LG G5 Series OLED TV Review: Most Color Accurate TV for 2026

OLED TVs have constantly delivered one of the best image high quality in our head-to-head exams — with one of the best shadow element, distinction, colour and black ranges. But, there may be one factor LCD-based TVs have at all times accomplished higher: sheer brightness. That’s, till the LG G5 got here alongside. Lastly, OLED can reclaim its place on the high of the TV know-how chief board with a mannequin that performs brilliantly in virtually each single respect.

When LG claimed its G5 had a 40% brightness increase, I used to be skeptical as a result of corporations make these kinds of bulletins on a regular basis. Moreover, OLED has usually been an incremental know-how, with small good points made yearly. The yr 2025 is an exception, and LG has made a significant leap ahead in mild output. The G5 is vibrant. Very vibrant. 

Primarily based on my measurements, the claimed enchancment is correct on the cash. I’ve in contrast it towards the brightness of the Editors’ Alternative-winning Samsung S95F and the LG C5, and it did very properly, however there are nonetheless others I’ve not but examined, just like the Panasonic Z95B.

The catch to all that brightness is that its affect varies with various kinds of video. Whereas I used to be watching typical Blu-ray motion pictures or streaming HDR TV reveals, it was tough to inform the distinction between the LG C4 from 2024, the less expensive C5 I reviewed earlier and the G5. It was primarily in console gaming or notably well-mastered 4K materials that I noticed the benefits. The additional brightness helped in vibrant rooms, too.

For a roughly $600 premium on the 65-inch C5, the G5 presents almost twice the potential brightness and higher colour saturation too. Moreover, in contrast towards each different 2025 TV, the LG G5 has one of the best colour accuracy of any mannequin I examined. The LG G5 is now the recipient of CNET’s Labs Award for Finest Shade Accuracy  

Whereas most OLED generations have skilled a small bump, the G5 is demonstrably brighter and extra correct than another OLED TV available on the market. If you would like the punchiest OLED image obtainable proper now, it is the LG G5. As a counterpoint, if you need most bang for buck, then the Samsung S90F got here a detailed second to the LG by way of accuracy, and is accessible at a financial savings of greater than $1,000 on the 65-inch G5.

Editors’ notice, Feb. 23, 2026: I’ve up to date this evaluation with details about the CNET Labs Award for Finest Shade Accuracy, in addition to supplied extra hyperlinks to LG’s competitor, the CNET Editors’ Choice-winning Samsung S95F.

Learn extra: Best TVs for 2026

LG G5 OLED TV sizes and sequence comparability

I carried out a hands-on analysis of the 65-inch LG G5, however this evaluation additionally applies to the opposite display screen sizes within the sequence. All sizes have very comparable specs and will present very comparable image high quality. 

The G5 evo AI sequence, to make use of its full identify, is the corporate’s premium wired TV for 2025. The flagship M5 introduced at CES is similar panel, nevertheless it incorporates a wi-fi connection to the enter field. The remainder of the vary is made up of the mid-level C5 and the entry-level B5.

Class from the bottom up

Whereas the C sequence goes for a slim profile, the G sequence is rather a lot chunkier, being about an inch thick. It goes with out saying that once you’re watching TV on both of those, the variations in thickness do not matter. The G5’s bezel design is elegant with a skinny, black border and a faint metallic rim.

One factor I respect in regards to the G5 is that it features a slim wall mount within the field — no extra flailing round on Amazon for an appropriate mount, it is proper there. The corporate additionally produces a separate “desktop stand,” a gunmetal pedestal. I used the stand as a substitute of the wall mount and located that it was straightforward sufficient to connect.

Whereas I’m used to the “infrared thermometer” distant that has shipped with LG OLEDs for the previous decade, the 2025 fashions swap it up with a extra conventional candy-bar form. It is nonetheless a “magic” distant with a motion-sensitive cursor I may wave across the display screen, however you may also use it as if it is a common clicker. It has fewer buttons than earlier than, but extra with AI features, and I do miss the devoted enter button (you now want to carry down Dwelling).

