- Table of Contents
- Intro
- Design
- Picture Quality
- Motion
- Inputs
- Sound Quality
- Smart Features
- Sizes and Variants
- Compared
- Conclusion
- Discussions
LG C6 OLED
TV REVIEW
The LG C6 is a 4k OLED TV with excellent picture quality. The dark scene performance can't be beat, and the picture remains accurate even when viewed at a wide angle. Motion handling is excellent, with no motion blur following moving objects. As with other OLED TVs it's not perfect though as the screen can't get very bright to deal with glare and it suffers from temporary image retention after displaying static images.
| Design | 9.5 |
| Picture Quality | 8.7 |
| Motion | 9.3 |
| Inputs | 7.8 |
| Sound Quality | 6.5 |
| Smart Features | 9.0 |
- Picture remains accurate when viewed at an angle
- Great blacks
- Excellent motion handling
- Automatic brightness limiter (ABL) causes brightness to fluctuate depending on content
- Displaying static images results in temporary image retention
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Design
The design is almost exactly the same as the LG B6, but with a curved screen. It looks great, and stands out in any room. The clear plastic stand and the thinness of the screen are nice touches to the otherwise minimal look. Unlike the higher model E6, the speakers are built into the body of the TV.
The stand looks the same as the B6, and is made of transparent plastic. It has a small footprint but feels stable.
Footprint of the 55" TV stand: 11.3" x 27.0"
The rear of the TV looks almost the same as the B6. It has a brushed metallic finish, and provides a wide VESA mount for good support.
Since OLEDs are self-emissive, the heat is produced throughout the screen with a few hot spots where electronic components are located.
Picture Quality
- 11% Contrast
- 6% Local Dimming
- 6% SDR Peak Brightness
- 6% HDR Peak Brightness
- 6% Gray Uniformity
- 7% Viewing Angle
- 4% Black Uniformity
- 2% Gradient
- 4% Pre Calibration
- 1% Post Calibration
- 6% 480p Input
- 9% 720p Input
- 11% 1080p Input
- 6% 4k Input
- 4% Color Gamut
- 4% Color Volume
- 1% Image Retention
- 5% Reflections
- <1% 3D
As with the other LG OLED TVs, the picture quality is excellent. With an infinite contrast ratio and a perfect black uniformity, this makes a perfect TV for watching movies in a dark room. Peak brightness is not as high as the best LED TVs, but it is still very good and a big improvement over the last year's OLED TVs. The very good gray uniformity, wide viewing angle and the very good upscaling performance make the C6P one of the best TVs for watching sport with a lot of friends. Finally, the color space coverage is very good and will provide some of the best HDR performance out there.
- 100% Native Contrast
The OLED panel has a perfect native contrast ratio. Adjacent pixels can be turned off completely, leading to perfect blacks.
The video is for reference only, since there is no need for a local dimming feature on OLED TVs.
The LG C6 OLED TV have an average SDR peak brightness and is on par with the LG E6. The ABL (Automatic Brightness Limiter) also affect the brightness of highlights bigger than 25%, making anything beyond that point darker than the smaller highlight.
Like with the LG E6P, the C6P is much better than 2015 OLED TVs, but unfortunately ABL (Automatic Brightness Limiter) is still present on the C6 and it limits the maximum brightness allowed on a full white screen. This is why, when you look at the results, the bigger the white surface gets, the dimmer it is. This may be distracting as the brightness changes depending on the scene.
Like the other LG OLED TVs, the screen brightness of a static image tends to diminish after some time. This might just be a screen protection or an energy saving feature. Once again, it is only when a static image is left on screen for a long time and should not have any impact on normal video content.
- 40% 50% Std. Dev.
- 40% 50% DSE
- 10% 5% Std. Dev.
- 10% 5% DSE
The gray uniformity of the C6 is very good, and better than any LCD TV. Dirty screen effect is not really an issue but still it is not perfect. On our test picture, you can notice some large vertical bands that are warmer than the rest of the screen.
After playing static material, temporary image retention is still an issue on this TV.
- 20% Color Shift
- 40% Brightness
- 40% Black Level
When viewed at an angle, the picture remains clear and the contrast very high. The colors become slightly less accurate, but as with other OLED displays this is a great result for those with wide seating.
