Our Rating:
4.9
LG G5 OLED Review
Ranked #2 (Runner-up)
Best TV of 2025!
Authors: Joan T, Sara W, Marc K, Robert J
Introduction
The LG G5 OLED stands as a monumental achievement in television engineering, a device that pushes the boundaries of display technology with its excellent brightness and breathtaking contrast. It is a titan of the 2025 TV market!
We spent weeks with the G5, integrating it into our daily lives for everything from cinematic movie nights to intense gaming sessions, and it consistently delivered a visual experience that can only be described as spectacular. However, in the race for the top spot, a product must be more than just a technological showcase; it must be a flawless total package. The LG G5 is an absolutely brilliant television and a testament to LG’s innovation, but a few specific drawbacks and curious design choices prevent it from securing the crown, earning it a very strong #2 ranking as the runner-up for the best TV of 2025!
Design and Build Quality
The LG G5 is designed not just as a television, but as a piece of home decor.
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A Gallery Design: The "One Wall Design" is the defining feature of the G5’s physical presence. It’s engineered to sit completely flush against a wall, with a uniform one-inch thickness that eliminates any gap, creating a seamless, picture-frame effect. This is the clear, intended use case, underscored by the fact that the special flush wall mount comes in the box, while a traditional tabletop stand must be purchased separately.
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Construction: The television feels substantial and impeccably built, with a minimalist aesthetic and an elegant metallic trim around the impossibly thin bezel. The focus is entirely on the screen. During our extended time with the unit, we did occasionally hear faint popping or creaking sounds as the chassis warmed up and cooled down, a minor physical characteristic of a TV that produces such powerful light.
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Aesthetics Over Flexibility: The decision to make the stand an optional accessory is a bold one. It reinforces the "Gallery" concept but presents a practical hurdle for anyone not planning to wall-mount this television. While the aesthetic is stunning when mounted, this choice prioritizes a specific form over out-of-the-box versatility.
Display
The visual performance of the LG G5 is its crowning glory, powered by a revolutionary new panel that redefines OLED capabilities.
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Upgrade in Brightness: At the heart of the G5 is its new Primary RGB Tandem OLED panel, the engine behind what LG calls "Brightness Booster Ultimate." This isn't just marketing hype; it's a fundamental shift in OLED technology. The result is a level of brightness that is simply staggering. For the first time, an OLED TV can be placed in a bright, sun-drenched room and not only hold its own but excel, delivering electrifying HDR highlights that cut through ambient light with ease. Our hands-on experience using the G5 during the day was transformative; its ability to maintain perfect black levels while producing such intense specular highlights is something we previously thought impossible from an OLED.
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Superb Color and Detail: Colors are incredibly rich and vibrant, covering nearly the entire DCI-P3 color space used for modern HDR content. The new Alpha 11 AI Processor Gen2 does a phenomenal job with its OLED Dynamic Tone Mapping Pro, which analyzes individual objects in a scene to give them a stunning sense of depth and three-dimensionality. Upscaling is also a major strength, as the processor renders lower-resolution cable and streaming content with impressive sharpness and clarity.
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Software Updates: Our journey with the G5 began with a significant software flaw. In its initial launch state, standard HDR10 content exhibited raised, grayish black levels that compromised the TV's core strength. It was a concerning issue on such a premium device. However, LG commendably addressed this with a firmware update that completely resolved the problem, restoring the inky, perfect blacks OLED is famous for. This experience serves as a powerful reminder that cutting-edge technology can sometimes require post-launch refinement.
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Anti-Reflective Screen: Complementing the raw brightness is a highly effective anti-glare screen coating. This combination is what truly makes the G5 a master of bright-room viewing. The screen does an exceptional job of absorbing reflections, ensuring that the incredible contrast and color are not washed out by lamps or windows, a common pitfall for lesser displays.
Performance
The LG G5 is positioned as a definitive gaming display, and for console gamers, it is practically perfect.
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Gamer's Paradise: The feature set is exhaustive. With four full-bandwidth HDMI 2.1 ports, you can connect a PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, and a high-end PC without ever having to compromise or swap cables. It supports every major adaptive sync technology, including NVIDIA G-Sync and AMD FreeSync Premium, ensuring a tear-free and buttery-smooth experience across all platforms.
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Flawless Console Experience: For PS5 and Xbox Series X owners, the experience is sublime. The combination of a 120Hz native panel, near-instantaneous pixel response time, and incredibly low input lag creates a connection between player and game that feels immediate and deeply responsive. In our testing with fast-paced console titles, the motion clarity was flawless, and the HDR implementation made game worlds pop with unparalleled vibrancy.
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Decent for PC Users: The G5 boasts support for up to a 165Hz refresh rate, an enticing feature for high-end PC gamers. However, we discovered that running the display at 165Hz results in noticeably higher input lag compared to running at 120Hz. For competitive PC players where every millisecond counts, this is a significant compromise. It forces a choice between a higher frame rate and faster responsiveness, a decision that prevents the G5 from being the undisputed gaming champion for every single user.
Audio & Sound Quality
The G5 delivers a respectable audio experience for a television this thin, but it’s marked by a critical omission for home theater purists.
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Onboard Sound: The television’s internal speaker system supports Dolby Atmos, creating a surprisingly wide and immersive soundstage. For casual viewing and gaming, the audio is clear and dynamic. Furthermore, the WOW Orchestra feature, which we tested with a compatible LG soundbar, seamlessly synchronizes the TV speakers with the soundbar for an even fuller, more room-filling sound.
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DTS Audio: The G5’s most significant audio drawback is its complete lack of onboard support for DTS audio formats, including DTS:X. This is a major issue for physical media collectors, as a massive portion of the Blu-ray and 4K UHD disc library uses DTS for their primary audio tracks. During our hands-on evaluation, we had to connect our 4K Blu-ray player directly to our AV receiver to process the audio, as the TV itself could not. This is a frustrating limitation that requires a specific equipment workaround and feels like a major oversight in a flagship, cinema-focused television.
WebOS & User Experience
The interaction with the television is where the G5’s premium experience unfortunately falters, with design choices that feel like a step backward in usability.
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Frustrating Magic Remote: The iconic LG Magic Remote has been redesigned into a more traditional "candy-bar" shape, and in the process, has lost its ergonomic charm and, most critically, its dedicated input button. Changing video sources, one of the most common functions, now requires a long-press of the home button to pull up a menu. Throughout our daily use, this became a constant point of irritation, turning a simple, one-click action into a needless multi-step process.
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Slow Interface: The webOS 25 operating system, while packed with smart AI features, often feels slow and cluttered. The home screen is busy, prioritizing advertisements and AI recommendations over providing a clean, quick path to your apps and inputs. The entire experience feels less about user convenience and more about pushing promoted content, a trend that detracts from the television's otherwise premium feel.
Conclusion: The Runner Up
The LG G5 OLED is a technological marvel. Its new panel technology delivers a picture of such stunning brightness and perfect contrast that it fundamentally changes where and how an OLED TV can be enjoyed. It is a brilliant display for movies and a virtually perfect partner for modern gaming consoles. The visual "wow factor" is immense and undeniable!
However, a product's greatness is the sum of all its parts. The G5 is held back from the top spot by a series of deliberate yet frustrating compromises. The lack of DTS support is a significant blow to home theater enthusiasts, and the ergonomic regressions in the Magic Remote and webOS interface introduce daily friction into the user experience. These issues, combined with the niche-but-notable gaming flaw at 165Hz, are what make this incredible television a runner-up. It sets a new benchmark for visual performance, but its competitor edges it out by offering a more complete and user-friendly package!