I dragged out several discs which are usually problematic, with distracting splotches of brightness showing on regular TVs where there should only be black. But there was none of that here.
I darkened the room, and the black parts of the screen remained, no matter whatever else was happening elsewhere on the screen, totally black.
This had four effects.
First, I soon completely forgot about the TV itself because it was presenting a great picture, and nothing which might draw attention away from the show to the TV itself.
Second, because they were built on the foundation of an utter absence of light, colours were wonderfully vivid and detailed, especially in their darker, deeper reaches.
Third, on a surprising number of scenes there was an almost three dimensional popping out of bright objects from their dark backgrounds.
Finally, it was much easier to see what was happening in dark scenes. Even though the picture was overall darker in those scenes than they would be on a regular TV, the details were revealed because the glowing blacks which usually washed them out were no more.
Now that OLED is UHD as well, it’s possible to enjoy the greater smoothness of lines and sharpness of edges along with the great blacks.
LG says that its six step scaling process delivers better results that previously. It certainly did a competent job at producing a highly watchable picture. Once, that is, I’d reduced the Sharpness control in the picture settings. It was way too high in the beginning.
I also thought that the TruMotion process, which smooths the appearance of motion by generating intermediate picture frames between the real ones from the signal, made the picture seem a little artificial, a little too glossy. I generally preferred things with this switched off.
Running actual UHD content was stunning, though.
LG had a number of new clips on a USB stick, and I also brought my own collection of clips, and it made me realise that while, yes, UHD is not same jump over Full HD as Full HD was over SD, it still provided a clearly noticeable, and clearly enjoyable, improvement.
What, you don’t have UHD clips on a USB stick to enjoy? Do you have a 25Mbps or better Internet connection? Then sign up to the top level of Netflix and check out its sampling of UHD content. Not quite as stunning as the high bitrate clips I had, but still quite extraordinary.
And of course, this TV has the Netflix app.
But regular Blu-rays also looked good with this TV. Very good indeed. And even standard definition material looked as good as it was capable of looking.
The 3D performance of the TV – it uses LG’s passive system involving polarised light, and you get two sets of glasses with it – was about the only real weakness.
The 3D effect was powerful and convincing for two thirds of the screen, but at the very top and very bottom of the screen there seemed to be little separation between the left and right eye views, and in those sections confusion reigned.
Conclusion
Ah, who cares about 3D these days anyway? Well, I do I suppose. But I think that’s a sacrifice I’d be prepared to make.
Because, to answer the question posed at the head of this review, the LG 55EG960T OLED UHD TV does, in fact, occupy the summit of the craft, at least when it comes to picture quality.
This is, without a doubt, the best TV I have ever reviewed.
The review was conducted on premises arranged by LG, rather than in the author’s usual environment.
