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Whenever LG has introduced its OLED 2019 TVs in recent months, they have always been getting better. & Nbsp;
Although LG Display's panels are not drastically altered from those used in LG's OLED TVs last year, it still seems that the Korean brand's image quality engineers have refined with incredible accuracy on almost every part of the image of their 2018 models and sound performance that could most benefit from a fit. & nbsp;
Having finally had the chance to live with a 65-inch LG OLED65C9 over for over a week, I'm happy to say that it keeps all its promises made in the beginning – and more. As much as, besides a single frustrating defect, it combines its extraordinary performance with a plethora of excellent new intelligent features.
Let's start with the design of the OLED65C9. It's a subtle sophistication for the LG 2018 C series, sitting a little lower on a metal base less spectacular but more elegant, but certainly also superbly finished. & Nbsp;
This position is seriously heavy too. So fixing it on the screen is a real moment of heart. & Nbsp;
The back of the stand has been extended compared to the 2018 design, giving the display more stability and space for a central channel with a removable cover in which you can carefully insert all your cables. & Nbsp;
Although the base may still be at the back, the screen is, as usual with current OLED TVs, incredibly thin. The fact that such a thin product can produce bright, colorful and refined images is as breathtaking as ever.
The OLED65C9 comes with one of LG's "Magic" remotes. These cleverly allow you to point the part of the screen containing an option you want to select, as well as provide a scroll wheel & nbsp; to help you navigate the menu options faster.
Most people find this approach to television control much more intuitive than the more common approach of the remote control of using buttons to move a slider. Although you can choose the option of the slider on the handset of LG, you can also use the precise motor control to steer the remote control accurately – or if you are just from the old school.
The OLED65C9 also has buttons for direct access to Netflix and Amazon video streaming applications, while a new White and Red Movies button launches the Rakuten app in Europe. (If anyone can let me know what the Movies button does in the US, I'll update this review accordingly!)
The LG OLED65C9's menu adventure reveals other important improvements to the brand's already impressive webOS platform. For example, the launch bar at the bottom of the screen introduces a new preview layer in which a second set of direct contextual content link icons appears depending on the application you selected in the lower set.
For example, highlight Netflix and a row of icons directly linking the broadcasts to Netflix will appear.
The sophistication of the options presented in the second contextual game varies from one application to the other. For example, while Prime Video only presents a list of popular content options, Netflix displays the current account's user icon, which allows you to easily switch to a other member of your family. a link to the last show or movie you were watching; and a list of trend shows so you can keep up to date with all cool kids. & nbsp;
The second set of contextual preview features depend to some extent on the support of each particular application provider; At the time of writing this article in the UK, YouTube, Netflix, Amazon Video, BBC iPlayer, ITV Hub, all four offered a second level of options, unlike Rakuten TV, Now TV and Demand 5. & nbsp;
It should be added that LG's artificial intelligence system also provides a recommendation system for the television tuner. You can access it, as well as other features related to the tuner, by simply moving the pointer to the left of the screen and pressing the select button. & Nbsp;
The new smart editing feature of the launch bar is also very useful. Turn it on and the TV will automatically order the icons from the Launcher bar in order of use, with the most used ones appearing first. This saves a lot of manual DIY and reduces the frustrations that can occur when the Launcher bar starts to lengthen as you add new applications.
Elsewhere on the new home screen, an excellent "Recent" tab calls in the second platinum links to all the most recently used sources, including apps, tuner and AV inputs.
A separate TV icon calls links to the channels you recently watched; a magnifying glass icon calls LG's extremely sophisticated content search options; another icon calls LG's on-screen gallery containing digitized works; and finally, a link to a new main dashboard.
This new, forward-thinking screen provides a quick guide and instant access to all mobile and Bluetooth audio devices you're connected to; all your AV inputs; and even all devices Internet of things – dishwasher, refrigerator, etc. – that you can have on your home network. This IoT section is compatible with both the LG ThinQ Interconnect Platform and the Open Connectivity Foundation devices.
All AV inputs are now automatically labeled when you add a new device – provided the TV can recognize what it is. All of the external kits tested in my tests were correctly identified, with the exception of Panasonic's UB820 4K Blu-ray player (Samsung TVs also have trouble recognizing Panasonic's 4K Blu-ray players).
In addition to being very helpful in helping you quickly find and access all the countless sources that can connect to your TV in recent times, the main dashboard reaffirms the growing idea that far from being less and less important in modern homes, the TV the potential to become a key control as well as an entertainment center for the next generation of homes.
The OLED65C9 will become even more of a potential hub device when support for Apple AirPlay 2 and HomeKit arrives later in the year.
The incredible intelligence of the OLED65C9 continues to impress with its voice recognition support. In addition to LG's ThinQ voice recognition system, LG also supports Amazon Alexa and Google Home. In addition, this support is integrated into the TV; you do not need external Amazon Echo or Google Home devices, unlike most other brands of TVs that support Alexa and Google Home services. Excellent.
LG is even bothered to include a lot more information on the screen than previously to help you find your way into its menus. This can take the form of contextual description windows each time you highlight a feature, or separate notification windows to tell you what to do or how to optimize your experience. & Nbsp;
Part of this explanatory text surprisingly uses poorly translated English, but I guess it will probably only disturb the other pedants of grammar.
