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The perfect screen?

We tested the new LG TV

LG has launched the new series of screens for 2021, and with it in line: the 48-inch C1 that comes at the cheapest price ever for a TV with an OLED panel that is considered a leader in the field.

So is this the perfect screen or is it missing?

A Lego colleague checked and came back with conclusions

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Lego Fellow

Friday, 28 May 2021, 08:29 Updated: 10:26

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(Photo: LG)

In recent years, innovations in the world of television have been declining. The announcement events that talked about breakthroughs were replaced with announcements of a new processor, updated software and slight improvements in technology production. So, reviewing a new TV is not a simple thing, since, what can I already convey to you readers who have not yet heard of LG OLED TVs. This is where the new C1 series comes in, replacing last year's CX series. In the series you can find a wide range of sizes - the largest of them is 83 inches while the smallest in the bunch, the one sent to me, is 48 inches in size.

After a brief coordination procedure with the importer, the C1 TV found itself in my bedroom.

The company claimed it was the perfect 48-inch screen for the bedroom, so I thought for the sake of review, I would try to stick to the experience they wanted me to get.

But for the avoidance of doubt, this is a great TV even for those who live in a small house (are there Tel Avivians in the audience?) And do not want to save quality even if there is a limit to the screen size in the living room.

This is the smallest OLED screen the Korean company has ever created, and beyond the phenomenal image quality that I will expand on later, it has some particularly surprising tricks under the sleeve, and yes, also a price tag that many will find very difficult to digest.

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More than any other screen I have written about, this is the first one that really made me shake my head and remember my first TV screen somewhere 15 years ago. It was a huge, 17-inch CRT TV without a mono (single) speaker, to which I attached a musty switch box, just so I could see more than one entry. Which would sound completely ridiculous to Generation Z today. So when LG put a screen less than three millimeters thick (about half the thickness of an iPhone) on my library, the experience quickly became surreal - how technology has advanced so much. Of course at the bottom, the C1 is measured at a thickness of 4.7 inches to accommodate the connections, hardware and speakers, however this does not diminish for a moment the effect.

Despite its small physical size, the design line it chose for G remains the same as all the screens in the series from previous years - which is not necessarily a bad thing, on the contrary.

In my opinion this is one of the most impressive and beautiful TVs to be found today, a second perhaps only for Samsung's frame screen.

The design of the dark and brushed metal makes the screen look elegant and luxurious - just as I had hoped and expected according to the price tag.

The Korean company has long utilized the capabilities of OLED technology in order to maintain the minimum thickness, by combining a layer of glass and an additional layer of pixels only with an aluminum frame layer behind it.

The ability to harness the technology and completely eliminate the use of backlight allows it to produce the thinnest TV screens in the world.

Minimum thickness, LG's C1 (Photo: LG)

Ready for the future

The C1 features four HDMI 2.1 connections, which allow it to display display sources operating at 4K 120 Hz.

This is a figure that was until recently reserved for computer screens, but now, with the significant leap in the popularity of game consoles, we are starting to see this technology reach the TV screens as well.

The connection, in fact, prepares it for the future, and even for the present if you have a computer at home that can be played with such data.

You will find here, as expected, also the other standard connections: three USB connections, an RF connection, an antenna connection, a network connection and an optical connection to audio systems.

Gaming power station

Remember I said the C1 has some tricks up its sleeve? So here it all begins. The C1 includes all the major and important devices in the gaming world, including Anvidia's G-Sync and AMD's FreeSync. These two devices are the most important and the highlight here. I will not go into too much detail, but just say that the devices, which were announced a few years ago, dream of the "screen tearing" phenomenon that exists when the TV or computer screen tries to load a new frame before the video card can create one - and they do it perfectly. It is important to note that Samsung's flagship TV also supports the Anvidia standard, as does LG's CX series from last year.

