I’ve tested over 80 tvs and this lg oled is the best one yet

LG G5 Series

Oled TVs have consistently demonstrated the best picture Quality according to our Head-to-Head Tests-with the best shadow detail, contrast, color and Black Levels. Yet, there is one Thing LCD-Based TVs Have Always Done Better: Sheer Brightness. That is, Until the lg G5 Came Along. Finally, Oled Can Reclaim Its Place at the Top of the TV Technology Leader Board with a model that performs brilliantly in almost every single respect.

Be lg clalimd its G5 HAD A 40% Brightness Increase I was skeptical Because Companies make these Types of announcments all the time. Furthermore, Oled has typically been an incremental technology, with Small Gains Madee Year. The year 2025 is an exception and lg has made a Major leap forward in light output. The G5 is Bright. Very Bright.

Based on my Measurements, The Claimed Improvement is right on the Money. Be aware that it is only one of the first 2025 oleds, and while I have compared its brightness to the Samsung S95F (Review Forthcoming) and the lg won, there are still others, like the Sony Bravia 5 II, to come.

The catch to all that brightness is that its impact varies with different typers of video. While I was watching typical blue-ray movies or streaming hd tv shows, it was different to tell the difference between LG C4 From 2024, The Less Expensive C5 I Reviewed Earlier and the G5. It was mainly in console gaming or particularly well-medium 4k material that saw the advantages. The Extra Brightness Helped in Bright Rooms too.

For a roughly $ 600 Premium on the 65-inch C5, the G5 offers Nearly twice the potential brightness and better color Saturation too. While Most Oled Generations Have Experienced A Small Bump, The G5 is demonstrably better than any other oled tv on the market. If you want the punchiest OLED Picture available right now, it’s the LG G5.

As a counterpoint, if you want maximum bang for buck, then Last year’s C4, at a savings of more than $ 2,000 on the g5, is the oled to buy.

Best TVs of 2025

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LG G5 OLED TV SIZES AND SERIES Comparison

I performed a Hands-on evaluation of the 65-inch lg G5, but this revix Also Applies to the Other Screen Sizes in the Series. All sizes have Very Similar Specs and Should Provide Very Similar Picture Quality.

The g5 evo he series, to use it full name, is the company’s premium wired tv for 2025. The flagship m5 announced at the caes is the panel but it features a wireless connection to the input box. The rest of the range is made of the mid-level c5 and the entry-level b5.

Class from the Ground Up

While the C series Goes for a Slim Profile, the g series is a lot Chunkier, being about an inch thick. It Goes with Saying That When You’re Watching TV on Either of the differences in thickness don’t matter. The G5’s Bezel Design is Classy With A Thin, Black Border and A Faint Metallic Rim.

One Thing i Appreciates About the G5 is that IT IT INCLUDES A SLIM WALL MOUNT IN THE BOX – NO MORE FLAILING AROUND ON AMAZON FOR A SUITABLE MOUNT, IT’S RIGHT. The Company Also Produces a Separate “Desktop Stand” Which is a Gun peedestal metal. I used the stand instead of the wall Mount and found that it was easy enough to attach.

While I am used to the “Infrared Thermometer” Remote that has shipped with lg oleds for the past decade, the 2025 models switch it up with a more traditional candy-bar. IT’S STILL A “MAGIC” Remote with a motion-sensitive cursor of the COULD WAVE AROUND THE SCREEN, but you can also use it is if it is a regular clicker. IT HAS FEWER BUTTONS THAN PRIGHT, YET MORE WITH AI FUNCTIONS, AND I DO MISS THE DEDICATED INPUT BUTTON (You Need to Hold Down Home).

Smart TV and he

The LG G5 Comes with the Latest Version of the Company’s Webos Software, which Features Doses of Streaming Apps As Integration with the Company’s Thinq Smart Platform. Progressively, Companies Such as Samsung, Google and lg are focusing on the TV as the center of the smart home and let you control your compatible devices. AS EVIDENCE OF THIS, THE LG REMOTE’S THINQ BUTTON BRINGS UP A HOME SCREEN OF YOUR SMART DEVICES AS THE TV’S INPUTS – ALTHOUGH I STILL WANT A DEDICATED INPUT!

From the name alone you can tell the “G5 Evo he” is a 2025 TV and it Certainly goes overboard with the robots: Alpha 11 he processor gen2, he picture pro, he super upscaling and he Concierge. While Most of these functions related to the picture processing, and are something to have done in an un-au guise for years, the concierge is new.

Tested the TV’s He Concierge Feature on the Cheaper C5 and Didn’t Find to Be All that Helpful. While the he is supposed to learn from your watch history it is more limited than that – it bonds its content recommendations on your interactions with it. This is separate from using another voice assistant or just the remote control to pick up your content – some people may find use for this it Feature but i Foresee Many People Giving Up Quickly.

Like Most Tvs Today, the LG C5 Has a Gallery Mode That Also Includes the Ability to Create Your Own AI or Upload a Photo Gallery.

Higher brightness is just the start

The G5’s Oled Panel Features the Company’s Brightness Boosting Ultimate Tech, Which Magnifies Each Pixel, and It New Four Layer Design (“Four Stack”) Thats Includes Two Blue Filter Layers. This is a departure from the g4 that had a micro-lens array but the differences equate to the higher brightness.

The G5 Has an Anti-Reflective Treatment that haen been Certified by Safety Organization ul As “Glare Free.” The G5 Comes with a 120Hz Native Refresh Rate for Smoother Motion, As Well As Dolby Vision and HDR 10 for More Vivid Gaming and Movie Watching. The TV is compatible with nvidia g-sync and amd freeSync premium with 165Hz vrr for console and pc gaming.