- 100% Native Std. Dev.
With a completely dark image, the pixels are turned off and emit no light whatsoever. This results in a perfect black uniformity without any blooming.
The LG C6 OLED TV is able to display a 10 bit gradient very efficiently without any major banding or color shade issues. Some little imperfections can be seen here and there in the darker shades of color, but this is not really a problem and should not be visible when watching normal content.
- 50% White Balance dE
- 50% Color dE
Prior to calibration the picture is quite accurate. The white balance is a little bit off at high IREs but this isn't really an issue. For most people a calibration isn't necessary.
- 50% White Balance dE
- 50% Color dE
The white balance calibration is performed with the inbuilt 2 and 20 point system. It works well to finely adjust the white balance.
The colors space calibration is a bit less responsive than the white balance one, but it is still possible to bring down the Color dE a bit more.
You can see our recommended settings here.
- 25% DCI P3 xy
- 25% DCI P3 uv
- 25% Rec 2020 xy
- 25% Rec 2020 uv
Just like the other 2016 OLED TVs, the C6 has a large color volume. It is able to cover almost all of the P3 color volume and produce saturated colors even at low luminance.
The LG C6 present image retention, like all the other OLED TVs. The image retention is a bit less intense than on LG LED TVs like the UH8500, but it lasts much longer. The brighter the static image is, more noticeable is going to be the retention. You can clearly see on the left side, where the white background was, it is now much darker than on the rest of the picture. The image retention can be pretty annoying for people that play a lot of video games or may use this TV as a PC monitor, since the static image will get retain for a bit more time than any LED TV. But once again, note that we did not notice any permanent burn-in on this OLED TV.
Reflections are dealt with very well. Like the other LG OLEDs of this year, the C6 has a special screen finish which works very well to cut down on the intensity of reflections. Due to the curve, direct reflections appear stretched.
The C6P supports passive 3D and it is very good. There are not any major problems or any crosstalk visible when viewed from the front or the side. Note that the passive 3D results in half the number of lines of horizontal resolution.
Motion
- 72% Motion Blur
- 7% Image Flicker
- 14% 24p Playback
- 7% Motion Interpolation
Motion handling is excellent. Response time is almost perfect and results in negligible motion blur behind moving objects. Some judder may be present when watching movies from a cable box, but most people aren't sensitive to this so it isn't an issue.
- 80% Response Time
- 20% Overshoot
The response time is excellent, and results in negligible motion blur. This can be seen by the lack of trail following the logo. Some people prefer a flickering backlight, but this is not possible on the C6.
- 40% PWM Dimming Frequency
- 40% BFI Frequency
- 20% BFI In Game Mode
The C6 uses the 'Sample and Hold' method to display an image. There are no options to enable flickering and so moving images may not appear as clear as other TVs which can flicker.
Movies played from a Blu-ray player or built-in streaming apps appear smooth. Some judder may be noticed when watching movies over a cable box or home theater PC. Most people don't notice judder so this is not an issue.
The C6P is able to interpolate 30 fps or 60 fps content up to the native refresh rate of 120 Hz. To do this and enable the soap opera effect, set 'Trumotion' to 'User'. For a 30fps source increase 'De-Judder' and for a 60fps source increase 'De-Blur'. Note that this may introduce visible artifacts.
Inputs
- 86% Input Lag
- 14% Supported Resolutions
Like the LG E6, the C6 can display a high level of detail for almost all of the most demanding resolutions and refresh rates used these days. SDR Input lag is not the lowest that we have seen in 2016, but should be enough for casual gamers out there. HDR input lag is worse than average though and will not be fast enough even for the most casual games.
Input lag is better than average, and should be fine for most people. When the TV detects a HDR signal it switches to a HDR picture mode, which has fairly high input lag. For the best result with SDR content, change the picture mode to 'Game'. The input lag performance is the same as the E6, and slightly different to the B6. A video of the input lag differences can be seen here.
Update 11/08/2016: Some owners have started a petition to LG to address these issues. This can be found here.
Update 12/02/2016: With the newest firmware update (04.30.19) there has been the addition of a HDR gaming mode. In this mode the HDR input lag is lower, and should be fine for HDR gaming. Note that although the TV accepts a 4k @ 60Hz @ 4:4:4 + HDR signal, it can't accurately display the chroma subsampling in any HDR mode, even with the 'PC' icon selected. The HDR chroma subsampling looks the same as the B6, visible here .
