Review – LG OLED evo C3 55 inch 4K Smart OLED TV

During the first quarter of 2023, LG Electronics just released their first OLED TV, the LG OLED evo. It has a higher price during its first few months and as of 2023, you’ll find this TV on stores being sold at lower price now. Given its current price point, it is definitely one of the most affordable OLED models.

Bestsellers:

LG OLED evo C3 55 inch

Specification:

• WRGB OLED Display Panel
• 55-Inch Display Panel Size
• 3840 x 2160 Native Resolution
• 120Hz Panel Refresh Rate
• Active HDR with Dolby Vision
• HDR10 | HLG
• 21ms Input Lag in Game Mode
• 2.2CH Speakers (40 W)
• OLED Dolby Surround Sound
• Dolby Atmos
• webOS 3.5
• DVB-T2/C/S2
• 4 HDMI | 3 USB
• For more information, visit LG Electronics.

Picture Quality

OLED display panels already possess the best black-level rendition that anyone could get from a TV on any market. However, it’s not or never will be the perfect display panel to have. So what LG  improved with their LG OLED evo C3 55 inch are a finer [Brightness] control and cleaner black processing by equipping this TV with a display panel capable of higher bit depth.  

This is proven to be true after watching some low-light scene. Shadow processing took on a clearer appearance compared with other models, giving a sense of solidity to the entire scene and display.

On a 1 to 4% above black full-field grey rasters, the LG OLED exhibited no vignetting or reverse vignetting but some thin vertical streaks can be seen if you look really really closely which isn’t bothersome or noticeable in real-life viewing.

In terms of HDR quality, the LG OLED55B7V supports four different HDR formats:

• HDR10
• HLG (short for Hybrid Log-Gamma)
• Dolby Vision
• Technicolor HDR

When it came to HDR performance, the LG OLED evo topped out at 750cd/m2, that 100-nit improvement over 2023 models. The LG seems to be designed to preserve detail in the brightest parts of the image. Making HDR pictures look dimmer than added to that, the LG’s Active HDR technology continuously optimists the brightness levels to best suit the onscreen images.

Other than that, the overall picture quality is superb to near perfection, as to expect with an OLED and high-end TV from LG.

Gaming

In terms of gaming, gamers will appreciate the LG OLED evo. This TV is able to perform an ultra-responsive lag time of 21ms.

Furthermore, we found out that labelling an HDMI input as [PC] would produce the same low latency allowing you to also utilize a full 4:4:4 chroma reproduction.

However, the input lag [PC] relabelling didn’t lower input lag in HDR.

Audio

The LG OLED evo is equipped with a speaker array that’s capable of providing a full-bodied, refined audio quality. That’s thank to its powerful 2.2CH 40W speaker. Compared to other high-end TV for the same price but underwhelming audio, this TV doesn’t need a soundbar, it is far capable to provide a punch that’s powerful enough to satisfy your audio cravings for a TV.

Our Verdict

Pros

• Clean near-black handling with clear shadow detail;
• Less aggressive ABL contributing to higher perceived contrast;
• Low input lag
• Full 4:4:4 chroma
• HDR tone-mapping
• Anti-reflective filter

Cons

• Noticeable hiccups on interlaced video
• Peak brightness for HDR
• Dolby Atmos doesn’t support True HD

The LG is definitely a great TV in terms of overall performance and an improvement compared to the already awesome picture quality of last year’s OLEDs. The OLED 55 is by no means cheap as it is one of LG’s premium and high-end OLED TV, but if you’re looking for the best all-around performing TV there is, then this is the TV that you will definitely want. In fact, the B7V is a league on its own and has only one competitor, and it’s another LG TV, the C7V.