LG C4 (OLED65C4) review: An accomplished mid-range OLED

The LG C4 doesn’t deviate massively from earlier models like the LG C2 and LG C3, but if it ain’t broke why fix it? This latest version of the South Korean giant’s mid-range OLED evo TV still delivers impressive SDR and HDR images but benefits from increased brightness, a new seventh-generation AI-enhanced processor and extremely accurate imaging.

The design remains sleek, the smart platform comprehensive, and the audio effective, while the gaming capabilities have been expanded to include support for 4K at 144Hz. Competition is stiff, but the LG C4 stands out as one of the best TVs on the market, particularly if you’re after a TV for gaming.

LG C4 OLED: Key specifications

LG C4 OLED review: What you need to know

The LG C4 is a 4K (3,840 x 2,160) HDR smart TV that uses the company’s latest 120Hz OLED evo panel. This mid-range model includes the seventh generation of the Alpha9 processor with AI-enhanced picture and sound, along with Brightness Booster tech for sparkling highlights.

The C4 range includes 42in, 48in, 55in, 65in, 77in and 83in screen sizes, making this TV ideal if you’re looking for an OLED that can be used as a gaming monitor, an all-purpose family TV or a big-screen home cinema. The design also remains stylish, while the build quality is excellent.

The smart platform uses the webOS 24 operating system, with all the major content streamers present and correct. The C4 supports HDR10, Dolby Vision IQ with Filmmaker mode and HLG – but not HDR10+. There’s also an extensive set of gaming features, including 4K at up to 144Hz.

LG C4 OLED review: Price and competition

The LG C4 is priced to sit between the higher-end LG G4 with its Gallery design aimed at wall-mounting, and the entry-level B4, which uses less processing power. At the time of writing, the 42in model retails for £899, the 48in version £1,299, the 55-incher £1,599 and the 65in version reviewed here £2,049 (RRP £2,700). If you want something even larger, the 77in screen size is a surprisingly reasonable £3,199 and the huge 83in screen size can be picked up for £4,729.

In terms of the C4’s mid-range competition, there’s the Sony BRAVIA 8, which comes in a choice of 55in, 65in and 77in models, with the 65in model costing £2,499. There’s also the Samsung S90D QD OLED with screen sizes ranging from 48in to 83in, and the 65in model retailing for £2,399.

Anyone looking for a non-OLED alternative should check out the Samsung QN90D. It’s a 4K Neo QLED that uses a Micro LED backlit panel, quantum dot technology and AI-enhanced processing to deliver an impressive visual and audio performance. Screen sizes range from 43in to 85in, and the 65in screen size can currently be picked up for £2,399.

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LG C4 OLED review: Design, connections and control

The LG C4 keeps the same ultra-slim design aesthetic the brand has been using for a while now, with a sleek chassis that widens out towards the bottom where the electronics, connections and speakers are housed. The rear now has an attractive stone-like finish, while the sloped stand retains a small footprint. There’s also the option to wall mount using a standard 300 x 200 VESA bracket.

The connections are all located down the left-hand side as you face the screen, where you’ll find four HDMI 2.1 inputs that support ALLM (Auto Low Latency Mode), HDR10, HLG, Dolby Vision and 4K at up to 144Hz with VRR (Variable Refresh Rate) for high-frame-rate gaming, along with eARC on input number two.

There are also terrestrial and satellite tuners, a 3.5mm audio output, an optical digital output, an Ethernet port, three USB 2.0 ports and a CI (common interface) slot. In terms of wireless connections, there’s built-in dual-band Wi-Fi 5, Bluetooth 5.1 and support for Apple AirPlay 2.

LG’s Magic Remote remains the coolest controller around, with an onscreen pointer for quick, easy and intuitive navigation. It’s comfortable to hold and finished in fingerprint revealing gloss black, with direct access buttons for Netflix, Prime Video, Disney+ and Rakuten TV, along with Alexa and the LG Channels. There’s also a microphone for voice interaction, and an NFC tag.

