LG G3 OLED EVO 2023 TV Model G3PSA – the best OLED yet (AV review)

The LG G3 OLED EVO is the kind of TV that reviewers hope LG forgets to collect. Why? Because once spoiled by near perfection, it is hard to go back to a lesser TV.

The best TV is the one you can afford. Be that a <$1000 LED/LCD cheapie to the $10K 83” G3. The real difference is image quality, brightness, HDR, and colour gamut (saturation). If you watch a cheapie, here are the differences.

• Amazing definition and details of the G3 in the dark shadows or bright highlights (HDR).
• The infinite contrast of OLED’s individually switchable self-emissive pixels allows you to see true black and white. (Black is not grey!).
• No blooming around white text.
• 100% DCI-P3 colour gamut of 10-bit/1.07 billion colours with near-perfect colour accuracy (Delta E <1.2 compared to >4 for cheapies).
• Amazing colour uniformity across the screen. Cheapies use edge-lit panels, few, if any, controllable dimming zones, and colour and brightness vary across the screen.
• At least 1000nits (in this case 1500nits) brightness compared to 300-500nits. This is daylight viewable.
• Almost 180° viewing angle and no colour shift (side on) versus 130° on most cheapies (the claim 170° but colour shift makes them unviewable).
• The best upscaling of free-to-air and 1080p content using LG AI. Cheapies have soft images.
• No Pulse Width Modulation (PWM Flicker Free) versus high PWM on LED/LCD.
• Gaming response times <3ms versus 30-50ms on cheapies.
• Game Mode is fully compatible with Xbox and Sony PlayStation advanced 4K Dolby/Atmos games.
• Dolby Vision and Atmos decode (many cheapies claim this, but you must get into Mini-LED technology to get a semblance of DV).
• Decent in-built speaker systems enhanced by compatible LG soundbars versus low-wattage 2.0 speakers.

But you can do nothing if you only have $1000 except accept your lot and aspire to an LG OLED one day.

Australian Review – LG G3 OLED EVO 2023 65” Tested Model OLED65G3PSA 2023

Website	Product Page
RRP	55” RRP $4,195 but seen for $3,395 65” RRP $5,295 but seen for $4,295 77” RRP $8,395 but seen for $6,695 83” RRP $10,995 but seen for $8,795
From	LG Online, Harvey Norman, Domayne, JB Hi-Fi, Good Guys, Bing Lee, Appliances Online and many quality CE retailers
Warranty	1-year ACL with a four-year parts-only panel extension
Made in	Indonesia
LG	LG (formerly Lucky-Goldstar from 1983 to 1995) is a South Korean multinational conglomerate. It makes electronics, chemicals, and telecommunications products.
More	CyberShack LG News and reviews

We use Fail (below expectations), Pass (meets expectations) and Exceed (surpasses expectations or is the class leader) against many of the items below. We occasionally give a Pass(able) rating that is not as good as it should be and a Pass ‘+’ rating to show it is good but does not quite make it to Exceed. You can click on most images for an enlargement.

First Impression – Pass+

The LG G3 OLED EVO uses an MLA (microlens array) technology WRGB OLED panel. This uses tiny lenses to focus and boost light output towards the viewer (83” does not have MLA). It is closer to 20-30% than the 2023 B3 OLED and 10-20% for the 2023 C3 OLED Evo. It can defeat poorly controlled ambient light, typical of Aussie open-space lounge rooms. Frankly, it is a game-changer.

The 65” (reviewed) has a narrow bezel screen that sits on the included G3 Pedestal Stand (SQ-G2ST65) at a 5° angle. We are not sure if the 77 and 83 include the SQ-G3ST8377 stand. In addition, it is wall mountable using the included OLW480B 300 x 300 VESA wall plate (M6 screws).

The screen tilt is clever, as it is enough to remove almost all reflectivity at the viewer’s sitting height.

It is 1411 x 878 x 245mm x 27.6kg – stand and flat fixing wall bracket included. It is light enough (22.8kg without a stand) not to need substantial wall re-enforcement.

The Magic Remote – Pass

The LG G3 OLED EVO comes with the usual LG Magic Remote with an on-screen cursor. We have two minor issues – it is not backlit, and the wheel (OK) can be difficult for those with long fingernails. It has Hi LG and Alexa voice control, speech-to-text search, and six presets – Netflix, Prime, Disney+, Stan, LG Channels and Alexa. It can support OK Google via an external speaker.