Update 01/24/2017: The input lag has been updated for the newest firmware (04.30.95). The results are almost identical.
- 20% 1080p @ 60Hz @ 4:4:4
- 20% 1080p @ 120Hz
- 20% 4k @ 30Hz @ 4:4:4
- 20% 4k @ 60Hz
- 20% 4k @ 60Hz @ 4:4:4
Although this TV has a 120Hz panel, like other LG TVs it can't accept a 120Hz signal. To activate chroma subsampling, change the input icon to 'PC'. This allows for clear text on all backgrounds. For higher bandwidth signals such as 4k @ 60Hz @ 4:4:4, activate 'HDMI ULTRA HD Deep Color' on the HDMI port you are using in the 'General' settings.
Sound Quality
Sound quality is average. The frequency response is good, especially at lower volumes but distortion results are poor. As with most TVs, a separate soundbar is a significant improvement over the built-in speakers.
Note: Sound Quality test for TVs reviewed before 2017 was performed at 75dB, 85dB, and Max SPL. Starting 2017, the target SPL levels have been changed to 70dB, 80dB, and Max dB SPL.
- 8% Std. Dev. @ 70
- 15% Std. Dev. @ 80
- 22% Std. Dev. @ Max
- 18% Max
- 37% Low-end Cutoff
Good performance. Frequency response is good at lower volumes. At higher volumes though, pumping and compression will be present. Additionally, low-end cutoff and maximum loudness are decent, for a TV.
- 20% Distortion @ 70
- 40% Distortion @ 80
- 40% Distortion @ Max
Poor harmonic distortion performance. The overall amount of harmonic distortion at 75dB and 85dB are decent. However, at maximum volume, there is significant rise in distortion, especially above 1KHz. Aliasing was also audible with our test signal under maximum load.
Smart Features
As with the other 2016 LG TVs, the C6P has the newest version of the WebOS smart platform. It is extremely stable and smooth, and works very well. The smart remote with included pointer allows for very fast navigation, and all of the menus and features are very easy to use. The interface is intuitive which is great. The TV comes with popular apps such as Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Video and provides access to the LG Content Store for a wide range of other apps. It is possible to play photos or videos from a USB drive plugged into the side of the TV.
Differences between Sizes and Variants
We tested the 55" (OLED55C6P). For the most part, we expect our review to be valid for the 65" (OLED65C6P).
If someone comes across a different type of panel or if their LG OLED 55C6P doesn't correspond to our review, let us know and we will update the review. Note that some tests such as the gray uniformity may vary between individual units.
| Size | Model |
| 55" | OLED55C6P |
| 65" | OLED65C6P |
Compared to other TVs
Although the LG OLEDs are priced above the competition, they offer superior picture quality especially in darker scenes. The 2016 models all offer similar performance, which makes the C6 a great choice as one of the more affordable models. Keep this in mind when viewing our recommendations below.
The Samsung KS8000 is an excellent all-round choice if you don't quite have the budget for an OLED. The whole screen gets brighter, which gives it an advantage in a bright room. The picture quality is still very good, but degrades when viewed at an angle. Although it has more motion blur than the LG C6, it has a different type of motion which some people prefer.
The LG B6 is almost the same TV, but without a curved screen. Otherwise it offers almost identical performance and is available for the same price. It doesn't have the 3D feature of the LG C6 and has slightly different input lag depending on the source (see our review). If you don't care about the 3D then go with the shape (curved or flat) which you prefer.
The VIzio P Series 2016 provides excellent dark scene performance for an LCD, but can't get the pure blacks of an OLED. It does offer a dedicated low input lag port for gamers, which is great. The worse gray uniformity results in some dirty screen effect. The picture quality degrades when viewed at an angle, but the HDR performance is the best an LCD TV can offer. If you are in a darker room and can't afford an OLED then the Vizio P Series 2016 is the best choice.
The LG UH8500 is a great all-round TV for those with wide seating. It can't get very deep blacks and so is better suited to a bright room, but offers very good HDR performance and picture quality. If you don't have the budget for an OLED or are looking for a larger TV in a living room then it is a great choice.
