LG C2 OLED TV Review: Early Favorite for Best High-End TV – CNET

Over the summer the C1 will sell out and the C2 will drop in price, making it more appealing. If you want the best price on a C2 you should hold off until fall, at which point I’ll have a much better sense of how the C2 stacks up against its rivals. It’s off to a good start though. 

The new “always ready” feature puts something on the screen even after you turn it “off.”

LG C2 sizes, series comparison

LG kept the same remote, unfortunately. In my old age I’ve grown easily annoyed by too many buttons, and I much prefer the streamlined, simple layout of Samsung and Roku/TCL remotes, for example. As always, you can wave LG’s remote around to move the cursor, or scroll quickly through menus with the built-in wheel.

• LG OLED48C1PUB, 48-inch
• LG OLED55C1PUB, 55-inch
• LG OLED65C1PUB, 65-inch
• LG OLED77C1PUB, 77-inch
• LG OLED83C1PUA, 83-inch

As is usual in the first half of the year, a new TV’s stiffest competition comes from its older self. In my side-by-side comparisons, the C2 and last year’s LG C1 OLED TV looked very similar despite the C2’s new “Evo” panel, one of the 2022 upgrades LG touts. That’s why, if you want a new high-end TV now, you should still get the C1. 

Lighter weight, nearly all picture

My side-by-side comparisons involved the best TVs I had on-hand, but the only other OLED was the LG C1 from last year. Since it’s early in 2022, the C2 was the only current model-year television in the group – I’ll compare it to other 2022 TVs as soon as I get the chance. Here’s the lineup:
Gaming: As with nongaming content, the OLEDs looked better than the LCDs in my side-by-side comparisons, although the two LGs again looked very similar. The C1 was my favorite gaming TV last year, and the C2 improves it just a bit. 

The C2 is a very nice-looking TV, with a minimalist appearance similar to past LG OLEDs, but the company made some changes for 2022. When a colleague and I set it up, we actually felt the first such change: it’s lighter than the C1 by a noticeable amount, up to 47 percent lighter depending on size. The 65-inch version I reviewed weighs just 37 pounds with its stand, compared to 72 pounds for the 65-inch C1. 

Smart TV, crowded menu

The C2 has myriad picture settings, but if you just want to set it and forget it, use Filmmaker Mode.

The C2 is plenty bright enough for just about any viewing environment, but as usual it’s not nearly as bright as competing LCD-based models. As with most TVs, the brightest mode for HDR and SDR (Vivid on the C2) is horribly inaccurate. For the accurate results listed above on the C2, I used ISF Expert Bright picture mode (Peak Brightness: High) for SDR and Filmmaker mode for HDR. I recommend C2 owners do the same to get good color in bright rooms. Note that with SDR, you’ll need to disable the Auto Energy Saving setting (Support > Energy Saving > Energy Saving Step > Off) to get full brightness.
All four of the C2’s HDMI inputs support HDMI 2.1 features.

LG’s WebOS menu system is not my favorite, in part because of the clutter. You’ll see notes and notifications along the top, a box that displays the weather, a prompt to sign in to LG’s system, a seemingly random collection of stuff labeled “Trending Now,” then (finally) the list of apps below. Signing in unlocks a new 2022 feature, customized recommendations and additional user accounts. LG touts the fact that you can set up favorite sports teams, for example, but most people will just go straight to the app and skip the clutter. As usual, I prefer a simpler interface like Roku, and if you like customizations and options Google TV is a better bet. On a TV this expensive you should just attach a good streaming device instead. 

Well-connected, especially for gamers

TV and movies: The LG C2 has a spectacular picture but watching it next to the C1 from 2021, any improvements were really tough to see. And measurements backed up my initial impressions: Both TVs delivered essentially equal numbers, and both were extremely accurate in their best modes. Both outperformed the TCL TVs in my comparison overall, as expected.

• Four HDMI inputs with HDMI 2.1, HDCP 2.2
• Three USB 2.0 ports
• Optical digital audio output
• RF (antenna) input
• RS-232 port (minijack, for service only)
• Ethernet (LAN) port

LG OLED C2 picture quality comparisons

Also new for 2022 is something LG calls “always ready.” Instead of turning the screen off when you press power, the TV displays your choice of art wallpapers, a clock, “sound palette” art or your own custom photos. Designed for people who would rather have something on their big screens rather than a big black rectangle, it’s similar to the ambient mode Samsung TVs have offered for the last few years. Personally I’d rather save the power, so I’d leave this feature (and my TV) turned off.