You can press … to display more actions on the TV screen. It can also control most devices connected to the HDMI eARC port. NFC tagging is supported.

Setup – Pass+

It is no different from any other smart TV brand – all want to know you. You cannot use its smart functionality unless you create an LG account, ostensibly to ‘understand you better’, a euphemism for serving you tailored advertising content. You can disable this in settings> General System>Additional Settings Home Settings>Home Promotion.

It will prompt you through setup, so there is no need to elaborate. Select AI Picture and Sound Pro – all other defaults are OK to start.

LG webOS 23

LG webOS 23 (versions are now year specific) is easy to use, the remote is intuitive, and the settings help screens negate the need for a manual. There are so many smart features in WebOS 23, a huge range of apps (around 1000) and all Australian streaming and digital channels. It also has LG Channels – a free streaming service that offers a wide range of advertising-supported Internet TV channels.

The bottom half of the screen has Quick Cards and the apps list.

• Home Office for use with a Bluetooth keyboard/mouse and remote access to Windows 365, Chrome remote desktop, remote connection to a PC, and Google apps. Ideally, you will use an Ethernet cable connection for the lowest lag operation or at least a Wi-Fi 6 AX 2.4/5GHz router.
• Games: Best with a gamepad.
• Music: Spotify, YouTube, Apple Music, Deezer and Tidal, plus LG recommendations.
• Sports: Sports alert to follow games and teams.

It supports multiple profiles, so you can each receive tailored content. If you have LG ThinQ devices, you can use the TV as a Home Hub.

Ports – Exceed

• 4 x HDMI 2.1 full implementation (one eARC) 4K@120Hz, VRR, ALLM and more
• 3 x USB-A –These are USB 2.0, 5V/.5A/2.5W. FAT32, exFAT or NTFS. It recognised a 1TB external SSD, but we suspect it did not have enough power. You can get over this by using a powered USB hub. It also had inadequate power for a Google TV 4K HDMI dongle – ditto, which needs 5V/2A/10W.
•  One can be used for audio and video USB recording (except where copyright issues preclude it). It can support specific webcams.
• Optical Out for a soundbar or hearing aid repeater
• Ethernet 100Mbps (still no Gigabit but adequate for 4K digital streaming)
• RF aerial and satellite connections
• IR blaster port

Missing:

• 3.5mm cabled headphone port (use Bluetooth)
• It is a shame that it does not have at least one USB-A 3.0 port with 5V/2A/10W to support external SSD.

Miracast/Airplay 2/Bluetooth/WiSA – Pass+

It supports Miracast (tested) for a 1080p (upscaled to 4K) screen mirror from a compatible PC or Android smartphone.

AirPlay 2 (not tested) is for Apple products.

You can also use a USB-C to HDMI cable if your phone or laptop supports USB-C 3.1/2 Alt DP 1.4 audio and video streaming.

The Bluetooth 5.0 codecs are SBC and Qualcomm aptX and support speakers and earphones. You can connect two BT headphones for independent listening. It may not work with Apple AAC-only devices. Read Bluetooth sound codecs – what you need to know as the game has changed.

The TV supports WiSA 2.1 speakers (WiSA SoundSend Dongle required – not tested) for a wireless, up to hi-res 24-bit connection. This is not a soundbar substitute.

Always Ready – Pass

The screen can display wallpaper in a semi-sleep mode and use Hands-free Voice Control, connect Bluetooth, and receive responses from Home IoT Devices.

AI – perhaps the most significant 2023 improvement – Pass+

LG has for many years had superior AI enhancements to its image, but the 2023 models take that a lot further with the following:

• AI Picture Pro: does it all for you based on LG’s deep machine learning.
• AI Brightness: uses an ambient light sensor to adjust screen brightness to the surrounding light. Turn it off if you use this in an area with reasonable ambient light control (media room).
• AI Genre selection: It can use ten different modes to match the content.
• AI Sound and Sound Pro: Optimises sound to content and helps with clear voice and spatial sound (it is limited to the TV speaker’s capability).
• AI Acoustic Tuning is low-level room tuning using the magic remote microphone. You can select standard, bass boost or treble boost. It tunes to a viewing space of about 3 x 3 metres.
• AI content recommendation: It recommends content as it learns more about your viewing habits. You can turn this off.

