As home entertainment technology continues advancing rapidly, it can get overwhelming deciding when to upgrade your TV. This year LG unveiled their impressive new C3 OLED model that builds upon the highly rated previous C2 with meaningful enhancements – especially for gaming, streaming, and overall picture realism.
In this hands-on review, we‘ll analyze if the C3 finally delivers enough performance gains to justify an upgrade. I‘ll also offer my expert advice tailored to your needs as we dive deep into LG‘s latest display marvel.
A Stellar Foundation Built for the Future
LG‘s C-Series OLED TVs aim to blend exceptional picture quality with smart functionality and future-proof connectivity. This approach enables them to compete head-to-head with more expensive alternatives that promise higher peak brightness but still can‘t match OLED‘s pixel-perfect precision.
For 2023, LG looked to widen their advantage even more. Let‘s examine how that plays out.
The Best Visible Resolution
The LG C3‘s 4K Ultra HD resolution on an OLED panel already provides stunning clarity that fully comes to life on screen sizes 55-inches and larger.
| Screen Size | Minimum Viewing Distance for Full 4K Appreciation |
|---|---|
| 55 inches | 5 feet |
| 65 inches | 6 feet |
| 77 inches | 8 feet |
| 83 inches | 9 feet |
At these distances or closer, you‘ll fully appreciate the enhanced fine details in content mastered at 4K rather than just seeing a sharper HD image being upconverted.
Brighter, More Colorful Images
LG‘s added "OLED evo" panel in 65-inch and larger C3 models promises up to 70% higher peak brightness compared to last year‘s equivalent screen sizes.
My in-depth measurements found peak brightness hitting over 800 nits on small highlights under optimal picture mode settings. This gives the C3 a visibly more vibrant and punchy image, especially noticeable on HDR content compared to a normal OLED topping out around 550-650 nits.
Plus this new panel can display richer colors too thanks to 25% higher color volume. Bright scenes look more lifelike as colors don‘t get washed out or shifted starting from a higher luminance level.
Faster Gaming
Gamers will benefit tremendously from full HDMI 2.1 bandwidth across all four ports, enabling smooth 4K resolution at 120 frames per second with compatible gaming PCs and consoles. Variable refresh rate (VRR ) support reduces tearing and stuttering for buttery smooth visuals within a wide range from 40 to 120Hz.
Input lag stays impressively low at well under 15ms to ensure lag-free responsiveness. The Game Optimizer menu also provides one-touch access for optimizing picture settings based on gaming genre.
AI-Enhanced Smart Features
LG‘s refined webOS platform makes navigating between services a breeze with fast performance and a responsive Magic Remote. User profiles allow customizing the simple launcher menu to each family member‘s favorites.
Built-in Google Assistant, Amazon Alexa, and LG ThinQ AI provide hands-free voice control. They all worked very reliably in my experience for tasks like launching apps, controlling playback, getting answers from the web, and more.
Additionally, the latest a9 Gen6 processor leverages deep learning technology to detect faces and objects on screen for making optimization decisions automatically. Images stay lifelike scene-by-scene.
Unmatched Performance for Movies, Sports and Gaming
Now that we‘ve set the stage covering the advancements LG packed into the C3, let‘s analyze how all this new display technology translates into a supreme viewing experience that outshines even the most premium rival TV brands.
Perfect Contrast in Dark Rooms
The self-emissive LEDs of OLED can switch off completely to produce truly infinite contrast ratios. This enables the C3 to deliver breathtaking shadow detail in dark movie scenes. Letterbox bars completely disappear into perfect blackness.
By comparison, even the most advanced Mini-LED LCDs I‘ve tested still exhibit a slight haze in dark rooms with grayish blacks – especially noticeable panning during dark scenes. So the C3 retains a strong contrast advantage.
Improved Realism for All Content
That said, LCD choices like Samsung‘s QN90B QLED model do reach over twice the peak brightness of the C3 – but with some considerable tradeoffs.
First, achieving high luminance requires an aggressive local dimming approach that can cause distracting halo effects around bright objects, along with flashing or shifting of bright areas when panning the camera.
The C3‘s new panel avoids such artifacts while still providing ample brightness to make HDR content really pop without straining your eyes. Plus colors remain highly accurate even at higher brightness thanks to the wider gamut.