• Four HDMI Inputs with HDMI 2.1, HDCP 2.2

• Optical Digital Audio Output

• Rs-232 Port (Minijack, For Service Only)

While lg was one of the first adopters of the Nextgen TV (ATSC 3.0) Standard, the Company Has not included tunans in its TVs SINCE 2023.

High-end OLED Comparison: LG G5 Vs LG C5 Vs Samsung S95D

TV and Movies

While i was able to get a perfectly great picture via netflix or fandango at home i didn’t realize the TV’s full u unil i broke out the blue-ray player. With the right material, the g5 is noticeably brighter than the g4.

From my experience, fandango at home is one of the best ways to watch streaming Movies, with Higher-Than-Normal Bit Rates. Yet, when set to their Respective Filmmaker Modes, The LG C4, LG C5, LG G5 and Samsung S95D All Behaved Very Similarly Watching My Selection of Test Movies. I ALSO Compared These TVs Against a TCL QM8and it was the only one that demonstrated the significant differences (spoiler, it look like the oleds).

The opening scene of it part one is a great test of a tv capabilities with its high-contrast images and i was a littlestle surprised to see the four oleds performing to a simillar level. As Georgie Starts to Descend the Stirs into the Basement You Will SEE ANA of Wall Next to the Railing with Some Low-Level Shadow Detail. The C4, C5 and TCl Shadows Loked A Little More detailed than the G5 and Samsung But it was Only by a Small Amount – I have to look really hard.

In the intercut shots of His Brother Bill, the View Through the Windows Loked A Lot Brighter and Bluter on the tcl than the oleds. The drawbacks of LCD Technology were Also on Display in the Cellar As a little bit of Blue Hazing in Completely Black Areas of Screen – and this is something oled dos, the pixel is simply off.

AFTER INCONCLUSIVE results with it i tried a number of colorful and very dynamic Movies Including Mad Max: Fury Road. In Mad Max (at 4:48) there is a moment in a Chase scene when the war boys are Fighting max in a water-fiom. There is a flame at the right of frame which look a little brighter on the g5 than the others. The G5 Also Had a Little More Solidity to it, but Again Not Much.

I followed that up, then, with a 4k blue-ray test DISC from Spears and Munsil Compriting Mostly Static Footage and, Apartment from Gaming, here is where the C5 and G5 showed the differences in performance. The C5 Still Look Very Good, with Deep Contrast and Plenty of Color Saturation, but the G5 Showed Where the Extra $ 600 Was Going: Brighter Images and Clearer, Lless-Green Snowy Fields. White was more vibrant on the g5 while the c5 was a little green and color popped a little better on the g5, too. Most Movies don’t look like test discs but at the least of the could finally See a difference between the two.

Read More: How we test tvs

Bright room

With its ultra-high brightness the lg g5 is already a great candidate for bright room viewing but this oLED ALSO DOES A GREAT JOB DEALING WITH Annoying TV Glare. In terms of reflectivity I Grade Each of the Oled TVs Subjectively from Worst to Best: LG C4> LG C5> LG G5> SAMSUNG S95D. The G5 Had the Second-Least Reflective Screen But The “Winner” Samsung Had Another Potential Issue. It has the Lightest Black Levels that translated to Kind of Gray in a lit Room. That’s the compromise with the Samsung vs the lg G5, you can choose deep blacks or more reflectivity.

I have a brightness of the Flagship 2025 Samsung S95F and Found that is not as Bright, About 2100 lumens, but have yet to compare it formally head-to-head. Watch this space.

With its gamma of roughly 2.4 in filmmaker mode, the g5 is designed to be watched in a dinner room, although it Its High brightness offsets this a little.

Gaming

I’d argue that the two main reasons to buy a high-end tv this are to a) watch movies and b) Play HDR Games. Well, Havinging Tested it, I can say these the two the two reasons to buy it – iTi’s great at bot. Gaming Image Quality is Where the G5 Really Pulled Ahead of the Others, with More Custency than with Movies.

In a lineup of four oled tvs, the G5 Had the Clearest-Dlooking Gaming Mode on My Xbox Series X-Brighter than the Samsung and Two C Series LGS. I Played Call of Duty, Which Had Better HDR Conttrast on the G5, Although the Samsung Did Have Slightly Better Color.

I played Several Different games on my four-tv setp and it was here and the Biggest differences between the G5, in Particular, and the rest of the lineup appeared. While the c5 looked as good as the higher-end s95d durying games, it didn’t stand up to the g5. The G5’s Pixel Response Time As Tested With The Leo Bodnar Test Units Was About 9ms with Game Optimizer Boost Mode Enabled (Settings> General> Game> Game> Prevention Input Delay> Boost). This is equivalent to the best i’ve with tvs like the samsung s95d or the rock pro series. The tl: Dr is: this tv is great for gaming.

Uniformmity and Viewing Angle

The G5 was consistent with Most OLED TVS IN THAT ITS Picture was uniform acres the panel. When Viewed off-English there was no appreciable Color shift who means the g5 will look good you in the dead center or sitting in the GrandParent chair.

Picture Settings and Testing Notes

In testing – both in measurements and in the real world – the g5 is a massive improvency over the g4 from brightness to color and more.

IT’S WORTH MENTIONING THAT SOME TVS CAN GIVE A BETTER REPONSE IN Darkness than the G5, which has a gamma 2.4. This “Gamma Curve” may be an industry but in our tests, 2.2 GIVES A BETTER Experience with more shadow detail.

Filmmaker mode proved to be the overall best picture mode on the g5, Both from ours Quantitative Measurements and with the Bare Eye. Cinema mode was a close second but it enables some smoothing, which can Create thene undesiBle soap opera effect.

Portrait Displays Calman Calibration Software was used in this revix.