Last year, LG boosted the brightness of its G2 and C2 series TVs to new highs, marking a significant improvement to the company’s already fantastic OLED range. These TVs are considered by some to be the best on the market, dollar for dollar, thanks to their perfect black levels, incredible contrast, and top-notch gaming capabilities. So how is LG going to improve on that with the new models it’s introducing at CES 2023?
It will push the brightness even further while focusing on image processing and software improvements.
The G3 is the successor to the G2 and “incorporates a brand new lighting control architecture and algorithms that boost light to boost brightness by up to 70 percent,” according to LG’s press release. That number is in comparison to “conventional” OLED – think something like last year’s B2 series – so don’t expect a 70 per cent jump over the G2. But it will be brighter than the G2. That said, it’s still likely to be surpassed by Mini LED LCD TV brightness champions like the Hisense U8H, but LG is making progress in narrowing the gap. The G series is already LG’s best looking TV in terms of style and aesthetics, and with the G3 the company claims there’s “no visible gap when wall mounted”.
The G3 may be fancier and brighter, but if last year’s pattern holds, the C3 OLED will become the LG TV most people get for the best balance of performance and price. It offers the same extensive HDMI 2.1a support as the G3 and will get some picture upgrades of its own, but those will mostly come down to better processing. LG says this is thanks to the new α9 AI Processor Gen6 chip. Here’s the marketing story:
The latest Alpha series processor uses LG’s most advanced AI-assisted Deep Learning technology to ensure excellent picture and sound quality. AI Picture Pro now offers improved upscaling for greater clarity and improved dynamic tone mapping, bringing out the depth and detail in every frame. AI Picture Pro also integrates an image processing technology that detects and fine-tunes important objects, such as people’s faces, to give them a more lifelike HDR quality. In addition to fine-tuning image reproduction, the α9 AI Processor Gen6 powers LG’s AI Sound Pro; a feature that helps viewers immerse themselves in the on-screen action by delivering virtual 9.1.2 surround sound through the TV’s built-in speaker system.
The webOS software that runs on LG TVs is also getting some design and UX tweaks on this year’s sets. The company is adding “Quick Cards” that group apps and services into themed categories such as home office, gaming, sports, and music. Recommendations in the many carousels of content in webOS will also be more personalized, LG claims. The home screen felt scattered and thrown together in 2022, so hopefully LG’s efforts to tighten things up will make a difference.
And as we learned with the release of Apple’s latest Apple TV 4K, the 2023 LG OLEDs will support QMS-VRR. The QMS stands for fast media switching and this feature eliminates the brief black screen when switching between different video frame rates. (It not avoid blackouts when switching between HDR modes, unfortunately.) Elsewhere, you can expect LG’s new lineup to continue to offer the broad mix of software features they’ve had for the past few years. Gamers certainly don’t have to worry:
The ultimate in gaming displays, LG’s self-lit OLED TVs feature a 0.1 millisecond response time, low input lag, and up to four HDMI 2.1a-compliant ports. LG OLED TVs are also equipped with the Game Optimizer, which allows users to quickly select and switch between gaming-specific features, such as game genre presets. Settings for G-SYNC® Compatible, FreeSync™ Premium and Variable Refresh Rate (VRR) are also easily accessible through the Game Optimizer.
LG is just getting started with its TV announcements ahead of CES 2023, and hopefully I’ll get a chance to see this year’s lineup in person from Las Vegas soon. Will those webOS refinements be noticeable in practice? What screen sizes are available? Stay tuned for all the details and follow our StoryStream this week for the latest news.
