LG A2 OLED  TV Review

The TV has a simple style similar to its predecessor, the LG A1 OLED. It features two V-shaped feet, and the back panel is flat except for the housing for the inputs.

After eight months, the TV has permanent image retention, easily visible on a 50% gray screen. You can make out the CNN horizontal news ticker bar at the bottom.

The stand supports the TV well, but it doesn't eliminate all wobble. It also raises the screen high enough off the table that placing smaller soundbars in front doesn't block the screen, but larger ones do.

Footprint of the 65-inch TV stand: 44.5" x 11.0" x 2.64" to the bottom of the screen

The back of the TV features brushed metal that covers the panel and plastic housing for the inputs. The side-facing inputs are easy to access, but there are a few back-facing ones that are harder to reach if you wall-mount the TV.

The feet have detachable clips that serve as cable management to help keep your setup clean.

The LG A2 OLED has excellent build quality. It feels solid, and there aren't any noticeable quality control issues. There's a bit of flex on the plastic housing of the inputs, but this is normal for LG's OLEDs, and it's only an issue if you press against it.

The TV has a near-infinite contrast ratio that results in perfect black levels when displayed next to white objects. It means blacks look deep and inky in a dark room, even if there are bright objects on the screen.

Since pixels can be completely turned off next to pixels that are lit up to their maximum brightness, the blacks surrounding bright elements are perfect and don't have any blooming.

As with other OLED TVs, this TV doesn't have a backlight, but its self-emissive pixels give it the equivalent of a perfect local dimming feature with no zone transitions. We still film the zone transition video on the TV so you can see how the screen performs and compare it with a TV that has local dimming.

There's no difference in dark scene behavior between the calibrated picture mode and Game Mode.

The TV has alright HDR peak brightness. It gets bright enough to make small highlights stand out versus the rest of the image, but it isn't as bright as other OLEDs, which doesn't allow for a truly impactful HDR experience.

These measurements are after calibrating the HDR white point with the following settings:

• HDR Picture Mode: Cinema
• OLED Pixel Brightness: 100
• Adjust Contrast: 100
• Peak Brightness: High
• Color Temperature: Warm 50

If you find the image too dim, the TV can reach a peak of 697 cd/m² in the 2% window using the 'Vivid' HDR Picture Mode with Auto Dynamic Contrast on 'High', Dynamic Tone Mapping enabled, and the Color Temperature set to 'Cold 50'. However, the image is less accurate like this.

The HDR brightness in Game Mode is alright and looks the same as outside of Game Mode.

These measurements are after calibrating the HDR white point, with the following settings:

• Picture Mode: Game Optimizer
• OLED Pixel Brightness: 100
• Adjust Contrast: 100
• Peak Brightness: High
• Color Temperature: Warm 50

The TV has incredible PQ EOTF tracking. It displays images at their correct brightness right up until its peak brightness, where there's a sharp roll-off, resulting in a loss of fine details in bright objects. If you still find the image too dim, you can use the same settings as in the HDR Brightness box, but with Auto Dynamic Contrast on 'High' and Dynamic Tone Mapping enabled. It makes the image appear brighter, as you can see in this EOTF, but it doesn't change the peak luminosity.

The TV has okay SDR peak brightness. It's an improvement over the LG A1 OLED, and while it gets bright enough to fight glare from small light sources like a lamp, it isn't a good choice for bright rooms. There's some variation in brightness between different scenes due to its Automatic Brightness Limiter, but it isn't as aggressive as other OLEDs.

These measurements are after calibration with the following settings:

• Picture Mode: Expert (Dark Space, Night)
• OLED Pixel Brightness: 100
• Adjust Contrast: 85
• Peak Brightness: High
• Color Temperature: Warm 50

The brightness is similar before calibration. If you want the brightest image possible, use the 'Standard' Picture Mode with Adjust Contrast on '100' and the Color Temperature set to '0'. It results in a peak brightness of 484 cd/m² in the 2% window, but the image is less accurate.

The Peak Brightness setting helps make the TV brighter, but it also causes the variation in brightness, which can be noticeable if you use it as a PC monitor with different window sizes. If it distracts you, disabling the setting helps reduce the aggressiveness of the Automatic Brightness Limiter, but it makes the screen dimmer:

• Peak 2% Window: 256 cd/m²
• Peak 10% Window: 259 cd/m²
• Peak 25% Window: 260 cd/m²
• Peak 50% Window: 260 cd/m²
• Peak 100% Window: 164 cd/m²
• Sustained 2% Window: 243 cd/m²
• Sustained 10% Window: 247 cd/m²
• Sustained 25% Window: 248 cd/m²
• Sustained 50% Window: 248 cd/m²
• Sustained 100% Window: 156 cd/m²

If you need a brighter OLED, check out the 2024 LG B4 OLED.

The LG A2 has an excellent HDR color gamut. It has near-perfect coverage of the commonly-used DCI-P3 color space and good coverage of the wider Rec. 2020 color space. However, tone mapping is significantly off in each color space, similar to the LG C2 OLED, resulting in inaccurate color reproduction.

The TV has good color volume. It displays dark colors well, but it struggles with displaying bright colors, and it's limited by its incomplete color gamut.

The SDR pre-calibration accuracy is fantastic. Colors and white balance are both nearly perfect, and the color temperature is extremely close to the 6500K target. However, gamma doesn't follow the 2.2 target for moderately lit rooms well, as all scenes are brighter than they should be.

