At the sprawling consumer tech show CES 2023 in Las Vegas (which we’re covering live), LG showed me its entire lineup of new OLED TVs for 2023. The biggest addition literally is A 97-inch OLED TV that is completely wireless.
Read more: These are the strangest, the most futuristic and CES 2023 must-see reveals so far.
It’s called the M3 Series, and it looks great in person, as you can see in the video below, but it’s also likely to be incredibly expensive. (The company, as usual at CES, didn’t announce prices.) Among the TVs that average mortals will actually be able to afford, the most notable models are the C3, the successor to the best high-end TV for the money. as well as the G3, which promises improved brightness.
The biggest difference between the current LG OLED TVs and the new ones is the greater brightness of the G3. New light control architecture and light amplification algorithms increase brightness by up to 70% compared to last year’s G2 in the 55-, 65- and 77-inch G3 models. LG claims around 1,800 nits, which is roughly double that of any OLED TV I’ve measured. The one I saw looked very bright indeed, but I’ll have to wait until I can review one to see just how bright.
Watch this:
LG wireless OLED TV has a technical power of 97 inches
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According to LG, the Z3 of the company’s 8K TV lineup is also brighter than before, by about 30 to 40 percent. Available in 77 and 83 inch sizes, they are sure to remain very expensive and, for example, other 8K TVsnot worth the money for most buyers.
OLED TVs are on offer better overall image quality than other high-end TVs, and in my experience are already bright enough for most lighting environments. Every little thing… nit — from the brightness helps, however, especially in bright rooms and with HDR TV shows and movies. Perhaps the G3 will surpass the light output of the competition QD-OLED models from Sony and Samsung. It won’t beat it mini-LED sets such as Samsung QN90B and Hisense U8H. But if LG’s claim about brightness is true, it’ll come close.
Seen here with the added soundbar, the C3 looks very similar to last year’s C2.
James Martin/CNET
The C3, which will be cheaper than the G3, is largely unchanged from last year’s model in terms of image quality. I saw the 65-inch and 48-inch versions in person, and they looked physically identical. An LG representative even said that the soundbar bracket from the C2 will fit the C3, showing how similar they are. LG told me the C3 can look brighter thanks to a slightly higher average image level, but it won’t be any brighter and I’d be surprised to see much of a difference.
None of the other improvements offered by LG are what I would call major. The TVs have a new “α9 AI Processor Gen6.” But better handling has been hard to spot in my previous tests. The company also credited the G3 with a design that hugs the wall even more tightly than before, “leaving no visible gap” when attached to the wall. The company’s smart TV system I don’t like has been tweaked to add better ratings, personalized recommendations and “curation of popular content,” according to a press release.
LG has redesigned its smart TV system for 2023.
LG
LG also announced that its 2023 OLED TVs will be the first to be certified by HDMI organization Quick Media Switching VRR, which “can eliminate the temporary ‘black screen’ that sometimes occurs when switching between content played from different source devices that connected via a TV. HDMI 2.1a compatible ports.” This (again minor) feature is for video playback, not gaming, and requires a QMS-VRR source device. The Apple TV 4K eg get support soon.
Over the past couple of years, LG’s OLED TVs, especially the “C” models, have delivered the best picture quality for the money among high-end TVs, and I expect the C3 to compete for that honor again. That said, the LG C2 from 2022 is still my favorite, and none of the improvements made so far seem significant enough to recommend waiting for the C3.
LG didn’t announce pricing or availability for its 2023 OLED TVs, though the G3 and Z3 will undoubtedly cost more than the C3. The company doesn’t usually announce prices for TVs until spring, when they hit stores.