One last crucial OLED65C9 feature to report before you get to image quality is connectivity. Specifically, it has no less than four full-pass HDMI 2.1 ports. To date, LG is the only brand to offer such extensive support for the latest broadband digital connection on its 4K TVs. & Nbsp;
Rivals could argue that there is no reason to support HDMI 2.1 on a 4K TV, because its 48Gbps capacity is more suited to content in 8K format rather than 4K. But forward-thinking players and even potentially video enthusiasts will appreciate the peace of mind that comes with connectivity that supports high frame rates and color resolution. Let's also remember that HDMI 2.1 can provide other convenient features – such as eARC, for sending lossless audio tracks (DTS: X, Dolby Atmos) lossless via HDMI inputs from the TV to connected receivers or soundbars.
We finally arrive at the main event: the image quality of the OLED65C9, powered by a second generation of LG's Alpha 9 processor.
Given that I was already generally a fan of LG's 2018 model images, the simplest way to explain the success of the 2019 model is probably to focus on areas where the new set is making things even better.
The most important improvement for me is the way the OLED65C9 delivers what looks like much brighter light spikes when playing HDR. This has a transformative effect on the appearance of truly dynamic and realistic HDR images. Especially when, as in the case of the OLED65C9, these well-enhanced peaks of light are often delivered right next – as close as a few inches – to the kind of beautifully rich, deep, and above all consistent black tones that have long been the hallmark of OLED.
In case you have forgotten, the key feature of OLED TVs is that every pixel of their screen produces its own light and colors. There is no need to use an external backlight shared between groups of pixels – or even the entire screen – as is the case with current LCD technology. & Nbsp;
The light intensity that this benefit can confer on small bright areas of dark images has long been a pleasure to see on good OLED TVs. But on the OLED65C9, it reaches a whole new level. Stars' fields, nocturnal cityscapes, processions in the light of a torch, glittering light on metal or glass, etc., simply look exquisite.
The OLED65C9 not only improves peak brightness compared to last year's models. Its new enhanced dynamic tone mapping feature also provides a significantly higher basic brightness level with HDR sources. It still responds to one of my oldest concerns about OLED and HDR technology, which gives HDR printing a much more consistent and true impact.
I should stop here to point out that LG has achieved these two improvements in HDR without substantially improving the measurable peak brightness; I've recorded the peak light output on a 10% white HDR window of 820 nits in Standard mode. That falls to about 780-790 nits in Cinema Home mode and about 740-750 nits in Cinema home. All figures are consistent with the C8 of last year. & Nbsp;
See, that is to believe, however, and the higher brightness of smaller HDR peaks and higher average brightness levels with HDR content confer the performance of the OHD65C9 regular HDR performance (and literally!) Compared to those of C8. Even though these 2018 models themselves have dramatically improved LG's handling of HD hard drives.
I should also add that we are not talking about peak or typical brightness levels on the OLED65C9 to rival those possible with the best LED TVs. In the context of the superb pixel-pixel resolution and light of OLEDs, the impact of HDR on the enhanced contrast of the OLED65C9 remains dazzling. Especially in a rather dark room.
It is also important to note – although in this respect we are not really talking about an improvement over the LG 2018 OLEDs – it is the stability of the dark scenes of the OLED65C9. There is no subtle backlight adjustment, whether localized or in full screen, even with the best LCD TVs. There is also not a hint of the bright light you get (especially when viewing off-axis) with the vast majority of LCD TVs, even those with excellent local attenuation.
The black level response has long been the flagship attraction of the OLED. It is therefore not surprising to see that the OLED65C9 offers incredibly bold and convincing black tones. The OLED65C9, however, has a clear improvement over all previous LG OLED TVs because it manages the content of almost black images. & Nbsp;
During Chapter 7 of Exodus: Gods And Kings On the 4K Blu-ray (a torture test for TVs of all technologies), I noticed much less noise in the darker parts of the scene than I had ever seen on an LG OLED TV. In fact, aside from an unusually low gray macroblock on the back of Nun's head for some fugitive shots (which you probably will not notice unless you're specifically looking for it), the scene is rather flawless. & nbsp;
This is actually a big step forward for LG and joins the well-enhanced HDR tone mapping to help the OLED65C9 frequently paint dark scenes that leave you impressed by their beauty. There are, however, some black niggles that I will come back to later.
The OLED65C9 offers a convincing new enhancement with its colors. For example, bright colors are more neutral and therefore more natural. In comparison, those OLED LG 2018 LG (not calibrated, in any case) seem too hot. Reds, in particular, appear richer and less orange than those of previous generations of LG OLED.
The new Alpha 9 processing engine also dramatically reduces tapes in delicate HDR images such as the sky at dusk. Moses wonders how he will cross the Red Sea in Exodus: Gods And Kings. & nbsp;
The skin tones are also significantly improved, with more natural and more defined hues that avoid that a slightly plasticky appearance is sometimes obvious (at least with resized images) on the 2018 models.
Finally, the improved brightness of the set with HDR sources combines with the new precision of color mapping to deliver a superb combination of gorgeously vivid yet subtle tones that often produce stunning results with a high quality source .
Note also that the richness of the colors generally remains intact in the dark areas; The LCD technology does not cause any loss of brightness and intensity, or infusion of gray. And side-by-side comparisons also reveal that the OLED65C9 retains the tonal consistency on the screen better than its predecessors.
The OLED65C9 also enhances the sharpness of LG's 2018 models. This applies to both HD 4K content and, in particular, upscaled content. With the latter, LG has managed to break with more success than ever before the relationship between sharpness and noise, offering more of the first and less of the second.
The reduction of image noise was actually the most surprising thing in my experience with OLED65C9, because pre-production desktop views had revealed difficult titles, such as 4K Blu-ray of Mad Max: Fury Road – and areas of deep color or subtle color mixes still seem a bit too granular for comfort. It's clear that in recent months, LG has found a way to calm this long-standing problem with its OLED packages, even with all the noise reduction circuits turned off. Excellent.
