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The LG C6 is an excellent midrange TV, but it has tough competition from rival OLEDs and new RGB LED sets.
Ryan Waniata/Business Insider
LG’s C-Series OLEDs have long been the poster child for high-value TV performance. But in an age of increasingly innovative display tech, is more of the same really enough? This year’s C6 OLED puts that question to the test. Available in 42- to 65-inch sizes , the C6 offers a marginal upgrade over last year’s C5, with a modest but welcome bump in brightness and processing.
That’s not a bad thing, since the C5 was already so impressive, but with even brighter OLEDs on the market and new RGB LED tech making a splash, it’s getting harder for the midrange C-Series to really stand out. In that sense, it’s tempting to direct those who value meaningful innovation to step up to the bigger, brighter C6H (sold in 77- and 83-inch sizes), or to a pricier premium OLED like the LG G6 or Samsung S95H , all of which offer more expansive color to better handle next-gen content.
But ultimately, none of this detracts from the C6’s price-to-performance ratio. For the money, this TV is still a whopper of visual brilliance, capable of striking awe and raising your everyday viewing experience, especially for OLED newcomers. The C6’s biggest drawback is actually its smart system, from some uneven streaming over my test period to increased concerns about LG’s data collection. That all leads to the $64,000 question: Is the LG C6 still the midlevel OLED TV to beat? Let’s break it down.
The design offers equal parts style and substance
The C6’s slim panel and handsome pedestal stand give the display a premium look.
Ryan Waniata/Business Insider
The C6 is available in 42- , 48- , 55- , and 65-inch screen sizes. LG also has 77- and 83-inch editions, but they’re branded under a new submodel called the C6H and use a more advanced, brighter OLED panel. This review only applies to the standard C6. For details on the C6H, read our full LG C6H TV review .
The C6’s design isn’t much of an update over previous iterations, looking almost exactly like last year’s C5. That’s one area of stagnation I won’t complain much about, as the C-Series remains among the prettiest and best-designed TVs in the mid- to premium tiers. Thin, chrome-capped bezels frame a stylishly slim panel that measures just a quarter-inch deep at its thinnest point.
As with previous models, however, the C6’s lower-back section sticks out from the panel, pushing the depth of my 65-inch review model to 1.8 inches. This prevents the TV from mounting completely flush with a wall. If you want a more seamless look, you’ll need to step up to the pricier G6, which has a uniform profile and no-gap mount.
For those using a media console, the TV’s stylish, compact pedestal measures just nine inches deep for an easy fit on most stands. The fin-shaped base requires more assembly time than Samsung’s rival S90H , but it’s also more stable, and even the ultra-thin display feels relatively stout.
LG’s remote works well enough, but we don’t like that it’s missing dedicated keys for input and mute.
Ryan Waniata/Business Insider
I’m less pleased with LG’s latest remote, which trades a dedicated input button for an AI/input hub and removes the mute key altogether, forcing you to hold down the volume to mute. I still mostly appreciate the remote’s “magic” pointable cursor, which makes things like adding a password easier, even if it sometimes gets in the way.
Behind the TV’s left side is a formidable collection of inputs, highlighted by four HDMI 2.1 ports that support a Variable Refresh Rate up to 165Hz for PC gaming. Other gaming extras include Nvidia’s G-Sync and AMD’s FreeSync Premium support, as well as ALLM (Auto Low Latency Mode) for snappy response. HDMI eARC makes it easy to get the most from a soundbar or other audio system, which is important given the TV’s thin design, which leaves little room for onboard audio quality.
Other notable features include LG standbys like Dolby Vision HDR support, the most prevalent of the advanced HDR formats (and something Samsung TVs lack), and innovative options like Auracast broadcasting for latency-free Bluetooth streaming to supported devices. I’m still disappointed by LG’s lack of ATSC 3.0 support for antennas, which omits NextGen broadcast features like HDR video, and by its lack of DTS audio support, even as LG’s own Sound Suite H7 soundbar added it.
The TV’s pixel-level contrast is stunning, but its color range can’t match newer display tech
The C6 offers excellent image quality across the board, even if some elements lag behind pricier OLEDs and new RGB displays.
Ryan Waniata/Business Insider
After recently testing an art-style TV , which offered the typically poor contrast and flat colors those types of displays are known for, moving to LG’s C6 OLED was like a salve for my cinephile soul. After swapping the default Auto Low Power picture mode for the more accurate Filmmaker mode, I was treated to ruby-rich colors, inky black levels, and surprisingly peppy brightness.
Using a Portrait Displays C6 HDR5000 colorimeter, a G1 pattern generator, and Calman software, I measured the TV’s peak brightness at 1,350 nits in Filmmaker, a solid 200 nits more than last year’s C5 . That proved plenty bright for most scenarios; my wife even found it too bright at times in lower lighting. I had no issues there, apart from some spicier app menus, and the TV proved impressively accurate across my catalog. I even raised the brightness by switching to Cinema Home mode for sports like “Thursday Night Football” on Amazon Prime. I did turn down the OLED Pixel Brightness setting a few points for basic SDR broadcasts, as it’s set surprisingly high by default in Filmmaker mode at 80 out of 100.
Just as impressive as the C6’s brightness is its incredible shadow delineation, which reveals detail in even the gloomiest scenes without artificially raising black levels. The only time I had trouble seeing dim content, like the torturous hilltop scene in “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2,” was in a sunlit room, where the C6’s glossy screen and midlevel reflection handling can’t keep up with the matte anti-glare tech used by Samsung’s rival S90H. This is also where LG’s G-Series holds an advantage, offering better anti-reflectivity than the C6 while still preserving its glossy screen for rich black levels.
The C6 maintains its picture well from an angle, with no noticeable loss in quality.
