although it quickly went away.

Motion Handling


As with all the OLED TVs that we have reviewed to date, the G6 uses the 'sample-and-hold' approach which means the panel displays and holds a static frame until the next one is refreshed. As a result the LG was delivering around 300 lines of resolution with TruMotion turned off and this could immediately be improved by selecting any of the TruMotion options (Smooth, Clear and User). Unfortunately using TruMotion will make film-based content look unnaturally smooth and we could also see artefacts being added in some of our testing. The effect of motion smoothing is very much a matter of personal preference and you are certainly free to experiment with TruMotion when watching sports content but we would always recommend leaving TruMotion off for film-based content. We didn't experience any issues with judder but if you do feel that there is noticeable judder, the de-judder control in the User TruMotion setting could help but be careful not to introduce excessive smoothing with film-based content.

Standard and High Definition


The ability for a TV to deliver a good image is entirely dependant on whether it gets the basics right. If the TV can deliver an accurate greyscale and colour gamut, if it can deinterlace and scale content effectively and if it also has good motion handling, then the image produced should be good. So it proved with the G6 and despite some minor niggles about colour accuracy, the images it produced were generally excellent. In fact, aside from the E6, they are probably the best standard dynamic range images that we have seen this year. All the factors that we have just listed, along the OLED's inherently deep blacks and wider viewing angle revealed a lovely looking picture. Standard definition content was deinterlaced and scaled very well and the G6 was able to deliver natural and detailed images, within the limitations of the source content. If the standard definition was heavily compressed there wasn't much the LG could do about that but with a good DVD the pictures could look surprisingly decent.

Once we moved on to high definition material, the image took a significant step up in quality but all the factors we listed in the previous sections remain important. The accurate greyscale and colour gamut, combined with the deinterlacing and scaling resulted in wonderfully detailed high definition images. The deep blacks and the bright picture delivered plenty of contrast that gave the images more impact and the motion handling was also good. When it came to the better high definition broadcasts like BBC nature documentaries, the results were often breath-taking. As soon as we moved on to Blu-ray, the progressive images and better compression resulted in some very impressive pictures. A recent purchase like Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice looked spectacular with the blacks of the OLED really lending themselves to the darker tone. The colours appeared accurate and the highlights popped, whilst the incredible levels of detail easily revealed the added grain that was a creative decision on the part of the filmmakers.

3D


We said it before and we'll say it again but damn 3D looks good on LG's 2016 OLEDs. In fact we'd go as far as to say that this is the best 3D has ever looked on a TV and if three-dimensional entertainment is your thing, then you should definitely be buying an LG OLED. The G6 was another great example of how good this format can look and the passive technology combined with the panel's resolution, the increased brightness and the inherent strengths of OLED resulted in amazing Full HD 3D images. There was plenty of depth but absolutely no issues with crosstalk and the images were bright without any flicker, resulting in a highly enjoyable experience. The blacks were deep, the colours natural and the images detailed, whilst motion was also good in a superb all-round 3D performance. The G6 aced the Spears & Munsil 3D torture tests and recent purchases like Zootropolis and Kung Fu Panda 3 looked fantastic. If you're a fan of 3D then LG's 2016 OLEDs are the best we've seen and with the format being quickly phased out, now might be the time to pick one up.

HDR Effect


LG had added a feature called HDR Effect which is designed to take a Standard Dynamic Range (SDR) image and give it the appearance of High Dynamic Range (HDR). It achieves this illusion by mapping the content's Rec.709 colour gamut to the TV's native colour gamut and manipulating the gamma curve to brighten highlights and darken the shadows, resulting in an image with more contrast. The HDR Effect Picture Mode offers three different settings – Low, Medium and High – although as we toggled between them we really couldn't see much difference. You can also change various picture settings, allowing you to customise the experience based on your personal preference.

Since the HDR Effect is manipulating SDR content, it can't add what wasn't there to begin with; so although an image may appear to have brighter highlights, the detail in those highlights may be missing when compared to the same scene actually graded in HDR. The mode also deviates from the industry standards, resulting in images that can appear over-saturated and highlights that can appear blown-out. As video purists we would always rather use the correct settings for both SDR and HDR material and thus remain true to the content creator's original vision.