Good TV and AI

The LG G5 comes with the newest model of the corporate’s webOS software program, which options dozens of streaming apps in addition to integration with the corporate’s ThinQ sensible platform. Progressively, corporations similar to Samsung, Google and LG are specializing in the TV as the middle of the sensible house and letting you management your compatible devices. As proof of this, the LG distant’s ThinQ button brings up a house display screen of your sensible gadgets in addition to the TV’s inputs — though I nonetheless desire a devoted enter button! 

From the identify alone, you may inform the “G5 evo AI” is a 2025 TV, and it actually goes overboard with the robots: Alpha 11 AI Processor Gen2, AI Image Professional, AI Tremendous Upscaling and AI Concierge. Whereas most of those features relate to image processing and are one thing TVs have accomplished in an un-AI guise for years, the Concierge is new. 

I examined the TV’s AI Concierge function on the cheaper C5 and did not discover it to be all that useful. Whereas the AI is meant to study out of your watch historical past, it is extra restricted than that — it bases its content material suggestions in your interactions with the AI. That is separate from utilizing one other voice assistant or simply the distant management to select your content material — some individuals might discover use for this AI function, however I foresee many individuals giving up shortly.

Like most TVs at the moment, the LG C5 has a gallery mode that additionally contains the flexibility to create your individual AI artwork or add a photograph gallery.

Watch this: LG C5 vs. LG G5: Which OLED Provides the Most for Your Cash

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Larger brightness is simply the beginning

The G5’s OLED panel options the corporate’s Brightness Boosting Final tech, which magnifies every particular person pixel, and it boasts a new four-layer design (“four stack”) that features two blue filter layers. It is a departure from the G4 that had a micro-lens array, however the variations equate to the upper brightness.

The G5 has an anti-reflective remedy that has been licensed by the protection group UL as “glare-free.” The G5 comes with a 120Hz native refresh charge for smoother movement, in addition to Dolby Imaginative and prescient and HDR 10 for extra vivid gaming and film watching. The TV is suitable with Nvidia G-Sync and AMD FreeSync Premium with 165Hz VRR for console and PC gaming. 

• 120Hz Native (VRR 144Hz)
• 4 HDMI inputs with HDMI 2.1, HDCP 2.2
• Three USB 2.0 ports
• Optical digital audio output
• RF (antenna) enter
• RS-232 port (minijack, for service solely)
• Ethernet (LAN) port
• Wi-Fi 6E

Whereas LG was one of many first adopters of the NextGen TV (ATSC 3.0) normal, the corporate has not included tuners in its TVs since 2023.

Excessive-end OLED comparability: LG G5 vs. LG C5 vs. Samsung S95D 

TV and flicks

Whereas I used to be in a position to get a superbly nice image through Netflix or Fandango at Dwelling, I did not notice the TV’s full potential till I broke out the Blu-ray participant. With the precise materials, the G5 is noticeably brighter than the G4.

From my expertise, Fandango at Dwelling is without doubt one of the greatest methods to look at streaming motion pictures, with higher-than-normal bit charges. But, when set to their respective Filmmaker Modes, the LG C4, LG C5, LG G5 and Samsung S95D all behaved very equally when watching my number of check motion pictures. I additionally in contrast these TVs towards a TCL QM8, and it was the one one which demonstrated probably the most vital variations (spoiler: it appeared worse than the OLEDs).

The opening scene of It Half One is a good check of a TV’s capabilities with its high-contrast photographs, and I used to be a little bit shocked to see the 4 OLEDs carry out to an identical degree. As Georgie begins to descend the steps into the basement, you will notice an space of wall subsequent to the railing with some low-level shadow element. The C4, C5 and TCL shadows appeared a little bit extra detailed than the G5 and Samsung, nevertheless it was solely by a small quantity — I needed to look actually onerous. 

Within the intercut pictures of his brother Invoice, the view by way of the home windows appeared rather a lot brighter and bluer on the TCL than the OLEDs. The drawbacks of LCD know-how had been additionally on show within the cellar, as there was a little bit little bit of blue hazing in fully black areas of the display screen — and that is one thing that OLED would not do; the pixel is solely off.

