TOP PICK OF THE YEAR
LG OLED65E7P OLED Ultra HDTV
(September) The last television to receive our overall Top Pick of the Year designation was LG’S 55EC9300 55-inch OLED in 2014. That $3,500, 1080p-resolution set was truly groundbreaking, the first affordable full-size OLED display to be offered by any manufacturer and proof that, just a couple of years after the last plasmas had exited the market, the quality gap left by their departure was coming to an end. Since then, the TV market rapidly migrated to Ultra HD, and the industry began its painfully slow roll-out of critical new UHD features like high dynamic range (HDR) and wide color gamut, while the availability of 4K content went from a trickle to the steady flow we see today. We recognized the superior image quality of LG’S OLEDS during this period, but we also knew they could use some improvement, particularly in their ability to hit the peak highlights that are so critical to HDR. Nor were we sure, in the early stages of OLED’S life, if LG’S assurance of reliability for the new sets would hold up to a real market test.
Today, any reservations we once had have fizzled. LG has improved image quality year-over-year, paying close attention to the areas videophiles care about, and the sets have proven formidable competition to super-bright LCD displays for viewing HDR and wide-gamut content. The LG OLEDS have repeatedly been the best-looking flat-panel displays we and other experts have ever tested, and LG’S ability to continually drive prices down has now created a substantial installed base of happy OLED owners. LG’S rivals have clearly taken notice, as evidenced by Sony’s release in 2017 of its own vision for an OLED display, using LG’S proprietary panel. We wouldn’t be surprised to find others following soon.
All this is proof that this new class of display has not only a pretty face, but also the legs to go the distance and establish a new standard of image quality for the mass market. The 65-inch OLED65E7P we tested shares similar image quality to LG’S other 2017 models, including the less expensive ones, and offered a picture so jaw-dropping as to prompt our hyper-critical video technical editor Tom Norton to finally turn away from his beloved plasma and buy one as his new reference. It well deserves to be declared our 2017 Top Pick of the Year. $5,000, lg.com