LG TVs
2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 lineup compared

LG is one of the biggest TV manufacturers around and sets standards in all price ranges that other manufacturers first have to overcome. In 2020, the Korean engineering company has launched powerful models, which have been equipped with the most diverse technologies.

LG’s OLED models in particular set completely new standards in terms of picture quality. The 2021 models score in this category again, which makes LG TVs a very good choice for the living room. However, the cheaper models can also shine with great features.

Here is an overview of the lineup so that you can see exactly which innovations the 2021 models bring with them, which LG devices are worth a closer look – and which are not.

More about TV manufacturer LG

With its NanoCell and above all OLED models in 4K and 8K 2020, LG is once again bringing new powerful devices to the market. These devices feature new Alpha Processors that enable deep learning effects. The new Black Frame Insertion feature from LG with 100/120 Hz is called “OLED Motion Pro” and is supposed to sharpen the picture even more.

The manufacturer also relies on Dolby Vision IQDynamic HDR-format with a color depth of up to 12 Bits and Mastering of up to 10,000 Nits, which can adapt to the ambient brightness to adjust the screen brightness to the respective environment. With the Filmmaker Mode option, LG is trying to enhance the home cinema experience and present movies in their original, i.e. without subsequent image enhancement. LG produced the first OLEDs, which still distinguish the company on the television market today.

For your orientation: At LG, the model designations are based on the series of the device and the value within it. With the exception of the OLED series, the pattern is made up of letters, which provide information about the technology used and the panel resolution, as well as numbers. With numbers, the guideline is roughly the same: the higher they are, the higher the valence.

The term “OLED” stands for “organic light emitting diode“, which means that all subpixels either light themselves or not. OLED panels do not need backlighting or local dimming. This results in a quasi perfect black level and thus a theoretically infinite contrast.

The Evo panel was introduced as a technical innovation by LG in 2021. Primarily, it is supposed to reduce the burn-in risk of the organic pixels and thus make them more durable. The new material deuterium is responsible for this, as well as an additional green layer, which allows the two blue layers in the subpixels to become more efficient and heat-resistant. Thus, a higher brightness can be achieved, even if it does not yet come close to QLEDs. An interesting side effect: this also makes the OLED more power-efficient. So far, the Evo panel is only available in LG’s G1.

The NanoCell series from LG uses the NanoCell technology as the name suggests. Through an additional 1 nanometer thick display layer, colors are filtered out that do not correspond to the basic colors of the RGB LEDs, i.e. red, green and blue. Because these impurities are filtered out, mixed colors from these basic tones can be generated more accurately and therefore appear more vivid and less dull than it is the case with cheaper models.

Dolby is mainly known for formats that are related to sound. But with Dolby VisionDynamic HDR-format with a color depth of up to 12 Bits and Mastering of up to 10,000 Nits, the manufacturer has also developed a format to optimize HDRHigh Dynamic Range – image/video with more dynamic range (contrast range) content even further and, above all, dynamically. Brightnesses can be adjusted from scene to scene within a movie, which can make a huge difference to picture quality. The advanced version Dolby Vision IQDynamic HDR-format with a color depth of up to 12 Bits and Mastering of up to 10,000 Nits, which can adapt to the ambient brightness also takes the ambient brightness around the TV into account. So if the TV is placed in a bright room, the average brightness is increased so that the image is easier to see in these conditions.

Conventional home cinema systems, e.g. a 5.1 system, have four satellite speakers, a center speaker and a subwoofer. The Atmos system expands the number of speakers by adding ceiling speakers that either radiate or reflect from the ceiling to a desired location. The latter is called Atmos Enabled.

If two additional Atmos speakers are used, one would speak of a 7.1.2 system. Concerning the compatibility of the medium with Atmos, Dolby was clever: Atmos is not channel-based, but object-based. It works with the loudspeakers that are present.

If you want to play games on your TV, you should also pay attention to the fact that it has a Variable Refresh RateVariable Refresh Rate – synchronizes the display’s refresh rate with the output refresh rate of the graphics card, VRRVariable Refresh Rate – synchronizes the display’s refresh rate with the output refresh rate of the graphics card for short. If this is not the case, it can happen that the graphics card of the console or the PC sends pictures in a different clock rate than the TV can use them. As a result, the upper and lower halves of the image may not fit together, making the image appear cut or torn. The VRR synchronizes the console and TV and the TV displays the images as they are output from the source. AMD FreeSyncVariable Refresh Rate with AMD graphics cards or consoles is one of the most popular VRR formats and supports graphics cards from AMD. For Nvidia graphics cards you need G-SyncVariable Refresh Rate for Nvidia graphics cards.

The Automatic Brightness Limiter (ABL) is a protection mechanism for the organic LEDs of an OLED TV. Since overheating can cause burn-in, the LEDs need special protection. Most of the heat is generated by large areas of bright pictures. To prevent the LEDs from getting too hot, the ABL regulates the brightness down and thus prevents damage to the LEDs. In bright environments the brightness should actually be increased to create a nice picture, but the ABL prevents this to protect the device. Therefore OLEDs do not perform as well in very bright rooms.