LG OLED C4 Review: High-End Staple Balances Picture Quality and Value

8.7/ 10
SCORE

LG OLED C4

$1,500 at LG

$1,500 at Best Buy

$1,497 at Crutchfield

Pros

• Excellent overall image quality
• Preserves contrast well in bright rooms
• Superior contrast and off-angle viewing
• Wide variety of size offerings

Cons

• Expensive
• No major improvements over the C3

OLED TVs are among the best money can buy, and whether you opt for an entry-level model or high-end version, you'll end up with a great picture. The LG C4 combines superb picture quality with a price that's not incredibly unreasonable, making it a top dog among its competitors.

When we test OLED TVs in CNET's TV lab, the differences can be extremely subtle because the TVs generally all perform very well. For this review, we compared the LG C4, Samsung S90D and Samsung S95D, which is Samsung's high-end OLED that premiered a new glare-reducing finish this year. We also lined up the TCL QM851, the predecessor of our current best TV, for a comparison between mini-LED and OLED technology and to answer the question for those who may be on the fence: Is it worth upgrading to an OLED TV?

Last year's LG C3 was our favorite high-end TV, creating big expectations for this year's version. The C4 is currently about $1,000 less expensive than the G4, the step-up LG OLED, which we also reviewed recently. And while the G4 was one of the best-looking TVs we've seen, we think the C4 is the better value for most people.

Between the LG C4 and the Samsung S90D, we give the LG C4 the slight edge. That's mainly because the LG C4's screen looked a bit better in a bright room, with superior contrast to the S90D. For gaming, we also preferred the cinematic image quality of the C4's default picture mode to the more dynamic image of the S90D. Both TVs have excellent overall image quality, however.

Still an even better value is the C3, which is still available, substantially discounted from this year's version, and has most of the same features. (We recommend buying older models of TVs for as long as possible, as year-over-year advancements tend to not be super substantial.) 

But we found the newest version of the storied C-Series OLED TV from LG to be stunning in its own right and a real contender for best high-end TV again this year.

LG C4 series TV sizes

We performed a hands-on evaluation of the 65-inch LG C4, but this review also applies to the other screen sizes in the series. All sizes have very similar specs and should provide very similar picture quality. 

• LG OLED83C4PUA (83-inch)
• LG OLED77C4PUA (77-inch)
• LG OLED65C4PUA (65-inch)
• LG OLED55C4PUA (55-inch)
• LG OLED48C4PUA (48-inch)
• LG C4OLED42C4PUA (42-inch)

Lightweight panel with textured design

The C4's panel is incredibly thin and the backside has a slick textured design that almost looks like shiny gray wallpaper, which is a unique design element that — while will mostly go undetected if mounted to the wall — elevates the overall design of the TV. The bezel is so thin that it's almost nonexistent, like most OLEDs. The C4 is considerably lighter in weight than its competitor, the Samsung S90D. 

LG's remote is unnecessarily complex and feature-rich. It's significantly larger than Samsung's and its extra buttons and scroll wheel didn't actually help us navigate to content more quickly. There are a few aspects that will just seem outdated for most users, like the number pad that's irrelevant in our increasingly streaming-dominant world. The LG remote also has a motion-controlled point-and-shoot cursor, which seems pretty unnecessary and finicky for a TV where you're navigating between apps, as opposed to a computer that requires a cursor. 

LG's menus are easy to navigate, with apps for an array of streaming services front and center when you power on the TV. The stand is sleek and stable.

Gallery feature helps TV blend in

Both the C4 and S90D support Dolby Atmos and a 144Hz refresh rate. The C4 is equipped to handle Dolby Vision, unlike the S90D (or any Samsung OLEDs), but we don't consider that to be a make-or-break feature either way. 

LG TVs and a handful of others on the market now offer an idle mode, sort of like a screensaver, that displays art when the TV isn't in use. This function was originally a hallmark of the matte-screen Samsung Frame, but additional TV makers now offer the feature that's meant to help the TV blend into the wall (sort of like a gallery, as LG calls it).

Multiconsole gaming made easy

The C4, like its competitor Samsung OLED and the step-up LG G4, supports HDMI 2.1. 

That means the HDMI ports can handle 4K at 120 frames per second and variable refresh rate, as well as enhanced audio return channel and automatic low-latency mode (auto game mode).

This versatility in HDMI is important for gaming fanatics looking to support multiple next-gen devices.