High Dynamic Range


We have reviewed a number of OLED TVs this year and have found their performance with HDR to be rather underwhelming. We suspect that part of the problem may be that the standard dynamic range images look so good and the blacks are so deep that many of the benefits of HDR are less apparent than they are on an LED LCD TV. It was certainly in the darker parts of HDR images that the G6 impressed the most, producing deep blacks and plenty of detail in the shadows. We found that our favourite darker scenes from Sicario and Mad Max: Fury Road looked very impressive on the LG, with images that retained a solid foundation when it came to the lower end of the dynamic range. The fact that OLED uses self illuminating pixels means that it has far greater precision when delivering specular highlights in images, even if those highlights aren't as bright as they are on LED LCD TVs. Despite our reservations about the Rec. 2020 colour tracking on the G6, in general colours looked very good and were suitably natural on reference Ultra HD Blu-rays like Sicario and The Revenant.

So far the only TVs we have tested that can correctly tone map 4,000 and 10,000nits content are Samsung KS SUHD models, all the other manufacturers, including LG, appear to have issues with any content mastered at a peak brightness higher than 1,000nits. As a result the G6 incorrectly mapped HDR content mastered at more than 1,000 nits which resulted in clipping. This was particularly obvious in the arrival at Neverland scene on the Ultra HD Blu-ray of Pan, which was mastered at 4,000nits. There is a shot in the scene where the sun is setting behind a mountain and it should be a clearly defined circle but on the G6 the sun is clipped, appearing as a patch of colour with no definition or detail. However when watching the exact same scene on the Samsung KS9500, the sun was well defined, which proves it isn't an issue with the Ultra HD Blu-ray. Interestingly we have the same scene in Dolby Vision and on the G6 it was correctly rendered, which suggests that Dolby Vision may be better implemented on the LG.

At present LG are the only manufacturer in the UK to offer TVs that support Dolby Vision, a proprietary version of HDR that is an end-to-end solution. As with HDR 10, Dolby Vision can support a maximum peak brightness of up to10,000nits and the Rec.2020 colour space but it also has a maximum video depth of 12-bits as opposed to 10-bit with HDR 10. Dolby Vision uses dynamic metadata on a scene-by-scene basis, rather than the static metadata currently used by HDR 10. Although Dolby Vision is a great format, it is currently only supported by a few display brands because most manufacturers would rather use the open source HDR 10 than rely solely on Dolby for their HDR solution. Dolby Vision is delivered via the TV's SoC (System-on-Chip), which is why it can't be added to a non-Dolby Vision TV or upgraded. There is also limited Dolby Vision content available and at present the only source in the UK is currently Netflix.
The G6 delivered a lovely picture but as with other OLED TVs we found HDR a little underwhelming

Sound Quality

The G6 comes with a built-in Harman/Kardon soundbar with a 4.2 configuration and 60W of amplification. This is clearly one area where the G6 is superior to the E6 but we do have to wonder how much the soundbar will actually get used when we suspect anyone spending nearly £6,000 on a TV will already have an audio solution. However if you do plan on using the built-in soundbar, the good news is that it delivers an excellent level of audio quality. The size of the panel and the width of the soundbar certainly help, resulting in an open front soundstage that had plenty of stereo separation. The much larger size of the soundbar and the built-in woofers meant that despite its ultra slim nature the G6 could actually deliver a reasonable amount of bass response. The speakers in the soundbar handled the mid-range and high frequencies well and dialogue always remained clear and centred; whilst the 60W of built-in amplification means the G6 can go quite loud without becoming harsh or brittle. We generally find that the Music option in the sound settings tends to provide the most balanced audio and overall the G6 sounded very good for a modern TV. However, no matter how good it sounded, the G6 would never be a match for a proper soundbar and subwoofer combination and you could buy a very good soundbar for the £1,000 you would save choosing the E6 instead.

Video Review

Input Lag & Energy Consumption

We tested the G6 using our Leo Bodnar tester and we initially measured the G6 in our calibrated ISF Expert (Dark Room) mode and got a reading of 75ms but as soon as we selected the Game mode that dropped to 34ms, which should be low enough for even the most demanding of gamers. We certainly found gaming to be responsive on the G6, the motion handling was good and the images it produced were excellent.

In terms of the G6’s energy consumption it proved to be very similar to the E6 that we reviewed recently. We measured the out-of-the-box Eco Picture Mode at 168W on a full window 50% white pattern and our calibrated ISF Expert (Dark Room) mode used 92W, whilst the ISF Expert (Bright Room) was 120W. Once we moved on to brighter modes like 3D and HDR the level of energy consumption increased, with the LG drawing 151W in the 3D mode and 168W in the HDR mode.

How future-proof is this TV?

4K Ultra HD Resolution
HDR Support
Colour Space (percentage of Rec.2020 - 100% best) 69%
10-bit Panel
HDMI 2.0a Inputs
HDCP 2.2 Support
HEVC Decoding
4K Streaming Services
Smart TV Platform
Picture Accuracy Out-of-the-Box (score out of 10) 9
What do these mean?

