LG OLED48C14LB 48 inch 4K UHD HDR Smart OLED TV (2021 Model) with Advanced α9 Gen4 AI processor, 4K SELF-LIT OLED, Dolby Vision IQ and Dolby Atmos, built-in Google Assistant and Alexa, Black

Product Information

One of the great reasons to buy an LG TV is that it comes with almost every feature available. In fact, pretty much the only compromise you have to make is that it doesn’t support Samsung’s HDR10+ standard. But, what with Dolby Vision still being the market leader in the dynamic HDR space, we don’t see that as much of a problem. There’s also Dolby Vision IQ, which you enable by turning on LG’s AI Brightness Setting while watching Dolby Vision content. This adjusts your screen’s output according to the ambient light in the room. Before doing any critical listening to the CX (or its 2020 siblings) it’s worth dipping into the AI Service menu and performing the AI Acoustic Tuning, which involves the TV outputting an audio signal that’s recorded by the remote control and then analysed by the TV so that its sound profile can be adjusted to your room. In our testing, this reduces treble brightness and produces an overall smoother, more dynamic and more direct sound. The Alpha 9 Gen 4 does a decent job of upscaling a film that can come across as quite noisy. The filters take care of the worst of that while leaving some impressive skin details in the close-ups. Tom Cruise’s battle-hardened Reacher is complete with pits and scars and everything you’d expect.

We would recommend that either TV be partnered by a good soundbar at the very least. The Sonos Arc would be an excellent choice here, but the Sonos Beam will also work well if you'd prefer something smaller and more affordable. Verdict Disney+ subscription required. Subject to terms at http://www.disnetplus.com ⓒ 2020 Disney and its related entities. These include eARC (Enhanced Audio Return Channel), ALLM (Auto Low Latency Mode) and VRR (Variable Refresh Rate). Those last two are specifically for gamers, with ALLM ensuring the TV’s low-lag Game mode is automatically selected when a compatible console is connected, and VRR dynamically matching the TV’s refresh rate to the frame rate being output by a console. Display Colour Gamut Volume (CGV) is equivalent or exceeds the CGV of the DCI-P3 colour space as verified independently by Intertek. The best solution is, of course, to buy a soundbar or dedicated home cinema system. But you knew that, right? Verdict

It’s possible to get a more consistently impactful feel if you switch off the Dolby Atmos processing, and some more volume too, but the bass isn’t handled brilliantly and tends to muddy those clear waters that LG has worked hard to make pond weed-free this year. As is the norm for LG’s OLEDs, the 2020 range consists of a number of models, with all except the B-series (this year, that’s the BX) having the same panel and processing tech. The only differences are the styling and the sound system. That means this 48in TV gives you the full 4K flagship experience at a smaller size. It’s expensive for a TV this size, but if you’re looking for the best sub-50in TV you can currently buy, this is it.

is just pixel resolution, and yes beyond a certain viewing distance a smaller screen may not yield much improvement here over HD. But HDR and dynamic metadata (which are common in 4K formats like DV etc) mean smaller sized 4k screens still produce a picture with a deeper and more realistic contrast ratio than a similarly sized HD screen. You could argue in fact that a smaller screen’s increased pixel density gives it the advantage here over biggerTVs. Of far less value than Dolby Vision IQ is Filmmaker Mode, another new feature added to LG’s 2020 OLEDs. This is a UHD Alliance-approved picture preset that’s supposed to deliver the picture precisely as intended, but isn’t metadata-led or tailored to the specific content being played. In fact, here it’s just a blanket set of picture settings that’s practically identical to those of the Cinema preset, and the result is a soft and insipid picture. It’s like an anti-HDR setting, and we’d avoid it. I was very surprised and disappointed to read that this TV does not support the standard suite of catch-up apps. As far as I'm concerned this would be a show stopper. I cannot comprehend any manufacturer these days, introducing a new model without this facility. The review made no mention of any intention by LG to correct this error via a future software update.

In terms of energy efficiency, this television belongs to energy efficiency class G for both SDR (Standard Dynamic Range) and HDR (High Dynamic Range) content. It consumes approximately 88 kWh of energy per 1000 hours when displaying SDR content and 142 kWh per 1000 hours for HDR content. When in standby mode, the TV's power consumption is a minimal 0.5 W. We noted in our review of the OLED65GX that LG has made big gains this year in terms of motion processing, and that’s reinforced by the 48CX. Motion is handled well – vastly better than it was by last year’s LG OLEDs – but Sony still has the upper hand here, as a comparison with the KD-55A8 proves. Comparison based on internal LG testing of LG OLED TV Full White measurements, excluding the OLED evo series. Brightness Booster improvements do not apply to 48/42C2.

Cinema HDR, Dolby Vision IQ, Filmmaker Mode, High Dynamic Range 10 Pro (HDR10 Pro), Hybrid Log-Gamma (HLG) I then tried a Sony 55” A8 in-store with all motion processing off and motion was rougher with panning shots but more natural overall. This suggests LG in their wisdom don’t let you defeat as much motion processing as Sony and What Hi Fi do give Sony the edge here. The effect for me was so bad with the LG I was ‘seeing’ the acting, the magic had gone. YMMV LG’s 2020 OLEDs support the new Dolby Vision IQ format, though, which tailors the Dolby Vision performance to the ambient light in the room. It’s not as transformative a feature as Dolby would have you believe but, while we were initially underwhelmed when testing the LG GX, we can now see the benefits of Dolby Vision IQ in terms of some extra detail in dark scenes when there’s a fair bit of light in the room. On the HDR front, LG continues to support HDR10, HLG and Dolby Vision, but not HDR10+. HDR10+ continues to struggle to make headway, so the fact that it’s missing is no big deal, but it is worth pointing out that OLEDs from Panasonic and Philips do support both Dolby Vision and HDR10+. Hello, l have a LG OLED48A TV And a MEE box to use Wireless headphones, as l am hard of hearing. Can l adjust the speaker and headphone sounds on the TV as l can hear both sounds on my headphones.That’s all controlled by the brains of the TV, the latest incarnation of LG's Alpha 9 processor, the quad-core Alpha 9 Gen 4. With this new birth comes a few picture and sound upgrades. Object Enhancement is now sophisticated enough to recognise whole bodies as well as faces, animals, cars and other things. Sound can now be upmixed to an Atmos-virtualised 5.1.2.