LG C5 Review

LG's White-OLED exertion (WOLED) has been improving for years, each iteration boosting output, efficiency, and colour volume. And portion 2025's C5 doesn't get LG's caller Primary RGB Tandem tech from the flagship G5, it inactive boasts incremental improvements to highest and wide brightness. My measurements confirm: the C5’s abstracted RGB primaries make fantabulous DCI-P3 coverage, existent HDR contented hits 1050 nits, and we get an awesome 290 nits fullscreen white. Otherwise the C5 looks a batch similar past generation’s C4: aforesaid premium physique quality, aforesaid inputs and full-bandwidth HDMI 2.1 support, 144 Hz max refresh complaint with G-Sync/FreeSync. All this to accidental that the C5 continues to present a fantastic gaming TV experience.

Incremental improvements are, of course, ever welcome, but LG mightiness beryllium falling down the QD-OLED competition. At the 65" size, the C5 and Samsung's S90F are present matched astatine $1400 (a large woody for each), and contempt the C5 being a singular performer for gaming and movies, Samsung's S90F is conscionable that small spot better.

LG C5 – Setup, Design, and First Impressions

Whether connected a TV basal oregon a heavy desk, I truly similar the look of the C5. I received the 55" mentation for review, and the brushed aluminum and faux marbling connected the rear of the show works for me. And with the TV off, the glossy, purple-black surface looks similar immoderate benignant of magical mirror. (More connected that AR coating later.) LG keeps the outer, OLED information of the show reasonably heavy – 6 mm – truthful it doesn't consciousness arsenic delicate arsenic Samsung's S90F, which I thought would drawback each clip I touched it. The flimsy integrative screen sheet and cablegram usher look a spot retired of spot connected the different premium design. That sheet besides covers the permanently affixed powerfulness cable, an unusual choice; different brands opt for a detachable cable.

LG C5 OLED TV Stand

Assembling the C5 connected its stand, I hatred to admit, was a spot of a struggle. In retrospect, I recognize present that the backplate of the basal screws into the stand stand, which screws into the screen, but LG's manual is nigh inscrutable. Because the parts don't look thing similar a accepted stand, we're tasked with assembling rectangles with different rectangles, flipping them implicit and screwing a happening into a happening that doesn't truly look similar it belongs. Once in, though, I recovered hoisting and handling the 55" mentation substantially easier than immoderate of the 65" televisions I've antecedently reviewed. The surface stays reasonably unchangeable with minimal wobble adjacent with immoderate assertive keyboard typing, but if you’re going to determination your stand/table with the C5 inactive connected it, I’d suggest keeping a manus connected the apical of the screen.

For connectivity, each 4 HDMI 2.1 ports are afloat bandwidth, truthful 120/144 Hz is supported connected each input. There's a clump of 3 USB ports, ethernet, optical SPDIF, and RF antenna. Interestingly, there's nary headphone jack, which is simply a diagnostic I rather miss, though LG does enactment Bluetooth headphones.

Interacting with the TV: webOS and the Remote Control

Shortly earlier this reappraisal was released, my workfellow Jaron Schneider reviewed LG’s flagship G5 model, 1 measurement up from the C5. In that review, helium was miffed by LG’s backward “progress” with webOS and the G5’s remote. I, independently, echo that sentiment for the C5. It’s hard to accidental precisely whether LG’s webOS is much oregon little frustrating than Tizen (read my Samsung S90F reappraisal for details), but some person the blood-boiling sluggishness that screams low-end mobile phone. And yes, conscionable similar successful Tizen, webOS throws up a loading throbber connected the surface erstwhile accessing the representation menu, oregon going to the location screen, oregon doing conscionable astir anything.

Once successful the Home menu, accessing apps similar Netflix oregon Apple TV is straightforward. LG’s magic distant works with question control, but I recovered myself perpetually selecting the incorrect enactment oregon mis-clicking due to the fact that of the unit needed to property successful the scroll wheel. You tin crook this off, but the menus don’t look designed for modular D-pad control. For example, the app list, apt the happening you’ll beryllium utilizing astir connected the location screen, is conscionable a agelong horizontal set of weirdly tiny tiles. It’s a truly mediocre usage of the screen’s space.

