LG is the OLED TV company. After all, every manufacturer that wants to build an OLED television – and almost all of them do – has to go to LG to buy their raw OLED panels before then putting their own stamp on it. Theoretically, there's been nothing stopping another TV maker beating LG at its own game, but that’s all changed for 2021.
Just like last year, LG’s range-topping OLED series is called “Gallery”. And just like last year, LG’s Gallery series are beautifully slim and elegant screens that are perfect for wall-hanging – they're a fraction less than two centimetres deep, which means it hangs pretty much flush to the wall. The big change? The new Gallery series uses an entirely new OLED panel LG is calling “Evo” – and it’s only available here, on the Gallery series screens. So while the OLED65G1 is every bit as slim and elegant as the model it replaces, it’s intended to be a decisive step up in performance – not only over the OLED65GX, but over all those OLED TVs from all those rival brands.
It's all about brightness
We promise not to bog you down in technical details, but it’s worth glancing at the headline changes here. LG has added a “luminance” layer to its OLED panel, along with a green layer, and it’s narrowed the wavelengths of the red and blue layers. What this means for the viewer is brighter, more dynamic, sharper and more vibrant images from a panel with greater power efficiency. That’s the theory, anyway. In practice, it all seems to have worked out beautifully. Feed the OLED65G1 some content that plays to its strengths – a 4K Netflix stream of the Dolby Vision HDR-assisted Thunder Force is ideal for our purposes – and it will wow you with the energy and fidelity of its images.
This telly is most immediately impressive in its black tones, white tones and in the distance it’s able to put between them. Thanks to the ability to turn a pixel all the way off, OLED TVs have always looked good where black levels are concerned – and the G1 serves up deep, inky blacks yet manages to invest them with plenty of detail and differentiation at the same time. The Evo panel is capable of bright, clean and equally information-rich white tones too and, as a result, contrasts are as wide and more convincing than on any previous OLED television.
All the colours in between strike a great balance between naturalness and vitality, too. The palette is extensive and there’s a well-judged level of vibrancy to the LG’s images. Detail levels are very high and the G1 can control even the tightest, most complex patterns or textures with absolute confidence.
PS5 ready
All this good stuff carries over to other sources too. LG has tricked out the OLED65G1 with four HDMI inputs and each one is both eARC-enabled for use with a soundbar and at 2.1 specification for use with a next-generation Playstation 5 or Xbox Series machines. All of the clever picture-making stuff your shiny new console is capable of can be exploited by this screen – and that’s by no means a given, even when you’re spending this sort of money on a new TV.
Even in the one area where the LG is anything less than utterly assured, the problem is far from terminal. Where onscreen motion is concerned, the G1 has a number of presets designed to keep it looking smooth and natural – and that’s what they do. Trouble is, the right preset for a Netflix stream (for instance) isn’t the right preset for, say, a broadcast programme. So you’ll have to switch between them until the LG delivers you on-screen movement that’s as accomplished as everything else it does.
Getting to those presets means delving into the setup menus – and happily LG’s latest user interface (webOS 6.0) is its best yet. As well as being comprehensive and absolutely loaded with desirable apps (with highlights including Netflix, Disney+, Apple TV+ and Amazon Prime Video), it has some very useful recommendation features. Plus it’s simple to navigate and use, thanks in large part to the point-and-click simplicity of its “Magic Remote” handset.
Still needs a soundbar
Even if you tire of watching lovely high-definition 4K content, the OLED65G1 is an expert upscaler of lower-resolution material. Standard-definition stuff from BBC iPlayer, for instance, is eminently watchable – crisp, detailed and with picture-noise kept to a minimum. Obviously the further down you step in quality terms, the harder the LG has to work – so if you’re a big fan of ITV4’s reruns of 1980s dramas this may not be the TV for you.
If you subscribe to George Lucas’ belief that the sound is “50 per cent of the entertainment in a movie”, you’ll want to consider a half-decent soundbar to go along with your fully decent picture quality. There’s nothing intrinsically wrong with the sound the LG makes – and its ability to deal with a Dolby Atmos soundtrack is all to the good – but it’s dull and uninvolving, where its pictures are exciting and engrossing.
LG OLED65G1 verdict
OLED television technology had seemed to have plateaued, but LG’s new Evo panel proves we’re not at the pinnacle of what it can achieve yet. No, the OLED65G1 could never be described as a bargain, but it’s without doubt the best OLED TV LG has created so far. Which puts it very high on the list of the best OLED TVs ever made.
From £1,999. At John Lewis. johnlewis.com
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