The accuracy after calibration to the D65 white point is incredible. It's easy to calibrate, with gamma now perfectly on the 2.2 target.

You can see the full settings for our calibration here.

The LG A2 has excellent gray uniformity. The screen is uniform throughout, and there's minimal dirty screen effect in the center, so you won't notice it when watching content with large areas of bright, uniform color, like sports. Like any OLED, there are faint vertical lines with near-dark scenes, but you'll only notice them if you sit really close.

The LG 65A2 has perfect black uniformity, as there isn't any blooming around bright objects.

The LG A2 has a wide viewing angle that makes the image consistent when viewed from the sides. It means that it's ideal for wide seating areas, but some colors lose their hue at narrow viewing angles, so it isn't as ideal if you need to sit close as the edges of the screen look a bit washed out.

The reflection handling is amazing. It handles a moderate amount of light well, but strong light sources can get distracting as there's a purple tint. However, it isn't as bad as on QD-OLED TVs like the Sony A95K OLED.

The TV's HDR native gradient handling is decent. There's some very visible banding in dark grays and greens, and noticeable banding in dark reds, but other color gradients look good.

The TV has decent low-quality content smoothing. It does a good job of cleaning out compression artifacts in dark scenes, but some fine details are lost in the process.

The TV has mediocre sharpness processing with low-resolution or low-bitrate content. Text is a bit blurry and hard to make out, and fine details are lost.

The optimal sharpness settings for low-resolution or low-bitrate content, with no over-sharpening, are as follows:

• Adjusted Sharpness: 25
• Super Resolution: High

The LG A2 Series has an RWBG subpixel layout, and all four pixels are never on simultaneously. All four pixels are never on at the same time, and you can see alternate pixel photos below:

• Alternate 1
• Alternate 2
• Alternate 3

Like all OLEDs, this TV has an incredibly fast pixel response time. There's very little blur behind fast-moving objects, but due to the sample-and-hold nature of OLED technology, there's still some noticeable persistence blur.

The LG A2 TV isn't technically flicker-free because there's a slight dip in brightness every eight ms, which coincides with the refresh rate. However, it isn't the same as pulse width modulation on LED TVs because it isn't a full on and off, and it isn't noticeable.

The LG A2 doesn't have an optional black frame insertion feature to reduce persistence blur.

The TV can interpolate lower frame rate content up to 60 fps. Unfortunately, there's a ton of artifacting with any fast-moving object, which gets distracting.

Due to the TV's near-instantaneous response time, there's stutter with lower frame rate content as each frame is held on longer. Enabling the motion interpolation feature can help reduce stutter, but it isn't a perfect solution.

This TV removes judder from native 24p sources like native apps and Blu-ray players, but it can't from sources that only output signals in 60Hz, like a cable box.

Unlike the higher-end LG B2 OLED and the LG C2 OLED, the LG A2 OLED is limited to a 60Hz refresh rate and doesn't support variable refresh rate technology to reduce screen tearing. It means you can't play games at high frame rates, and you'll see tearing if the frame rate of your game drops.

The LG OLED65A2 has extremely low input lag, ensuring your actions are in sync with what you see on the screen.

The TV supports common signals up to 60Hz and displays proper chroma 4:4:4 with any of its supported signals, which helps result in clear text while using it as a PC monitor. It accepts 1080p @ 120Hz signals, but it skips frames.

As the TV lacks VRR support and is limited to HDMI 2.0 bandwidth with a 60Hz refresh rate, it can't take full advantage of the PS5's capabilities.

As the LG A2 OLED lacks VRR support and is limited to HDMI 2.0 bandwidth with a 60Hz refresh rate, it can't take full advantage of the Xbox Series X|S capabilities.

Unlike higher-end models in LG's 2022 OLED lineup, this TV is limited to HDMI 2.0 bandwidth on all three of its HDMI ports. Furthermore, its tuner is limited to ATSC 1.0, so you can't stream over-the-air 4k channels.

The LG A2 OLED supports eARC, meaning it can pass high-quality audio to a compatible receiver or soundbar. It doesn't support DTS or DTS:X, though, which is disappointing as many Blu-rays use this audio format.

The frequency response is decent. Dialogue sounds clear, and the sound profile is well-balanced. Like most TVs it doesn't produce much bass, so it's best to get a dedicated subwoofer for that.

The TV's distortion handling is mediocre overall. There isn't too much distortion at moderate listening levels, but it gets much worse at its max volume.

The LG A2 OLED TV comes with LG's webOS smart platform built-in, which is user-friendly. It's updated compared to previous versions, as it now supports user profiles, meaning you can customize it for different people in your house.

Unfortunately, like almost all smart TVs on the market, there are ads throughout the smart interface, and you can't disable them.

The TV has a great selection of additional apps, so you're sure to find your favorite content.

The TV comes with LG's Magic Remote. You can use its point-and-press feature like a Wii remote, making it easier to navigate through the menu. Its built-in mic allows you to ask it to open apps, search for content, and switch inputs, but you can't change certain settings like the brightness. This remote comes with the model ending in PUA, but if you get the model ending in AUA from Costco, it supports NFC, so you can tap your phone against the remote to cast content to the TV.

There's a single button underneath the center of the TV. You can turn the power on and off, adjust the volume, switch inputs, and change channels with it.

• Remote
• 2x AA batteries
• Cable management clips
• User guides