Our Verdict
Better than average TV for a range of usages. The picture quality is good, especially for watching movies in a dark room. Handles reflections very well, which helps to make up for the low peak brightness in a brighter room. Unfortunately the picture quality degrades when viewed at an angle.
- Good picture quality
- Screen finish helps to reduce reflections
- Can't get very bright
- Image loses contrast at an angle
Slightly above average for watching movies in a dark room. Dark scene performance in very good due to high native contrast and great black uniformity. Unfortunately lacks local dimming feature to improve performance further.
Above average for watching TV in a brighter room. Picture quality is good, but degrades when viewed at an angle. Can't get very bright to counteract glare, but screen finish is good at dealing with reflections. Smart platform works well for casual viewing.
Good for watching sports. Picture quality is good, but degrades when viewed at an angle. Motion handling is good, with only a little motion blur. Some dirty screen effect is visible in panning shots.
Picture quality is good. Handles fast motion quite well with some blur. Input lag is quite high, which is bad.
Average for watching HDR movies in a dark room. Picture quality is good, but doesn't support a wider color gamut or high peak brightness to benefit from HDR. Accepts a HDR10 signal. Doesn't feature local dimming to improve dark scene performance.
Slightly above average for HDR gaming. Accepts a HDR10 signal, but this doesn't improve the picture quality. Doesn't support a high peak brightness of highlights or wide color gamut. Input lag is quite high which is bad. Motion handling is good.
Slightly better than average choice for a PC monitor. Fast motion has a little blur which is good. Supports chroma subsampling at the most demanding resolutions, for clear text. Input lag is quite high which is bad. Picture quality is good but degrades when viewed at an angle.
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Differences Between Sizes And Variants
We tested the 65" (65UH5500). For the most part, we expect our review to be valid for the 50" (50UH5500).
If someone comes across a different type of panel or if their LG UH5500 doesn't correspond to our review, let us know and we will update the review.
| Size | Model |
| 50" | 50UH5500 |
| 65" | 65UH5500 |
Popular TV Comparisons
The LG UH5500 is a budget offering with impressive picture quality, especially for the price. It has especially good dark scene performance, so is hard to beat for those with a dark room. Keep that in mind when viewing our recommendations below.
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 are done with 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
The design of the TV is very basic, with two wide-set feet and relatively thick borders. It appears quite blocky and definitely won't be the centerpiece of any room.
The stand is simple, and almost the width of the TV. We had to extend our test table to fit the TV. It supports the TV quite well, but as with any large TV there is some sway.
Footprint of the 65" TV stand: 11.7" x 53.1"
To back is very similar to other budget TVs, but provides easy access to all of the inputs even if wall mounted. Note that the 50" model has a VESA 300x200 mount.
The borders are thicker than average. They have a reflective plastic which picks up fingerprints easily. The bottom border of the TV has a textured finish which stands out a bit.
The TV appears quite bulky, which may be an issue if wall mounted. The widest part of the TV is near the base.
The contrast ratio is very good, providing great dark scene performance. Even in a very dark room the blacks appear deep.
There is no local dimming feature to improve the dark scene performance of this TV. This video is only for reference.
The SDR peak brightness is average and is the same as when the TV is in HDR mode. This makes a TV not the best TV when set in a bright room since, at this level of brightness, it will have a hard time fighting glare.
The TV can't get very bright, and doesn't have local dimming to increase the brightness of highlights. The peak brightness remains the same whether it is a HDR or SDR signal, which is good as some other LG TVs offer limited SDR performance. For a very bright room the TV may not be able to counteract all of the glare.
The gray uniformity of the UH5500 is bad. All the sides and corners of the TV are darker. Some lighter horizontal bands and some darker vertical bands can also be seen. Dirty screen effect is visible when watching sports like hockey, football or soccer, where large panning shots over a uniform surface make those darker bands really visible. This is a little less noticeable while watching normal TV shows.
The picture quality declines rapidly when viewed at an angle. Colors lose accuracy and contrast is lost. Despite this, it is a better result than most other cheap VA TVs.