LG C4 OLED review: Smart TV platform

The LG C4 uses the latest version of the brand’s smart platform, which is based around the revamped webOS 24. LG promises to support the system with a minimum of five years of upgrades, which means you can expect its smarts to remain up-to-date until at least 2029.

LG has added three layers below the top banner on the homepage for recommendations, apps and Q-cards – which are now smaller. There’s also a Global Tab added to the top left hand corner for quick access to accounts, notifications, settings, a search function and the TV Guide.

The Q-cards can be arranged by theme, such as Game, Music and Sports, and they can also be curated for each user profile – making it easier to access your favourite content. The Chatbot is a new AI assistant that’s accessed via a Q-card, quick menu or voice commands and will answer any questions you have about the TV’s functionality.

Speaking of smart assistants, webOS 24 has Amazon Alexa built-in, which can be accessed using the microphone in the Magic Remote. The latter also makes navigation second nature, while the comprehensive choice of streaming services means you’ll always have something to watch.

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LG C4 OLED review: Image quality

The LG C4 uses the brand’s OLED evo panel and combines the Alpha9 Gen7 processor and Brightness Booster to produce punchy specular highlights. Precise AI-enhanced upscaling analyses the image on a genre and scene-by-scene basis, before applying noise reduction and resolution enhancements to deliver images with improved perceived detail and sharpness.

The processor also enhances HDR by analysing the signal and using “Dynamic Tone Mapping Pro” to break the image down into thousands of blocks before applying the HDR tone mapping in a more precise and efficient manner. In addition, each frame is analysed, and objects are enhanced for superior visual perception by adding greater depth and sharpness to the image.

This all sounds cool but what does it actually mean in practice? As you’d expect from a self-emissive OLED TV, the pixel-precise images are sharp and detailed, with deep blacks and superb shadow detail. Screen uniformity is also impressive, with no visible banding, dirty screen effect or colour tinting. Reflections are also handled well, and the viewing angles are extremely wide.

The C4 ships in Eco mode, which exhibits an excess of blue in the greyscale, a gamma that droops in the middle and oversaturated colours. However, switch to Filmmaker mode and the difference is profound, with an incredibly accurate greyscale that has an average DeltaE (error) of only 1.2, a gamma that precisely tracks the target of 2.4, and equally impressive colours that match their saturation targets to an average accuracy of one.

To put this performance into perspective, the visible threshold is three, which the Filmmaker mode is already well below. LG includes excellent calibration controls, and I was able to improve the accuracy to below one for both the greyscale and colours, but you would never notice these improvements. LG’s out-of-the-box accuracy on the C4 is remarkable, which is good news for potential owners and bad news for professional calibrators.

The C4 offers a TruMotion menu that includes five different options: Off, Cinematic Movement, Natural, Smooth Movement and User Selection. Cinematic Movement works well at improving the perceived movement without introducing any obvious soap opera effect. However, anyone susceptible to the effects of motion smoothing on film-based content is best advised to turn TruMotion off; it is worth experimenting with the different settings on sports content, though.

LG C4 OLED review: HDR performance

The LG C4 definitely benefits from the combination of its OLED evo panel and Brightness Booster tech, with an improved performance when displaying HDR content. It hits just over 1,000cd/m2 on a 10% window and 200cd/m2 on a full-field pattern, which is impressive and puts this mid-tier model towards the top of the pack in this competitive segment of the OLED TV market.

While this isn’t as bright as some LCD models, and even higher-end OLED TVs, when you combine this brightness with the inherent strengths of this self-emissive technology you get a pixel-precise contrast performance. Once you add the brand’s AI-enhanced processing to the mix, the result is a spectacularly dynamic presentation that’s sure to please everyone.

This HDR prowess is bolstered by LG’s image accuracy, with the grayscale enjoying equal amounts of red, green and blue, while the static tone mapping tracks the target PQ precisely, thus retaining the content creator’s artistic intent. Colours are equally impressive, covering 99% of the DCI-P3 gamut and accurately hitting all the saturation points.