• 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

High-end OLED comparison: Samsung S95D and S90D vs. LG C4

TV and movies: In a dark room, we compared the S90D to the LG C4, the Samsung S95D and the TCL QM851. Both the S90D and the C4 looked great, and the following differences were subtle. 

While watching Trigger Warning, an action movie new to Netflix, the LG had a slight edge in preserving contrast in bright and dark scenes. In the opening scene of the show, as Jessica Alba's character drives through the desert, the contrast is preserved a bit better — despite the sunny scene.

The C4 similarly preserves contrast in dark scenes of the same show. It also has better shadow details in super-dark scenes, like in Trigger Warning when a character is smoking a cigarette in a dark room, and the shadowy areas of her face are remarkably visible.

I tried watching some documentaries and docuseries, and the C4 and S90D were essentially comparable so far as picture quality was concerned. The slight advantage in contrast and shadow detail of the C4 essentially disappeared with this documentary type of content, which was consistent when we compared the TVs with the Spears and Munsil 4K benchmark footage.

For sake of comparison between a high-end mini-LED and entry-level OLED, we introduced the TCL QM851 to this lineup as well. Overall, the QM851 was far brighter than any of the OLEDs. While a bright image can look nice, it can also be inaccurate. When watching Trigger Warning, this was especially apparent with lifted black levels in a bright, outdoor scene. A character wearing a black shirt in the sun looked far less black on the QM851 than it did any of the OLED comparisons.

The TCL also had some blurriness with motion, whereas the C4 maintained crispness in the same scene. The C4 also had more depth in its picture than the QM851. In a cooking scene in Trigger Warning, the C4 showed more dimension between people sitting on couches in the foreground and someone grilling toward the back of the space, giving it an overall more immersive, realistic feel. 

The differences between mini-LED and OLED picture quality are studied and can be somewhat vast, but it's worth noting a few of these differences for those who may be torn between upgrading to an OLED or choosing a more affordable, but still overall good looking, mini-LED.

Bright lighting: The C4 screen is glossier than its direct competitor the S90D, which makes it more susceptible to glare. Still, we found the preserved contrast and black levels to be well worth the tradeoff of some glare in a bright room. (We looked at the TV with bright overhead lighting, natural light streaming in from a window off to the side and a combination of the two types of light.)

If you're shopping for a TV for an especially bright room, nothing , beats the Samsung S95D. It suffered some contrast loss in these settings, but it effectively reduced glare in a bright room — a reasonable tradeoff, we think. But bear in mind that the S95D is Samsung's high-end OLED series, so it's considerably more expensive than the C4.

The brightest mode for SDR (Vivid) is pretty inaccurate. For the accurate results listed above on the C4, I used ISF Bright picture mode. Note that with SDR, you'll need to disable the Auto Energy Saving setting (General > Energy Saving > Energy Saving Step > Off) and engage Peak Brightness (Picture > Advanced Settings > Brightness > (Peak Brightness: High) to get its full brightness. 

For HDR, the brightest mode on the C4 was Vivid. Filmmaker was the most accurate picture mode. 

Gaming: When playing Star Wars: Jedi Survivor on the XBox in their default gaming picture modes, the C4 had a much more cinematic picture than the S90D, especially in dark scenes. Daylight coming in through the window of a ship looked far more realistic on the C4 than on the S90D, where the image was overall brighter and contained less shadow detail.

The C4 also allowed for greater customization of settings, even beyond switching game genres to best suit the content. The S90D allowed tailoring of black levels, but the LG allowed for a whole array of other minor tweaks in its Game Optimizer settings menu. This won't matter to the average gamer, but would appeal for those picture quality fanatics who appreciate the ability to customize even the most granular settings. 

When we tested input lag, the C4's lag was lowest in game optimizer mode with the game boost on. Again, like with film and TV content, both OLEDs looked great from a gaming perspective and the differences we observed were subtle. 

Uniformity and viewing angle: The C4 looked good regardless where you watched, consistent with most OLED TVs. The picture was also uniform throughout.

Picture settings and testing notes: Filmmaker mode proved to be the overall best picture mode on the C4, both from our quantitative measurements and with the bare eye. Cinema mode was a close second, but it enables some smoothing, which can create the often undesirable soap opera effect.

In most picture modes, the ability to accept the game genre while in game mode is grayed out. You instead have to go into all settings, navigate to sound and then select Game Optimizer instead of AI Sound Pro. That will then allow you to change the genre.

Portrait Displays Calman calibration software was used in this review. 

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