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The LG Signature G6 4K OLED TV with Dolby Vision is destined to set a new benchmark for 4K HDR TVs

By Ng Chong Seng - 7 Apr 2016

The LG Signature G6 4K OLED TV with Dolby Vision is destined to set a new benchmark for 4K HDR TVs

After Sony in March, LG has now officially announced its 4K TV plans for the Singapore market. Let's start with its OLED offerings. (You can read about LG's 'Super UHD' LCD TVs here.)

Leading the charge this year is the LG Signature OLED TV. We’ve covered it during CES in January (here and here), but to recap, one big reason why this G6 series (available in 65 and 77-inch screen sizes) is part of LG’s new Signature label is its striking design.

To achieve an impossibly thin profile, the G6 uses a Picture-On-Glass treatment, whereby its ultra-thin 2.57mm OLED panel is applied directly onto a translucent glass back. When mounted on an equally striking looking 60 or 80W, 4.2-channel soundbar/base developed by Harman Kardon, the Signature G6 is truly a sight to behold. Impressively too is that this front-firing integrated soundbar folds up neatly when the TV is wall-mounted, though in this position, the sound now gets delivered from the bottom.

It goes without saying that the flagship G6 is choked full of high-end specs and features. A sharp 3,840 x 2,160-pixel OLED panel aside (and it’s flat!), it supports high dynamic range, which means its already gorgeous pictures will deliver even richer color and contrast. For techies, the G6 sports a 10-bit panel, supports 10-bit processing, and is able to hit a peak brightness of 600 nits. And yes, it fully supports the new Ultra HD Premium spec, which includes HDR 10, a base layer HDR format that all 4K HDR TVs, 4K HDR streaming services, and 4K HDR Blu-rays support.

If that isn’t enough, the Signature G6 is also one of a handful of 4K TVs to support Dolby Vision, a competing HDR flavor from Dolby. In fact, all 2016 LG OLED 4K TVs and ‘Super UHD’ LCD TVs support both HDR 10 and Dolby Vision. An end-to-end solution, Dolby Vision works from content creation to distribution, and Dolby is aiming to make it a universal playback solution. Dolby Vision has already received support from most major Hollywood studios, including Warner Bros., Sony Pictures, Universal Pictures, and MGM, all of whom have already announced their commitment to deliver Dolby Vision content for home distribution. In terms of future-proofing, it’s certainly great to see that LG’s OLED TVs support Dolby Vision out of the box, because unlike Samsung’s SUHD models, LG’s TVs don’t house the processing chips in an easily swappable breakout box.

Note, I've brightened this photo a bit so that you can see the frame of the TV. In a controlled, dimmed viewing environment, the effect is scaringly realistic, thanks to OLED's super-deep blacks.

 

Performance-wise, I’ll reserve my final judgement until I’m able to haul a retail unit into the lab and test it, but initial impressions are very, very positive. The on-screen menus seem to have been tweaked, and now sport a darker and more professional look. WebOS 3.0 is now the backbone of LG’s smart TV platform, and the speed improvement when navigation between menus was the first thing I noticed.

Of course, not everyone has the moola for the 65-inch G6 OLED TV, which costs S$12,999 for the 65-inch model and S$41,999 S$36,888 for the 77-inch model. That’s why LG is also releasing the E6 and C6 series. Like the G6, both do 10-bit processing, cover 99% of DCI-P3 color space, meet the UHD Premium spec, fully support both HDR 10 and Dolby Vision, and run WebOS 3.0. The E6 and C6 come with lower-power 40W, 2.2-channel (E6) or 4.0-channel (C6) speaker system though. Design-wise, the E6 bears some resemblance to the G6, due to its Picture-On-Glass design and integrated soundbar. Comparatively, the C6’s finishing is slightly less premium; interestingly too, it’s the only curved 4K TV here. LG also has a flat B6 series at the lowest end, but that’s not part of today’s launch.

The C6 (left) is a curved 4K OLED TV, while the E6 (right) is flat.

Wherever you stand, the blacks on these OLED screens look so, so, so, dark.

The 55 and 65-inch E6 and C6, and the 65-inch Signature G6 are set to hit stores in Q2 this year, whereas the 77-inch G6 will arrive later in Q3 (likely in limited quantity, too). Here’s the spec sheet of these OLED TVs, including pricing, courtesy of LG Electronics:

(Accurate as of Apr 2016.)

Update, Nov 4, 9 PM: Amended price of the 77-inch G6 OLED. The initial price announced during its April launch was S$41,999. With the TV finally arriving in stores, LG has finalized the retail price to be S$36,888.

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