OLED TV Reviews

LG 55EC9300 3D OLED HDTV Test Bench

Test Bench

The measurements given here were made using CalMAN measurement software from SpectraCal, together with Photo Research PR-650 and Klein K-10A color meters and the VideoForge pattern generator from AVFoundry.

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Full-On/Full-Off Contrast Ratio: Infinite The measurements here were taken in 2D only. They were performed in the Cinema (User) Picture Mode unless noted otherwise. With the Contrast and OLED Light controls set to produce a peak white level of about 35 ft-L and the Brightness control set to 54, the black level was so low as to be unmeasurable with any test tools available to us. This resulted in an effectively infinite full-on/full-off contrast ratio. But as with the LG 55EA9800 OLED we reviewed last spring, the Brightness control setting was critical to this result. On some material, with the Brightness control at 55 or 56 (which test discs suggested was the optimum setting), the center of a full black screen would noticeably lighten. I chose a brightness setting of 54 for this measurement because it not only allowed the display to perform at its best but, most importantly, looked fine at the same time on most source material. Other samples may differ slightly from the settings used here.

In the Sports Picture Mode in its default settings, the peak white level was 99.2 ft-L, the highest reading I obtained from the set.

At a 35 ft-L peak white level, the color Delta E, before calibration in the Warm2 Color Temperature setting, averaged 3.55 (maximum 5.98 at 100%, minimum 1.33 at 30%). After calibration, the Delta E averaged 0.94 (maximum 1.57 at 100%, minimum 0.12 at 90%, 1.33 at 30%). (Delta E is a figure of merit that indicates how close the result is to the BT. 709 HD standard, otherwise known as Rec. 709. A Delta E below 3 is generally considered excellent and visually indistinguishable from perfect.)

The 2D color gamut (not shown) was very good even without employing the color management system. Before calibration, it averaged 3.52 for all primary and secondary colors. After, it averaged 0.89.

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At a 2.4 setting of the Gamma control, the gamma averaged 2.24, with a minimum value of 2.13 at 80% brightness and a maximum of 2.34 at 30%. This setting worked for me on most sources, but on some material, 2.2 worked better.—TJN

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COMMENTS
Tiberius's picture
Submitted by Tiberius on November 22, 2014 - 12:16pm

As someone said at CNET when they reviewed this TV " 4K is just putting new tires on an old car. OLED is a whole new car. After owning 2 plasmas LED may be brighter but hardly the same picture quality. OLED solves the brightness problem and has an even better picture. Let's hope it sticks around.

brit.buresh's picture
Submitted by brit.buresh on December 15, 2014 - 8:37pm

I have this TV on my showroom and let me say the picture is wonderful. The contrast is simply amazing. My only issue really is LG did not make the TV VESA compliant for wall mounting. You have to buy there fixed mount for the TV Which has swayed several customers away from buying. I also feel the TV has a very soft picture and almost seems just ever so slightly out of focus sometimes. Thats a personal prefference i believe tho. I have sold TV's and Home Theater for 15 years now and this TV is by far the Best picture ever! I am also predicting LG to takeover as the #1 TV brand because of OLED and samsung will have to take the backseat for now.

jjanosik's picture
Submitted by jjanosik on January 13, 2015 - 4:40pm

Thomas thank you for great reviews on both TVs. I want to ask you for your opinion on the matter of buying a new TV in upcoming months...

I have to buy TV this year because I don't have one (I'm still living with my parents) so I can't wait for 4k OLEDs to come down to a reasonable price (maybe late 2016?).

But I can't really decide whether these perfect blacks and contrast are more important for 'immersion' than more inches of diagonal.... I'm thinking about something like 65" HU7500 samsung... I know its blacks are worse then OLED, but I don't think they are really bad or something are they? Because I have a feeling that 55 inches is not that large (my viewing distance will be about 2.8m) and I don't know whether these super blacks will compensate enough for that smaller diagonal. This cannot be decided in a shop, because there is bright environment so I just have to believe others who have more experience with these sets.

What is your opinion, is the OLED that much better experience that it is OK to sacrifice quite significantly larger picture frame for that? I want this TV to last 5+ years (so maybe 4k ready for HFR can be usefull?)...

Thank you very much in advance.

Laura's picture
Submitted by Laura on June 7, 2015 - 10:32am

I have read articles reviewing the LG 55EC9300 and I've visited several showrooms to view this TV. The picture really stands out...blacks are amazing...colors are stunning. The price has been lowered to $2999.99 among competitors, making this beautiful set more appealing. I'm very excited about the OLED technology. However, yesterday I realized it's not quite ready. I observed the dreaded burn-in on a display model. I could clearly read the word "SETUP" burned-in to the display in a band across the lower portion of the screen.

I bought a different brand of 4K UHDTV.

Your reviews and are extremely helpful. I also appreciate your "HOW TO" section. Thank you.

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