LG G1 (OLED65G1) OLED Evo TV Review & Comments

As a B7 owner this was a potential upgrade for me, but I guess now maybe not.

The first issue is the elephant in the room, brightness. The hype around this had been that it would be capable of 1000nits and beyond, and there was even footage of a pre-release unit measuring 1100 nits. I know LG never promised this, but still, they've been languishing around the 600-700 nit mark for years now, they need to up their game. 1000 nits is the bar now. They themselves said 1000nits was possible on an OLED but they're still miles away from it.

The next issue is DTS. This may sound like a minor one, but if you're plugging an Xbox Series X into an LG OLED then using ARC back to the amp then DTS is kind of essential. Yes the Xbox Supports Dolby Digital and Dolby Atmos, but the audio lag is absolutely off the scale. With DTS, the lag is mostly gone. The B7 supports it, so there's no excuse for it's removal. It stinks of penny pinching.

The stand is a real head scratcher too. Why stick the legs at the edges of the panel, and give it no height whatsoever? Who has a completely unobstructed table which can handle a 65" or larger TV? It's just a bizarre design trend which needs to die.

And finally there's the new UI, which for me wouldn't be a huge issue as I use my Apple TV, but I agree with Phil that the new design is a car crash. I think it could best be summed up as crass and tasteless.

So as much as I'd like 120hz and VRR I guess I'll have to keep waiting.
 
A positive improvement to previous years, but think many were expecting more! Interesting to see if the C series gets the new panel later in the year/next.
 
Great review as usual, did you notice any pinkish tints from the new Evo panel compared to the GX?
 
Really thorough and informative review, as ever - cheers for that Phil.
Be interesting to see a straight shootout between this and the equivalent new offerings from Panasonic.
 
As a B7 owner this was a potential upgrade for me, but I guess now maybe not.

The first issue is the elephant in the room, brightness. The hype around this had been that it would be capable of 1000nits and beyond, and there was even footage of a pre-release unit measuring 1100 nits. I know LG never promised this, but still, they've been languishing around the 600-700 nit mark for years now, they need to up their game. 1000 nits is the bar now. They themselves said 1000nits was possible on an OLED but they're still miles away from it.

The next issue is DTS. This may sound like a minor one, but if you're plugging an Xbox Series X into an LG OLED then using ARC back to the amp then DTS is kind of essential. Yes the Xbox Supports Dolby Digital and Dolby Atmos, but the audio lag is absolutely off the scale. With DTS, the lag is mostly gone. The B7 supports it, so there's no excuse for it's removal. It stinks of penny pinching.

The stand is a real head scratcher too. Why stick the legs at the edges of the panel, and give it no height whatsoever? Who has a completely unobstructed table which can handle a 65" or larger TV? It's just a bizarre design trend which needs to die.

And finally there's the new UI, which for me wouldn't be a huge issue as I use my Apple TV, but I agree with Phil that the new design is a car crash. I think it could best be summed up as crass and tasteless.

So as much as I'd like 120hz and VRR I guess I'll have to keep waiting.

The last bit about VRR, particularly when its still not fixed (vrr flicker), I really see no reason to get the new oleds if you already own one until things like this are working correctly. I can't see my self upgrading for a while now (cx here) until I see some real beneficial improvements, maybe when I do finally upgrade it will be a new tech and all the past issues are ironed out.
 
I’m pretty sure my older c8 was around 840 nits calibrated, so this seems a bit bizarre after all the hype.
 
I’m pretty sure my older c8 was around 840 nits calibrated, so this seems a bit bizarre after all the hype.
hype train GIF
 
Im happy and releaved with that review.
I was going to hold out on my upgrade from 65 C9 to a 77" but impatient me brought a 77CX last month.
If the G1 had reached 1000 nits I would of been upset lol.
I don't know what the new evo panel really brings because my calibrated 77CX has a peak brightness of 710 nits HDR cinema mode.
I had not checked full screen brightness but after reading the review I thought I would test it.
156 nits full screen brightness SDR!!

