Test Bench

(For the control settings used in this review, go to www.soundandvision.com)

The measurements here were made using CALMAN measurement software from Portrait Displays (www. portrait.com), together with Photo Research PR-650 and Klein K-10A color meters and a Murideo Fresco 6-G pattern generator. The peak white levels given below were rounded to the nearest foot-lambert/nit.

SDR/HD

FULL- ON/FULL- OFF CONTRAST RATIO: 154,000:1

In the Filmmaker Mode picture mode with OLED Light at 65, Contrast at 80, and Brightness at 50, the 65GX’S post-calibration peak white output was 154 nits (45 foot-lamberts). The black level could barely be measured, fluctuating between 0.000, 0.001, and 0.002 nits, so I selected 0.001 nits (0.00029 ft-l) as the average for this result.

In SDR and Filmmaker Mode, the pre-calibration grayscale Delta E values from 20% to 100% ranged from a low of 1.14 at 20% to a high of 3.56 at 70%. Satisfactory, yes, though not quite up to the best Filmmaker standards. But the most visible deviation from ideal was the peak white level, which in the Filmmaker Mode default values of 25 (OLED light) and 80 (Contrast) measured 23 ft-l (79 nits), while the standards call for 29 ft-l (100 nits). And even that level (achieved only in the very best theatrical presentations) isn’t necessarily ideal for most home viewing. For my SDR calibration I raised the level to 45 ft-l (154 nits) with the OLED Light on 65, and the Contrast still at 80. Post-calibration, the Delta E values ranged from a low of

0.4 at 20% to a high of 2.1 at 100% (no other values were above 1.3).

The pre-calibration color Delta E values ranged from a high of 3.46 (cyan) to low of 1.28 (red). Postcalibration, the high was 1.42 (cyan) and the low 0.59 (green).

(Delta E is a figure of merit that indicates how closely a display adheres to the color standard. Experts generally agree that at levels below 3-4 the result is visibly indistinguishable from perfect color tracking. Delta E values may be used to characterize the accuracy of either grayscale or color.)

HIGH DYNAMIC RANGE (HDR10)

FULL- ON/FULL- OFF CONTRAST RATIO: 123,090:1

In HDR10 Filmmaker Mode with the OLED Light at 100, Contrast at 100, Brightness at 50, Dynamic Contrast

Off, and Peak Brightness on High, the peak brightness at 100% was 677 nits and the black level 0.0055 nits for the full-on/full-off contrast ratio shown above. But 100% is well above clipping on the PQ curve (gamma for HDR). A more realistic point just below clipping would be 70%, where the peak white level was 560 nits and the black level the same, for a full-on/full-off contrast ratio of 112,000:1.

The 65GX’S HDR10 performance was generally good, with the main oddity being the measured peak white level that rose above the clipping line on the PQ curve as mentioned above. Luminance errors in this region could not be corrected by the multi-point adjustments in the White Balance menu. I therefore did my HDR (and SDR) calibrations only with the 2-point controls.

Before calibration, the grayscale Delta Es ranged from a low of 1.9 at 20% to a high of 12.9 at 90%. At 60% and below it was 4.2 or less. Note that the 12.9 value reflects the uncorrectable luminance deviation from the PQ curve (clipping above about 70%). After calibration, the maximum Color Delta E was 2.4 at or under 60%. The errors above 60% were entirely in luminance and are not reflected in the white balance charts (shown in the web version of this review), which do not include luminance.

The HDR peak white levels with varying-sized 100% luminance windows measured 550 nits at 5%, 650 at 10%, 250 at 50%, and 130 at 100%. The 65GX measured 74.7% of BT.2020 and 97.8% of the P3 color gamut using the 1976 standard. (No consumer source material as yet exceeds P3.)

I measured a 1080p image lag of 13ms in Game mode, increasing to just over 84ms in Filmmaker mode (Instant Game Response on for both).

The 65GX passed all of our standard video tests. The set will also pass Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtracks from its optical digital audio output, but only 2.1 with a DTS source.— TJN

with the Filmmaker Mode’s default settings active was too low (see Test Bench), something I remedied by increasing the OLED Light control adjustment to 65—a far higher setting than the default.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 is one of the darkest films I know of almost from beginning to end. Blacks looked inky on the LG, with fades to black between scenes and the black bars on widescreen films disappearing completely. On the downside, some dark scenes actually looked a little crushed when viewing the Blu-ray. The Ultra HD Blu-ray version looked far better than the SDR one, especially when it came to shadow detail.

