In the massif CES 2023 consumer tech show in Las Vegas, LG showed me its full lineup of new OLED TVs for 2023. The biggest addition, literally, is a 97-inch OLED TV completely wireless.
Called the M3 series, 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 pricing.) Among the TVs that ordinary people will actually be able to afford, the most notable models include the C3, the successor to the best high end tv for the moneyas well as a G3 promising improved brightness.
The biggest difference between current and new LG OLED TVs is higher brightness on the G3. New light control architecture and light amplification algorithms increase brightness by up to 70% over last year’s G2 in 55-inch, 65-inch, and 77-inch G3 models. LG claims around 1,800 nits, which is about double all OLED TVs I’ve measured. What I saw looked very bright indeed. But of course, I’ll have to wait until I can review one to see exactly how brilliant it is.
Look at this:
LG’s wireless OLED TV is 97 inches of tech power
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The company’s line of 8K TVs, the Z3, is also brighter than before, on the order of 30-40%, according to LG. Available in 77 and 83 inches, they will certainly remain very expensive and, as other 8K TVsnot worth the money for most buyers.
OLED TV offer better overall image quality than other high-end TVs and, in my experience, are already plenty bright for most lighting environments. Every bit–er, slow — brightness helps, however, especially in bright rooms and with HDR TV shows and movies. Maybe the G3 will outperform the competition in light output QD-OLED models from Sony and Samsung. it won’t beat mini LED sets like Samsung QN90B and Hisense U8H. But if LG’s brightness claim is true, it will come close.
Seen here with a soundbar attached, the C3 looks a lot like last year’s C2.
James Martin/CNET
The C3, which will be cheaper than the G3, is largely unchanged in image quality from last year’s model. I saw a 65- and 48-inch version in person, and they looked physically identical. LG’s rep even said that the C2’s soundbar mount will fit the C3, an indication of their similarity. LG told me the C3 may look brighter in person, thanks to a slightly higher average picture level, but it won’t measure brighter and I’d be surprised to notice a big difference.
None of the other improvements announced by LG are what I would call major. The TVs have a new “α9 AI Gen6 processor”. But in my past tests, better treatment has been hard to discern. The company has also given the G3 a design that hugs the wall even closer than before, “leaving no visible gap” when mounted to the wall. The company’s smart TV system, which I don’t like, has been tweaked to add better categorization, personalized recommendations and “trendy content selection,” according to the press release.
LG has revamped its smart TV system for 2023.
LG
LG also said its 2023 OLED TVs will be the first to be certified by the HDMI organization for Quick Media Switching VRR, which “can eliminate the momentary ‘black screen’ that sometimes occurs when switching between content playing at from different source devices connected through the TV. HDMI 2.1a compliant ports.” This (again minor) feature is intended for video playback unlike games and requires a QMS-VRR source device. the Apple TV 4K soon receives help, for example.
Over the past two years, LG’s OLED TVs, particularly the “C” models, have delivered the best picture quality for the money among high-end TVs, and I expect the C3 compete again for this honor. That said, the 2022 LG C2 continues to be my favorite, and none of the improvements made so far seem significant enough for me to recommend waiting for a C3.
LG hasn’t announced pricing or availability for its 2023 OLED TVs, although the G3 and Z3 will no doubt cost more than the C3. The company typically doesn’t announce pricing for its TVs until the spring when they hit stores.
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