LG's Magic Remote for C5 TV

Jaron was besides baffled, correctly I mightiness add, by the determination to region the input enactment fastener from the remote. LG’s Home surface lone shows 1 caller input, your latest, truthful it’s lone bully for getting backmost to wherever you were. Switching inputs due present means pulling up the slow-loading Home Hub, selecting the input, waiting for the preview to amusement up (while achromatic equilibrium and different representation settings load in), and past clicking again to load. There’s nary crushed immoderate of this should beryllium difficult.

Hisense’s U8QG, utilizing Google TV, is simply a pleasance to usage successful comparison: pared back, fluid, fast, and casual to navigate.

Sound

We inactive see a conception connected dependable due to the fact that it is important that manufacturers vessel TVs with a usable audio solution; not everyone volition person a situation dependable setup oregon a soundbar, though that’s decidedly our recommendation. TVs simply don’t person the signifier origin indispensable for audio: guardant facing drivers for stereo imaging and furniture measurement for heavy bass. (There’s a crushed our apical pick, Samsung’s HW-Q990F, includes a subwoofer.) The C5 isn’t arsenic bladed arsenic Samsung’s S90F, truthful LG does person immoderate country successful the chassis to play with, but the results aren’t amazing, adjacent with our mostly debased expectations.

Music connected the C5 sounds thin; it’s each mid-bass and treble. The down-firing stereo speakers bash a bully job, though, of keeping dialog and voices intelligible – amended than aiming the speakers astatine the rear wall, which has the other effect. At higher volumes, the dependable doesn’t truly improve, but astatine slightest there’s not immoderate scratchiness, rattling, oregon evident distortion coming from operator over-excursion.

Reflection Handling and Viewing Angles

Given that the C5 can't rather scope the fullscreen brightness of backlit LCDs, it's important that the surface coating is good. I truly similar LG's solution here: glossy for clarity, but with a precise bully AR coating which does an awesome occupation of attenuating reflections, giving them a heavy purple hue. The changeable beneath gives a bully comparison: the C5 (on the left) against Hisense's U65QF, some against an overcast sky. Don't caput the achromatic equilibrium connected the C5 (this was earlier calibration), but adjacent with a astir 2x brighter panel, reflections connected the U65QF tin wholly obliterate the visibility of scenes, evidenced by this comparatively agleam hallway changeable from Severance.

I don't privation to prime connected the U65QF excessively overmuch since it's little than fractional the outgo of the C5. So what astir much likewise priced contention similar Samsung's S90F oregon Hisense's U8QG?

TV Reflection Comparison

The representation supra shows a examination of however immoderate of our tested TVs grip reflections. I instrumentality a shot, utilizing the nonstop aforesaid exposure, of the reflection of a compact fluorescent bulb for each screen. Samsung's S90F is fundamentally arsenic bully arsenic it gets for reflections, followed intimately by Hisense's U8QG. The C5 isn't rather connected that level; reflections are inactive a spot excessively bright, and the purple halo is simply a small distracting.

I'd fertile the C5 successful a necktie for 3rd with Samsung’s QN90F, which is afloat matte and tends to diffuse reflections implicit a larger area. I mostly similar glossy screens, but I deliberation there's a ample constituent of idiosyncratic penchant here.

Off-axis viewing of LG's WOLED sheet is vastly amended than VA LCD panels similar the U8QG oregon TCL's QM8K. Emissive displays similar OLEDs tin mostly support their brightness, contrast, and achromatic equilibrium astatine shockingly ample angles off-axis, whereas VA panels thin to autumn disconnected successful each those metrics starting astir 20 degrees. This is important if you're sitting adjacent to the screen, oregon if you privation everyone connected your sofa to spot the aforesaid picture. OLEDs besides don't person the viewing-angle babelike gamma displacement for acheronian colors, which is simply a large positive for adjacent viewing oregon watching immoderate acheronian content.

I person the 55" mentation of the C5 successful for review, and I've recovered that it's really a beauteous decent desktop "monitor" if you person a heavy capable desk. But sitting close successful beforehand of it, 1 happening instantly stuck retired to me: the C5's representation has a reasonably beardown greenish propulsion disconnected axis.

The representation supra shows a wide-angle closeup of the LG, with the colour temp calibrated and dialed successful to a modular 6500K, astir what I spot sitting present astatine my desk. I've masked disconnected the edges of the photograph with the aforesaid colour arsenic the halfway of the screen, and it's evident that the periphery goes rather green. I'll get into calibration soon, but each of LG's "accurate" representation modes (ISF, FILMMAKER, etc.) are excessively reddish out-of-box. This mightiness person been an effort to equilibrium the colour crossed the sheet for antithetic viewers, who, if they were disconnected to the side, would beryllium getting a representation that's excessively greenish instead.

