LG C1 OLED TV review

LG C1 OLED TV is one of the best models on the market; read LG C1 OLED TV review in Wironal.

People spend a lot of time today with smartphones, but TVs are still in the context of serious entertainment, no matter if you’re interested in watching movies or spending your day and night playing video games, if you want to experience both things under the roof of your home in the best way, you have to go for this magic box.

If we ignore Samsung’s 15-year dominance of the global TV market, LG, with a 19 percent share of the market, is in second place in overall sales, and is the undisputed sultan of the OLED TVs market, with deep black, excellent contrast and slim design increasing in popularity.

Last year LG came into the spotlight with CX OLED TV, which some even referred to as the best TV on the market. LG replaced this year’s C1 TV with changes such as the Game Optimiser feature, the redesigned remote control, and the new version of webOS, CX, so that it can once again attract comments.

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LG C1 OLED TV review

C1 OLED is a mid-range LG model because it goes beyond the A1 and B1 models and below the G1 model. Keep up with the LG C1 OLED Tv review.

Design and ports of C1 OLED LG TV

The C1 OLED TV is the 2021 LG replacement model for the CX model and the earlier C9 model, so it’s no surprise that it has a common DNA with its brothers. Except for the plastic bump in the lower half of the back of the device, the C1 body has a completely metallic and very well-constructed structure. In the front view, the margins around the display are black, very narrow and equivalent to only 9 mm. The minimalist, modern and dark design of C1 can fit well with any decoration.

The metal and grey base of the LG C1 OLED has a very solid structure and holds the TV well on the surface. The base height is not very high, so if you are using a Sandbar next to the TV, you should not put it at the same level as the TV to prevent a part of the image from being blocked. In addition to desktop use, the C1 OLED TV can also be connected to the wall with 200 × 300mm VESA mounts.

The nature of OLED panels and their needlessness of lighting equipment from the back of the panel makes OLED TVs much narrower than LCD samples. The thickness of the upper half of lg C1 OLED does not exceed 5 mm, but the lower half is about 46 mm thick due to hosting ports, speakers and other TV parts. This makes the C1 TV not as suitable for wall mounting as its expensive sour brother, the LG G1 OLED with a thickness of 21 mm.

LG sells C1 TV on 48, 55, 65, 77 and 83-inch models. We had a 55-inch model to examine, with a base dimension of 251.4 × 739.1 × 1226.8 mm. Television weights with and without foundations were measured at 23 and 18.9 kg, respectively. When buying a desk for a 55-inch C1 OLED TV, note that its base width is nearly 100 cm (998 mm).

LG OLED TV offers a wide variety of ports, with a total of 4 HDMI 2.1 input ports supporting 4K content at a rate of 120 Hz, 3 USB 2.0 ports, antenna port, Satellite IN port, LAN cable connection port, optical sound output and a headphone jack on the C1 TV body. LG 3 engineers have planted an HDMI port and a USB port on the left side of the TV and the rest of the ports on the back of the device.

One of the HDMI C1 TV ports supports the eARC/ARC standard for transferring Dolby Atmos audio to your audio set via HDMI cable without the need for additional cables, unfortunately C1 OLED TV cannot transmit DTS:X audio with the help of the HDMI port, but it can transmit 5.1-channel Dolby Digital audio.

LG’s OLED smart TV also supports Wi-Fi 5 and Bluetooth 5.0 connections to connect to networks and peripheral devices, but no compatibility with Wi-Fi 6 networks.

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LG C1 OLED TV Image Quality

The C1 OLED TV uses a 10-bit, 120 Hz OLED panel with a resolution of 4K Ultra HD or 2160 × 3,840 pixels (over 8 million pixels); So in 55 inches to enjoy 4K content, you need to be between one and two meters from the TV, you’ll see pixels at distances of less than one meter, and at distances of more than 2 meters, you’ll notice a difference between the content. You won’t be 4K and 1080p.

LG says the C1 TV powers the fourth generation α9 engine and optimizes sound and image settings to achieve the best visual experience by using artificial intelligence algorithms. The C1 TV supports HDR standards, including Dolby Vision, HDR10 and HLG, but there is no compatibility with the HDR10+ standard.

Based on the manufacturer’s claim, the C1 TV changes image settings depending on the content, using the smart features of Dolby Vision IQ and AI Picture Pro. The Auto Genre Selection feature, on the other hand, changes the image display mode between SDR and HDR and Dolby Vision modes if needed. Koreans say the OLED Motion Pro feature also reduces Blair’s motion in moving images such as sports competitions.