Switching to TV content, I put Severance from Apple TV Plus on all four sets and the results were similar. During Helly’s brain surgery in Episode 2 the dark areas looked more true and realistic on the OLEDs, without the blooming — in the letterbox bars near the operating lights, for example — I saw on the TCLs. The brightness advantage of the LCDs in the office training scene later was obvious, but the faces of Mark and Helly looked flatter and less defined. Again, however, the C1 and C2 were very difficult to tell apart.
I started my comparison with familiar (to me) high dynamic range material, namely the demo montage from the excellent Spears & Munsil HDR benchmark 4K Blu-ray. Both OLEDs showed equally pleasing images. The perfect black levels and lack of blooming (stray illumination) in areas like the honey dripper and cityscapes created superior punch to the LCD-based TCLs. And while the snowscapes, deserts and other full-screen bright scenes from the TCL TVs outshined the OLEDs, smaller highlights in areas like the ferris wheel at night were actually brighter on the LGs. Spot measurements using a light meter revealed the C2 as being slightly brighter than the C1 on the ferris wheel, but with the naked eye I couldn’t really see the difference. I also saw more saturated, natural color on the LGs, in particular reds like the strawberries and flowers.

See How We Test TVs for more details.
The most accurate settings were Cinema and Filmmaker mode for both HDR and SDR, as well as the two ISF modes available in SDR. For SDR viewing I went with Cinema for dark rooms (because it was closer to my 2.2 gamma target) and ISF Bright for brighter environments, and for HDR I used Filmmaker (which was very slightly brighter than Cinema HDR). Game Optimizer is best for gaming, thanks to its processing, but quite blue; for the best color accuracy for gaming you should adjust the color temperature control all the way toward red (Picture > Advanced Settings > Color > White Balance > Color temperature > Warm50).

The elements of the always-ready feature and LG’s screensaver move around so as not to risk burn-in. Here’s where I remind you that, like all OLED TVs, the C2 is more subject to both temporary and permanent image retention, aka burn-in, than LCD TVs. The risk is small, which is why I don’t consider burn-in a reason for most people to avoid buying an OLED TV. Check out our guide to OLED burn-in for more.
I performed a hands-on evaluation of the 65-inch OLED C1, but this review also applies to the other screen sizes in the series. All sizes have identical specs and, according to the manufacturer, should provide very similar picture quality. 

Light output in nits

TV	Brightest mode (SDR)	Accurate mode (SDR)	Brightest mode (HDR)	Accurate mode (HDR)
Hisense 65U8G	1,619	1,612	2,288	2,288
Samsung QN65QN90A	1,622	1,283	2,596	1,597
TCL 65R635	1,114	792	1,292	1,102
Sony XR65X90J	951	815	945	847
LG OLED65C2	413	389	812	759
LG OLED65C1	409	333	790	719

The screen of the C2 was excellent from off-angle but didn’t seem to reduce reflections quite as well as the C1.

LG’s Game Optimizer mode offers myriad adjustments and the updated overlay menu surfaces them in a more logical way, putting VRR next to FPS and offering a few more shortcuts on the bottom, including to the new Dark Room mode. That mode dims the image and is designed to reduce eyestrain, but even though I game in the dark a lot, I don’t have much use for it. Playing Horizon Forbidden West in HDR on PS5, for example, Dark Mode made the moonlit forest less dazzling and the mountain snowscape duller, but if you’re someone who’s bothered by bright sequences in games it might be useful.

Picture setting notes

Uniformity and viewing angle: Like all OLEDs I’ve tested the C2 was exemplary in this area compared to LCD-based TVs, with no significant brightness or color variations across the screen and nearly perfect image quality from off-angle. Comparing the C2 and C1 I saw a very slight color shift toward blue and magenta on the C2 that wasn’t visible on the C1, something that could be caused by the new Evo panel structure. It was only visible from very extreme angles, however, and has no real impact.
LG continues to excel at connection options. All of LG’s 2022 OLED models (aside from the A2) include the latest version of the HDMI standard: 2.1. That means their HDMI ports can handle 4K at 120 frames per second and variable refresh rate (including Nvidia G-Sync and AMD FreeSync), as well as enhanced audio return channel and automatic low latency mode (auto game mode). In other words, they can take advantage of the latest graphics features available from PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X and S consoles as well as high-end graphics cards. The C2 is rare among high-end TVs in that all four of its HDMI ports support 4K/120 — great for hard-core gamers with multiple next-gen devices. 

Geek box

SDR	Result	Score
Black luminance (0%)	0.000	Good
Peak white luminance (10% win)	389	Average
Avg. gamma (10-100%)	2.16	Good
Avg. grayscale error (10-100%)	1.34	Good
Dark gray error (30%)	0.67	Good
Bright gray error (80%)	1.66	Good
Avg. color checker error	0.95	Good
Avg. saturation sweeps error	1.00	Good
Avg. color error	0.81	Good
Input lag (Game mode)	13.47	Good
HDR10
Black luminance (0%)	0.000	Good
Peak white luminance (10% win)	759	Average
Gamut % UHDA/P3 (CIE 1976)	99.62	Good
ColorMatch HDR error	5.93	Poor
Avg. color checker error	2.94	Good
Input lag (Game mode, 4K HDR)	13.47	Good

The new overlay for Game Optimizer shows vitals like frames per second and variable refresh rate, at a glance.