Our Verdict
The LG SJ9500 is a good TV for a mixed usage. It has a decent picture quality in most environments, and its wide viewing angle makes it easy to find a good viewing position. Unfortunately, its poor blacks cause its picture quality to be less than stellar in a dark room.
- Wide viewing angle
- Great input lag for gaming
- Poor black uniformity
- Mediocre contrast ratio
Average TV for watching movies in a dark room. The LJ SJ9500's picture quality in a darker environment is negatively impacted by its low contrast and uneven blacks that can show distracting clouding in letterboxes and make the image look a bit flat. Its local dimming is also better kept off as it.
The LG SJ9500 is a very good choice for watching TV shows in a bright room. It gets bright enough to combat most reflections, and its smart features are some of the best available today making it easy to access streaming services.
Decent TV for watching Sport. The SJ9500's wide viewing angle makes it easy to share with a larger group of friends. Its screen, however, isn't the most uniform, and some uniformly colored sports fields might show banding or other blotches.
Great TV for playing video games. The SJ9500's impressively low input lag makes it very responsive to button presses keeping the experience seamless. It also produces a low amount of motion blur, so fast-paced games with lots of movement on screen looks clear and sharp.
Average HDR performance. While the SJ9500 is capable of reproducing a wide gamut of colors and 10 bits of color depth, its mediocre contrast and low HDR peak brightness mean it won't offer a significant visual benefit over normal SDR content.
Good HDR gaming TV. While its HDR capabilities are somewhat lackluster, the SJ9500's input lag and overall gaming performance aren't hindered by an HDR input.
Great TV to use as a PC monitor. The SJ9500 supports all the essential resolutions, including Chroma 4:4:4, but it's also one of the rare TVs to also support a 1080p@120hz input. Combined with a very low input lag and low motion blur, it makes for a very suitable monitor. Some users, however, might find horizontally alternating stripes of the screen to be a little distracting.
Changelog
- Updated Mar 12, 2018: Converted to Test Bench 1.2.
- Updated Nov 13, 2017: Review published.
- Updated Nov 11, 2017: Early access published.
- Updated Oct 31, 2017: Our testers have started testing this product.
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Differences Between Sizes And Variants
We tested the 65" (65SJ9500), the only size available at the moment.
If someone comes across a different type of panel or if their LG 65SJ9500 doesn't correspond to our review, let us know and we will update the review.
| Size | Model |
| 65" | 65SJ9500 |
Popular TV Comparisons
The SJ9500 is a good TV overall, but its picture quality doesn't hold up to the competition in its price range.
The LG SJ9500 is somewhat better than the LG SJ8500. The LG SJ9500 has better SDR peak brightness, which is important when you watch TV shows in a bright room. Also, the LG SJ9500 has a slightly better gradient and better black uniformity for HDR, which is great when you watch HDR content. The LG SJ8500, however, has lower input lag when you play HDR games, and better 4k input picture as its pixel dimming algorithm doesn't display the artifacts shown on the single color areas of the LG SJ9500.
If you have a large room with wide seating arrangements, then the LG SJ9500 is a better choice, but for a dark room with seating directly in front, then the Sony X900E is better. The Sony X900E has significantly better local dimming, better contrast ratio, and better black uniformity, which is great for watching movies of HDR content. On the other hand, the LG SJ9500 has lower input lag, which is great for gaming, and because of its better viewing angles, you can use it as a PC monitor without worrying about the image deteriorating at the sides of the screen.
The LG SJ9500 is a better choice if you have a large room with wide seating due to its wide viewing angles. For a dark room with seating directly in-front, however, the Samsung MU9000 is better. The LG SJ9500 has slightly better input lag both in SDR and HDR and this is great for gaming. On the other hand, the Samsung MU9000 has significantly better contrast ratio and somewhat better black uniformity that looks great in HDR movies in a dark room. Also, it has better SDR peak brightness and reflection handling, making it a better choice for TV shows and sports in a bright room.
If you enjoy watching movies in a dark room, then the LG B7/B7A OLED is a better choice, but if you will be watching a lot of static content like news, then the LG SJ9500 is better. The LG B7A has perfect blacks that improve the picture quality in a dark room. Also, the LG B7A has slightly better viewing angles and somewhat better reflection handling, which is great for wide seating arrangements and rooms with many light sources. On the other hand, the LG SJ9500 has marginally better input lag, which is great for video gaming and doesn't have the permanent burn-in risk OLED TVs have.
We buy and test dozens of TVs yearly, taking an objective, data-driven approach to deliver results you can trust. Our testing process is complex, with hundreds of individual tests that take over a week to complete. Most of our tests use specially designed test patterns that mimic real content, but we also use the same sources you have at home to ensure our results match the real-world experience. We use two main tools for our testing: a Colorimetry Research CR-100 colorimeter and a CR-250 spectroradiometer.
Test Results
Older Test Bench: This product has been tested using an older TV test methodology, before a major update. Some of the test results below aren't directly comparable with other TVs. Learn more
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