C1 Series 65-Inch Class OLED Smart TV OLED65C1PUB, 2021 - 4K TV, Alexa Built-in

Awesome TV. The look is great. Such good picture quality. My favorite TV I’ve owned.

The LG C1 is a fantastic premium television that provides a wonderful picture, with deep, rich, precise colors and incredible gaming features. Honestly, you can look at any number of reviews for it online and they'll all largely say the same thing. I don't want to go down that well-travelled road. My review will instead focus on the EVO panel lottery, which is going on behind the scenes at LG's assembly plants. What this means is that some C1s will have the new EVO panels, which are supposed to be brighter and last longer. In all actuality, you might not really notice it, especially since LG closed the loophole to "change" the C1 into an G1 via the service menu, meaning that the much ballyhooed "hack" is no longer viable. So here are the facts: 1. LG C1s are being manufactured with WBC and WBE (EVO) panels. There's no way around it. 2. Just because you got a WBC panel does not mean your panel is bad, but it theoretically means it will not last as long as the WBE, which has more durability and can be driven harder by the SOC, which really is a moot point, since the C1 firmware loophole was closed. So that just leaves durability. 3. Given how "all over the place" brightness can be from panel to panel when it comes to the C1 series, you might actually get a WBC panel that is "brighter" than a WBE panel. It's called the panel lottery for a reason, and I've even seen CXs that are brighter than C1s and G1 (the latter of which has the EVO panel advertised). 4. Just because you have a recently manufactured LG C1 doesn't mean you have an EVO panel, so please ignore people on the internet telling you otherwise. They are wrong, wrong, wrong. There's a way you can tell if a unit has an EVO panel, and it involves looking at the box, or going into the service menu, which I don't recommend. I'm intentionally not going into detail, because the whole situation is just a bit ridiculous. 5. Please do not lose your mind and start returning and exchanging units in hopes of getting a WBE panel. It's silly and pointless, and you might wind up with panels that are inferior to the one you initially received. If you want a guaranteed EVO panel that will run brighter, then buy a G1 or wait for the C2...it's that simple. Do I think it's worth it? No, I don't. But you do you. If you're concerned about panel durability, therefore making the search for WBE worth it...my advice is to just buy an extended warranty. The goal is to enjoy a new TV, not run around like a madman inspecting boxes and being annoying to Amazon employees.

I previously ordered a 55” version of the previous model, the LG OLED55CXPUA, and was incredibly satisfied. Shortly after purchasing that, the TV in my living room died and I was forced to look for a larger display to replace the 70” Samsung that had been there for a few years. I ultimately settled between the LG OLED65CXPUA and the LG OLED65C1PUB as I had enjoyed great picture quality, response times, and smart functionality with the 55” model of the CX, and the CX 65 was significantly cheaper than the 65 C1. I ultimately opted for the C1 and I’m very happy that I did. Starting with the picture, the C1 seems to manage a much higher brightness, which is great for helping offset some of the reflections from the windows in my living room. Reflection handling in general is better; I don’t know if the coating changed or not, but even off the display seems to do a better job at handling lighting. As a result, you can enjoy similar longevity at a higher brightness, or you can dial the brightness back, still enjoy great contrast, and prolong the life of the display. Moving on to smart functionality, I originally intended on using an Xbox to handle streaming services, but LG’s baked-in apps do a pretty solid job on their own. I mainly stick to Hulu, Spotify, and YouTube, so your mileage may vary if you use other apps, but they have been solid and performed well, so well in fact that the ever-so-slightly slower CX 55 I now have in the office seems much slower than it actually is. My favorite functionality has been the ability to mirror my PC and Apple devices to the display wirelessly; being able to throw a stream, website, or photos up quickly has been something I previously had to use my Xbox to accomplish and is now much more simple. My one complaint is that the remote changed between previous generations and this one, and not for the better. It is a glossy plastic almost all the way around, except for the button housing, and collects fingerprints and subtle surface scratches immediately. I use a universal remote, so mine has not been used much, yet it is still perpetually dirty and has somehow acquired in the limited use that it has seen. As for gaming, this TV SLAPS. The high refresh rate (for a TV), coupled with ultra-low response times and high resolution make this one of the best, if not the best, gaming display I’ve ever used. I wouldn’t (and don’t) use this for PC gaming, instead relying on an Xbox Series X, and it is the perfect pairing for it. Overall this TV is rather expensive for its size, but it is 100% worth it. If the next generation comes and has LG’s 2nd Gen OLED panel, I would opt for that, but until that panel makes its way to the C-series, this is THE 65” TV to buy.