LG has apparently also worked hard to improve the movement management of the OLED65C9. In the absence of movement treatment in the game, the judder seems more natural and less laborious than it had been before. In addition, if you still find the shader remaining too large, you can use TruMotion's 'Clear' setting for the first time, rather than having to move to the Custom Motion setup menu.
This last incarnation of Clear softly reduces the judder (taking care not to leave the films like soap operas) while experiencing virtually none of the halo or shimmering problems associated with it before.
Now that I'm starting to talk about presets, the LG OLED65C9 is the first LG OLED TV I've tested and felt satisfied with Cinema Home and Cinema presets. Previously, I found these picture modes too dark to give the impression that they were doing justice to the HDR, which allowed me to rely on Standard as a predefined starting point. & Nbsp;
This is an important point about a user's experience, as Cinema modes generally produce more accurate, natural, and clean images than the Standard preset without adjustment. & Nbsp;
Of course, amateurs should always consider calibrating their sets by professionals. What can now be done with more efficiency and effectiveness than ever thanks to a host of new improvements in calibration and an improved system of automatic calibration.
But the fact is that, despite a little black touch, I will come back later, I have rarely felt as happy with an image setting out of the box as I am with the latest LG Cinema Home mode. Convenient, given the little effort (according to the research) that consumers usually spend on adjusting the picture settings of their TV!
As always with LG's OLED TVs, the OLED65C9 supports the Dolby Vision HDR system, which provides step-by-step dynamic metadata to help TVs deliver better HDR images. It can be argued that LG's new dynamic tone mapping system has slightly alleviated the overall quality difference between HDR10 and Dolby Vision sources, but DV technology still delivers palpable benefits in terms of color and brightness. Especially with relatively extreme sources such as the superb 2001: The Space Odyssey 4K Blu-ray.
There is even more good news for the players. The OLED65C9 not only offers a remarkably small offset of the input offset of just 13ms in gaming images, but also offers support for frame rate and automatic switching of game mode to low latency with compatible consoles. & Nbsp;
Game images are also much brighter than they were with LG's OLEDs and the variation problems caused by static logos seem much less aggressive. Barely noticeable for the vast majority of the time, in fact. Although I recommend that you adjust the Luminance Logo setting in the OLED panel settings menu to at least Low. This reduces the chance that static static game elements will cause image retention, but this is done in such a subtle way that with most games you will have trouble seeing the differences visible in the game. l & # 39; image.
I must say at this point that all the outstanding results (without play) that I have described so far have been achieved without using LG's new artificial image engine.
This image-tuning option is based on a large, ever-expanding database that accurately recognizes the characteristics of many types of image sources so that the TV can read them more effectively in real time. In particular, it focuses on optimizing noise reduction, sharpness and improving details.
The extent of impact of AI Picture is maximum with content less than 4K. In fact, the purer your source is, the better the AI image. & Nbsp;
My personal preference was to turn it off for 4K HDR playback, but leave it on for everything else. But above all, try it with the 4K Blu-ray format, as you may like, and it's certainly smart enough not to spoil this content.
Separate from the Image AI setting is an AI brightness mode. This essentially adjusts the image to optimize it according to the lighting conditions of your room. But, as we can expect from artificial intelligence, it does it smarter than such systems. In particular, it is very powerful in high light conditions, with black levels and shadows slightly high, without simultaneously increasing the brightness and color saturation.
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I would advise you though to try not to turn off the brightness of artificial intelligence when you spend a serious movie night in a relatively dark room, though. & Nbsp;
The inflated brain inside the OLED65C9 also provides a function of its AI. It is essentially a virtual 5.1 surround mode that combines a deep understanding of LG's capabilities with the design of its own speakers embedded in an in-depth learning technique that constantly recognizes the type of sound received by the TV and optimizes playback accordingly. & Nbsp;
This feature is kind of a revelation – a performance that usually outperforms the built-in Dolby Atmos decoder of the OLED65C9. AI sound is usually louder, clearer, more dynamic, more complete, and much more direct and punchy than Dolby Atmos. The dialogue sounds clearer and more powerful, the soundscape seems wider and the bass richer and deeper. & Nbsp;
The sound scene is not quite as "three-dimensional" with the Atmos content as the Dolby Atmos option of the TV, and sometimes becomes a strident or hard-to-loud touch. Strangely, I also found that the TV's Atmos setting seemed more meaty than the AI Sound mode with some Dolby Atmos game soundtracks. But for movies, I think most users will find AI sound better than Dolby Atmos. This is certainly one of the factors that explains why the OLED65C9 is undoubtedly the best model of the C series published to date.
Despite all the magnificence of the OLED65C9, it's not perfect. First of all, even if it had been pretended before, LG did not fully solve the overblown problem of blocking macros with some standard dynamic range streaming content that became a problem on 2018 TVs (as noted in report right here). & nbsp;
Content notoriously difficult as 35: 27-36: 33 in Season 5, Part 2, Episode 12 of The Vikings on Amazon Prime Video, for example, causes so much gray blocking and "masking" when you use the standard picture setting that I would normally recommend for viewing SDR TV, it's actually pretty much impossible to watch. And before you ask, activating the new AI Image mode does not help. In fact, it probably makes things worse. & Nbsp;
Fortunately, switching to Cinema image presetting significantly reduces the impact of blocking noise. And from what I've seen up to now, blocking issues now seem rather limited to Amazon Video rather than slipping into other sources. However, Cinema mode uses a lot of light and shadow, so it's not necessarily the ideal solution. Especially if you look in a bright room.