In OLED panels, each pixel, independent of other pixels, can dim, turn on or off. These panels turn off pixels to display black color, creating a very deep black image and infinite contrast, but this nature also makes the brightness level of OLED TVs not as expensive as LCD TVs.

Unlike modern LCD panels with mini-LED technology and high exposure areas, there is no local Dimming in OLED panels and each pixel is turned on independently, so in OLED TVs when displaying bright subjects with a black background, such as movie subtitles, there are no problems such as Blooming (the formation of the aura around the subject).

LG C1 TV automatically changes the different modes of image display when detecting HDR input. HDR videos are usually produced for brightness of up to 1,000 to 4,000 nits, but the UHD Alliance considers at least 550 nits for OLED panels and 1,000 nits for LCD panels. In the following, we measure the brightness level of C1 OLED while displaying SDR and HDR content in different image display modes.

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SDR Image Display Modes

• Vivid
• Standard
• Eco
• Cinema
• Football
• FILMMAKER MODE
• isf Expert (Bright space)
• isf Expert (Dark space)

HDR Image Display Modes

• Vivid
• Standard
• Cinema Home
• Cinema
• FILMMAKER MODE

There are different criteria for measuring maximum brightness on the TV, but since in most videos, up to 25% of the panel space is turned white and bright, in the upcoming survey, we used the 10% criterion to compare the maximum brightness in SDR and HDR mode. On the other hand, due to the wider range and greater penetration coefficient of SDR content, we investigated the maximum brightness of the TV during the display of this type of content for more diverse modes.

When displaying SDR content with a 10% pattern, the C1 TV achieved a maximum brightness of 845 nits in Vivid mode, while in the same case, the maximum TV brightness in the 100% (full screen) pattern was achieved with more than 70% reduction, equal to 247.8 nits.

When displaying content with HDR10 standard and 10% pattern, LG’s mid-range OLED TV achieved 1,305 nit brightness in Vivid mode, more than 50% more than the result obtained in the SDR Vivid test. Based on our experiments, the maximum HDR brightness of the C1 TV in Cinema mode was 1345 nits.

The C1 TV covers two full sRGB and DCI-P3 color spaces, but on average it can only cover about 70% of the wider Rec.2020 color space. Based on our reviews, LG Mid-range TV produces the most accurate colors in sRGB and DCI-P3 spaces in two image modes: TRAPP MODE and Bright Space, while Football mode displays the worst performance in accurate color display.

Our experiments show that LG’s C1 OLED mid-range TV produces warm colors in two modes: CINEMA MODE and Cinema with a slight deviation from neutral status, but in vivid, Football and Game Optimiser modes, with a great deviation from the neutral situation, it tends to be extremely cold. Of the different image modes on the OLED C1 TV, only expert Bright and Expert Dark modes allow the user to change the temperatures and composition of the RGB.

In sum, if you prefer to see the color of movies and videos close to the director’s goal, you should go to filmmaker mode, as you’ve seen in the reviews, in this case the brightness of the TV is very low, so to have a better experience, you shouldn’t put the TV in bright rooms.

The C1 OLED TV has wide viewing angles, so that up to 70 degrees deviation from direct position, there is no noticeable drop in the brightness and freshness of the colors, making LG mid-range TV a suitable choice for living rooms with wide furniture.

Thanks to hdmi 2.1 port and freeSync and G-SYNC standard support, the LG C1 TV offers variable refresh rates ranging from 20 to 120 Hz in 4K resolution. Thus, with the ninth generation Xbox X Series and PlayStation 5 consoles or computers equipped with AMD and NVIDIA graphics cards, without encountering the disturbing phenomenon of screen-ing tearing, games can be played at 4K resolution and a rate of over 120 frames per second, of course, to do so, you need to put the TV on game Optimiser image mode.

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Input Lag is another important metric in choosing a TV for the game that shows the amount of TV latency in receiving incoming and display signals. First of all, users need to use the appropriate cable to achieve the lowest input delay and put the image mode on Game Optimiser, according to reviews, the input lag of the C1 TV was measured in 4K resolution and the refresh rate of 120 Hz is 5.3 milliseconds, which is an extraordinary result, if you use the variable refresh rate, the input delay will increase to about 5.8 milliseconds.

