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LG UF9500 TV Review

Tested using Methodology v1.0
Review updated Mar 01, 2017 at 06:31 am
LG UF9500 Picture
7.1
Mixed Usage
Value for price beaten by
: Not at the latest test bench
6.6
Movies
Value for price beaten by
: Not at the latest test bench
7.3
TV Shows
Value for price beaten by
: Not at the latest test bench
7.0
Sports
Value for price beaten by
: Not at the latest test bench
7.4
Video Games
Value for price beaten by
: Not at the latest test bench
6.9
HDR Movies
Value for price beaten by
: Not at the latest test bench
7.1
HDR Gaming
Value for price beaten by
: Not at the latest test bench
6.8
PC Monitor
Value for price beaten by
: Not at the latest test bench

The LG UF9500 UHD TV is LG's flagship 4k LED TV. Despite its plethora of features, the image quality is sub-par, especially when watched in the dark. For a well-lit, wide living room with seating on the sides, it will still fit the bill, and most will enjoy its good smart functions.

Our Verdict

7.1 Mixed Usage

The LG UF9500 is the flagship 4k LED TV from LG. Feature-rich, it still struggles with picture quality because of its low contrast and grayish blacks. It will shine in a well-lit room, and when viewed from the side, but even then, sports fans might be disappointed by the poor screen uniformity. Gamers will enjoy its motion handling and responsiveness, though. As for movie lovers or people that like to watch TV in the dark, they will be happier with a different, and probably even cheaper TV.

Pros
  • Great viewing angle
  • Great smart TV interface (WebOS 2.0)
Cons
  • Very bad screen uniformity
  • Poor picture quality in a dark room
  • 7.1 Mixed Usage
  • 6.6 Movies
  • 7.3 TV Shows
  • 7.0 Sports
  • 7.4 Video Games
  • 6.9 HDR Movies
  • 7.1 HDR Gaming
  • 6.8 PC Monitor
  1. Updated Mar 01, 2017: Review published.
  2. Updated Dec 22, 2015: Our testers have started testing this product.
  3. Updated Apr 24, 2015: We've purchased the product and are waiting for it to arrive in our lab.

Test Results

Design
9.0
Design
Style
Curved No

The LG UF9500 looks high-end with its particular stand. The TV is very slim on the upper portion, and although the middle and bottom portions are a bit thicker, it still manages to look sharp overall. Like some other recent TVs from LG, its back is all white, which is something to keep in mind if the TV won't be close to a wall.

Design
Stand

The plastic stand mimics the look of stainless steel convincingly. It is very wide, but its footprint is a little shorter than it appears. Total dimensions of the stand for the 65" TV size: 44.9" x 9.6". Footprint: 37.8" x 9.3".

Design
Borders
Borders 0.55" (1.4 cm)
Design
Thickness
Max Thickness 1.22" (3.1 cm)
Picture Quality
5.8
Picture Quality
Contrast
Native Contrast
889 : 1

Black will appear gray in a dark room, which isn't ideal.

3.0
Picture Quality
Local Dimming
Local Dimming
Yes
Backlight
Edge

The local dimming zones are too big to provide a real improvement to the picture. In our test, when the dot is moving fast, the middle zones don't appear to light up anymore. Only the left and right edges of the screen lit up (almost half of the screen lit up for each side).

5.8
Picture Quality
SDR Peak Brightness
SDR Peak 2% Window
226 cd/m²
SDR Peak 50% Window
253 cd/m²

This TV isn't able to bring highlights very bright.

5.1
Picture Quality
Gray Uniformity
50% Std. Dev.
7.717%
50% DSE
0.249%

Uniformity is particularly bad. In fact, it is the worst we have seen to date. Edges of the screen are very dark and banding can be seen in middle of the screen on most content. It is especially distracting for sports on long camera pans over playing surfaces. For example, in football, long passes where the camera travels from one end of the field to the other will reveal the 'dirty screen effect' (DSE).

6.4
Picture Quality
Viewing Angle
LCD Type
IPS
Color Shift
23°
Brightness
35°
Black Level
75°

Like other TVs that have IPS panels, the LG UF9500 has a great viewing angle. Watching from the sides won't degrade picture quality as much as most other LED TVs with VA panels.

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.

4.5
Picture Quality
Black Uniformity
Native Std. Dev.
3.46%

All-black screens are cloudy looking. Some flashlighting (light leakage) can be seen on the top left and bottom right of the screen. Massaging the screen with a soft cloth didn't help.

8.0
Picture Quality
Gradient
Color Depth
10 Bit
7.1
Picture Quality
Pre Calibration
White Balance dE
6.5
Color dE
4.2194
Gamma
1.92

Colors were off by default, but an untrained eye may not notice the problems.

9.7
Picture Quality
Post Calibration
White Balance dE
0.4
Color dE
0.75
Gamma
2.22

Calibration was hard to achieve, and we had to lower contrast to correct the more pronounced gamma issues. Our settings then give a less-bright picture, with lower contrast than what the TV can do by default. It was a sacrifice that has to be made to get the grayscale close to gamma 2.2.

8.0
Picture Quality
480p Input

DVDs and standard TV content look great once upscaled on this set.

8.0
Picture Quality
720p Input

Cable TV will also look good when upscaled.

9.0
Picture Quality
1080p Input

Blu-rays looks sharp without any issues.

10
Picture Quality
4k Input

Native 4k content looks very good.

