The 4k LG EG9600 OLED UHD TV has amazing picture quality. Motion performance is excellent and the design looks sleek. It isn't without flaws though. The input lag is rather high, and the uniformity of dark shadows is pretty poor.
Our Verdict
Great all-round TV. Displays excellent picture quality from a variety of sources. Handles motion very well and has excellent uniformity. Unfortunately it can't get very bright.
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Perfect blacks
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Perfect motion (although flicker-free)
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Great picture quality, even at an angle
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Varying luminosity (ABL)
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Poor uniformity of dark colors
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Higher input lag than average
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Prone to temporary image retention after displaying static images
Excellent TV for movies in a dark room. Perfect blacks contribute to great picture quality. Added bonus of 3D for those who want it.
Great living room TV for daytime shows. Excellent picture quality for sources of any resolution. Deals very well with reflections in a bright room. Unfortunately TV can't get very bright.
Great sports performance. Almost perfect motion handling results in no motion blur. Great uniformity. Unfortunately brightness fluctuates depending on content.
Great TV for gamers. Excellent motion handling for fast paced games. Unfortunately there is average input lag.
HDR content looks great. Excellent picture quality. Wide color gamut and great contrast. Unfortunately highlights don't get bright.
Excellent PC monitor. Handles motion very well. Great picture quality at a range of resolutions. Very clear text. Unfortunately input lag is above average.
- 8.6 Mixed Usage
- 9.4 Movies
- 8.2 TV Shows
- 8.2 Sports
- 8.4 Video Games
- 8.4 HDR Movies
- 8.9 HDR Gaming
- 7.9 PC Monitor
- Updated Mar 01, 2017: Review published.
- Updated Nov 12, 2015: Our testers have started testing this product.
- Updated Oct 25, 2015: We've purchased the product and are waiting for it to arrive in our lab.
Test Results
It has a curved screen, and the back of the TV is white. The bezel around the screen is very thin. Like most TVs, it wobbles back and forth a bit when you push it.
As with all other OLED TVs, it has an infinite contrast ratio, because the pixels are really turned off when they are displaying black.
For the sake of comparison with LED TVs, we filmed our local dimming pattern (even though the TV technically has no backlight). The result is a perfect dot, without blooming.
When displaying a small 2% window of pure white and at max 'OLED LIGHT', it is able to achieve luminosity of 373.5 cd/m2. For comparison, the highest score in this test was hit by the Samsung JS9500, with a 726.7 cd/m2 max. Like all OLEDs, the max luminosity varies a lot depending on what is displayed on the screen (see our full measurements here).
The uniformity of the colors is pretty good. You can see a slight discoloration in some places (the left and right side is a little bit pink), but nothing major. Darker colors are more of an issue though (see the 5% and 10% gray pictures that we took here).
The picture quality is still great at an angle, way better than all LED TVs, even the ones with an IPS panel. The hue changes slightly, but nothing really noticeable.
Update 01/06/2017: We have changed the methodology of testing. Since this is an old TV which we don't have anymore, we extrapolated the results from 2016 TVs.
The uniformity of blacks is perfect. Dark colors aren't that great, though (more on this later).
Cable TV and high quality streaming content also looks very good once upscaled by the LG EG9600.
The screen finish is the same as on all the other OLED TVs that we have reviewed. Bright objects appear purple, but at least it does a great job at reducing the ambient reflections. Keep in mind that the curve zooms in on the reflections, so make sure you don't have a window directly opposite the TV.
The luminosity of the screen varies depending on what is displayed. On a white that covers 50% of the screen, we measured 214.1 cd/m2, which is a bit lower than average for a TV.
The 3D is great. It is passive, so it is very comfortable for the eye, without any flickering or crosstalk.
The response time of the pixels is similar to other OLEDs. There is a slight overshoot on some transitions, but nothing apparent to the naked eye. By default, the screen doesn't flicker, and there is no option to make it flicker, either.
It is able to play movies without any judder over a 24Hz and 60i signal.
As long as you don't turn on 'TruMotion,' you can choose any mode you like to get an input lag around 50 ms.
To get chroma 4:4:4, set the icon of the HDMI input to PC. To get on top of that 4k @ 60hz, you will need to turn on UHD Color. Unfortunately, it doesn't support an input of 120 fps.
Very good frequency response with no noticeable pumping or compression. The low-end response is good and the maximum loudness is decent.
Very good, unremarkable distortion performance.
It has the WebOS smart TV platform, which is great, and it even includes a web browser (although flash doesn't work). The remote is also useful, particularly since it can be moved to control the mouse pointer. Read our full review of LG's smart TV platform here.
