LG C2 OLED TV Review

OLED83C2PUA evo 4K HDR 120 Hz Smart TV

Intro

LG has been in the OLED TV business for many years and has fine-tuned and perfected this technology to the point where the company is manufacturing some of the best TVs currently available. Back in 2014 when I did my first OLED TV review of the LG LA9650, I remember how impressive the picture quality was and at that time I made a personal claim stating the LA9650 delivered the best picture quality I had seen to date.

Fast forward to 2022 and I stand by the claim that LG OLED TVs deliver some of the best picture images currently available. And as I have mentioned many times before in the recent past that OLED TVs produce the finest picture quality of any consumer TV technology currently available, in my opinion.

LG’s C series lineup of OLED displays is very popular among consumers and has a history of top-selling and excellent-performing models such as the CX and the award-winning C1. And now, LG’s latest C2 picks up where the others left off and is the focus of this review.

The C2 OLED’s main improvements over its predecessors are a new processor, increased brightness, and an evo panel. The C2 is available in 42”, 48”, 55”, 65”, 77” and 83 in screen sizes.

Design & Features

As is the case with all OLED TVs, the C2 has a sleek and slim design which I’m sure most individuals will find aesthetically appealing as it will integrate well with most room décor. The borders (bezel) that surround the massive 83” screen size are so razor thin that it gives the illusion of no borders at all. The panel depth is ultra-thin on the top half but is substantially thicker at the lower half due to the compartment that contains the TV’s electronics. The back panel is made of metal which adds to the solid build quality of the display.

The stand design on the 83” model has a large footprint on the front section of the stand and extends almost the entire width of the panel. By comparison, the smaller screen sizes have a much smaller stand footprint on the front section of the stand.  The extra stand width on the 83” model is necessary and gives the massive panel the extra support it needs for better stability.

The overall build quality of the C2 is excellent and is certainly worthy of the “premium class” moniker of a high-end TV.

Feature Highlights

• 4K screen resolution (3840 x 2160 pixels)
• Self-illuminating OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diode) display panel produces near-infinite picture contrast
• Pixel-level dimming enables each of the panel’s 8.3 million pixels to individually turn on or off completely, for absolute black levels
• “evo” panel technology boosts red, green, and blue sub-pixels for richer, more accurate colors
  • Brightness Booster makes this TV one of the brightest OLED models on the market
• Cinema HDR (Dolby Vision, HDR10, and HLG) for extended picture contrast and brightness when viewing HDR content
  • Dolby Vision IQ optimizes your picture based on genre and the amount of ambient light in your room
• Alpha 9 Gen 5 AI Processor 4K improves noise reduction, sharpness, contrast, and color
  • AI Upscaling upconverts standard-def and high-def video to near-4K quality
  • AI Picture Pro automatically adjusts your settings based on the type of content you’re watching and its source
• Filmmaker Mode automatically adjusts picture settings to preserve the director’s intent
• AI Sound Pro virtually simulates surround sound for a more cinematic TV experience
• The Magic Remote has a built-in mic for voice control for certain TV functions. The remote also has a motion control feature that allows for point-and-click operation to navigate menus, drag and drop apps, and select icons

Smart TV features

• webOS 22 Smart TV platform
• LG ThinQ AI makes your TV the hub for all your smart devices
• built-in Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa intelligent voice assistants
• compatible with Apple HomeKit and AirPlay 2 to allow wireless streaming from your iPhone, iPad, or Mac
• Sports Alert lets you set favorite teams and players to receive automated updates
• Room to Room Share lets you stream cable or satellite content to another compatible TV via Wi-Fi (sold separately)

Gaming features

• Game Optimizer lets you quickly access all of your gaming settings
• 4K @ 120Hz on all HDMI inputs
• Supports VRR (Variable Refresh Rate); AMD FreeSync Premium and Nvidia G-SYNC compatible
• ALLM (Auto Low Latency Mode) for smooth, lag-free gameplay
• HGiG (HDR Gaming Interest Group) mode calibrates tone-mapping for accurate detail and shading
• Supports cloud gaming with Google Stadia and Nvidia Geoforce Now (subscriptions required)

Connectivity

• 4 HDMI 2.1 inputs 4K/120Hz / HDCP 2.2 complainant
• 1 Digital optical output
• 3 USB 2.0 inputs
• 1 RF input for antenna/cable signals
• 1 Ethernet input
• eARC (Enhanced Audio Return Channel) HDMI input 2
• Bluetooth 5.0 wireless audio streaming to a compatible speaker or set of headphones
• Built-in Wi-Fi (802.11ac)
• ATSC 1.0 Tuner

Performance

Note:  To achieve the most accurate picture quality, choose the Filmmaker Mode, Expert Day, Expert Night, or Cinema picture mode settings; these settings are just recommendations. That being said, you should choose the picture mode that looks best to your own eyes.

As mentioned earlier in the review, I stated that OLED displays produce the finest picture quality available to consumers, and that was certainly the case with the C2. The C2 delivered absolutely stunning picture quality and it never ceases to amaze me just how good OLED picture truly is.

And many of you already know this due to the self-illuminating OLED pixel elements that allow for near-infinite contrast and absolute black levels.

