LG OLED55C7V 50 Hz TV

Product Information

Comparing the OLED55C7V beside the OLED55B7 in my test room, I was able to reproduce the same processing quirks on both displays. But first, let’s start with the good.

OLED TVs such as the LG C7 range also deliver very wide viewing angles, which almost don’t suffer from any decrease in contrast and saturation off-axis. You can sit almost anywhere in the room and not have your picture fade out. We also recommend dropping the Contrast setting by a few points to release more detail in whites, then dialling Dynamic Contrast up to Medium to add an extra layer of punch. That's where the flaws end, though. The OLED55C7’s picture performance is ultimately and categorically defined by its strengths, not its flaws. Bean Bird doesn’t cover everything, though, and while the LG generally does a good job of selecting picture settings that suit whatever you’re watching, there are a number of options you can tweak to get the best out of it.The easiest way to achieve a more pristine picture is to switch to Cinema mode instead. As suggested by the name, this picture preset is designed to more faithfully reproduce the quality of movies screened in cinemas, but broadcast content including live sports will benefit from it too. Automatic Brightness Limiter is a necessary evil on self-emissive displays such as CRT, plasma and OLED to prevent the power surge demanded by high-APL (Average Picture Level) video frames from overloading the pixels and components. But the C7 also has the same problem as the B7. That problem is the Sony A1, which builds on the raw materials provided by LG (the Sony KD-55A1 uses an LG OLED panel) with software that makes it even punchier and insightful. In terms of HDR, the LG OLED55C7V – like the rest of the company’s 2017 OLEDs – supports the open-standard HDR10, broadcast standard HLG ( Hybrid Log-Gamma), proprietary Dolby Vision and fledging Technicolor formats. While the first three are available directly out of the box, the last will be added through a software update in the near future. The pixel pitch shows the distance from the centers of two neighboring pixels. In displays, which have a native resolution (the TFT ones, for example), the pixel pitch depends on the resolution and the size of the screen.

When it comes to motion performance, handling of 50Hz interlaced video (for example, the type of video used for Freeview or Freesat broadcasts) is still found wanting on the LG 55C7, and we noted rare but reproducible interlace artefacts such as combing in fast-action sports. For the best experience, it’s worthwhile sending a progressive video signal to the TV wherever possible. WebOS (now in its 3.5 iteration) remains one of the nicest, snappiest and most useable TV interfaces out there, with Samsung’s own interface being the only one to run it close.

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Very low input lag. When in game mode the input lag is a solid 21 ms regardless of input resolution. This should be good enough for all but the most competitive gamers. This input lag is lower than any of LG's 2016 OLEDs like the B6, and is competitive with some of the best TVs from last year like the KS8000.

The latest version of webOS built into the OLED55C7 only really delivers a couple of relatively minor enhancements over previous versions: support for ‘360’ VR clips navigated by waving LG’s magic remote control around; and the option to use the number buttons on the remote control to directly access favourite apps. But there’s no need to fix something that isn’t broken. The LG E7 sounds a bit better, and the Sony KD-55A1 sounds a whole lot better - but don't forget that we’d recommend partnering all of these TVs with a separate sound system, so the C7’s comparative deficiencies shouldn’t matter to those who heed our advice.

Like the B7, the LG C7 exhibited rare instances of combing artefacts when we watched 1080i/50Hz football from a Sky+HD box on the television. During certain passages of play at specific speeds, the ball or player would break up, which was fully reproducible once we rewound and replayed the footage. We verified that the artefacts didn’t originate from the source by also displaying the video (cleanly) on other TVs side by side, and went away once we sent a progressive signal from the source to the 55C7V. Bottom line is, always try to send a progressive video signal (720p, 1080p, 2160p) to the TV for watching sports in the UK and Europe. Coarser Gradation in Select HDR Scenes

Over the years this older model had some issues, and right around the 3rd or so of ownership is started to have some image burn-in in the red color spectrum. I was pretty sad about it. For instance, despite not having any visible speakers, the OLED55C7 supports Dolby Atmos. This only works with Atmos carried by Dolby Digital containers, though, not the Dolby True HD containers used on Blu-rays and Ultra HD Blu-rays (which greatly limits its usefulness) but it’s still of value for the hardcore audio enthusiasts among us. Even a small amount of de-judder and de-blur can occasionally add artefacts to fast, complex motion, and the best way to know what works for you is to experiment with the modes.

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