Update: We have changed the methodology of testing. Since this is an old TV which we don't have anymore, we extrapolated the results.
The black uniformity is very good on this LG TV. Some faint clouding can be seen on the lower left corner, but nothing really problematic, since it is only noticeable on our test picture. When looking at normal content, no clouding can be seen.
The TV can display a 10 bit gradient pattern smoothly, without 8 bit gradations. There are some green shade problems in the gray and also in the dark green, but in general the gradation is pretty smooth and without banding.
Prior to calibration, the results are quite good. The gamma is quite high so there may be some black crush. The colors are quite accurate and should be fine for almost anyone. The white balance is a little off, but without a side by side comparison to a calibrated TV it is hard to tell the difference.
Calibration is quickly performed with the 20 point system. It responds well to changes, and results in a very accurate image. All minor issues can be fixed, and the gamma is adjusted to the target if 2.2. The color space is a bit less responsive, but it was still possible to bring down the total color dE.
You can find our calibration settings here
Low quality content such as DVDs look quite good once upscaled. Some halo artifacts can be seen along edges, but this shouldn't be too much of a problem and is typical of LG TVs.
The UH5500 doesn't have a wide color gamut, and so is only suitable to display SDR colors. There is an 'Extended' gamut option in the menu, but this is not suitable for HDR content.
The UH5500 can't produce very saturated colors at low luminance, resulting in a low color volume.
The UH5500 has one of the lowest reflection numbers, even when compared to high end TVs. This is great for a room with some bright lights. The semi gloss finish works to diffuse reflections, reducing their intensity.
There is some motion blur, but this will only be an issue with fast paced content. There is a little overshoot which can be seen in the brighter areas following the logo. The PWM flickering backlight can be seen in the duplications following the logo.
To play movies from a 24p source such as a Blu-ray player without judder, turn 'Real Cinema' on. Some judder is always present when playing movies over a 60Hz source, but this isn't an issue as most people don't notice it.
The UH5500 has a 60Hz panel which is able to interpolate lower refresh rate content. This is good for those who enjoy the soap opera effect.
The input lag is high, so the TV doesn't feel responsive. It is fairly consistent across different picture modes, resolutions and refresh rates, but varies by up to 10ms with each measurement. This is bad for gamers or those looking to use the TV as a PC monitor. The HDR input lag is the same as the SDR input lag.
Update 01/10/2017: The UH5500 just received a new update (04.30.82) that added a new HDR game mode to this TV. The input lag in HDR Game mode is now at 18.5ms. Note that input lag under gamer mode with a 1080p and 4k resolution also got by half, it is now around 25ms.
To enable chroma subsampling support, set the input icon to 'PC'. For higher bandwidth signals such as 4k @ 60Hz @ 4:4:4, enable 'HDMI UHD Deep Color' for the HDMI port in 'General' settings. Supports chroma subsampling at a wide range of resolutions for those who are looking to use it as a PC monitor. Like other LG TVs, it doesn't support a 120Hz input.
Decent performance. Frequency response is good and mostly flat at lower volumes. However, there will be pumping and compression present under heavier loads. Additionally, maximum volume and low-end cutoff of are also close to average.
Average harmonic distortion performance. Very good distortion performance at 75dB SPL, however, as the volume increases there is a noticeable rise in harmonic distortion as well.
The 'LG Content Store' provides access to a growing collection of apps and games. It includes all of the popular streaming apps, such as Netflix, Amazon Vizio, YouTube and Hulu.
The UH5500 comes pre-loaded with WebOS 3.0. This is the same version of the smart platform found in all of the 2016 LG smart TVs. It is definitely an improvement on the previous generation, and provides an easy to use interface with lots of features. It also has access to loads of apps on the 'LG Content Store' for watching Netflix or Amazon Video, or listening to music on Spotify. Plugging a USB drive into the USB 2.0 port allows watching videos or a slideshow of photos straight from the TV.
There is only a single button on the TV for power, and no controls to adjust inputs or volume.
The TV includes a basic remote, which is the same as other low-end LG TVs such as the UH6100. It is quite simple to use.
