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00:00Hey guys, I'm TomoTechChap and I have been waiting for this for such a long time.
00:05A good 42 inch OLED TV.
00:08We were teased about it last year by LG Display but it never actually arrived and so the smallest
00:14C1 series was 48 inches which you may recall I attempted to use as a desk monitor but then
00:20fairly quickly switched back as I got eye strain and headaches.
00:24It was just too big and my desk was, well, too small.
00:28So here we are again but this time I actually have a bigger desk but more importantly this
00:32guy the smaller 42 inch C2 which I'm hoping might actually be good enough to replace my
00:3738 inch ultrawide monitor which I've been using for well over a year now.
00:42So this is the new setup with the 42 inch C2 nestled neatly between my Mac Studio and
00:47my desktop PC which I use a combination of.
00:50I go back and forth between them for my video editing and work and also gaming.
00:55Now first things first, this video is not sponsored by LG, I actually bought this TV
00:59myself for the fairly hefty price of £1400, that's the same in dollars, which is a lot
01:05of money.
01:06And the reason I think this could be a good work and gaming monitor replacement is the
01:11fact that it's slightly less ridiculously big than most other high end TVs at 42 inches
01:16but we're still getting that gorgeous 4K OLED HDR 10 bit 120Hz screen with HDMI 2.1,
01:23sub 1ms response times, G-Sync and FreeSync, pretty good built in speakers and almost as
01:29a bonus it's a TV and media hub.
01:32There are other options like Samsung's new 43 inch Q90B QLED which is probably its closest
01:38rival in terms of TVs and actually does cost the same at £1400 and then there's a range
01:43of big gaming focused monitors now and I'm particularly excited to test the upcoming
01:47ASUS ROG PG42UQ although I dread to think how expensive that thing's going to be.
01:53So certainly this is not the best solution for everyone and there are a couple of problems
01:57which I'll come back to in a second but you have to admit it does look quite good.
02:02Now compared to last year's C1 TVs there isn't a whole lot new here, well except for
02:06the fact that we have this new 42 inch size, most of the fancy OLED Evo tech and brighter
02:11screens are reserved for the 55 inch and bigger models.
02:15But we do still get some nice upgrades and I think the first thing you'll notice with
02:18this is the new dual foot stand.
02:21Now I don't think it's the best looking thing ever but it is stable and most importantly
02:25look at this.
02:26Compared to the C1 stand, which is shared by the 48 inch C2 as well, it only sticks
02:31out about half as much out the back which means if you are using this in a tight space
02:36like on your desk in your office or bedroom you can push it much further back and of course
02:40you can also wall mount it if you prefer.
02:43Also consider that while the peripherals, the keyboard and mice that I'm using here
02:46for both the PC and the Mac are all Bluetooth because I like to have a slightly cleaner
02:51cable-less setup, if you do have a wired keyboard, which you may do, especially if you are gaming
02:56and you want that mechanical instant response with zero latency, then because you haven't
03:00got the central stand like you do on all the other TVs, your cable can go straight underneath
03:06down the middle which is quite nice.
03:08The screen itself is almost identical to last year, albeit now in a smaller size, although
03:12I did notice it is a little bit more colour accurate out of the box and also there are
03:16some slight improvements to upscaling and brightness, but what is more obvious is the
03:20fact that menus, the UI, changing inputs all felt a lot snappier thanks to the new Alpha
03:25Gen 5 processor, even compared to last year's Gen 4 chip which powers the LG G1 that I still
03:30use in my lounge.
03:32That is a real improvement, although perhaps not exactly an essential upgrade.
03:37And to be honest with you, I think if it wasn't for this 42 inch size which is exclusive to
03:41the new C2 series, I would probably suggest going with last year's C1, whether it's the
03:4648 or 55 inch, not only because it's a good third cheaper, you can get the 48 inch for
03:51under a grand now, but also the fact that there isn't that much difference between the
03:56generations and this is quite a lot of money.
03:58However, what you can do is wait six months because later in the year, often around Black
04:03Friday in November, you'll see big discounts on these TVs which is actually something you
04:08don't really see with monitors.
04:10In fact, the LG Ultrawide, the 38WN95C which I have been using, still costs like £1400
04:16or £1500 on Amazon.
04:18It's barely in stock and it's barely gone down in price, whereas TVs go down in price
04:22a lot quicker.
04:23So if you can wait a few months, then this is probably going to be a much better value
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05:33Let's talk about gaming because this is where the TV really shines.
05:37With four full fat HDMI 2.1 ports on the back, you can hook up your PS5, your Series X or
05:43your desktop PC and it will then automatically switch to the low latency game optimizer mode,
05:48which turns off all the background processing stuff to give you the fastest response time
05:52possible, which LG says can be under one millisecond, which is pretty incredible and better than
05:57most monitors.
05:59Also, unlike most monitors, we get much better HDR support with TVs like this, not just the
06:04formats with Dolby Vision, HDR10 and HLG, but also the brightness.
06:09I've recorded a peak of over a thousand nits on a 25% window size on this TV.
06:15Eventually, HDR content settles around 800 nits or so with SDR topping out just over
06:20500 nits, which for an OLED is actually very impressive.
06:24Now these figures are with the OLED pixel brightness maxed out to a hundred up from
06:28the default 80, but mostly I keep this at about 85 or 90 so it doesn't strain my eyes
06:33or the OLED panel.