The blinking problem during the transition defined between the subtle dark color changes observed on the 2018 models is also still present, albeit in a reduced and rarer form. It can be seen, for example, in the weakening of the picture in Netflix. The last kingdom at about 21 minutes 30 seconds in the episode eight of season three. Or, more subtly, during the first moments of Interstellar on 4K Blu-ray Discs. & nbsp;
It also appears clearly when using the Standard preset on some of the nine fluctuating dark squares of an SDR test signal (visible right here) specially designed to detect the problem. & nbsp;
Switching to Cinema Preset suppresses the blinking of all squares except the center (brighter) of this test sequence. However, it also means that the darkest levels of at least two of the colored squares are almost completely removed. If you change the OLED Light setting 2 to 4 points from the 80 default level of Cinema mode, you will at least reduce the problem of overwriting the Cinema preset with this test pattern. But every step you take above the default level makes blinking a little more obvious.
The Standard Picture Preset is subject to clipping (loss of detail and subtle nuances) slightly with the brightest parts of the HDR sources. Plus, sometimes there's a little bit of what I call the silhouette with extremely extreme HDR shots. In other words, dark objects on very light backgrounds may appear marginally too dark.
The OLED65C9's screen is quite reflective, adding to the slight lack of basic brightness to make the whole thing happier – as with all OLED TVs, in fact – in a relatively dark environment. Direct sunlight on the screen is especially to be avoided if the configuration of your room allows it.
Strangely, my comment example had synchronization issues with the Xbox One S and X consoles resident when using the Game presets. The picture often blinked and refused to install unless I went through at one of the pre-defined parameters not related to the game. & Nbsp;
Since I had no such problem with a PS4 Pro, I can only assume that the Xbox-related issues have something to do with the new automatic gaming mode features / variable refresh rate introduced by the HDMI 2.1 support of the OLED65C9. Flickering persists despite the new auto fast response and VRR features disabled on the TV and Xbox consoles. & Nbsp;
It is possible that these gambling problems are simply due to my LG exam example. In any event, LG is investigating the situation and I will update this analysis when it confirms that my sample is defective or that a fix has been found.
The next step is an omission rather than a performance problem: support for the HDR10 + image format. C’est une alternative à Dolby Vision qui ajoute également des métadonnées scène par scène. & Nbsp;
Pour être juste envers LG, il a jusqu’à présent eu tendance à travailler beaucoup plus dur pour prendre en charge plusieurs formats HDR par rapport aux autres marques (y compris Samsung). Et HDR10 + reste loin derrière Dolby Vision en termes de quantité de contenu disponible.
Cependant, Universal Studios a récemment rejoint Warner Bros pour annoncer son intention de publier du contenu en HDR10 + (comme rapporté ici). Également, IMAX amélioré et 20th Century Fox ont récemment publié des disques Blu-ray 4K prenant en charge HDR10 + mais pas Dolby Vision, alors que tous les programmes HDR d’Amazon utilisent HDR10 + (ou une version de celui-ci, au moins…). Il est donc de plus en plus difficile de rester optimiste face aux téléviseurs LG qui ne prennent pas en charge HDR10 +.
Enfin, comme il s’agit d’un téléviseur OLED, je suppose que vous devriez au moins penser à la gravure d’écran (conservation permanente de l’image). Cela semble être beaucoup moins un problème qu’avant, cependant, donc entre les mesures anti-rétention fournies par LG et un peu de soin de votre part, tout ira bien. Pour plus d'informations, consultez cet article en profondeur sur le sujet. & nbsp;
Verdict
LG a fait des merveilles avec l'OLED65C9 dans presque tous les domaines importants. Il offre une mise à niveau des images et du son beaucoup plus substantielle que je ne l’aurais cru possible par rapport aux modèles de 2018, résolvant ainsi à peu près tous les problèmes qui m’avaient déjà suscité la moindre hésitation à soutenir sans réserve la cause des OLED. & Nbsp;
Désormais, les images avec presque toutes les sources sont toujours magnifiques et parfois époustouflantes. Même après m'être habitué pendant plus d'une semaine au niveau de qualité offert, je me retrouve toujours régulièrement à bout de souffle devant la beauté d'un coup ou d'une scène particulière.
L’OLED65C9 sonne également beaucoup mieux que les modèles précédents de la série C et ses fonctions intelligentes sont à la fois sans précédent et joliment présentées et organisées.
Dommage, malgré les promesses de pré-lancement, l’OLED65C9 souffre toujours de problèmes de bruit vidéo avec Amazon Video et d’un léger clignotement avec des couleurs à faible luminosité. J'espère que LG pourra améliorer ces problèmes résiduels au fil du temps. & Nbsp;
Je suppose qu’il est vrai de dire que, au cours de l’année, LG va faire face à une concurrence très vive des OLED de Sony et, dans certains territoires non américains, de Panasonic et de Philips. & Nbsp;
Ces rivaux, cependant, auront vraiment du pain sur la planche pour dépasser les OLED65C9. Surtout si vous tenez compte du prix concurrentiel de 3 499 $ / £ 3 299.
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Chaque fois que LG a présenté ses téléviseurs OLED 2019 au cours des derniers mois, ils ont été de mieux en mieux.
Même si les panneaux de LG Display ne sont pas radicalement modifiés par rapport à ceux utilisés dans les téléviseurs OLED LG de l'année dernière, il semble toujours que les ingénieurs de la qualité d'image de la marque coréenne ont affiné avec une précision incroyable sur presque toutes les parties de l'image de leurs modèles 2018 et des performances sonores qui pourraient le plus bénéficier d'un ajustement.
