65in TV GROUP TEST

Three flagship TVS from three heavyweight manufacturers, there’s only one way to describe this battle. But do they all live up to the hype?

Three great TVS from LG, Sony and Samsung. Which comes out on top?

It might be a clichéd phrase, but how else to describe the battle about to take place? Here we have a clash between three flagship TVS from the biggest names in the business.

These televisions represent the pinnacle of LG, Samsung and Sony's current capabilities – at least in the 4K realm. While they are all premium models, they’re not completely out of reach in terms of price, and at 65in, they’re suitably cinematic in scale, without being out of the question for a standard-sized living room.

Our first contender is the LG C9 (OLED65C9PLA). This is not, in fact, the most premium 4K OLED in LG’S 2019 range, but those models above it (the E9, W9 and R9) are, by LG’S own admission, no better in the picture department – their enhancements are to sound and design. That means that if you want the best picture LG can currently offer at the best price possible, the C9 is it.

And in this company, that price looks reasonable – at £3299, this is the most affordable TV on test by a considerable margin.

Next up is LG’S arch rival, Samsung, with its Q90R (QE65Q90R). NON-OLEDS are rare at this end of the market and this is the only one on

test here, but Samsung is resolute in its commitment to its own QLED technology. And who could blame it, given the advantages? QLEDS can go much brighter than OLEDS and there are no issues of image retention or question marks over their longevity.

What’s more, with the Q90, Samsung has sought to claw back OLED’S traditional advantages by massively improving black depth and viewing angles. But has it done enough? And can it justify being £500 more expensive than LG’S C9?

Our third contender, the Sony AG9, also has its work cut out to justify a comparatively high price. At £3999, it’s the most expensive TV here, by some margin. It uses the same panel as the LG C9, making that extra outlay look unreasonable, but the Sony looks to justify its price with great looks, an ingenious sound system and its much-vaunted picture processing. Certainly, we can attest to the overall quality of a TV being only partly related to the raw materials used.

The proof of the pudding, as ever, is in the eating, so let’s stop talking stats and see how these three TV titans actually compare in action.