LG - 42" Class C3 Series OLED evo 4K UHD Smart webOS TV (2023)

My review is principally centered on the picture quality. I upgraded from a 13 year old 3D capable 1080p Vizio television. I'm not a gamer and I can't speak to its performance in that regard. I watch a lot of television and movies, so I spend a lot of time looking at screens. The picture is great. I recommend going to rtngs.com for their recommended calibration, that's what i used and it improved the picture. I like a warmer color temperature, so I have the blue light reduction option selected. The blacks are inky black, as everyone says. It's pretty amazing. I looked at a lot of televisions in store, they all seemed kinda crappy to be honest, even at expensive price points. I paid 900 for the 42" which was the right size for my room. I prefer pixel density over screen size, plus I needed a specific mounting solution that required the smaller screen size. I used a Mount-It! fully articulating wall mount and so far it seems sturdy holding the television a full 22.5" from the wall. I have the tv mounted perpendicular to the wall. I'm pretty sensitive to certain things in a tv that others seem not to care so much about. From here on out, I'm going to nit pick, but I really like the TV. First, the remote and the user interface is pretty terrible. I also bought a 65" Sony x90l that has a much simpler remote and a much simpler user interface. Second, and this is pretty bad, if you read the terms and conditions as I did, this television is straight up spying on you. If you want to use the native apps, you have to sign away the rights for this tv to listen to you and pretty much do whatever it wants with that information, as well as this tv is going to take freaking screenshots of your tv to determine what you are watching. What if you are sharing your screen from a tablet or watching a bluray? Doesn't matter, this tv is going to capture the image with its "automatic content recognition." It's pretty scummy, but it's moot because i only used the internet to update my firmware then i removed it from my network. I use a streaming box, apple tv 4k gen 5. I used a native streaming app briefly and it worked fine, but im not going to rate that functionality because a dedicated streaming box is always going to do a better job. When the software outgrows the box, you can always buy another box. People review televisions negatively for a bad streaming app experience and i don't think people should be judging televisions for this because TVs just suck at it in general, especially over time. I also think you'd be crazy to trust the television with access to your home network. I prefer the division of labor. I could dock the review for these things, but I've just come to accept that corporations are scummy, and when i read a review about a tv I'm concerned with its picture quality. I had no dead or malfunctioning pixels that i could see when running through the tests for that. The TV does emit a faint buzzing sound from the hdmi port area. I can only hear it when within 12" of the television. I do not believe it is coil whine, but I'm no expert there. On Reddit, many have asked if this is normal. I honestly don't know. I reached out to LG and I was told someone would call me back. I did not receive that call. The 42" does not have a fan, and it's on the side furthest from the power supply, the sound is faint, so I'm choosing to believe it's normal without other evidence. The sound is only produced when the screen is "off" or in standby mode. I bought the geek squad 5 year warranty because in the hopefully unlikely case this craps the bed, I want the warranty. I honestly prefer a little bezel, this tv basically has none. It's very sleek and attractive, but i would prefer some plastic bezel that affords some ability to accept an accidental jostle from the side. I have no plans to be rough with it. Just saying. The screen has a lot of stutter due to the pixel's instantaneous response time, but I'm already used to it. I can't stand motion smoothing and turned all that off. Honestly, even with it turned off there appears to still be some smoothing (frame interpolation, synthetic frames), but maybe I'm imagining it? The screen gets plenty bright for me, but I'm in a dimly lit room. I've not owned enough televisions to be able to comment on brightness. One thing you should note is that this television doesn't support the latest version of digital broadcasting due to a patent dispute, but it will be years before they roll out the newer broadcasting technology anyway. It's still good for whatever you can pick up with an antenna right now. If anyone still uses that. I've seen some other reviews saying that it doesn't default to the previous input source, but i haven't had this experience. Further, there's a menu that lets you toggle this if you want to. Good luck with the menus lol. The sound isn't the best. That seems to be an issue with most modern TVs. The cinema sound setting is more flat which i prefer because i can't have wild swings in volume in the bedroom. In all, i have some gripes but the picture is fantastic. It's a decent OLED. If you also want it to make you toast, not sure what to say. I think smart tvs just should stop offering smart features because the negative reviews pollute the thing I'm actually interested in which is the picture. TV native streaming just can't compete with a roku ultra 4k or an apple tv 4k.

I wanted an affordable OLED with few compromises. This TV hasn't disappointed. I use it as my main work monitor and also for PS5 gaming. I have connected my MacBook to it using a USB-C dongle and a USB doc, and I find this TV struggles with reds, especially with text over a red background. The text gets pixelated. Still very usable as a monitor. When gaming, you don't really notice the red issues. The deep black levels, HDR and 240hz refresh rate are great for gaming. It will automatically detect when you turn on your PS5 and change input/settings to game mode for best performance. The speakers sound ok, but I would recommend using a sound bar or headphones for gaming/entertainment. I sit at a desk, might sound better from further away. I don't use many of the smart TV features, so YMMV with those.

Im using this as a PC monitor since i cant imagine spending $1500 on a Oled PC monitor. I am a die hard sony monitor and TV user but I got this at a price below $1000 and its been life changing. My wife looks at me differently now and I have strangers always smiling and saying hi. Thank you LG for making a life changing Oled that performs as good as my A90K in color depth. Not as bright but im using in a office with controlled lighting so its perfect. All jokes aside this in a 48” size is wondeful for multi-window 4k desktop setups. Color is on point as well just choose the righr gamma for your work (i use 2.4)

After using an OLED for our main TV, it was apparent how poor the color and black levels were on my monitor. This TV works fantastic as a monitor. Perfect color, black level, response time, and 120 Hz. 42 inches is BIG, but not too big. I use it for gaming, video editing, and general office work. Had to get an adapter plate to get the monitor arm to work with 200x300 VESA pattern.

It is all I expected. 42" is the perfect size for my table. clear crisp text and colorful visuals. HDR mode is really good. No visible input lag. And a lot of community support when using it as a PC monitor. I prefer slightly larger text (150% scaling) and there are no real gains in screen real estate compared to 32-inch monitors. At least the way I use it, everything is just bigger and nicer to read/see. I am still using a 27" portrait configuration second monitor. Watching YouTube is more immersive. My IDE loves the extra screen space and gaming has been a bliss. No monitor can best this at this price point. Especially if you care about getting a glossy screen.