Ayant enfin eu la chance de vivre avec un LG OLED65C9 65 pouces fini pendant plus d’une semaine, je suis heureux de pouvoir dire qu’il tient toutes ses promesses faites au début – et plus encore. D'autant que, outre un seul défaut frustrant, il associe ses performances extraordinaires à une pléthore d'excellentes nouvelles fonctionnalités intelligentes.
Commençons simplement avec le design de l’OLED65C9. C’est un raffinement assez subtil pour la série 2018 C de LG, assis un peu plus bas sur un socle métallique moins voyant, mais sans doute plus élégant et certainement superbement fini.
Cette position est sérieusement lourde aussi. Si bien que le fait de le fixer à l’écran est un véritable moment de cœur.
L’arrière du support a été rallongé par rapport à la conception de 2018, ce qui confère à l’écran une sensation de stabilité et permet de créer un canal central avec un cache amovible dans lequel vous pouvez insérer soigneusement tous vos câbles.
Bien que le socle reste peut-être plus à l’arrière, l’écran est, comme d’habitude avec les téléviseurs OLED actuels, incroyablement mince. Le fait qu'un produit aussi mince puisse produire des images lumineuses, colorées et raffinées est aussi époustouflant que jamais.
L’OLED65C9 est livré avec l’une des télécommandes «Magic» de LG. Celles-ci vous permettent astucieusement de vous diriger vers la partie de l'écran contenant une option que vous souhaitez sélectionner, ainsi que de fournir une molette de défilement pour vous aider à vous déplacer plus rapidement dans les options de menu.
La plupart des gens trouvent cette approche du contrôle de la télévision bien plus intuitive que l’approche plus courante de la télécommande consistant à utiliser des boutons pour déplacer un curseur. Bien que vous puissiez choisir l'option du curseur sur le combiné de LG, vous pouvez également utiliser le contrôle moteur précis pour diriger la télécommande avec précision – ou si vous êtes simplement de la vieille école.
La télécommande OLED65C9 est également dotée de boutons d’accès direct aux applications de streaming vidéo Netflix et Amazon, tandis qu’un nouveau bouton Films blanc et rouge permet de lancer l’application Rakuten en Europe. (Si quelqu'un peut me faire savoir ce que le bouton Films fait aux États-Unis, je mettrai à jour cette critique en conséquence!)
Heading into the LG OLED65C9’s menus reveals further significant improvements to the brand’s already impressive webOS platform. The launcher bar along the bottom of the screen, for instance, introduces a new ‘preview’ layer, where a second deck of contextualized direct content link icons emerges based on the app you’ve got highlighted in the main, bottom deck.
For instance, highlight Netflix, and a row of icons linking directly to Netflix shows will appear.
The sophistication of the options shown in the contextual second deck varies from app to app. For instance, while Prime Video just shows you a list of Popular Content options, with Netflix you get the icon for the current account user so that you can easily switch to another member of your family; a link to the last show or film you were watching; and a list of trending shows so you can keep up with what all the cool kids are into.
The second deck of contextual preview features depend to a degree on support from each particular app provider; at the time of writing in the UK, YouTube, Netflix, Amazon Video, BBC iPlayer, ITV Hub, All 4 all produced a second tier of options, but Rakuten TV, Now TV and Demand 5 did not.
It’s worth adding that LG’s own ‘AI’ system also provides a recommendations system for the TV tuner. This, along with other tuner-related features, can be accessed simply by moving the pointer to the left side of the screen and hitting the Select button.
Also very useful is the launcher bar’s new Intelligent Edit feature. Switch this on and the TV will automatically order the Launcher bar icons in order of use, with the most regularly used appearing first. This saves a lot of manual tinkering, and reduces the frustrations that can arise when the Launcher bar starts to get longer as you add more apps to it.
Elsewhere on the new home screen, an excellent "Recents" tab calls up in the second deck links to all of your most recently used sources – including apps, the tuner, and AV inputs.
A separate TV icon calls up links to your most recently watched channels; a magnifying glass icon calls up LG’s exceptionally sophisticated content search options; yet another icon calls up LG’s onscreen gallery of digitized artworks; and finally there’s a link to a new Home Dashboard.
This welcome and forward thinking new screen provides an at-a-glance guide and instant access to any mobile or Bluetooth audio devices you’ve got connected; all of your AV inputs; and even any Internet of Things devices – dishwashers, fridges etc – you may have on your home network. This IoT section is compatible with both LG’s own ThinQ inter-connectivity platform, and Open Connectivity Foundation devices.
All the AV inputs are now automatically labelled when you add a new device – provided the TV can recognize what it is. All the external kit I tried during my tests was correctly IDed, apart from Panasonic’s UB820 4K Blu-ray player (Samsung’s TVs also traditionally struggle to recognize Panasonic 4K Blu-ray players).
As well as being very useful in helping you quickly find and access all the myriad sources that can end up connected to your TV these days, the Home Dashboard reaffirms the growing idea that far from being ever less important in modern households, the TV actually has the potential to become a key control as well as entertainment hub for the next generation of homes.
The OLED65C9 will become even more of a potential hub device when support for Apple AirPlay 2 and HomeKit arrive later in the year.
The OLED65C9’s outstanding smarts continue to impress with its voice recognition support. Uniquely, as well as carrying LG’s own ThinQ voice recognition system, it also supports both Amazon Alexa and Google Home. What’s more, this support is built into the TV; you don’t have to have external Amazon Echo or Google Home devices like you do with most other TV brands that claim Alexa and Google Home support. Excellent.