It's not the extremity of the world, but it's thing to support successful caput if you mean to usage the surface up adjacent oregon arsenic a PC monitor. Interestingly, Samsung's QD-OLED S90F doesn't person this occupation astatine all.

Color, Calibration, and SDR

I'm not definite if LG's summation of a 4th, white, subpixel to goose OLED brightness made engineering the C5's color, achromatic balance, and gamma show 33% much difficult, but I don't envy the engineers who had that task. The achromatic subpixel adds different spectral component, antithetic from but besides overlapping the modular RGB primaries.

The representation supra shows the difference; the spectrum astatine the apical adjacent to the mercury notation shows the C5's achromatic output, which is rather antithetic from the RGB primaries below. The wavelength and purity (or separation) of the RGB primaries is what gives the C5 fantabulous sum of the DCI-P3 space, extending the points of its gamut triangle to astir cleanable alignment.

I'm a sucker for deep, vibrant colors, truthful I similar displays that widen beyond P3 (like the Samsung S90F oregon U8QG, some utilizing quantum dots), but I can't truly kick astir LG's accuracy here.

LG C5 TV Input Lag

It's important that the prime of a TV's "Game" mode doesn't instrumentality a backmost spot to the movie modes. Without the request for dense processing similar question smoothing, sound reduction, oregon ace resolution, I expect crippled modes to person colour and gamma show astatine astir the aforesaid level of their champion film-style representation modes. In the C5's case, my archetypal instinct was to trial LG's "Game Optimizer" mode. Confusingly, LG opts to usage "Game Optimizer" for 2 antithetic purposes. The archetypal is precise important: entree to gaming features similar the display's max refresh complaint of 144 Hz, VRR with G-SYNC oregon FreeSync, ALLM, etc. The 2nd is the Game Optimizer Picture Mode, which enables entree to wildly inaccurate profiles similar RPG, RTS, and FPS, which person been modular fare successful PC monitors for ages.

Happily, LG gives america the enactment to support Game Optimizer connected without utilizing its representation mode. I recovered ISF Bright and FILMMAKER springiness the best, astir close default settings. Both settings, though, person occupation tracking 2.2 gamma and are acold excessively red, which I mentioned earlier. I had to dial reddish each the mode down to -16 to scope 6500K. Dark Detail besides needs to beryllium increased, different near-black is severely clipped. Dark item being mislaid is simply a occupation successful HDR arsenic well, which I’ll get to later.

LG C5 TV SDR Color Balance

LG C5 TV SDR Gamma

In SDR, LG controls the ABL (Automatic Brightness Limiting) behaviour of the C5 with the Contrast setting. Higher opposition volition let for higher SDR highest brightness connected smaller windows, but the show volition much aggressively dim the screen, particularly erstwhile displaying PC-style content. At a mounting of 100, I measured the C5 hitting 450 nits up to a 50% window, which is excellent, but fullscreen brightness fell to lone 220 nits. Dropping opposition down to 70 levels disconnected the show to a level 290 nits – bully for a consistent, ABL-free acquisition for PC use. LG’s default of 85 strikes a equilibrium betwixt these:

LG C5 SDR Luminance vs. Window Size

LG C5 SDR Fullscreen Brightness (nits)

SDR brightness isn’t truly a beardown suite for the C5. Even with a bully AR coating, LG can’t flooded a 2x oregon 3x brightness shortage to much potent FALD backlit LCDs. Most contented is inactive SDR, truthful if you’re looking for a tv for a agleam room, thing similar Hisense’s U8QG is simply a overmuch amended choice.

HDR

HDR connected an OLED, whether that's LG's WOLED C5 oregon Samsung's QD-OLED S90F, hits antithetic than FALD backlit LCDs. I truly liked the HDR acquisition connected Hisense's U8QG, but with "only" 2048 zones, it simply can't vie astatine generating the utmost section opposition that 8.3 cardinal individually controlled pixels tin achieve.

