When we say the word OLED many people are still a little confused as to whether they will see the difference.
The LG 55EG960V was the TV that changed our view of what a really good picture is. There are many models of TV that have rolled through recently that have ticked all the boxes and been incredible sets. They had the motion handling, deep blacks and even 4K resolution technology to boot but rarely did they have all of these in one package unless you wanted to completely empty your wallet for the predecessor of this new range by LG.
The production process has finally been made more efficient and as a result we saw a dramatic drop in the prices of OLED screens (that’s Organic Light Emitting Diodes for those still wondering) and they finally became a more achievable dream for us mortal men. After months of asking we finally had one sent over to our store and with baited breath we opened it up and put it out on display, everyone crowding around to see how simple the setup would be and also how incredible a spectacle we would be greeted with.
The bliss of this TV is that the Web OS 2.0 is probably the easiest of all the smart hubs to control and use. The fun element is also injected back into the menus as you get greeted by a friendly penguin to guide you through the very easy set up. The remote is a joy to use as well with a magic wand style remote that you point at the TV and move around, much like a Nintendo Wii remote but its smooth and precise and saves a lot of time when using a keyboard on screen. Within no time we are up and running and get ready to play some of our 4K content through Netflix and boy were we impressed.
I personally have come from owning some pretty impressive TV’s in my time, with great models of Panasonic Plasmas and the higher spec Sony LED ranges but this took the contrasting to a whole new level. The blacks are sensationally deep and the detailing in the blacks and whites next to each other suffer from no bleed and the motion is smooth and precise with no real noticeable edging issues either. The colour pallet was vast and felt very natural when watching the latter series of Breaking Bad with the skin tones of Walter White looking exactly as we expected them to look. This is thanks to the colour prime system that is used in LG’s higher spec models from this year and it was a joy to sit and watch them.
Moving on from 4K we popped on our store test Blu-ray of Pacific Rim. This is a great movie to test a TV’s capabilities thanks to many dark scenes, bright colours and a mixture of both CGI and real human people going head to head with monsters in epic fight scenes. This was no problem for the EG960. The blacks were incredibly deep and once again the motion was fluid and edges still remained defined. There was a slight drop in the picture quality and that is to be expected when dropping down the resolution chain but the upscaler did a fantastic job of getting as close to a 4K image as possible whilst making sure you still felt engrossed in the action scenes.
Another drop down to our DVD of Ice Age and as we expected there were a few issues. The motion jitter became a little more noticeable and the edges less defined but then again when you have over 8 million pixels to try and keep in check from an image no more than 45 thousand there are always going to be issues. It still did a good job but this TV is flagship in design and really should be considered by those wanting to get the most out of their TV set by either Blu-ray or indeed the streaming services available in 4K.
The smart apps give you BBC iPlayer and 5oD as well as the usual Netflix and Amazon Prime video streaming, both of which are 4K ready if you subscribe to those services.
The sound on this TV is also surprisingly good considering how unbelievably thin it is (only 49.9mm at its deepest point). The speakers have been designed with Harmon Kardon so they do provide a great sense of spaciousness but really for a TV of this size and quality, it is well worth looking at investing into a quality soundbar to support it.
All in all there is probably only one slight niggle and that is that with all OLED based screens they are still working on improving the input lag which is not the best news for gamers but then again, if you can sacrifice a little lag for an incredible picture… I’d be pretty happy to go away feeling visually blitzed!
An astonishing TV and well worth a visit to one of our stores to see one.
Pros: Best blacks in the business, great colour spectrum, great motion handling, will handle all your HD needs and more.
Cons: some TVs upscale standard definition a bit better, input lag a little high for gaming.
To check out our full OLED range, click here.
Author: Andrew, Weybridge store
For more information on 4K TVs, check out our video below:
