⭐ WORTH IT? LG C3 OLED Evo Review - COMPARED to LG C2, Samsung QD OLED & Sony A84L

Once again the C series model in the LG OLED line-up offers excellent all-round performance with a good mix of features, picture quality and gaming credentials. The C3 continues what has gone before and the upgrade from the 2022 C2 model is not huge, but then why fix something that wasn’t really broken? There is slightly more brightness on offer thanks to the Alpha 9 AI Processor 4K Gen6 chip and the latest OLED panel, which when combined together are classed as OLED Evo, plus, like last year, the video processing is now some of the best on the market for upscaling, detail, smooth gradation and motion. But, if you don’t need the slight increase in brightness, the slightly better processing or the newly designed WebOS and quick menu, you could pick up the 2022 65-inch C2 which is almost identical performance-wise for close to £1200 less (in May 2023). We have no doubt that the C3 pricing will also follow the same course over a year that the C2 has, so the choice, as they say, is yours.

*The good*
👍 Excellent accuracy out of the box in Filmmaker Mode
👍 Superb 3D LUT calibration capabilities & AutoCal
👍 Superb video processing from the a9 Gen6 AI processor
👍 Very good just above black performance in SDR and HDR
👍 Excellent 24fps & 50Hz motion
👍 Upscaling is superb
👍 Superb HDR accuracy
👍 Dolby Vision / HDR10 / HLG / DV IQ
👍 Improved panel uniformity
👍 Dolby Atmos & DTS support
👍 Superb gaming features and four HDMI 2.1 (48Gbps) ports
👍 WebOS 23
👍 Excellent design and materials
👍 WOW Orchestra integration with optional USC9S soundbar and subwoofer

*The not so good*
👎 No HDR10+/HDR10+ Adaptive
👎 WebOS 23 top third advertising space is not welcome and is a waste of screen real estate
👎 No backlight on the remote
👎 Sound quality is only serviceable via built-in speakers
👎 Expensive at the time of launch (£200 more expensive vs. C2 launch)

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[MSDOGS]

If in the market I could go with the C2. I usually always go with the previous year's products for the better price. I don't have to have the latest and greatest.

[laughingbat]

Thank you for the honest view on the new lg, its good to see someone not pushing expense when its not really needed especially with the way things are today

[cod]

My LG C1 is such a beast. There are 2 things i hate about it : The lack of space to put a soundbar under the tv and the ridiculous build in power cord with no option to replace it or to extend it ( easily).
Sometimes i feel that the bigger the brand, the more stupid decisions are taken.

[khobia]

Thank you Phil for telling saying that @ 10:26. I saw a S95B and a G2 at Best Buy here in the States and this night and day color purity many YouTube channels are harping about just ain’t so. You are the first person I’ve heard call that out. Appreciate your honesty. Great review.

[Jay-gwzq]

I just ordered the LG C3! Upgrading from an old Vizio 2018 model

[storms]

I have a C1. I'm going to upgrade to C3 this week mainly for the evo panel and processing. I opted for the 42" for desk gaming purposes.

[scruffy]

Despite the limitations of YouTube presentation i could clearly see the differences between the C3 and C2. Thanks Phil, just ordered a C3.

[rare]

Differences are pretty incremental at this point, especially as we aren’t really due any major upgrades anytime soon, 4k and 2.1hdmi are here to stay for some time.

[dallinjudy]

This is hands down one of the best objective reviews I have ever seen thank you for this cheers

[SteveSmith-cmhx]

Great review Phil. I look at it this way. I have the excellent C1 that I have owned since March of last year and there is nothing that has came out that has made me want to upgrade. Not the higher brightness nor the new Fad QD-OLED. So I plan on rolling with my C1 for a few years then I will see where the tech is at. That being said. I used your C1 settings when I first got my C1 and havent changed them since.

[garybarham]

Thanks for mentioning the upscaling of uk low bit rate content that is not considered on non uk reviews.

[ye-rochawkins]

“The difference between the C2/C3 and the S95B isn’t as night and day as many influences would have you believe”….facts, and shots fired 🔥 I love you honesty, and objective analysis.

I’ve been saying this ever since last year, when I had experienced both sets for myself, and spent a good amount of time learning them. Prior to that, I was losing sleep over deciding between the two, for nearly two weeks. I still haven’t caught up on sleep 😅

However, once I experienced them both, my mind was made up rather quickly, and I kept the C2 over the S95B, despite many claiming the gap is just so astronomically HUGE between the two sets. It was not as mind blowing to me, clearly. And don’t get me wrong, I love QDO, especially for its higher color volume/gamut, better SPD, etc. There’s also thing I do not like, too. To me tho, the Samsungs implementation of QDO was rather poor, especially all the FW update fiasco’s….despite the panel being technically superior on paper. In real world content, especially when aiming for accuracy, it’s not that large of a gap at all, as content is still being graded/client referenced on WRGB’s. And tbh, even when going for punch/brightness preferred type of mode, the C2 imo gets plenty bright and punchy….way beyond the creative intent.

I mean look at it this way…the S95B outperforms the HX310 when it comes to color luminance, and BT2020 gamut coverage. So how exactly can we truly benefit from QDO, if the grading monitors being used, can’t even reproduce the color of QDO. I’m not saying there’s no benefits…there definitely is…but in 99.5% of content, the wider gamut, is rarely utilized, as the technology is still catching up to the standards. (Can’t tell you how many people I’ve spoken too, that think HDR has no standards). 🤣

The processing just isn’t the best on the S95B, compared to the C2, especially low-bitrate/highly compressed content.

Samsung has definitely made some nice improvements this year tho, with the S95C. Tho, I’m still not sold on a Samsung QDO, as I’m a purist type, and my idea of a good image, differs from what Samsung thinks is a good image.

[joewozniak]

Nice review. Everyone wants to praise the QD but still not sold on reliability and burn in appears to be an issue where it’s essentially not on the LGs. On the hunt for low cost C2 77”.

[jardelafiune]

I don’t have any OLED tv, planning to get one, I’ve seen c2, g2 in person and honestly I didn’t notice the difference, but I also have seen in person c3 and g3 and I can tell you that g3 is brighter when you have white images on the screen, because in dark images g3 just give you a bit more detail. I wish I could get g3 55 but it’s too expensive I think I’ll go with the c3 because I don’t have the c1 or c2, if you have those ones, I think you can keep them, maybe next year, MLA tech will be in C line panels.

[HiCZoK]

thanks. I will get the c3 if the c1 solves these 2 issues:
-Audio keeps changing back to game optimizer every time I restart my pc or enter/exit hdr.
-Screen goes black and takes a long time to change inputs between pc and ps5. Sometimes ps5 input looses warm50 setting until I go in there and chaneg 50-49 and it pops in.
amazing tv all in all. I cant see how c3 is any better!

[danielyoung]

Looking to upgrade my 10 year old Sony soon for my first OLED. Thinking 55 inch again maybe the G2. The G3 price is a bit steep, or do I try C3. Never seen a 3 up close yet but looked at a c2/g2 in the same shop and definitely preferred the g2. Or do I wait until Xmas or January to see if the drop price again?

[michaelwyckoff]

Always seems to be the best all around OLED tv.

[comanwins]

I Been looking for days for a video like this, loved it i subed and liked

[garrymercer]

Brilliant again Phil. I'm pretty sure if a meteorite was heading to Earth and you came on and told us everything would be fine, I'd believe you. Used your settings for my C1, which I thanked you for. Upgrading dining room TV. Was thinking of C3. Probably going for C2 after this now.
Thanks again.

[MHjort]

Thanks for answering my main question right in the intro. I appreciate that a lot.