Ryan Waniata/Business Insider
LG’s image processing has continued to improve, and this is the best I’ve seen it in a C-Series TV to date. That leads to great upscaling for low-quality content, and incredible clarity for 4K video, sometimes revealing details I missed in multiple previous views, like the subtle leather creases in Star-Lord’s coat in “Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2 . ” Like all OLEDs, the C6’s off-axis viewing is also excellent, a coup over even the fanciest Mini LED and RGB displays. As a result of normal production variances, some units may exhibit a slight green tint when viewed at an angle, but my review unit was free of this issue.
The TV’s color accuracy is another highlight, including for gaming, where the default Game Optimizer picture mode gives titles like “Red Dead Redemption 2” a natural look without oversaturation. That isn’t surprising given the TV’s pedigree and my measurements that hit around 98% of the most common DCI-P3 color gamut. However, the TV measured over 20 points lower when evaluating the more advanced BT.2020 spectrum. That won’t matter for most current content, but it could give folks a reason to jump to the more capable G6 or even an RGB LED TV, which are better primed to support future content that uses a wider color range.
The TV’s few other performance drawbacks include some image stuttering during hard camera pans and minor screen uniformity issues (banding) in tough greyscale test scenes, but nothing noticeable in regular viewing. Otherwise, there’s not much to complain about in a mostly flawless picture.
The C6’s webOS smarts can be pretty dumb
You can adjust advertisement and data collection settings in the TV’s menu.
Ryan Waniata/Business Insider
LG’s latest webOS 26 smart interface is the C6’s biggest weakness. It’s speedy and responsive, and offers some cool features like customized widgets and limited free access to LG’s Gallery+ art collection, but streaming performance was uneven for me.
Over three weeks with the TV, I had to power-cycle it multiple times when it froze while loading apps like Disney Plus and Hulu. However, these hiccups may be tied to specific network types since we didn’t encounter any major crashes while testing the similar C6H at a different location. That said, I didn’t have those issues with LG’s RGB Micro TV , and the vast majority of TVs I test work fine on my network.
The bigger elephant in the room is a recent video from Gamers Nexus questioning LG’s smart TV privacy practices, data sharing, and audio recording methods. This article from Ecoustics offers a great recap and analysis of this report with important context. For its part, LG issued a statement strongly denying any allegations that its TVs continuously record or transmit audio.
Ultimately, whether you purchase a TV from LG or any other brand, all smart TVs collect some form of user data. If that’s a primary concern, the only way to be truly safe is to turn off smart features altogether and use your TV without an internet connection. However, if you’re not on board with losing smart features, there are a few settings you can adjust to minimize the amount of data you share.
For instance, I always recommend turning off any viewing data collectors, such as ACR (Automatic Content Recognition), which LG also calls Live Plus, during the initial TV setup or in the Advanced System Settings menu afterward. I also recommend disabling any voice recognition or smart assistant support and hands-free microphones, and ensuring you only agree to necessary licensing and privacy agreements.
And one thing I actually do like about webOS is that you can turn off most ads and customize the home screen for minimal intrusiveness, something many other smart TVs don’t offer.
Alternatively, you could keep your TV offline and use a separate streaming device from Roku, Google, Apple, or Amazon. But, again, these streaming devices all have their own data collection and voice recognition methods, so those concerned with privacy will still have to deactivate certain functions and opt out of certain policies.
LG C6 vs. LG C6H
A 65-inch C6 OLED (left) next to a 77-inch C6H OLED (right).
Steven Cohen/Business Insider
As mentioned earlier, LG also has a new submodel in the C-Series, called the C6H. The C6H is only available in 77- and 83-inch sizes , while the standard C6 is available in 42-, 48-, 55-, and 65-inch sizes.
Other than size, the main difference between the C6 and C6H is the type of OLED panel they use. With one exception, the C6 uses a standard WOLED screen, while the C6H uses a four-stack primary RGB tandem OLED screen, allowing it to reach higher brightness and a slightly wider color range. However, since brands seemingly can’t help but overcomplicate their product lines, the 48-inch C6 also reportedly uses a four-stack panel, but its brightness remains in line with other C6 sizes rather than the C6H.
It’s a bit confusing, but the takeaway is that the C6H delivers a noticeably punchier HDR image than the C6. While testing the 77-inch C6H, our team measured a peak of around 2,000 nits. Otherwise, the C6 and C6H offer the same basic design and features.
Should you buy the LG C6?
Ryan Waniata/Business Insider
LG’s C6 OLED is an impressive midrange TV, but it’s lost some of its luster amid ever-growing competition, and even setting aside privacy concerns, my sometimes-dodgy streaming experience didn’t help. As good as the C6’s picture is, it’s worth considering other top models for your money.
The Samsung S90H OLED is the obvious alternative. It’s our pick for the best TV of the year for its blend of strong value and balanced performance in any room. Samsung’s smart interface has its own struggles, but I had far fewer streaming issues while testing the S90H. And speaking of streaming, Roku just launched two new price-conscious OLEDs that marry pixel-level contrast with the company’s user-friendly RokuOS software. While we haven’t tested the LX model yet, its specs point toward it offering an enticing alternative to the C6.
If you’re not set on OLED, you could save some money with a Mini LED TV, like the striking TCL QM8L , which offers higher brightness and impressive overall performance thanks to its local-dimming backlight. That said, even if its Google TV smart system is more reliable than webOS, the QM8L can’t match OLED’s black levels or near-perfect viewing angles.
The C6 is still a serious value for anyone after a top-tier viewing experience, while the larger C6H is an attractive upgrade if you want to go bigger in more ways than one. If LG’s webOS interface isn’t a concern, or you simply plan to turn off the TV’s network functions and use your own streaming device , the C6 remains an excellent option for midrange OLED shoppers.
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