LG’s Dynamic Tone Mapping is an excellent feature that analyses the incoming HDR signal and adjusts the tone mapping on the fly to get the best out of the OLED panel. The C4 passed all of my tests, producing pictures that had great impact, while still precisely following the PQ curve. There were no signs of clipping in the highlights, and areas just above black were free of crush.

The Filmmaker mode offers highly accurate images for HDR10, HLG and now Dolby Vision as well. When I popped on The Batman, I could immediately see what both the C4 and Dolby Vision were capable of, with the shadowy streets of Gotham City rendered with exceptional precision, and the hallway fight being illuminated by muzzle flashes in a way that only OLED can successfully deliver.

I would expect blacks and shadows to look good on an OLED, but where the C4 impressed me was in its ability to deliver full-field patterns like the snowy wastes of The Revenant or the desert vistas of Dune without losing detail in the highlights. The first-rate picture accuracy was also evident, with the old-school Technicolor aesthetic of La La Land popping with wonderful cinematic vibrancy.

To test the LG C4 OLED we used Portrait Displays Calman colour calibration software.

LG C4 OLED review: Gaming

The LG C4 is now an even better choice for gamers thanks to its ability to handle frame rates up to 144Hz. If you have a high-specced PC gaming rig you can enjoy buttery smooth movement that’s free of tearing and stutter, along with an incredibly low input lag that goes down to 5ms. However, you’ll need to select 144Hz in the Game Dashboard because the TV defaults to 120Hz.

Otherwise, it’s business as usual on the gaming front, with all four HDMI 2.1 ports supporting VRR (Nvidia G-Sync and AMD Freesync Premium) in addition to 4K/144Hz. There’s also ALLM, which automatically switches to a low latency game mode when a console is detected and offers a choice of six different game modes – Standard, FPS, RPG, RTS, Sports and User.

The expanded Game Bar is excellent, popping up when the Settings button is pressed and offering all the key game-related information and controls in a clearly laid out interface. This also provides access to the Game Dashboard, where you can fine tune your gaming experience via features like Dark Room mode, which helps reduce eye fatigue, or a control for brightening the darker areas of the image.

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LG C4 OLED review: Sound quality

The LG C4 sounds good for an ultra-slim OLED TV considering it only has a 2.2-channel system with 40W of amplification. The AI Acoustic Tuning optimises the sound for your specific environment, Adaptive Sound Control tweaks the delivery based on real-time analysis of the audio, while Dynamic Sound Booster gives the sonics an added kick.

The C4 supports Dolby Atmos decoding, and the processing is capable of generating a great sense of immersion with object-based audio. However, even with non-Atmos soundtracks, the AI Sound Pro processing is capable of giving the soundstage greater dimensionality, while it also makes dialogue clearer by bringing it forward in the mix and improving the overall intelligibility.

While the C4 can hold its own as a sonic allrounder, it lacks power, scale and deep bass, so if you plan on buying one of the larger screen sizes you really should invest in a soundbar. If you do, it makes sense to pick an LG model that supports WOW Orchestra, because then you can combine the TV’s speakers with those in the soundbar to create a synchronised and cohesive system.

LG C4 OLED review: Verdict

The LG C4 is a top-drawer mid-range OLED that combines remarkable image accuracy and AI-enhanced picture processing into a single elegant package. The SDR and HDR performance is fantastic, with deep blacks, brighter highlights and naturally saturated colours, while highly accurate tone mapping ensures the content creator’s artistic intentions are retained.

The sound quality is surprisingly good thanks to AI-enhanced immersive audio, the Magic Remote remains a class-leader and webOS 24 is as intuitive and comprehensive as ever. PC gamers will be delighted by the addition of support for frame rates up to 144Hz, along with a host of other features and lightning fast response times. All of which makes this 4K TV an impressive allrounder.