One of the common problems with OLED panels is the aura of previous images in the display, which unfortunately LG C1 is not immune from, in general, the image’s shelf life can be divided into two types of temporary and fixed. The problem of permanent image retention is generally caused by the Burn-in phenomenon and in the case of long-term use of still images, it is difficult and even impossible to eliminate.

The second category of image durability is generally temporary. The existence of this phenomenon will not be problematic for ordinary users, and the TV will broadcast dynamic images after a while to prevent it from occurring. LG provides features such as Pixel Cleaning, Screen Move, and Adjust Logo Brightness to reduce burn-in risk.

Audio & Audio Experience TV C1 OLED LG

There is no dedicated Sandbar on LG’s C1 OLED TV, instead korean engineers have used 2.2-channel speakers with a 40-watt output power on LG mid-range TV. These speakers in baseless mode throw the sound downwards and forward with the base.

C1 TV speakers support Dolby Atmos technology and, according to LG’s claims, with the help of AI Sound Pro’s AI-based feature, the α9 processing engine changes the settings by identifying sounds, effects and frequencies so that the sound is generated inclusively. The Auto Volume Leveling feature, on the other hand, keeps people’s voices in different types of content at a constant level.

LG mid-range TV produces clear and expressive sound, and frequencies are satisfactorily segregated. The volume of tv sound is highly desirable, although at higher levels of sound, the effects of distortion are evident.

Lg C1 OLED TV Software and Control

The LG C1 OLED TV, which falls into the category of smart TVs, is sold by default with webOS 6.0. This version of webOS has a more minimal and attractive look compared to previous versions and at least runs smoothly on the C1 TV, switching between different parts of the log interface is not noticeable and quickly takes place.

The webOS interface has a variety of capabilities within it, in the Wironal-reviewed model of C1 TV, along with default applications such as the browser and video/photo display app, there were also a number of applications such as YouTube, Netflix, Twitch and UFC. The C1 TV is also compatible with Google Accent and Alexa’s digital assistants, along with Apple’s proprietary AirPlay 2 protocol for video and audio streams.

Undoubtedly, video playback is one of the main features of any smart TV, we performed benchmark Wironal videos to evaluate LG C1’s performance in film playback. Note that you will need high-speed memory to play high-bitrate 4K HDR videos. All videos other than 8K samples were played on C1 without problems.

• 4K HDR video with a bitrate rate of 72 Mbps and run rate of 60 frames/sec
• 4K video with a bitrate rate of 52 Mbps and run rate of 60 frames/sec
• 4K video with a bitrate rate of 19 Mbps and a run rate of 24 frames per second
• Full HD video with MPEG codec 4 and bitrate rate of 18 Mbps and run rate of 24 frames/sec
• Full HD video, with H.265 codec and 11 Mbps bitrate rate and 30 frames/sec execution rate
• Full HD video with H.264 codec and 8 Mbps bitrate rate and run rate of 24 frames/sec
• Full HD video with H.264 codec and 2Mbps bitrate rate and run rate of 24 frames/sec
• None of Wironal’s benchmark 8K videos were played on C1 TV

The C1 OLED TV benefits from the new remote version of LG Magic Remote, a version that bears many similarities to the last generation, but now has dedicated keys to call NETFLIX, Amazon Prime Video and Disney+ apps, along with Amazon and Google digital assistants.

Magic Remote has all the elements necessary for a more enjoyable LG smart TV experience. In addition to the attractive and accurate motion detection feature of the controller and the display of the indicator that simplifies the use of the device, ergonomics and proper placement of keys are positive features of this controller, if you are interested in using a traditional TV, you can disable the motion indicator. LG’s magical control is equipped with a microphone to use voice commands.

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Summing up

The C1 OLED TV is one of the best models on the market thanks to its excellent contrast, deep black, wide viewing angle, very fast responsiveness and very slim and minimalist design. Using hdmi 2.1 ports and compatibility with FreeSync and G-SYNC standards, this TV can be one of the main choices for ninth-generation console buyers who are looking for a 4K gaming experience at a rate of over 120 frames per second.

C1 does not differ significantly from previous models or even weaker models such as the LG B7 in terms of brightness level, but it experiences little improvement in the accuracy of color display. LG’s OLED TV still has little to say in terms of brightness in front of Samsung’s best, making it a lower headwind in the HDR experience than its Korean peer.