LG has even gone to the trouble of including much more on-screen information than before to help you find your way around its menus. This can come in the form of pop up description windows whenever you highlight a feature, or separate pop up advice windows to advise you of what to do next, or how you might get a better experience.
Some of this explanatory text surprisingly uses poorly translated English, but I guess this will probably only upset fellow grammar pedants.
One last crucial OLED65C9 feature to point out before finally getting into its picture quality is its connectivity. Specifically, its carriage of no less than four full-bore HDMI 2.1 ports. LG is the only brand we know of so far that’s offering such extensive support for the very latest high bandwidth digital connection on its 4K TVs.
Rivals might argue that there isn’t much reason to support HDMI 2.1 on a 4K TV, as its 48Gbps capability is more for 8K rather than 4K content. But forward thinking gamers and even, potentially, video fans will likely appreciate the peace of mind of getting connectivity that supports high frame rates and color resolution. Let’s not forget, either, that HDMI 2.1 can provide other practical features – such as eARC, for shipping lossless object based audio tracks (DTS:X, Dolby Atmos) out via the TV’s HDMIs to connected receivers or soundbars.
And so we come, finally, to the main event: the OLED65C9’s picture quality, driven by a second generation of LG's Alpha 9 processor.
Given that I was already generally a fan of the pictures of LG’s 2018 models, probably the simplest way to explain the successes of the 2019 model is to focus on the areas where the new set makes things even better.
The single most important enhancement for me is the way the OLED65C9 delivers what look like significantly brighter light peaks when playing HDR. This has a transformative effect on how truly dynamic and lifelike HDR pictures look. Especially when, as in the OLED65C9’s case, these much-enhanced light peaks are often delivered right alongside – as in, just a pixel away – from the sort of beautifully rich, deep and above all consistent black tones that have long been OLED’s trademark.
In case you’ve forgotten, the key feature of OLED TVs is that every single pixel in their screens produces its own light and color. There’s no need for external backlighting shared across clusters of pixels – or even the whole screen – as happens with current LCD technology.
The luminous intensity this benefit can give to small bright areas in dark pictures has long being a joy to behold on good OLED TVs. But on the OLED65C9 it’s taken to a whole new level. Star fields, night-time city scapes, torch-lit processions, light glinting on metal or glass and the like all look simply exquisite.
The OLED65C9 doesn’t just improve peak brightness versus last year’s models, though. Its new and improved Dynamic Tone Mapping feature also delivers a significantly higher baseline brightness level with HDR sources. This again addresses one of my most long-held reservations about OLED technology and HDR, making the HDR experience feel much more consistently impactful and ‘true’.
I should pause here to stress that LG has achieved both these HDR improvements without substantially improving measurable peak brightness; I recorded peak light output on a 10% white HDR window of 820 nits in Standard mode. Which drops to around 780-790 nits in Cinema Home mode, and around 740-750 nits in Cinema home. All numbers which are pretty much in line with last year’s C8s.
Seeing is believing, however, and the higher brightness of small HDR peaks and higher average brightness levels with HDR content makes the OLED65C9’s HDR performance regularly (and literally!) feel like night and day compared with the C8s. Even though those 2018 models themselves greatly improved on LG’s previous HDR handling.
I should also add that we’re not talking about either peak or typical brightness levels on the OLED65C9 to rival those possible with the best LED TVs. In the context of OLED’s beautiful pixel by pixel light and color control, though, the impact of HDR on the OLED65C9 improved contrast is still dazzling. Especially in a fairly dark room.
Also important to note – though in this respect we’re not really talking about an improvement over the 2018 LG OLEDs – is the stability of the OLED65C9’s dark scenes. There are none of the subtle backlight adjustments, either localized or full screen, you get with even the best LCD TVs. Nor is there so much as a hint of the light blooming you get (especially during off axis viewing) with the vast majority of LCD TVs – even those with excellent local dimming.
Black level response has long been OLED’s star attraction, of course. So it’s not surprising to find the OLED65C9 consistently delivering incredibly inky, convincing black tones. Where the OLED65C9 does clearly improve on any previous LG OLED TV, though, is with its handling of near-black image content.
During Chapter 7 of Exodus: Gods And Kings on 4K Blu-ray (a torture test for TVs of all technologies), I noted substantially less noise in the scene’s very darkest areas than I’ve ever seen on an LG OLED TV before. In fact, aside from some exceptionally low-level grey macroblocking over the back of Nun’s head for a couple of fleeting shots (which you’ll likely not even notice unless you’re expressly looking for it), the scene looks pretty much immaculate.
This actually represents a big jump forward for LG, and joins the much-improved HDR tone mapping in helping the OLED65C9 frequently paint dark scenes that leave you in awe of their sheer beauty. There are a couple of near-black niggles remaining, though, that I’ll come back to later.
The OLED65C9 delivers yet another compelling improvement with its colors. There’s a more neutral and therefore natural look to bright hues, for instance, that leaves those of (uncalibrated, anyway) 2018 LG OLEDs looking over-warm by comparison. Reds, in particular, look richer and less orange than they have tended to with previous LG OLED generations.
The new Alpha 9 processing engine also significantly reduces banding in tricky HDR images such as the dusk sky as Moses wonders how he’s going to cross the Red Sea in Exodus: Gods And Kings.
Skin tones are significantly improved as well, with more natural and more subtly delineated hues that avoid that slightly plasticky look occasionally evident (at least with upscaled images) on 2018 models.