Conclusion

The Good

  • Superb blacks and contrast ratio
  • Fantastic dynamic range
  • Excellent video processing
  • Wide viewing angles
  • Supports Dolby Vision
  • Reference passive 3D
  • WebOS remains effective

The Bad

  • HDMI didn't accept 4K 50/60p
  • Colour accuracy disappointing
  • Minor banding just above black
  • Slight crush in shadow detail
  • Clipping with HDR 10 material

LG G6 (OLED65G6V) UHD 4K TV Review

Should I buy one?


The G6 incorporates all the design aspects, features and performance that we would expect from a flagship TV but ultimately we found it rather disappointing. The simple fact is that, cosmetic differences aside, the G6 is no better than the cheaper E6 in terms of actual performance and in some respects we found the E6 superior. The G6 certainly has the looks of a flagship model with a soundbar stand that provides a decent audio performance and can be moved behind the panel for wall mounting. However we expect anyone spending nearly £6,000 on a TV will already have an audio solution, so we wonder how much the soundbar would actually get used. The 'Picture on Glass' design is attractive, the build quality is excellent and the included remote controls are well laid out and intuitive to use. The G6 boasts plenty of features including support for Ultra HD 4K, wider colour gamuts, HDR 10 and Dolby Vision, along with Ultra HD premium certification. It also has full calibration controls, four HDMI 2.0a inputs, passive 3D with two pairs of glasses and the latest version of WebOS 3.0.

The G6 was very accurate out-of-the-box, just like the E6, and is certainly brighter than that model, producing a peak brightness of nearly 700nits. The colour gamut covered 94% of DCI-P3 or 69% of Rec. 2020 but the colour tracking could have been better and the G6 still clipped some HDR10 content. As we have found with other OLED TVs the HDR performance was rather underwhelming, with great blacks and precision highlights but limited impact in terms of peak brightness. The video processing and motion handling were impressive, whilst the performance with standard and high definition content was excellent and the G6 delivered some lovely images with Blu-ray. The 3D performance was incredible, the viewing angles wide, the input lag quite low at 34ms and the LG was surprisingly energy efficient considering its size. Naturally the black levels and contrast ratios were superb, although the G6 did occasionally suffer from slight banding above black and there was some minor crush in shadow details.

The picture quality was very impressive but there were some annoyances, not least of which was the fact that the HDMI inputs didn't seem to accept a 4K 50/60p signal, even though they're supposed to support up to that resolution. We suspect it is software bug that, like the colour accuracy, needs addressing. The LG OLED65G6V certainly has the looks, the features and the performance to be worthy of a recommendation but we're not sure if it does enough to justify its price tag. Frankly, if you're looking for an OLED TV then we'd suggest you simply buy the OLED65E6V and save yourself £1,000.

What are my alternatives?


As we've already mentioned, if you're looking for an OLED TV then the LG OLED65E6V is your best bet but if you're happy to consider LED LCD TVs then there are some great alternatives. If you don't mind curves then the Ultra HD Premium certified Samsung UE65KS9500 delivers the best performance we have seen with HDR, has a great regular picture and includes plenty of features. There's no 3D of course but just about every other innovation is included and the Samsung can be picked up for just £3,799. Alternatively if you prefer flat screens, there is the excellent Panasonic TX-65DX902B which uses a new honeycomb design and 1,000 LEDs to create a superior local dimming experience. The DX902 is also feature-packed with active shutter 3D, HDR10 support and Ultra HD Premium certification and, if that wasn't enough, it currently retails for a very tempting £2,899. The Sony KD-75XD9405 is another possibility if you don't mind going up to a 75-inch screen size. This flat screen model includes full array local dimming, HDR10, active shutter 3D and Android TV and, despite the screen size, it will only set you back £4,999. Although with Sony's KD-65ZD9 on the horizon it might even make sense to wait a couple of months.

Scores

Contrast/Dynamic Range/Black Level

.
9

Screen Uniformity

.
9

Colour Accuracy

.
.
8

Greyscale Accuracy

.
9

Video Processing

.
9

Picture Quality

.
9

3D Picture Quality

10

Picture Quality Out-Of-The-Box

.
9

Picture Quality Calibrated

.
9

Sound Quality

.
9

Smart Features

.
9

Build Quality

.
9

Ease Of Use

.
9

Value for Money

.
.
8

Verdict

.
9
9
AVForumsSCORE
OUT OF
10

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  • Published
Roku teams up with Currys to launch new Logik Roku TVs
  • By Ian Collen
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