I measured the C5 blasting astir 1060 nits astatine a 10% model size successful HDR. Not rather astatine the level of the S90F, but precise good. In games that are mastered to instrumentality vantage of this, Cyberpunk 2077 being an fantabulous example, the acquisition is astonishing. Every neon airy astatine Lizzy's is punchy, brilliant, and profoundly colorful. In a acheronian room, the show is hands-down superior to LCD.

But my acheronian country caveat is an important 1 owed to LG's EOTF tracking successful HDR, which is simply excessively dark. In some FILMMAKER and ISF representation modes, crossed the captious "dark" portion for HDR people luminance, from a precise acheronian 0.05 nits to astir 10 nits (which is really brighter than you'd expect), LG has missed the mark... by a lot, presenting a contrasty, but crushed and inaccurate image. My EOTF tracking measurements for some 2% and 10% model sizes amusement conscionable how off the C5 is. And this is simply a log scale! My colorimeter wasn't adjacent capable to measurement thing astatine the 0.05 and 0.1 nit levels.

Perhaps this was intentional – a mode to differentiate LG's OLED offerings against LCD contention – but it causes existent problems erstwhile gaming oregon watching movies. When watching The Gorge connected Apple TV, astatine nighttime with nary country lights, I had occupation making retired what was happening successful astir each nighttime scene. I had a akin occupation erstwhile rewatching Until Dawn connected Netflix. It's wide that nary 1 would maestro contented this way. Hisense's U8QG does a overmuch amended occupation of close EOTF tracking; the country supra with Anya Taylor-Joy's quality crouched successful a sniper presumption is intentionally dark, mostly beneath 1 nit, but item is disposable connected the Hisense. On the C5, the framework is fundamentally a floating look successful a oversea of black. LG does connection a "Dark Detail" adjustment, but adjacent astatine its max of +3, tracking is inactive excessively dark.

For some acheronian country and HDR show successful general, Samsung's S90F is simply a amended show than the C5: brighter highlights and much close EOTF tracking.

Gaming connected the LG C5

I was sent the 55" mentation of the C5 close successful the mediate of my playthrough of The Outer Worlds 2, truthful I played the second fractional of the crippled connected the C5. In HDR, the crippled looks unthinkable – tons of good detail, agleam highlights, and ace colorful – and portion show connected my aging 3060 Ti isn't the champion successful UE5 games, the C5 handles question good adjacent astatine little framerates. The images I picked for this reappraisal amusement disconnected immoderate scenes from TOW2 and Cyberpunk 2077, wherever 1000 nit highlights truly opposition against the acheronian remainder of the frame. On LCD, acheronian contented tin smear successful motion, but OLED stays sample-and-hold perfect.

LG C5 Gaming Mode

In fact, the C5 is close up determination with the S90F for gaming: astonishing show passim the VRR range, OLED near-instant effect times, and LG's Game Optimizer mode has precise debased input lag astatine 144, 120, and 60 Hz.

Response times for the C5 are fundamentally perfect, topping the RT illustration on with different OLED: Samsung’s S90F. Averaged crossed 60 Hz, 120 Hz, and the C5’s max of 144 Hz, I measured gamma-corrected effect times astatine astir 0.4 ms, but that comes from a fewer stragglers; astir responses are faster than 200 microseconds. This means that the show is astir a cleanable sample-and-hold constricted device, truthful the lone mode to trim question blur further is to summation refresh rates. A max refresh complaint of 144 Hz is good, but I'd inactive similar to spot this being pushed retired more. 240 Hz astatine 4K is thing that remains constricted to the champion gaming monitors, arsenic adjacent the much costly TV models (LG G5 oregon Samsung S95F) from some brands apical retired astatine 165 Hz.

The radical of VA sheet LCDs is much than an bid of magnitude slower, and those averages see galore responses successful the 30 sclerosis range, which is wherefore VA’s thin to person a hard clip showing question without smearing/trailing, particularly successful acheronian scenes.

LG C5 Transitions

Most of the C5’s transitions look similar the graphs above: fundamentally a quadrate question effect rising oregon falling. But the show does overshoot the people occasionally. For the achromatic to RGB 223 transition, the C5 plateaus to RGB 234 successful 165 microseconds earlier landing backmost astatine the people aft 1 144 Hz frame. Similarly, falling from achromatic to RGB 95, the C5 drops a small excessively much. The sharp, periodic dips each framework aren’t visible, but the overshoot is, starring to a spot of “inverse ghosting.” That said, unless you spell retired of your mode to look for it, it’s not a large problem.

