The LG G3 OLED evo could be the best TV ever made, but can it change your life? We had the chance to test the 77-inch screen in all of its AUD$8,399 goodness for a few months and we have some thoughts to share with you. It’s easy to see why reviewers are calling this one of the best ever made with its epic size and range-topping tech specs that tick every box. So what’s the catch?
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Well, there isn’t really a catch. It’s about as perfect a TV as we’ve ever tested and we really struggled to find any noticeable disadvantages to this unit, should you be able to afford it. You can look down the range at the 77-inch LG C3 OLED (AUD$4,799) that’s considerably cheaper yet practically identical with only a few small differences: The C3 doesn’t mount completely flat to the wall, it comes with a stand, and it doesn’t get as bright as the G3, but you’ll never be able to tell with the naked eye. Nor does it have the full 60W 4.2 Channel in-built speaker array, but we’re talking about a near-perfect TV here.
Pick the LG G3 OLED evo and you’ll get an exceptional viewing experience that ticks all the boxes we look for in a great TV. Starting with 4K Ultra HD (3,840 x 2,160) at a variable 120Hz Native refresh rate for gaming, Dolby Vision / HDR10 / HLG and features such as OLED Dynamic Tone Mapping Pro and AI Super Upscaling 4K thanks to a state-of-the-art α9 AI Processor 4K Gen6.
From there it starts to stand out from TVs like the Samsung S90C OLED with DTS audio formats (for BluRay lovers) and Dolby Vision for streaming content (e.g. Netflix) that typically use low-bitrate files over Apple TV 4K. It doesn’t offer the extra 4K@144hz refresh rate of the Samsung, but few programs or gaming consoles can actually display this anyway. It’s fair to say that Samsung also has the LG beat in the colour department with a wider colour gamut and more accurate colours, but these are outweighed by the aforementioned DTS audio formats and Dolby Vision advantages in our books.
To get technical on the colours for a second, it’s worth reminding you that the contrast ratio for OLED TVs is near infinite. Each individual pixel can turn itself off (for inky blacks) and then individually brighten itself up to create unreal contrast. You don’t get any blooming and even though you don’t get ‘local dimming’ in the traditional sense, the result of self-lit pixels is a total lack of zone transitions.
What you’re left with today is software. It ends up being the primary difference between TVs today and on that end, we’re pleased to say LG has figured out how to display rich HDR content with SDR levels of peak brightness. This is something that’s eluded brands until the last 18 months, but you’d struggle to tell the difference now. We did find the Automatic Brightness Limiter (ABL) in HDR to be a little over-the-top when adjusting the brighter scenes during our test film ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ streamed in 4K over Apple TV 4K with Dolby Vision switched on. However, we’ll note that the content upscaling during our viewing of the Women’s FIFA World Cup was outstanding and we can happily vouch for its sports content capabilities, especially at this 77-inch size.
Gaming was next on our checklist and not something we usually look forward to with large TVs that typically offer unplayable input lag. Not the case here with the LG G3 OLED evo. After playing the latest NBA 2K24 on our PS5 we had to jump online and check out the RTINGS.com input lag test because we struggled to tell the difference between this giant TV and our gaming monitor. Their results show a 4K@120Hz content input lag of 5.5 ms which makes it one of the best TVs for gaming today. Of course, it’s fully compatible with the PlayStation 5 and maxes out the console’s settings, including Auto Low Latency Mode (ALLM). Impressively, you can send this through all four HDMI ports.
You’ll find four HDMI 2.1 48Gbps bandwidth ports on the LG G3 OLED evo supporting gaming consoles and PCs. There’s one eARC channel with return audio, three USB 2.0 ports, one optical digital audio out, and it even supports Wi-Fi 6 if you prefer to run your streaming content through the native LG operating system webOS 23.
So can this AUD$8,399 LG G3 OLED TV change your life? Well, you’d probably want it to make a significant impact on your everyday life at this price point, but to answer this question you really have to think about your individual use cases. Number one, this is a great TV if you’re fitting out a mancave or games room and want one single unit that can be used for gaming and watching sports on a big screen. At the same time, it’s probably the best option on the market if you’re streaming movies, with Dolby Vision doing a lot of the heavy lifting and DTS stepping in across BluRay for exceptional audio.
If you’re in the market for a new OLED TV and want the best of the best you’ve found it in the LG G3 OLED evo. As mentioned, this unit is priced from AUD$8,399 but can be found as low as AUD$5,999 during LG’s Black Friday sale which is happening at the time of publishing this review.
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