TECH REVIEW – LG’s OLED TVs have always been celebrated for their superior picture quality and sleek design. The C3 model takes it up a notch with even brighter and more vibrant colors, delivering an exceptional gaming experience thanks to its low input lag. Priced around $1,296.99 at Amazon at the time of this review, is it worth the investment? Let’s find out in our comprehensive test.

The LG C3 OLED TV has arrived with some exciting new features. Can it surpass its predecessors? And how does it stack up against the competition? Let’s dive into the details of the LG C3 and see what it offers.

Characteristically Sleek Design

The C3 utilizes an OLED panel, resulting in a slim and elegant design typical of OLED TVs. The glass extends edge to edge, surrounded by a quarter-inch thick metal band. The active picture is framed by a thin black bezel, with the bottom edge slightly thicker at half an inch. A small rectangular bulge at the center of the TV’s bottom edge houses the infrared remote receiver, status LED, and far-field microphones. The screen can be placed on the included rectangular metal table stand or mounted on a wall.

The permanently attached power cable extends from the center of the TV’s rear panel, with all other ports facing left. These include four HDMI ports (all 4K120, one eARC), three USB ports, two 3.5mm ports for RS-232C system integration and the included IR blaster cable, an Ethernet port, an optical audio output, and an antenna/cable connector.

LG hasn’t changed the remote design from previous models, and the included Magic Remote is nearly identical to the C2’s. It’s a thin, glossy black plastic wand with a slightly curved profile and a circular navigation pad in the middle featuring a clickable scroll wheel instead of a button. Above the navigation pad are power and menu buttons, a number pad, volume and channel rockers, and a pinhole microphone, while below are four color buttons and dedicated service buttons for Amazon Alexa, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+, LG Channels, Netflix, and Sling.

WebOS – Still a Capable Smart TV Interface

Like all LG TVs, the C3 runs on the company’s WebOS smart TV platform. It’s a well-developed system that includes most major streaming services such as Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV+, Disney+, Hulu, Max, Netflix, Twitch, and YouTube (though Crunchyroll is missing). It also supports Apple AirPlay for streaming from your iPad, iPhone, or Mac, and offers hands-free Amazon Alexa voice assistant access thanks to the TV’s far-field microphones.

Similar to Samsung’s Tizen smart TV platform, LG’s WebOS allows the C3 to act as a smart home hub. The interface is LG-centric and primarily works with LG’s ThinQ-equipped appliances, though it also supports Matter-compatible devices along with a handful of smart lights, smart plugs, blind rollers, and thermostats from Bosch, Ikea, Philips, and TP-Link. Voice control works with any connected devices that support Alexa, but they won’t appear on the WebOS Home Hub screen or provide visual information like camera feeds.

Fantastic Color and Contrast

The LG C3 is a 4K OLED TV with a 120Hz refresh rate. It supports high dynamic range (HDR) content in Dolby Vision, HDR10, and hybrid log gamma (HLG). It includes an ATSC tuner for broadcast TV, but lacks ATSC 3.0 for 4K broadcasts. This is disappointing considering that the much cheaper Hisense U8K and Samsung’s competing S90C support ATSC 3.0. For the price, a future-proof tuner should be part of the deal.

We test TVs using a Klein K-10A colorimeter, a Murideo SIX-G signal generator, and Portrait Displays’ Calman software. OLED TVs are generally less bright than high-end LED-backlit LCD TVs, but the technology is steadily improving, and the C3 is significantly brighter than the C2.

Out of the box, in Cinema mode with an HDR signal, the C3 shows a peak brightness of 167 nits with a full-screen white field and 651 nits with an 18% white field. The 167 nits output is quite dim, but that’s unsurprising because the luminance of OLED panels drops off significantly when the entire panel is lit. The 651 nits is much more respectable, exceeding the C2 (570 nits) and coming close to the Samsung S90C (726 nits). We use an 18% white field for consistent peak brightness comparison across TVs, but the C3 can get much brighter with a 10% field, putting out 865 nits. The S90C is still brighter under those circumstances (1,025 nits), but both models are strong performers. Neither TV is nearly as bright as the Samsung S95C, which puts out 889 nits with an 18% white field and a blazing 1,352 nits with a 10% field. Like all OLED TVs, the C3 shows perfect black levels and has an effectively infinite contrast ratio.

Stunning Nature Documentaries and Blockbuster Movies on the LG C3

Apple TV+’s Prehistoric Planet looks amazing on the C3. In the “Ice Worlds” episode, the snow and the woolly mammoths’ fur appear natural, and the bears’ black fur is deep and dark while their sharp eyes remain distinct. In the “Desert Worlds” episode, the daytime desert and clear sky look bright, and the sand dunes and camel fur’s yellow hue are well balanced. Fine details in the fur are clearly visible under all lighting conditions. In stormy scenes, where cacti are silhouetted against the sky, the spines are clearly visible while remaining almost completely black.

The Spears & Munsil Ultra HD Benchmark demo footage is equally impressive, revealing details in the dark forests at dawn and dusk, and showing bright sunrises and daytime scenes. The colors from the blues of water to the ambers of honey are vivid and balanced. Colorful objects in front of black backgrounds pop, with the backgrounds themselves showing no light at all.

Dune II looks fantastic on the C3 thanks to the OLED panel’s incredible contrast. In the desert scenes, the brightness of the sand and sunlight is captivating, while the contours and textures of black outfits and dark hair are properly dark and clearly visible, with extensive shadow detail preserved in each shot.

Gamers Will Love the Low Input Lag

Alongside rich contrast and color, OLED TVs offer exceptional gaming performance. Until now, most OLED TVs we’ve tested have shown an input lag of around 2ms. Recently, however, two OLED TVs have beaten that mark with readings of less than a millisecond. The HDFury 4K Diva HDMI matrix we use for input lag testing gave us error responses (rather than actual readings) indicating sub-millisecond measurements for both the LG C3 and the Samsung S90C in their respective Game modes. For the C3, this rating was when we turned on the TV’s Game Optimizer feature and set the input lag reduction to Boost. When we changed the input lag setting to Standard, we recorded an input lag of 4.9ms, and with the Game Optimizer completely turned off it jumped to 80.4ms. Obviously, sub-1ms speeds make the LG C3 one of the best TVs for gaming alongside the Samsung S90C.

In addition to the extremely low latency, the C3 features a 120Hz refresh rate with variable refresh rate (VRR) support, as well as both AMD FreeSync and Nvidia G-Sync compatibility (though no formal certification). The Game Optimizer mode also enables a quick menu that shows what gaming features are active when you’re playing.

Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II on the Xbox Series X looks stunning on this TV. The game’s graphical details and colors truly come to life on the OLED panel. The vibrant reds, greens, and blues, along with the deep, dark black shades, provide an incredible visual experience. The texture detail and smooth motion are equally impressive, allowing gamers to fully immerse themselves in the game world.

Another Excellent OLED from LG

The LG C3 Evo is a fantastic TV with an incredible picture and stellar gaming performance. It competes head-to-head with the Samsung S90C as one of the most well-rounded OLED TVs in terms of quality and value. Plus, it’s a bit less expensive than the S90C, and we prefer LG’s smart TV platform over Samsung’s. Still, the S90C has an edge with its 4K-capable ATSC 3.0 tuner and slightly brighter panel, which is why it remains our Editors’ Choice winner. Finally, if you’re willing to splurge for the absolute best OLED TV available, the Samsung S95C is our Editors’ Choice for high-end models thanks to its class-leading brightness.

-Gergely Herpai “BadSector”-