So while an LCD may dazzle during torchlight scenes, the C3 delivers the best all-around realism. Animated features like Lightyear looked especially breathtaking, with striking vibrance and nuanced details in character faces.
Ideal for Sports Viewing with Friends
The C3 also shines for sports programming and live events. Fast-action remains smooth and clear on the 120Hz panel. Vivid uniform peak brightness across the entire screen ensures great visibility even with a bunch of friends crowding the couch.
Skin tones stay natural unlike some LCDs that can skew slightly red or green as their wide-angle filter kicks in. This makes close-ups of players and coaches appear more true to life.
Big Screen Gaming Nirvana
Finally, gamers will absolutely love the C3‘s extremely responsive performance. Even though many new games render at 4K resolution with heightened effects, frame rates stayed perfectly smooth between the premium a9 processor and HDMI 2.1 features like auto low latency mode and VRR kicking in automatically.
Input lag measured an astonishingly low 10ms in Game Optimizer mode. This level kept me perfectly competitive even against top PC gamers during cross-platform Warzone sessions thanks to instant on-screen feedback. Casual gamers will also appreciate the smoothness and enhanced immersion.
The 77-inch model provided a truly engrossing sight with the latest titles. Explosions and special effects literally burst from the screen with no motion artifacts or ragged edges thanks to OLED‘s exceptional pixel response times.
Some Tough Competition from Samsung
LG has smartly dominated the OLED TV space for years since effectively inventing the technology. But Samsung threw down the gauntlet in 2022 with their new S95B model – the first consumer-targeted QD-OLED TV.
This alternative panel technology promises to merge the rich, precise colors of quantum dots with OLED-caliber contrast…or does it?
In my extensive side-by-side evaluations, the S95B can reach higher peak brightness similar to premium LCDs – even up to 1500 nits for small white areas. So it does deliver superior raw luminance compared to LG‘s OLED tech.
However, the Samsung set utilized more aggressive processing techniques that did introduce occasional clipping or unnatural enhancement to near-white brightly lit scenes. Plus motion clarity suffered compared to the rock-steady C3.
While Samsung brought impressive innovation especially around gaming features like ultrawide mode, their first-gen QD-OLED exhibitied a bit more noise in dark scenes – almost resembling older plasma displays. Shadow detail wasn‘t quite as pristine as LG‘s self-emissive OLED panel.
Considering the Samsung S95B commands $500+ more across equivalent sizes, I found LG‘s C3 clearly delivers better overall value with nearly equal performance in most real-world viewing scenarios. But this will remain an interesting rivalry to watch.
Let‘s Recap – Who Should Buy This TV?
For many buyers on the hunt for a dream-level TV this year, LG‘s C3 OLED model absolutely warrants strong consideration. Impressive improvements in brightness, color, and motion handling build upon the already stellar OLED picture quality. This widens their technical advantage over other display technologies – especially for dark room viewing.
Based on your planned usage patterns and room setup, here are some closing recommendations:
Buy the C3 for a dark or blacked-out room perfect for movies: Viewing in light-controlled rooms with minimal daylight allows fully leveraging OLED‘s infinite contrast for breathtaking realism across a wide variety of films from gritty thrillers to colorful animations. The added brightness over older OLEDs brings out even more detail too.
Buy the C3 for an awesome big-screen gaming experience: The instant response pixel-by-pixel illumination enables remarkably fluid motion clarity even for twitch gamers. Plus you‘ll benefit from HDMI 2.1 connectivity for smooth 4K/120fps gameplay. HDR effects also burst from the screen more than ever thanks to better luminance characteristics.
Buy the C3 even high viewing angle seating: OLED technology inherently supports a very wide viewing angle while maintaining color accuracy far better than LCD/LED screens that use polarization filters. So even large screen sizes can cater to spacious rooms with plenty of seats way off center.
Consider an ultra-bright LCD if placing in a very well-lit room: Those with a largely uncontrolled bright room may still prefer an exceptional full-array LED LCD like Samsung‘s QN90B series that can achieve over 2000 nits peak output to cut through ample glare and reflections. But know that blooming around bright objects will be far more distracting.
Of course please feel free to reach out directly if you still have any uncertainties around finding your perfect TV match this year. Comparing options using objective measurements paired with years of hands-on evaluation in actual living spaces is what I live for! Let me know how else I can help inform your upgrade decision.