The new a9 AI Processor 4K Gen6 has AI Super Upscaling 4K – a sophisticated upscale from 480/720/1080 content. It uses a mix of object recognition/substitution and duplicate pixels to create one of the best upscales we have seen.

Game Optimiser (not tested)

LG OLED has long been the TV of choice for gamers. LG was one of the first to implement HDMI 2.1 with 4K@120Hz and full support for Xbox and PlayStation Dolby Vision games. It supports selectable game genres, OLED Motion Pro (eliminates afterimages), Reduced Blue Light, Dark Room mode, Minimise input lag, VRR 120Hz, ALLM, HGiG, G-Sync, AMD FreeSync Premium, and more.

It also supports

• NVIDIA GeForce Now cloud gaming.
• 21:9 (60Hz) or 32:9
• 3840 x 1600/1080 or 2560 x 1080.
• Dynamic Tone Mapping for HDR
• Game Sharpness
• Colour depth
• Black levels

So how does the LG G3 OLED EVO look? Exceed+++

It is hard not to be enthusiastic about the superlative picture – Free-to-Air SDR, HDR10, HLG, or Dolby Vision IQ. Interestingly it does not support Samsung’s HDR10+, instead downmixing it to HDR10. Fair is fair – Samsung does not support Dolby Vision downmixing it to the vastly inferior HDR10.

The TV supports:

• SDR content modes Vivid, Standard, FILMMAKER MODE, APS, Cinema, Cricket, Game Optimiser, ISF Bright Room, ISF Dark Room, and Personalised Picture Wizard.
• HDR content – Vivid, Standard, FILMMAKER MODE, Cinema Home, Cinema, and Game Optimiser.
• For Dolby Atmos IQ – Vivid, Standard, Cinema Home, Cinema, and Game Optimiser.

Most of the time, you will use AI Picture Pro, but depending on ambient lighting and content, you may select Vivid, Standard, or Cinema modes. We ran some of the tests in Vivid and Cinema modes. We advise using Vivid for the most colour-saturated image but adjusting the brightness down a little. Standard or Cinema is best if you have a media room (low ambient light).

Contrast – Exceed

Self-emissive pixels mean inky blacks and the whitest whites (aided by the White+RGB pixel structure). Our tests show a perfect gradient from 0-100% contrast.

Blooming – Nil – Exceed

There is no blooming around white text on a black screen.

Uniformity – Exceed

100% screen fill solid colours are uniform – no bright spots, uneven lighting, or dirty screen effect like LED/LCD.

HDR (and Dolby Vision) Brightness – Exceed

It reaches nearly 1500nits in a 2% and unusually a 10% window. Typically, it sits around 300nits for a 100% window (excellent for daylight viewing). The Automatic Brightness Limiter (ABL) is still too aggressive and can be disabled.

SDR (Free to Air) Brightness – Exceed

It reaches over 600nits in a 2% and unusually in a 10% window. Typically, it sits around 300nits for a 100% window.

Colour – Exceed

It is a 10-bit, 1.07 billion colour panel and reaches nearly 100% DCI-P3 and 65% of the wider Rec 2020 colour space. Delta E (colour accuracy) is about 1.2 (<4 is excellent). It supports manual calibration as well.

Colour gradient – Pass+

Primary colours scale beautifully from 0-100% gradient. Secondary colours can ‘bunch’ slightly in tests, but you will never notice watching TV content.

Viewing angle – Exceed

The MLA lens gives this even better wide viewing angles than the G2.  You can sit at nearly 180° (right angles) and still see a clear and colourful image, although 160° off-angle is the practical seating limit. This means you can use a couch and side chairs; everyone gets a great image.

Reflection rejection – Exceed

The MLA lens rejects front-on and overhead light. The anti-reflection coating is still prone to side lighting, but it’s a vast improvement over the G2.

Upscaling – Exceed

LG’s a9 AI Processor 4K Gen6 and its years of machine learning and AI development have paid off. We upscaled old Thunderbirds 480 content to 4K with the barest hint of softness, mainly in the background.

720 and 1080p free-to-air content were excellent, obviating the need to pay extra to Netflix for UHD content.

PWM – No – Exceed

There is no perceptible flicker at any brightness level.

