PICTURE QUALITY Picture quality was very good, overall. Reproduction of fine image detail was excellent. Color accuracy was very good, with flesh tones in particular, looking natural. Contrast—the difference between the darkest blacks and brightest whites—in dark scenes was okay, so images had some depth, but it was not the best. Black levels were OK and maintained some contrast in darker scenes, but they fell short of the better TVs. There was a distracting halo visible around bright objects when watching a dark scene. This was among the brightest models we've tested (with the brightness at max), so the picture was well suited for a very sunny room—a lower setting is recommended for a dimmer viewing environment. Its reproduction of smooth edges on image content for "up-converted" HD-to-UHD images was very good with minimal "jaggies" (jagged edges). Deinterlacing of 1080i video was excellent. Its frame-rate compensation for 1080i film-based content was excellent.
HIGH DYNAMIC RANGE (HDR) PERFORMANCE HDR performance had very limited effectiveness. In our tests, the display's lack of high peak brightness capability (by HDR standards) limited its ability to show the benefits of our HDR 4K content. It could not reveal much contrast between the moderately bright and very bright highlights —while the brightness levels in the mid-to-lower tones, like those in an indoor scene, were preserved. It did a good job reproducing a greater range of nuanced shadow detail, from black to white, with no obvious banding within the gradually shaded areas. We noted some loss of detail within the highlights of the brightest areas. Brightly colored objects remained nicely saturated.
VIEWING ANGLE This LG model has a wide viewing angle overall. It should provide fairly consistent picture quality for typical viewing setups—say, if seated in a chair off to one side. Our examination at various angles saw reasonably good consistency. In our tests, the picture did show some slight dimming from the sides, but not to a distracting degree. When we viewed the TV from the sides the image had some loss of quality. Halo effects around objects in darker scenes (a side effect of the local dimming feature) also become more prominent at off angles. Lastly, we viewed the image from above and below center screen, and saw excellent vertical viewing angle performance, with no significant changes in color, contrast, and black level.
MOTION BLUR In our motion tests, this LG LCD (LED) had good motion performance, with some blurring.
SOUND QUALITY We got very good sound quality, better than most models we've tested. Whether you're watching a blockbuster movie, a concert, or TV show, it can deliver a satisfying listening experience. In our listening evaluations, we found the bass (low frequency sound) was moderately deep and provided some sense of fullness and lacking some definition. Treble (high frequency sound) was very good. The treble was generally neutral, closed in. This TV should be OK if the room isn't too noisy—we found the speakers could produce a good volume level. Our bass-heavy music track revealed a slight buzz. Overall, unlike most of our tested models its sound should satisfy the more discerning listeners, so give this a listen before opting for an external sound bar.
EASE OF USE Consider the TV's stand is 42 inches wide when choosing a table top to place it on. The remote controls doesn't need to be pointed at the TV. It's a motion-control point-and-click design that you wave around in order to navigate the menus. It has a full number keypad for entering channel numbers. It has a scroll wheel for quickly navigating through a menu. The remote has a microphone use to issue voice commands.
INTERNET FEATURES This TV provides internet functionality via its "WebOS" portal, with access to a library of applications. Movie streaming services that can be downloaded to this TV, or are built-in, include Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV+, Disney Plus, Hulu, Max/HBO Max, Netflix, YouTube. It includes built-in LG ThinQ, Amazon Alexa virtual assistants, which allow you to use natural speech to ask questions, launch applications, and search programming by talking to the TV.
CONNECTIONS This model has 4 HDMI inputs 2 USB ports, and an optical digital audio out, an Ethernet port, 802.11ac/WiFi 5 wireless networking, and AirPlay—for sharing videos, photos, music, and more from Apple devices to the TV. It has an ATSC 3.0 tuner for receiving "Next-Gen TV" off-air signals.
WHAT'S INCLUDED A remote control.