Finally, the set’s improved brightness with HDR sources joins forces with new found color mapping precision to deliver a gorgeous combination of sumptuously vivid but also beautifully subtle tones that frequently delivers breathtaking results with any high quality source.
Note, too, that the color richness usually remains intact in dark areas; there’s none of the loss of brightness and intensity, or infusion of greyness, that you get with LCD technology. And side by side comparisons also reveal that the OLED65C9 retains tonal consistency across the screen more successfully than its predecessors.
The OLED65C9 manages to improve on the sharpness of LG’s 2018 models too. This applies with both 4K and, especially, upscaled HD content. With the latter, LG has cracked more successfully than ever before the relationship between sharpness and noise, delivering more of the former and less of the latter.
The reduction in picture noise was actually the single most surprising thing about my time with the OLED65C9, given that viewings of pre-production sets had revealed challenging titles – such as the 4K Blu-ray of Mad Max: Fury Road – and areas of deep color or subtle color blends continuing to look a little too grainy for comfort. Clearly in recent months LG has found a way of calming this long-running issue with its OLED sets even with all the noise reduction circuitry turned off. Excellent.
LG has apparently worked hard on improving its motion handling for the OLED65C9, too. With no motion processing in play judder looks more natural and less labored than it has tended to previously. What’s more, if you do still find the remaining judder too prominent, then for the first time ever you can get away with using the TruMotion ‘Clear’ setting, rather than having to faff around in the Custom motion setting menu.
This latest Clear incarnation gently reduces judder (taking care not to leave movies looking like soap operas) while suffering scarcely any of the haloing or shimmering issues associated with it previously.
Now that I’ve started talking about presets, the LG OLED65C9 is the first LG OLED TV I’ve tested where I felt satisfied by the Cinema Home and Cinema presets. Previously I’ve found those picture modes too dark to feel like they’re doing real justice to HDR, leaving me relying on Standard as my preset starting point.
This is a significant point with respect to a user’s ‘right out of the box’ experience, as the Cinema modes generally deliver without adjustment more accurate, natural and clean pictures than the Standard preset.
Enthusiasts should still, of course, consider having their sets professionally calibrated. Something that can now be done with more efficiency and effectiveness than ever thanks to a host of new calibration improvements and an enhanced auto-calibration system.
But the fact is, despite a touch of black crush I’ll return to later, I’ve seldom felt as all-round happy with an out of the box picture setting as I am with the latest LG Cinema Home mode. Handy, given how little effort (research suggests) consumers typically put into adjusting their TV’s picture settings!
As ever with LG OLED TVs nowadays, the OLED65C9 supports the Dolby Vision HDR system, which provides dynamic, scene by scene metadata to help TVs deliver better HDR pictures. While LG’s new dynamic tone-mapping system has arguably made the general difference in quality between HDR10 and Dolby Vision sources slightly less dramatic, DV still delivers palpable color and brightness advantages. Especially with relatively extreme sources such as the stunning 2001: A Space Odyssey 4K Blu-ray.
There’s yet more great news for gamers. As well as delivering a remarkably low input lag reading of barely 13ms in its Game picture preset, the OLED65C9 delivers variable frame rate support and automatic low latency game mode switching with compatible consoles.
Game pictures are also significantly brighter than they used to be with LG OLEDs, and dimming issues caused by static logos seem much less aggressive. Barely noticeable for the vast majority of the time, in fact. Though I would recommend having the Logo Luminance adjustment in the OLED panel settings menu set to at least Low. This reduces the likelihood of static gaming HUD elements causing image retention, but is done so subtly that with most games you’ll struggle to see any visible difference in the picture.
I should say at this point that all the outstanding (non-gaming) picture results I’ve described so far have being achieved without using LG’s new AI picture engine.
This picture setting option draws on a huge and ever-expanding database of picture knowledge to accurately recognize the characteristics of myriad different types of picture source so that the TV can play them more effectively in real time. In particular, it focuses on optimizing noise reduction, sharpness and detail enhancement.
The extent of AI Picture’s impact is at its greatest with sub-4K content. In fact, the grubbier your source, the more effective AI Picture is.
My personal preference was to turn it off for 4K HDR playback, but leave it on for everything else. But by all means give it a try with 4K Blu-ray, too, as you might like it and it’s certainly clever enough not to really screw such content up.
Separate to the AI Picture setting is an AI Brightness mode. This essentially adjusts the picture to optimize it for the lighting conditions in your room. But, as you would expect from the AI part of its name, it does it more intelligently than typical such systems. In particular, it’s very good in bright conditions at subtly elevating black levels and shadow detail without simultaneously ramping up brightness and color saturations.
I’d recommend trying to remember to turn AI Brightness off when you’re having a serious movie night in a relatively dark room, though.
The souped up brain inside the OLED65C9 also provides an AI Sound feature. Essentially this is a virtual 5.1 surround mode that combines LGs in-depth understanding of the capabilities of its own built-in speaker design with a deep learning technique that continually recognizes the type of sound the TV is receiving and optimizes playback accordingly.
This feature is actually something of a revelation – one that usually manages to outperform the OLED65C9’s built-in Dolby Atmos decoder. The AI mode’s sound is typically louder, clearer, more dynamic, more fully rounded, and much more direct and impactful than the Dolby Atmos one. Dialogue sounds more clear and forceful too, the sound stage appears wider, and bass is richer and deeper.