Motion Smoothing

It is a native 100/120Hz (Australia uses 50Hz power hence 100Hz), and it uses Black Frame Insertion for motion smoothing 200 (this is not Hz).

Motion smoothing is excellent on 4K@24/30fps movies. You turn it off at higher refresh rates.

The image below shows some apparent judder but has a smooth ‘flame’ above the sword, whereas lesser TVs will have black gaps between the frames.

LG hearing impaired options

LG offers options that may assist hearing impaired.

• Use Bluetooth speakers (no 3.5mm) with TV Speakers
• Use two sets of Bluetooth Earphones
• Use HDMI eARC (soundbar) and TV Speakers
• Use a compatible Wow Orchestra LG soundbar and TV speakers as one.
• Hearing and visually impaired can access spoken subtitles, high contrast and inverted colours.

LG TV Speakers – Pass

It has 60W output. We assume 4 x 10W speakers (Front-firing Left/Right and side-firing Left/Right) and 2 x 10W sub-woofers for a 4.2 configuration.

While the raw sound signature is neutral (flat – good) with mid-bass starting from 50Hz and a relatively flat frequency response nearly to 20kHz, its mid-high treble is slightly choppy and distorted at higher volumes. This means the sense of sound direction and a feeling of ‘air’ (a reality as though the music were really there) is lacking.  Back off to 75dB from its 82dB maximum volume, and this comes under control.

It has seven sound modes – AI Sound Pro, Standard, Cinema, Clear Voice Pro, Cricket (Sports), Music, and Game Optimiser but most will select AI Sound Pro.

Virtual Dolby Atmos – Passable

The TV decodes PCM, Dolby Digital, DTS and Dolby Atmos (DA) and downmixes to its 4.2 speakers. The soundstage with non-spatial sound is as wide and high as the TV. DTS and DA add a little spatial height (within the screen area) and widens the soundstage past the screen.

But to get any sense of DA sound, you need adjacent side walls to bounce the side-firing Left/Right speakers off (called psychoacoustics) and sit within 3 metres of the screen.

All sound can pass through the HDMI eARC cable to a soundbar for processing. This is a candidate (as are most 2022/23 LG OLED) for the LG 2023 Soundbar range – WoW intelligent sound (SC9S, SE65, S95QR, S90QY, S80QR, S80QY and S76Q). We review the SC9 separately. This combines the TV speakers and LG soundbar to create a wider soundstage and 3D spatial sound with DTS:X and DA content.

Power use – Pass+

OLED and Mini-LED use the most energy, and usage depends on screen brightness, content (SDR/HDR/DV) and volume. This gets a very credible 5.5 Energy rating. Normal Free-to-Air SDR TV uses about 80Wh and, at current prices, is <5 cents per hour. HDR/DV Movies can increase to as high as 200Wh or <10 cents per hour. Power use is negligible in sleep mode (screen-off), but Art Gallery mode can use up to 40Wh.

CyberShack’s view – LG G3 OLED EVO 2023 is its best OLED yet

If you have the money, there is no better TV for image quality, brightness, and flexibility. We are also reviewing the LG C3 OLED Evo side-by-side, and while it too is a terrific TV, we can see the subtle differences in brightness, colour saturation and reflectivity (no MLA tech). You would be happy with either.

It has been compared to the Samsung S95C Quantum Dot with OLED backlight, but these are two entirely different technologies – read The difference between OLED and QD OLED TV explained (guide) and Samsung does not support Dolby Vision movies.

Samsung S95C QD OLED TV – big is beautiful (review) produces slightly more saturated colours but is not as bright. The 55/65/77” cost $3999/4999/7999.

Ratings – LG G3 OLED EVO

• Features: 95 – the premium OLED Evo and includes the pedestal stand and wall mount (extra cost in the 2022 G2). LG webOS is full-featured (you will never use them all).
• Value: 95 – Price is what you pay, and value is what you get. As it is lower cost than Samsung, it scores highly.
• Performance: 95 – it meets or exceeds all performance tests for a premium TV. Sound is good rather than brilliant; you need a soundbar to appreciate Dolby Atmos and surround sound.
• Ease of Use: 90 – Setup is easy, and the menu system has considerable help prompts.
• Design: 90 – it is well made, and including the pedestal stand, and wall mount adds considerable amenity and value.

https://youtu.be/IjbZnJRkkPg