I’ve had my LG G3 OLED for 7 months — 3 things I love and 2 I hate
Imagine the worst stuck record in the history of species (I’m thinking “Miracles” by the Insane Clown Posse, here). When it comes to the LG G3 OLED TV, I’m the walking human equivalent. I won’t shut up about how this incredible television is literally the best material possession in my 38 years of life.
As the proud owner of one of the best TVs ever made, I could list 30 things I adore about the LG G3, let alone three. Coming up with two reasons why I “hate” this OLED was so difficult — the couple of cons against have nothing to do with how amazing this screen is.
LG G3 77" 4K OLED: was $3,799 now $3,499 @ Best Buy
Hurry! The LG G3 OLED is the latest set in LG’s “Gallery Series” of top-tier 4K/120Hz TVs. This is an astounding panel that can reach over 1,300 nits peak brightness in HDR mode. How does it achieve such an incredible figure? Through a brightness-boosting Micros Lens Array panel. It's still a lot of cash, but I've cherished every single day my OLED has hung on my living room wall.View Deal
Seeing as I’m now making myself angry with my own arguments, I’ll shut up and get right to the good stuff. And holy cow am I talking gooooood.
LG G3 OLED TV — 3 things I love
It’s the king of TVs
I don’t care what a panel at a celebratory Value Electronics event says about the Sony Bravia XR A95L. The LG G3 OLED is the “real king of TVs” to me. I’ll grant you that my fellow A/V experts here at Tom’s Guide currently rank the Samsung S95C as the best OLED TV you can buy in 2024. The reality is both sets are incredible, with each model capable of reaching over 1,300 nits of peak HDR brightness, which is an astonishing figure. And hoo-boy have I seen the bright.
While the S95C achieves its amazing vividness through a Quantum Dot panel (making it a QD-OLED), LG tackles the historical issue of W-OLED’s limited screen brightness via different methods. The G3 used a process called Micro Lens Array (MLA), whereby millions of minuscule convex lenses are placed on top of the screen. This technique is then combined with an algorithm known as “META”, with the hardware and software solutions combining to create a TV that can appear 70% brighter in certain content than the LG C3 OLED. For me, my G3 OLED is a night and day improvement over the LG C2 OLED I sold last year, and the 2022 model has an extremely similar nits level (just north of 800 or so) to the C3.
Brighter is better. Don’t let anyone tell you differently.
Gaming nirvana
LG makes exceptionally good gaming TVs and the firm’s OLED line takes things to a whole different plane of existence. The G3 features a refined version of the Game Optimizer LG has been using for years at this point, with features like Variable Refresh Rate (VRR), Auto Low Latency Mode (ALLM) and support for both Nvidia G-Sync and AMD FreeSync Premium kicking in when the TV detects a signal from a video game.
I’ve done a ton of gaming on my LG G3 OLED, and I can confidently say this TV has produced the most incredible images I’ve ever seen. It’s an unbelievably good piece of tech to equip a PS5, Xbox Series X or one of the best gaming PCs to. Even sub-1080p Nintendo Switch titles look pretty lush on the LG G3 OLED thanks to the set’s impeccable image upsampling.
Uniform is permanent
This is something that’s almost impossible to show in a photograph, so just take my word it’s more obvious in motion, okay? The LG G3 OLED has the best screen uniformity I’ve ever seen. In almost ten years of owning OLED TVs, I’ve never seen a single television exhibit less “Dirty Screen Effect” — a defect that manifests either as very slight vertical lines or on-screen patches that are visibly brighter than others. DSE mostly occurs in LCD TVs, and it’s a visual tick I find unreasonably distracting. The G3 is near flawless in this regard.
While both of my 77-inch LG OLEDs exhibited near-white vertical banding (those faint vertical lines I mentioned that become obvious to my obsessive eyes during panning sky shots), I don’t think I can really recall seeing this problem with the G3. Games like Cyberpunk 2077 and Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves showed banding on my older sets when I moved the camera when background clouds were displayed, but not with my G3. I don’t care if all of the above reads as increasingly obsessive, this leopard and his T-800 eyes aren’t changing anytime soon.
LG G3 OLED TV — 2 things I hate
I bought it at the wrong time
Honestly, this is my only real complaint… and it’s got nothing to do with the quality of the LG G3 OLED. My timing just sucks. I’m pretty sure I bought my 77-inch TV for ￡4,299 last August, though like an idiot I can’t find the e-receipt at the moment. That’s the equivalent of $5,450. Talk about a spicy meatball/bank balance-obliterating purchase. If I had just waited a few months until Black Friday, I could have saved myself a Thousand Big Ones. Ugh.
My timing has only proven to be even worse since the turn of the year. I’ve seen the 77” LG G3 OLED go for as little as $3,499 within the last couple of weeks. I’m officially that guy who turns up to a party with a crappy crate of beer just as every single other person heads to a better venue. Take my advice: If you’re going to buy a new LG G4 OLED, try to resist splurging until a major sales event like Black Friday or Cyber Monday. Speaking of which…
The LG G4 OLED will be out soon
And when I say “soon,” I mean most likely within the next couple of months. Historically, LG normally launches its new OLED lineups for the year around March or April, meaning the LG G4 OLED is almost upon us. This time out, the South Korean company’s high-end G model sports LG’s new a11 AI processor. What does this bring to the party? The promise of advanced, AI-driven features, like “Genre and Scene Analysis” to detect specific content and “Object Enhancing” that can tell the difference between objects in the foreground and background, adjusting accordingly to offer a deeper image.
In theory, these AI enhancements don’t really do it for me. The LG G3 OLED is by far the best TV I’ve ever owned and a screen I have no real issues with. That said, I’m awful at not buying new LG OLEDs. You’re reading the words of a dude who bought the LG C1 OLED and LG C2 before taking the plunge on the G3 (and both of those times I purchased the sets within two months of launch). As much as I try to convince myself my eyes want no part of the G4 and that I’m totally content with my current OLED, my wallet may think differently before the year is out. Thank the stars my change purse is currently empty.