Black levels and shadow detail on the Prometheus Blu-ray were more consistently impressive on the LG, from the blackness behind the star fields at the film’s beginning to the dark cave scenes. Screen uniformity was excellent here as well. (On a related note, I saw a slight hint of dark vertical streaking on a 5 percent gray full-field test pattern, but it essentially disappeared on a 10 percent pattern.)

Samsara is an exceptional, though occasionally disturbing, documentary with a selection of scenes ranging from bizarre (chicken processing on a production line) to gorgeous (a monastery in Tibet). The latter offers a stunning shot of the monks creating a brilliantly colored sand mandala. The GX did everything right on this disc, but it also prompted me to sample the HDR Effect Picture Mode, which purports to simulate HDR from an SDR source. The verdict: it worked well (particularly in stunning shots of Versailles). Some viewers may find this enhancement mode addictive, though my preference is to view sources as originally produced.

I’m a sucker for historical films. Victoria & Abdul, which tells the story of the relationship of Queen Victoria in her dotage (the late 1800s) and her Indian friend/companion/teacher, is by turns dramatic and very funny. But even if you don’t care for this sort of thing (no Marvel superheroes make an appearance) you can’t deny the film’s visual brilliance. The LG 65GX did a masterful job in showing every last bit of the production’s vibrant but not overdone colors and rich detail. The banquet scene alone would make for a great video demo.

ULTRA HD/HDR PERFORMANCE

The 65GX also performed well with HDR prior to calibration. Colors were consistently impressive, and with the set’s Dynamic Tone Mapping and other processing active, dark scenes never looked crushed except when viewing the occasional poorly mastered, mostly early, Ultra HD Blu-ray (I’m looking at you, Exodus: Gods and Kings!).

Guardians of the Galaxy

No.2 is a superb transfer that

I’ve used frequently in the past for TV evaluations. The disc never looked better than it did on the 65GX. GG2 is the rare live-action movie that outdoes the color palette found on many animated titles (though some might argue that it’s a live-action cartoon!), and colors here were a cut above. While the 65GX, like all OLEDS, can’t equal the peak brightness level possible with LCD display technology, I never felt shortchanged. Bright highlights—almost wall-towall in this film— popped off the screen. If my reactions had been recorded, they would have easily made for another “Oh, My” commercial.

Pixar’s Inside Out is also a riot of color and bright HDR highlights. Chapter 18 features a giant clown with a ruby red nose and rich red highlights on his clothing. When the film was first released in theaters, there were rumors (never confirmed to my knowledge) that the reds in this scene had actually been produced in BT.2020, a color gamut even wider than the P3 one that’s almost universally used for Ultra HD sources. While it’s unlikely this is the case (I’m not sure there’s even production equipment capable of that as yet), I will say that I’ve never seen deeper reds on any video source or display than I noted in that scene on LG’S 65GX.

The 65GX’S color, detail, and HDR performance was outstanding with every source I watched. But what about black level and contrast— OLED’S main calling cards? While I had little complaint there, I’ve also noted in previous TV tests that black levels with HDR sources are generally a little less jawdropping than with SDR ones. That stands to reason, and the LG’S measured black level in HDR was about 1.5 times higher than in SDR (see Test Bench). But at 0.0055 nits (0.0016 foot-lamberts) for HDR, it was still astonishingly low. What that means with real HDR sources, as opposed to test patterns, is that in a totally darkened room I could just make out the black bars on letterboxed films with the 65GX, and also when a scene faded to total black.

While I didn’t perform a

Dolby Vision calibration for this review, I did watch sources in that format with similarly superb results. The best movie I saw in a theater last year was 1917, and it looks equally riveting on disc with Dolby Vision HDR. Subdued colors looked spot-on with the LG'S Dolby Vision default Cinema picture mode active. And while there were some slightly grayish blacks in some of the darker scenes (possibly present in the transfer itself or in the film’s otherwise exceptional photography), picture contrast overall was impossible to fault.

CONCLUSION

I had an uncle who once said he’d buy a new TV when they were perfected. We didn’t get there in his lifetime, and perhaps never will. But while LG’S new GX series OLED TVS might not do everything perfectly

(LG would likely disagree!) the 65GXPUA offers several subtle improvements over its E9 series predecessor that I tested in 2019, and, even better, is significantly less expensive than that model.

The Verdict

LG’S design-savvy 65GXPUA OLED offers up a mix of features and performance that’s guaranteed to grab your attention.