After inconclusive outcomes with it, I attempted quite a lot of colourful and really dynamic motion pictures, together with Mad Max: Fury Street. In Mad Max (at 4:48) there’s a second in a chase scene the place the battle boys are preventing Max in a water-filled room. There’s a flame on the proper of the body that appeared a little bit brighter on the G5 than the others. The G5 additionally had a little bit extra solidity to it, however once more, not a lot. 

I adopted that up, then, with a 4K Blu-ray check disc from Spears and Munsil comprising largely static footage and other than gaming, right here is the place the C5 and G5 confirmed the variations in efficiency. The C5 nonetheless appeared excellent, with deep distinction and loads of colour saturation, however the G5 confirmed the place the additional $600 was going: brighter photographs and clearer, less-green snowy fields. White was extra vibrant on the G5, whereas the C5 was a little bit inexperienced, and colour popped a little bit higher on the G5, too. Most motion pictures do not appear like check discs, however no less than I may lastly see a distinction between the 2.

Learn extra: How We Test TVs

Brilliant room

With its ultra-high brightness, the LG G5 is already an important candidate for vibrant room viewing, however this OLED additionally does an important job coping with annoying TV glare. When it comes to reflectivity, I graded every of the OLED TVs subjectively from worst to greatest: LG C4> LG C5 > LG G5 > Samsung S95D. The G5 had the second-least reflective display screen, however the “winner” Samsung had one other potential situation. It had the lightest black ranges that translated to a sort of grey in a lit room. That is the compromise with the Samsung versus the LG G5, you may select both deep blacks (G5) or much less reflectivity (S95F).

I’ve examined the brightness of the flagship 2025 Samsung S95F and located that it’s not as vibrant, about 2100 lumens. Take a look at extra comparisons to the LG G5 in my Samsung S95F review.

With its gamma of roughly 2.4 in Filmmaker Mode, the G5 is designed to be watched in a darkish room, though its excessive brightness offsets this a little bit.

Gaming

I might argue that the 2 fundamental causes to purchase a high-end TV like this are to a) watch motion pictures and b) play HDR video games. Nicely, having examined it, I can say these ARE the 2 causes to purchase it — it is nice at each. Gaming picture high quality is the place the G5 actually pulled forward of the others, with extra consistency than with motion pictures.

In a lineup of 4 OLED TVs, the G5 had the clearest-looking gaming mode on my Xbox Collection X — brighter than the Samsung and two C sequence LGs. I performed Name of Responsibility, which had higher HDR distinction on the G5, though the Samsung did have barely higher colour.

I performed a number of totally different video games on my four-TV setup, and it was right here that the most important variations between the G5, particularly, and the remainder of the lineup appeared. Whereas the C5 appeared nearly as good because the higher-end Samsung S95D throughout video games, it did not stand as much as the G5. The G5’s pixel response time, as examined with the Leo Bodnar check models, was about 9ms with Recreation Optimizer Enhance mode enabled (Settings>Basic>Recreation Optimizer>Recreation>Forestall Enter Delay>Enhance). This response time is equal to one of the best I’ve seen with TVs just like the Samsung S95D or the Roku Professional Collection. The TL:DR is: this TV is nice for gaming.

Uniformity and viewing angle

The G5 was in keeping with most OLED TVs in that its image was uniform throughout the panel. When seen off-angle, there was no considerable colour shift, which implies the G5 will look good whether or not you are within the lifeless middle or sitting within the grandparent chair.  

Image settings and testing notes

In testing — each in measurements and in the true world — the G5 is a large enchancment over the G4, from brightness to paint and extra. As a part of the testing for the CNET Labs Award, I in contrast the TV’s efficiency in three exams under: Avg. colour error, Avg. grayscale error and ColorMatch HDR error. By discovering the common of those three values, I got here up with a rating of 1.70, which was the bottom of all 12 TVs I examined in 2025.

It is value mentioning that some TVs can provide a greater response in darkness than the G5, which has a Gamma 2.4. This “gamma curve” could also be an trade normal, however in our exams, 2.2 provides a greater expertise with extra shadow element.

Filmmaker mode proved to be the general greatest image mode on the G5, each from our quantitative measurements and with the naked eye. Cinema mode was a detailed second, nevertheless it allows some smoothing, which may create the usually undesirable cleaning soap opera impact.

Portrait Displays Calman calibration software program was used on this evaluation.