The sound stage is not quite as ‘three dimensional’ with Atmos content as the TV’s Dolby Atmos option, and occasionally becomes a touch shrill or harsh at high volumes. Strangely, I also found the TV’s Atmos setting sounded more meaty than the AI Sound mode with some Dolby Atmos game soundtracks. But for movies, I think most users will find the AI Sound mode preferable to the Dolby Atmos one. It’s certainly a key part of why the OLED65C9 is easily the best-sounding C-series model released to date.
For all the OLED65C9’s magnificence, it isn’t perfect. For starters, despite previously claiming it would, LG hasn’t fully fixed the exaggerated macro-blocking problem with certain standard dynamic range streamed content that became an issue on 2018’s TVs (as reported here).
Notoriously difficult content such as 35:27-36:33 in Season 5, Part 2 Episode 12 of The Vikings on Amazon Prime Video, for instance, causes so much blocking and grey “masking” when using the Standard picture setting I’d normally recommend for SDR TV viewing that it’s actually pretty much unwatchable. And before you ask, activating the new AI Picture mode doesn’t help. In fact, it arguably makes things worse.
Switching to the Cinema picture preset does, mercifully, greatly reduce the blocking noise’s impact. And from what I’ve seen so far, the blocking issues now seem pretty much restricted to Amazon Video rather than creeping into other sources too. However, the Cinema mode takes a pretty big chunk of brightness and some shadow detail out of the picture, so isn’t necessarily an ideal solution. Especially if you’re watching in a fairly bright room.
The flashing problem as the set transitions between subtle dark color shifts seen on 2018 models is also still there, albeit in reduced and rarer form. It can be seen, for instance, in the fade in of the picture in Netflix’s The Last Kingdom at around 21 minutes 30 seconds in episode eight of season three. Or, more subtly, during the opening moments of Interstellar on 4K Blu-ray.
It is also clearly apparent when using the Standard preset on some of the nine fluctuating dark color squares in an SDR test signal (viewable here) specifically designed to spot the problem.
Switching to the Cinema preset removes the flashing from all but the center (brightest) square of this test sequence. However, this also sees the darkest levels of at least a couple of the colored squares to be almost completely crushed out of the picture. Nudging the OLED Light setting up 2-4 points from the Cinema mode’s 80 default level at least reduces the crushing issue of the Cinema preset with this test pattern. But every single step you move up from the default level makes the flashing slightly more obvious.
The Standard picture preset is prone to clipping (losing detail and subtle shading) slightly with the brightest parts of HDR sources. Plus there’s occasionally a tiny bit of what I call silhouetting with very extreme HDR shots. In other words, dark objects against very bright backdrops can look marginally too dark.
The OLED65C9’s screen is fairly reflective, which joins the slight lack of baseline brightness in making the set happier – as with all OLED TVs, really – in a relatively dark environment. Direct sunlight on the screen is particularly worth avoiding if your room layout permits it.
Oddly, my review sample had some issues syncing properly with my resident Xbox One S and X consoles when using the Game preset. The picture often flickered and refused to settle unless I switched to one of the non-Game presets.
Given that I had no such issues with a PS4 Pro, I can only assume that the Xbox issues have something to do with the new auto game mode/variable refresh rate features introduced by the OLED65C9’s HDMI 2.1 support. Though the flickering still occurred even with the new auto fast response and VRR features turned off on both the TV and my Xbox consoles.
It’s possible that these game issues are just down to a fault with my particular LG review sample. But in any case LG is investigating the situation, and I’ll update this review when it’s either confirmed that my sample was at fault, or a fix has been found.
Next up is an omission rather than a performance issue: support for the HDR10+ picture format. This is an alternative to Dolby Vision that also adds scene by scene metadata.
To be fair to LG, it has so far tended to work much harder to support multiple HDR formats than other brands (including Samsung). And HDR10+ still lags far behind Dolby Vision in terms of the amount of content available in it.
However, Universal Studios recently joined Warner Bros in announcing that they intend to start releasing content in HDR10+ (as reported here). Also, IMAX Enhanced and 20th Century Fox have recently released 4K Blu-rays that support HDR10+ but not Dolby Vision, while all of Amazon’s HDR shows use HDR10+ (or a version of it, at least…). So it’s becoming ever harder to remain sanguine about LG’s TVs not supporting HDR10+.
Finally, since this is an OLED TV, I guess you should at least spare a thought for screen burn (permanent image retention). This seems to be much less of an issue than it used to be, though, so between LG’s provided anti retention measures and a little care on your part, you’ll likely be OK. For more on this, check out this in-depth article on the subject.
Verdict
In pretty much every way that matters, LG has worked wonders with the OLED65C9. It delivers a much more substantial picture and sound upgrade over 2018 models than I’d have thought possible, fixing in the process pretty much every issue that’s previously given me even the slightest hesitation about wholeheartedly backing the OLED cause.
Now pictures with almost every source look consistently gorgeous, and sometimes flat-out jaw-dropping. Even after growing accustomed for more than a week to the level of quality on offer I still regularly find myself gasping at the sudden next-level beauty of a particular shot or scene.
The OLED65C9 also sounds much better than previous C series models, and its smart features are both unprecedentedly extensive and beautifully presented and organized.
It’s a pity that, despite pre-launch promises, the OLED65C9 still suffers some video noise issues with Amazon Video and a little flashing with low-brightness colors. Hopefully LG might further improve these residual issues over time.
I guess it’s true to say that LG is going to be facing some pretty steep OLED competition as the year goes on from Sony and, in some non-US territories, Panasonic and Philips.
Those rivals, though, really will have their work cut out to top the OLED65C9. Especially when you take into account it’s competitive-looking $3,499/£3,299 price.
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