06:35And just like any good gaming monitor, we also get VRR in the forms of FreeSync Premium
06:40and G-Sync compatibility.
06:43Now this new multi-view option in the quick menu was a bit of a tease because I had thought
06:48that maybe I could have two HDMI inputs side by side in picture by picture mode, but sadly
06:52it seems it is only for one input plus a screen share or webcam, which is not as much fun.
06:57A proper KVM switch would have been good to see.
07:01This game optimizer menu does come in handy though.
07:03It tells you what FPS you're getting and will dynamically adjust in game, and it's also
07:07where you can check on all the gaming features and different gaming picture modes.
07:11It's a useful little tool.
07:13So the best experience with this is either with a console or a desktop PC via HDMI 2,
07:19well 2.1 specifically, because that way if it supports it, you can get full 4K 120 with
07:25all 10 bit and all HDR and all that good stuff as well.
07:28It is a bit of a different story when it comes to using a Mac.
07:31Because Apple's HDMI ports are 2.0, and also we don't have a USB-C Thunderbolt port on
07:36the TV, sadly we are limited to 4K 60.
07:40I must admit, I've spent hours trolling through forums trying to figure out if there's any
07:44way of getting 4K 120 out of my Mac, but right now it just doesn't seem possible, which is
07:49a bit disappointing as someone who regularly uses a MacBook Pro 16 and is used to that
07:54ProMotion and also on my desktop where I can get that full fat 4K 120.
07:58However, one thing that is a bit more of a problem is this auto-dimming.
08:03It seems to be a fairly common feature slash issue for OLEDs, particularly when you have
08:07a white or bright image on the screen for more than a few minutes, and actually even
08:11turning off all the OLED care safety features, it still happens.
08:15You can see the screen just starts to slowly dim down.
08:19But then once I switch tabs or use the remote, essentially wake it back up, it goes back
08:23to full brightness.
08:25Now my understanding is that this is to prevent overheating, OLEDs aren't really designed
08:29for long periods of displaying bright white images.
08:33And it can be fixed, sort of, there is a workaround, well, simply by lowering the OLED pixel brightness
08:38to under 50, then I didn't really notice it as much, or indeed just use more dark backgrounds
08:43and night modes where possible.
08:45But I did also notice switching between apps or tabs, say within Chrome, can also shift
08:49the brightness by around 20-25 nits.
08:52And so sometimes you just get these little noticeable changes in brightness.
08:56The good news though is that it's not an issue for gaming, for watching movies, or general
08:59TV use.
09:00And I wouldn't say it's a deal breaker as a monitor, but it is a downside worth bearing
09:05in mind of using an OLED for office work.
09:09Now going back to burn-in for a moment, because this may be a concern for you if you're going
09:13to use this as a desktop.
09:15To be honest, I don't think you have anything really to worry about as long as you're sensible
09:19and you do use some of these OLED care settings which are on by default.
09:23Although I would recommend keeping logo brightness adjust on low, also auto power off set to
09:282 hours, keep the screen move option on as well as this just shifts the pixels a tiny
09:32bit every 10 minutes or so, and maybe keep the pixel brightness to 80 or 90 rather than
09:37100.
09:39Speaking of settings though, you have a whole range of different picture modes to choose
09:42from with even more HDR specific modes as well, but I mostly use ISF bright when I'm
09:48working on just the desktop, although I did drop the colour temperature from warm 50 down
09:52to warm 5, and then also I use game optimizer when I'm gaming or have a console hooked up.
09:57But for desktop use, you are going to want to make sure that most settings and processing
10:01options are all turned off, like true motion.
10:04It's worth having a fiddle with the picture settings, but generally you're going to want
10:07everything off.
10:09So far this seems to be a much better experience than last year when I tried this with the
10:13big 48 inch screen.
10:14And the reason as I say I didn't want to stick with that is because I genuinely did get headaches.
10:19Obviously pushing it further back, wall mounting would have helped, but I do think this smaller
10:2342 inch size will make all the difference.
10:25And on the whole, I am really impressed with this setup.
10:28Although the auto dimming, that 4K 60 limit on Mac and also quite high price are definitely
10:34drawbacks.
10:35And also unlike a lot of monitors with matte screens, this is glossy, so be aware of any
10:39bright light sources behind you.
10:41But the size, the quality of this OLED screen, all the gaming features together with impressive
10:47brightness and color accuracy for my video and photo editing, it really is stunning.
10:52And I think more than ever, a genuine alternative to a regular big monitor.
10:57And I've barely even mentioned the fact that this is a TV and media hub as well.
11:01I mean, I recently reviewed Samsung's M8 smart monitor and the whole idea with that is that
11:06you have some TV media hub features built into the monitor.
11:10Whereas this is coming from the other direction.
11:12But what do you reckon?
11:13Could you see this on your desk at home or is it still just too big?
11:17Let me know what you make of it in the comments below.
11:19And also, would you go for an OLED or a QLED desktop replacement monitor?
11:24Also, if you have any questions or things you'd like me to test in the sort of longer
11:27term, let me know and I will come back in a couple of months to revisit this and tell
11:31you what I think.
11:32Thank you so much for watching guys.
11:33Don't forget to hit that like and subscribe button if you enjoyed the video and I will
11:36catch you next time right here on the Tech Chat.
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