My 77CX really was a bargain at £3300 in comparison to the G1.
 

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I'm astonished in two separate and almost contradictory ways... Firstly, those are some absurdly accurate out of the box readings! Secondly, that's an incredibly underwhelming peak brightness.

Colour me confused...
 
Thanks for the review Phil, looks like my 77C8 will be safe for at least another year.
 
Lack of DTS is an issue for me. Also, all those cables that your going to have to chase through the wall! Why no separate box with a one cable solution?
 
Lack of DTS is an issue for me. Also, all those cables that your going to have to chase through the wall! Why no separate box with a one cable solution?
With Samsung joining the oled race, maybe they will have their one connect box and hopefully others will reconsider why they don't have similar....
 
Great review thanks Phil. The information on brightness was really well explained, particularly to a layman such as myself. For those that can accommodate some of the larger sizes, I wonder which unit would sell more; the 77" G1 or the 83" (!!) C1 (with the "dimmer" panel). I look forward to the review of the latter but judging by what I've read so far, wouldn't be surprised if most lean towards the C1 (particularly at that size / price range).
 
as a Cx owner who loves the current OS, i assume i wont be forced to update? can i disable firmware updates
 
My calibrated 65”C9 is 700 nits in Cinema (user) mode so these numbers are surprising. More incremental picture improvements rather than evolution....
I’m sure the winners in evo-lution performance wise this year will come from the Sony A90J and the Panasonic JZ1500..
Those two are top of my list..
 
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Every year you have slight improvements, never a major upgrade. It seems OLED will take few more years to reach a 1000nits in one of the accurate picture modes.

Did you notice any brightness in SDR Steve, as another reviewer mentioned the opposite; HDR had little or no difference but SDR had a big difference.
 
In the market for a new TV with gaming its big purpose.
I mount my Samsung Q9FN on my chimney breast with my consoles and Tv boxes etc on a stand to the right of it.
I may stick with Samsung this time as the One Connect box removes a lot of cable management hassle.
However the gaming improvements are a definite draw as is the support of Dolby Atmos which again the Sammy doesn't have.
I'll await for the review of the Samsung.
 
Phil I'm going to read this now nice and slowly. Will there be a video to accompany the review? I really love the videos too
 
So how do OLEDs consistently win shootouts even against ultra bright LCDs? Are they rigged?

Why do most videophiles and professional calibrators have OLEDs in their living and cinema rooms?

I have no issues with having a capable LCD TV like Panasonic DX902 as a spare TV but I prefer consistent and balanced picture quality of OLEDs over few moments of super brightness offered by LCD TVs.
 
So how do OLEDs consistently win shootouts even against ultra bright LCDs? Are they rigged?

Why do most videophiles and professional calibrators have OLEDs in their living and cinema rooms?

I have no issues with having a capable LCD TV like Panasonic DX902 as a spare TV but I prefer consistent and balanced picture quality of OLEDs over few moments of super brightness offered by LCD TVs.
I think due to them having individual pixel brightness makes for an impactful image. I have a lg c9 which was nearly 800 nits on a 10 percent window when measured, and a dx902 that measured over 1500nits when calibrated, does the dx902 look twice as bright as the lg c9, the answer is no.
The dx902 does have brightness in abundance if your room is bright during the day, but for night time viewing oled wins hands down against any lcd tv.
 
I think due to them having individual pixel brightness makes for an impactful image. I have a lg c9 which was nearly 800 nits on a 10 percent window when measured, and a dx902 that measured over 1500nits when calibrated, does the dx902 look twice as bright as the lg c9, the answer is no.
The dx902 does have brightness in abundance if your room is bright during the day, but for night time viewing oled wins hands down against any lcd tv.

Exactly. OLED is arguably the best tech (for now) to watch movies and most watch movies in a dark room like we do at the cinemas. I still miss my DX902 as it was truly a one in a kind LCD TV.
 

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