Our five-star LG G5 review reveals why this has been one of 2025’s most anticipated TVs. With a fresh, new display panel called Primary Tandem RGB OLED (also known as ‘four-stack’) it offers increased brightness and more dynamic color than its G4 predecessor, along with deep black levels that hold up in brighter viewing conditions. It’s fair to say I’ve been properly waiting to get my hands on the LG G5 for a while now.
I first saw the LG G5 at an event at Dolby HQ in London, and seeing it next to its predecessor, the LG G4, the fullscreen brightness boost had me excited. It would be no easy task to follow in the footsteps of one of the best OLED TVs of 2024, the LG G4, but early impressions had me believing it could do it.
Now, after sinking a load of time into the G5, I can confirm it’s an outstanding TV. If you’re thinking of buying one, you’re in for a treat. Below, I’ve made a list of four movies that I watched during my testing that showed off the G5’s potential to be one of the best TVs of 2025, and I also discuss how it handles sports.
The Batman
A regular reference disc I use for testing TVs, The Batman is a difficult movie for TVs to make look right. It was mastered at 400 nits (as opposed to the most common 1,000 nits for HDR) meaning it’s incredibly dim to start with. Not only that, but it’s a dark movie with a lot of low-light scenes that really test a TVs handling of black levels.
Thankfully, handling the challenges of The Batman was a riddle that the G5 solved easily. Played on 4K Blu-ray with the TV in Dolby Vision Filmmaker Mode, black levels were deep and accurate, and shadow detail was excellent. Intricate details in clothing, such as Batman’s symbol on his suit, were clearly displayed even in the darkest scenes.
Contrast was also superb, with a perfect balance between light and dark tones in high contrast shots, such as the opening crime scene. Here, light from lamps cut through the gloomy surroundings without sacrificing the accuracy of the dark tones. This movie really showed off just how nuanced the G5 is when handling moody tones.
Wicked
A new addition to the 4K Blu-ray collection here at TechRadar, Wicked is an extremely colorful movie. Greens, pinks and blues are prominent throughout, and I’ve found green in particular can be a challenge to display accurately, especially on budget TVs.
The G5’s color display was outstanding. Every color was not only vibrant with the right level of bright punch, but remained true-to-life in Dolby Vision Filmmaker Mode. The G5’s boosted brightness also came into play, and really added gloss to HDR highlights during Elphaba and Glinda’s first arrival into Emerald City.
The G5’s contrast paid dividends here as well, adding depth and giving everything a realistic, almost 3D-like effect without making things look artificial.
Oppenheimer
Much like The Batman, Oppenheimer is great for testing black levels and contrast. It’s also useful for its black-and-white scenes, which show how a TV can handle high contrast sequences while showing a range of gray tones in between.
The G5 displayed fantastic contrast in HDR Filmmaker Mode (the 4K Blu-ray does not have Dolby Vision). Not only were the blacks deep and highlights bright, but a full range of gray tones was exhibited. Shadow detail was also solid, maintaining details in clothing, including in a scene when Oppenheimer tours the University with Admiral Strauss, which is often subjected to black crush (meaning the finest differences in deep blacks get lost into one blocky color).
In the same sequence, the drawing room is a bright white. The detail of light shining through the windows can get lost here if TV aren’t able to tone map the brightness well, but the G5 delivers them perfectly.
Elemental
Elemental is another colorful entry on this list, but one with the more dazzling, bright hues that are typical for Disney animation.
The G5 demonstrated breath-taking colors during Elemental (once again in Dolby Vision Filmmaker Mode), particularly in scenes where Ember interacted with crystals or blew glass. The colors were as vivid as I’d hoped for, and HDR highlights were shimmering throughout – this really is a showpiece for the brightness backing the improved color range of the new panel.
Textures such as flowing water, fanning flames and the skin of wind and earth creatures were highly detailed. And they all had a realistic sense of depth, thanks once again to the G5’s brilliant contrast.
Sports
As I said earlier, a fullscreen brightness boost is one of the most exciting new elements of the G5 compared to its predecessor. This is extremely important when viewing sports, especially with something like football where a big vibrant green field and the crisp colors worn by the players are the key focal points.
Watching an HD stream of an Arsenal v Real Madrid match-up with HDR on Prime Video, I opted for Standard picture mode over Sports due to the latter’s oversaturated and gaudy colors. In Standard, the G5 expertly displayed the players and pitch, showing accurate texture and colors. Its 4K upscaling was also effective, ensuring that textures on screen were clear and detailed.
Crucially, the fullscreen brightness boost was there. That’s often a real weakness of the best OLED TVs, but the G5 had excellent fullscreen brightness, and even showed only minimal reflections from the overhead lights in our testing room, making them far less of a distraction.
As expected, motion handling was good, with no motion adjustments needing to be made, though the Natural or User Control motion settings (with de-blur and de-judder set to 3) helped show sports at their best.
You might also like
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/VBmE6Rv2MdhpHvJ3LBYasB.jpg
Source link
james.davidson@futurenet.com (James Davidson)