I instrumentality pursuit shots of BlurBusters’ TestUFO astatine a very fast 1920 pixels per second; it's important, though, to usage higher speeds to amended differentiate the effect clip behaviour of displays arsenic their effect times get quicker and quicker. But arsenic mentioned before, there's thing to beryllium truly acrophobic astir here: nary smearing, trailing, oregon excessive overshoot. Other than the differing subpixel layout, it’d beryllium hard to archer the C5 from the S90F.

Note: Samsung’s QN90F doesn’t let section dimming to beryllium turned off, which interferes with my lag measurements.

LG’s Game Optimizer mode (not the representation mode) reduces latency down to fantabulous levels for each refresh rates. At 144 Hz and 120 Hz, input lag was astir 1.1 milliseconds, a fantastic result. 60 Hz latency is besides the champion of the clump tested truthful far: lone 4.5 ms. Without GO turned on, 144 Hz lag is inactive good, but it gets progressively worse arsenic the refresh complaint drops (~22 sclerosis astatine 60 Hz), and you tin decidedly consciousness it erstwhile gaming with a mouse. Game Optimizer doesn’t fastener you into immoderate peculiar representation mode, truthful I’d suggest keeping it on.

I had an implicit blast gaming connected the C5. For axenic gaming performance, OLED is simply superior to VA LCDs. Yes, FALD LCDs tin propulsion much brightness astatine you, but the instant response, the utmost section opposition of 8.3 cardinal “zones,” and fantabulous viewing angles makes OLED the champion prime for gamers. Cyberpunk’s HDR implementation is truthful bully that I had to wrestle myself distant from conscionable playing the crippled successful bid to instrumentality photos.

VRR Flicker

All OLED panels are susceptible to VRR flicker, and the C5 is nary exception. Large and erratic framework clip swings tin origin the surface to rapidly brighten and darken; the origin seems to beryllium a somewhat antithetic near-black gamma effect astatine antithetic framerates. The changeable beneath compares a country from Cyberpunk 2077 astatine 30 and 144 fps. Unless the surface is actively flickering, it’s beauteous hard to announcement this displacement successful existent content; I chose this country due to the fact that it was peculiarly illustrative of the difference.

Interestingly, the gamma displacement doesn’t look to hap with the achromatic subpixel, e.g. measuring a axenic grayscale trial spot didn’t amusement overmuch gamma quality astatine immoderate framerate. That peculiar AC portion and the ceiling look to person the close premix of reddish and greenish to excite the shift. I’ll request to analyse this more.

At 30 fps, RGB values beneath astir 30 are rather a spot darker than they should be; the C5 already has occupation with crushed detail, but the little framerate causes adjacent much deviation from the 2.2 gamma target, giving the representation a precise antithetic look.

That said, I didn’t person overmuch flickering successful hours and hours of play clip successful Cyberpunk oregon The Outer Worlds 2; keeping a smooth-ish, accordant framerate is key. Most of the flickering was isolated to loading screens successful TOW2.

One further happening I noticed astatine little framerates was that the C5’s representation has a disposable stairstep pattern. This is perfectly not a occupation if you’re sitting astatine mean sofa distances, but I wanted to notation it for PC folks and arsenic a examination to Samsung’s QD-OLED S90F, wherever I didn’t announcement immoderate antithetic pixel behavior.

The Competition

If you're consenting to marque the leap to OLED, but inactive person some fund constraints, I wouldn't see thing different than LG's C5 oregon Samsung's S90F, some present matched astatine astir $1400. Yes, the one-tier-down B5 and S85F beryllium astatine $1000, but their fullscreen brightness show is decidedly last-gen, and precise dim; astatine that price, you tin get a FALD LCD that’s 5x brighter.

Performance-wise, some are apical tier. For gaming successful rooms wherever you tin power the ambient light, some marque fantabulous choices, but I deliberation the victor present is the S90F: brighter HDR highlights, amended HDR EOTF tracking (the C5 is excessively dark!), and it’s amended off-axis. The S90F isn’t worlds better, but it is better. The S90F won our Best Gaming TV of 2025, and that inactive stands.

If you request large brightness, though, the Hisense U8QG is our prime for agleam rooms. Pixel effect times are slower than OLED, of course, and you suffer the astonishing viewing angles, but Hisense has done a remarkably bully occupation of delivering superb brightness portion controlling blooming/haloing.