Contrast and black level performance was what I expected from an OLED display – this combination allows for exceptionally deep blacks with no blooming around bright objects or text in dark scenes, in addition to amazing picture detail and clarity, and intense vibrant color reproduction.

During my evaluation, I watched 4K HDR YouTube movie clips from The Dark Knight and Lucy. From the Dark Knight, I watched a nighttime chase scene to see how well the C2 would handle this content and I must say I was impressed with the C2’s performance – in these scenes picture detail and clarity were top-notch.  All picture elements were well-defined with no visual obscurities. Shadow detail was also very good in these low-light scenes and I didn’t experience any black crush. The C2 is an excellent choice for viewing dark content in a dark room environment.

Furthermore, in these same scenes, motion handling was very good and I didn’t detect any motion artifacts.

While watching clips from the movie Lucy, detail and clarity were incredible on the huge 83” LG C2 screen. Images were extremely sharp and crystal clear with an amazing sense of visual depth and three-dimensionality. As I watched scenes from this movie, I was very impressed with the level of detail and clarity I saw in Scarlett Johansson’s face in extreme close-up shots. The image quality in this scene had a great sense of realism that appeared true to life.

In another scene from the same movie, there was an extreme close-up of a head shot which absolutely blew me away due to the refined detail and clarity I witnessed; in this scene, I was able to see every single strand of hair and the well-defined separation between each strand of hair. This level of detail and clarity was awesome.

Color reproduction has always impressed me on OLED displays and the C2 was no exception. The overall color palette was very vibrant and full-bodied and added visual impact and a sense of realism to colorful objects and landscape images. The C2 has wide color gamut capability and covers nearly 100% of the DCI-P3 color space.  What is DCI-P3? Click here to learn more.

The C2 has very good peak brightness output for an OLED TV and is one of the brightest OLED TVs currently available, and its brightness output improves over last year’s C1, and LG claims it’s up to 20% brighter. Furthermore, it gets more than bright enough when viewing SDR and especially HDR content in a well-lit room. It also has very good reflection handling in a brightly lit room.

Rtings.com has posted “real scene peak brightness” for SDR (standard dynamic range) peak brightness at 422 nits, and HDR (high dynamic range) peak brightness in a 10% window is 797 nits.

Note: You may experience aggressive ABL (Automatic Brightness Limiting) when viewing content with large areas of on-screen brightness depending on how long this type of content remains on screen.

The C2 had great off-angle viewing performance and maintained color saturation and contrast regardless of the seating positions around the TV’s screen.

Black screen uniformity was as expected for an OLED TV which was a completely black screen. Gray screen uniformity was also good and I didn’t see any dirty screen effects.

Gaming – As I tend to mention, I’m not much of a gamer so I usually don’t comment on any given TV’s gaming performance. Nevertheless, I know this is an important performance criterion for many consumers. That being said, I did some internet research and found the C2 to be a great gaming TV which is related to its gaming features mentioned above. I suggest you do your own research to learn more about its gaming capabilities.

Input lag is excellent on this display: approx 10.0 ms with 1080p and 4K signals @ 60Hz. With 1080p and 4K signals @ 120Hz, input lag was less than 6 ms.

As was expected from a flat panel TV, the sound quality from the C2 was decent and had good med range frequency extension and decent high-frequency extension. On the other hand, it didn’t produce much bass output. However, the TV does play loud and outputs clear dialogue.

The webOS 22 smart TV platform is easy to use and well laid out for easy access to your favorite apps. The interface is smooth and fast. The updated version now supports user profiles, which means you can customize the home page for different users.

LG C2 vs. Samsung S95B

I wasn’t able to make a direct comparison between the C2 and S95B. Nevertheless, I researched and found some informative YouTube videos comparing these two OLED TVs. The general consensus was in favor of the S95B. What I found was that the S95B was visually brighter and had better peak brightness. The S95B can achieve higher peak brightness because it uses a QD-OLED panel consisting of quantum dots.

The higher brightness output was usually very apparent in the content the reviewers were using in their comparison tests. This extra brightness gave images more dynamic impact, and even more clarity and detail, depending on the content. Furthermore, HDR content specular highlights were more visible and brighter.

The other major difference was the color volume which was in favor of the S95B. This again was due to the use of a quantum dot layer in the QD-OLED panel. In most of the content I viewed the colors were more intense and visually vibrant while usually remaining more accurate as well.

The C2 uses traditional WOLED technology.

In my opinion, most people would not know they were missing out on the extra brightness and color volume the S95B provides without seeing both models in a side-by-side comparison. That being said, I could live happily with either the C2 or S95B. Check out my review of the Samsung S95B here.

Conclusion

LG’s C2 is a great OLED TV in my opinion. Its overall picture quality is exceptional due to its great contrast, black levels, and color reproduction. Its high peak brightness produces very good specular highlights when viewing HDR content. The level of detail and clarity was outstanding on the C2 and was some of the best I have ever seen to date.

The enormous screen size of the 83” model I reviewed here makes your viewing experience that much more enjoyable as the images draw you into the on-screen action. Nevertheless, if the 83” model doesn’t suit your needs, you can still enjoy awesome picture quality and have a great viewing experience with one of the smaller models in the C2 lineup.

In my opinion and experience, the LG C2 OLED is one of the best TVs for 2022 and is highly recommended. Check it out, you won’t be disappointed.