So where are the real innovations in the gaming arena, you are probably wondering. Well, the TV allows gaming at up to 120 frames per second in 4K and HDR, with the Input Delay (the delay from the moment the console sends to the frame to the screen until it is displayed) extremely low. When you activate the new setting in the gaming menu in the screen settings, the same delay can drop to about 10 milliseconds - an amazing figure considering that it is a TV screen and not a computer screen with an LED panel, which is usually able to allow even lower response time. This is a figure that can have a very significant impact on the gaming experience, especially in games that require rapid movement like shooting games.

However, precisely because of the OLED technology, there is also no small disadvantage here, especially for people who play for long hours.

Despite the significant developments made in panels in recent years, the danger of permanent screen burning still hovers over.

I experienced this for myself with a C-Series screen a few years ago, and from what I heard, the phenomenon still exists today, even if the risk has diminished slightly.

Burning can occur when a particular part of the screen displays the same image for several hours, such as a map or data at the bottom of the screen while playing.

I will emphasize and say that this is a small risk, and it should not affect you if you worry every few hours about changing channel or broadcast source.

The C1 includes all the largest and most important devices in the gaming world (Photo: LG)

Perfect image with advanced software

It's no secret that for years I have been praising the panel of OLED screens. These are unequivocally the TVs with the best picture quality and almost infinite contrast thanks to the technology. There are quite a few drawbacks, I admit, but in my opinion, it totally atones for them. LG has received a lot of criticism over the years, and this is of course because the technology was in its infancy. Users constantly complained about screen burns and panel failures, when the amount of panels thrown away during the production process was particularly high. Most obstacles have been overcome by the company, and thanks to the higher efficiency in the production line, prices continue to fall from year to year.

Unlike standard LED screens, each pixel on the OLED screen has its own illumination capability, so if only a specific area on the screen is lit, the rest will be completely black because the pixels themselves will be off. The disadvantage compared to LED screens is of course the illuminance, especially in HDR content, however in my experience, even in a relatively bright room, the TV was bright enough.

After hours of content testing in 4K HDR thanks to Netflix, I can say in the same way what I said in my review of the C9 about two years ago. The color range of the TV was amazing and the picture quality just drops a jaw, over and over again. The scene where the character "Elban" from the "Strange Things" series of Netflix is ​​displayed on a black background shows how much better this technology is when it comes to image quality than anything else on the market right now. SD content and even HD TV broadcasts looked better than ever. Undoubtedly much better than any screen I went through for review. From the sharpness to the excellent colors that were not too saturated, the C series once again sets the bar for what I would expect from other TV screens.

And finally, it's time to talk briefly about the WebOS interface. If we ignore for a moment the Android TV on Sony screens, for example, this is the best interface that can be found on TV today in terms of functionality. It is almost identical to the previous version of the interface (which according to the company will not be updated on the old screens), and supports the most popular applications in our market, including Cellcom TV, Partner TV, YouTube, Netflix, Amazon and more. The new processor allows for slightly faster navigation between the various screens and you feel this especially when trying to run an application that was completely closed. The remote also got an upgrade and is finally much less sensitive to shifts that raise the mouse in the interface. It also allows you to talk to the on-screen voice assistant in Hebrew, although the feature was not really particularly useful in my opinion. The remote also has a huge and noticeable disadvantage - almost most of the buttons at the bottom are not relevant to the Israeli market. Two voice assistants from Google and Amazon and Disney Plus - not all supported in Israel. One can only hope, I suppose.

A starting price tag of NIS 5,990 per 48 inches is still not easy for every pocket (Photo: LG)

So is it really worth it?

I congratulate LG on the success in further lowering the prices of OLED TVs in Israel, although a starting price tag of NIS 5,990 per 48 inches is still not easy for every pocket.

It is important to note that the A1 series brings many of the benefits of OLED screens at a lower price of NIS 5,490 for a 55-inch screen.

To the question of whether it is really worth it, it is very difficult for me to say no.

In my opinion, this is a TV that can easily stay in your living room for many years.

Its range of uses and its readiness for future standards make it very easy to recommend.

In front of LED screens, it easily wins over image quality and contrast, even if it fails to reach their brightness level.

It certainly has its drawbacks, but when used correctly, for people who are not willing to compromise on image quality and now also want to incorporate gaming - this is the right choice.

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