7.7
Picture Quality
Color Gamut
Wide Color Gamut
Yes
DCI P3 xy
84.33%
DCI P3 uv
89.42%
Rec 2020 xy
62.91%
Rec 2020 uv
70.67%

The LG UF9500 can display a wide range of colors when 'Color Gamut' is set to 'Wide'. On normal contents, this option will result in over-saturated colors.

7.0
Picture Quality
Reflections
Reflection
1.9%
Screen Finish
Semi-gloss

It reflects slightly more light than average, but there are no rainbows around bright objects.
Maximum brightness of the UF9500 is average.

9.0
Picture Quality
3D
3D
Yes
3D Type
Passive

Passive 3D is comfortable to watch but there is a bit of crosstalk, as you can see on the left side of our logo.

Picture Quality
Pixels
Type LED
Motion
8.8
Motion
Motion Blur
Refresh Rate 120 Hz
Response Time
10 ms
Overshoot
7.2 ms

The response time is fast, so moving sequences will stay defined. The trail following the logo has some length, but is faint enough not to be bothering. Most of the transitions have overshoot, but it isn't apparent in our moving logo test.

2.8
Motion
Image Flicker
PWM Dimming Frequency
120 Hz
BFI
No
BFI Frequency
120 Hz
BFI In Game Mode
No
7.1
Motion
24p Playback
Judder-free 24p
Yes
Judder-free 24p via 60p
No
Judder-free 24p via 60i
No

24p sources like Blu-ray will look smooth, without judder. You can only get rid of judder on 60p and 60i by using motion interpolation, which adds the soap opera effect.

10
Motion
Motion Interpolation
Motion Interpolation (30 fps)
Yes
Motion Interpolation (60 fps)
Yes
Inputs
7.3
Inputs
Input Lag
1080p @ 60Hz
36.1 ms
1080p With Interpolation
127.6 ms
1080p @ 60Hz Outside Game Mode
61 ms
1080p @ 60Hz @ 4:4:4
36.1 ms

It isn't the fastest TV around but you most likely won't complain about responsiveness. Controls will feel good for all kinds of games. Motion interpolation isn't recommended while gaming, because it increases the input lag too much.

8.0
Inputs
Supported Resolutions
Resolution 4k
1080p @ 60Hz @ 4:4:4
Yes
1080p @ 120Hz
No
4k @ 30Hz @ 4:4:4
Yes
4k @ 60Hz
Yes
4k @ 60Hz @ 4:4:4
Yes

Most PC inputs are compatible, except for 1080p @ 120Hz. For all supported modes, chroma 4:4:4 can be enabled for sharp-looking text. To enable, change the input icon to PC. While in 4k, 'HDMI ULTRA HD Deep Color' must also be turned on. Under PC mode, the input lag is the same as in game mode as long as the 'Game' picture mode stays selected.

Inputs
Side Inputs
Inputs
Rear Inputs
Inputs
Total Inputs
HDMI 4
USB 3
Digital Optical Audio Out 1
Analog Audio Out 3.5mm 1
Analog Audio Out RCA 0
Component In 1 (incl. adapter)
Composite In 1 (incl. adapter)
Tuner (Cable/Ant) 1
Ethernet 1
DisplayPort 0
IR In 0
SD/SDHC 0
Inputs
Inputs Specifications
HDR10
No
5.1 Passthrough ARC Dolby Digital
Yes
Dolby Vision
No
5.1 Passthrough ARC DTS
Yes
5.1 Passthrough Optical Dolby Digital
Yes
5.1 Passthrough Optical DTS
Yes
HDMI 2.0 Full Bandwidth Yes
ARC Yes (HDMI 2)
USB 3 Yes (1)
HDCP 2.2 Yes
CEC Yes
MHL Yes (HDMI 3)
Variable Analog Audio Out Yes
Sound Quality
7.4
Sound Quality
Frequency Response
Std. Dev. @ 70
4.83 dB SPL
Std. Dev. @ 80
4.6 dB SPL
Std. Dev. @ Max
5.67 dB SPL
Max
90.8 dB SPL
Low-end Cutoff
63 Hz

Very good low-end extension and good maximum loudness. The frequency response is decent too, except under maximum load, where pumping may be present.

6.1
Sound Quality
Total Harmonic Distortion
Distortion @ 70
0.088
Distortion @ 80
0.041
Distortion @ Max
0.06

Very good distortion results overall. We did, however, experience some strange behavior (clicks and pops) with our unit. It happens only at high frequencies, with the volume on the TV set to 25 and lower (see the spikes above 3 KHz on the blue line). The problem seems to go away when the volume is increased above 25. This issue may not be audible under regular use, but it was quite audible and reproducible with our test signal.

Smart Features
9.0
Smart Features
Interface
Smart OS WebOS

WebOS 2.0 is the smart platform running on the LG UF9500 and it offers a very good interface. It could have been better with more apps, but the most popular ones are there. Combined with the great interface, the magic remote makes everything easy to navigate and can act as a universal remote for your other connected devices, such as a cable box and receivers. Switching inputs feels like using apps, which is great.

You can see our full review of the LG WebOS here.

0
Smart Features
Ads
Ad-free
No
Opt-out
No
Smart Features
Remote
Remote Smart

The magic remote included with the LG UF9500 has numbers on it and more buttons compared to last year's model. It makes navigation even better.

Smart Features
Misc
Power Consumption 85 W
Power Consumption (Max) 163 W
Firmware 04.00.35