This replaced a Samsung 60" from 2017. That was an early model 4K and towards the lower end of the various Samsung lines. The picture from this compared to that is stunning - the blacks are the thing that really jump out. On a 4K Dolby Vision source it is revelatory. What I can't comment on because we don't use: - SmartTV features. We didn't use them with Samsung either - we use Google TV with Chromecast so that the UI is the same across TV brands and we aren't captive to a particular TV's UI. I also have low trust in the TV manufacturers to keep their Smart features updated. It is a lot cheaper to just replace the $50 Google device every couple years. - HDMI/ARC. Sadly, our Denon AVR is too old for that. - Internal speakers - never turned them on. - Dolby beyond DD 5.1, i.e. Atmos, etc. I do think that the documentation is mediocre and skinny at best - very basic stuff that you almost really don't need to know. Here are a few things it doesn't discuss: - Surround sound from the optical/TOSLINK digital output: you can get DD 5.1 from this only if set to "passthrough/bitstream" Just about every other setting will result in PCM/2 channel because their thinking is that this is for a sound bar rather than an AVR, where you are more likely to use HDMI/ARC. We use the optical out because our AVR is too old to support ARC and doesn't support 4K either. So I struggled to get DD from the optical at first. I also had to set Google TV to "auto" rather than explicitly setting it to DD or DTS. I called up LG on this issue and they told me that only PCM was available on optical. That is not true. By contrast, the Samsung put everything to the AVR as DD 5.1, regardless of whether the upstream signal was that at all. - The USB ports are switched, but with an off-delay. So if you want to power a gadget or LEDs know that the power will eventually shut off, just not when the TV is turned off. - Relative to our Samsung, the screen is fairly reflective - this TV is not great near windows during the day. It is not as bright as our 5 year old Samsung either. But at night, ooo laa laa. - This is an HDMI only TV - 1 rear-facing (HDMI 4) and 3 left facing - HDMI 1/2/3. No component or old RCA SD or S-Video. To set up our aging Denon you need RCA SD for the OSD when you aren't using HDMI. I bought a gadget here on Amazon to translate RCA video to HDMI for the rare times I need to get to the Denon's on screen menus. I do get griped by this - deciding to remove capabilities so that you need to upgrade and replace other components of your system that otherwise work fine. - The OLED features aren't explained well. Like "Comfort Mode" for example. Does that help with OLED burn-in? Not sure. Some other OLED features are better described but I can't give a high score to the UI layout - too many options greyed out based on a setting elsewhere. I think the UI designers were challenged about balancing a feature's closeness to the top level menu versus closeness to more advanced settings. - Calibration of any kind. Nada. Haven't touched that yet. - The VESA mounting holes are very low on this TV. Not a big deal but be prepared to redo your wall mount if your prior TV was centered on the mounting holes. That's all for now - just had it a week. This may sound nitpicky, but at the end of the day we are very happy with this TV.

I've had my LG C1 for just about a year now and I can tell you a few things about having it: It is amazing! All the rumors you've heard about the picture quality are true! Even the sound is pretty impressive for how thin this thing is! The 4 HDMI ports are super as they are all 2.1, made for gaming. The remote control is way easy to use and even a bit customizable. I've had a little trouble with using a TCL Alto i8 soundbar with the TV and Xbox Series X. The Series X goes to a Black screen with no volume for 2 seconds often while gaming with Gaming Optimization On and Off. I've used Optical, Hi Speed HDMI as well as Bluetooth to connect it. Overall it is an amazing television that I highly recommend if you can afford it. We have experienced no burn-in with my Son playing games for up to 6 hours at a time or longer on Summer break. We have about 4000 hours on the TV in these first 12 months and I still get excited watching it every time.

This is the best TV you can buy, lets face it. NOT for bright sunny rooms, it will seem dim then. Its OLED so watch the reviews, they are acurate. You cant get a better picture. GREAT for gaming at 120 hz. Only "cons" would be the "not for sunny rooms" and the screen burn in chance. The only thing i saw for burn in was for when it was used as a computer monitor. If you use as a tv for shows and gaming you will be fine. Get the bigest screen you can afford. I did 65 but should havge done 77 and said (blank) it. LOVE THIS TV!!!!!

One year after purchasing this OLED TV, the screen stopped turning on. The red standby light would stay illuminated, showing that the unit had power, but when the power button was pressed, the light would blink and the screen would not turn on. An LG-certified technician diagnosed a faulty motherboard and replaced it, which seemed to resolve the problem. However, one year after that (almost to the day) the same issue reoccurred. I had the same LG-certified technician out again, and this time he diagnosed that the entire display module needed to be replaced. He said this was not normal and would not result from a year or two of normal usage, and that I should follow up with LG for extended warranty coverage and he would provide his diagnostic. Unfortunately, after speaking with four separate representatives, the last one being a manager, I was told that the best LG could offer was a 15% coupon for purchasing a new TV. I find this to be unacceptable. There is no way I would buy another TV from LG just two years after buying one for over $2,000 and having it fail twice in two years. I understand a lemon may come out of the factory from time to time, but the manufacturer should stand behind their product and make the customer whole in these rare situations. Working in the home service industry myself, I know that is how my business handles such circumstances. In the big picture, it is a drop in the bucket for the business to do right by their customer. As it stands, I am now left without my TV for Super Bowl Sunday and LG is telling me my best option is to buy a new one from them.

Be aware that this is my first 4k OLED TV, but I'm super picky about my tech purchases, but I am not brand-biased since I know tech can evolve quickly. My research had me set on LG as the way to go for my next upgrade, and specifically to the LG C1 and C2 models to meet my budget and gaming needs, without sacrifice to quality. - It looks amazing, bright, and crisp. I don't believe anything looks washed out or too dark. You may need to find a setting that suits your preference best, but we did minimal tweaking, if any. - It's great for gaming in bed (a 65" being just 3 feet in front of the bed haha), and my boyfriend and I love it for streaming (either directly from the TV or from the PS5). - We use the AI sound setting, as we both feel it sounds the best for both gaming and streaming. It's definitely loud enough for any living room, and quality is fine for the typical user. - The smart features work fairly smoothly, definitely faster than my 10yr old 55" Samsung smart TV. The controls can be a bit confusing at first, but once you realize there's like one or two buttons that bring up most of what you need, you'll be fine. Cons -One day after a couple weeks or so, it wouldn't turn on. Thankfully, there was absolutely no hassle to have it picked up for free repairs directly through LG. Turns out, this one commonly comes with a faulty panel. It was replaced and came back good as new, but of course it sucked having to unmount it from the wall, remount it, and be without the fancy new TV in our bedroom for a few days, lol. - I'm not sure if this can be fixed, but the sound setting we choose (the AI one) keeps getting changed back to a different setting. It's just a tad annoying. I'll prob play around with it eventually, but it's technically my boyfriend's TV and I don't use it much, so I haven't taken too much time to figure it out beyond my initial search through the settings.