LG’s E9 sequence of OLED good TVs—we evaluate the 65-inch mannequin OLED65E9PUA right here—is a narrative of incremental enhancements. When you’re arguably already the most effective, that’s often all that’s required. In this case we’re speaking about 90 nits of extra peak brightness, and comparatively modest tweaks to the processing and person interface. Earthshaking modifications they’re not, however LG’s top-of-the-line OLED TVs have been already nice.
Design and options
The E9 makes use of the identical fundamental design as final yr’s mannequin, that includes a glass entrance bezel that extends past the display screen to relaxation on no matter floor you set the TV on. Assuming you don’t wall mount it utilizing the 300mm x 200mm VESA mount level, that’s. A big counterweight attaches the underside of the TV and holds it upright with a slight backwards rake.
The 65-inch E9 I examined measures 57 inches large, 34.5 inches excessive, and a pair of inches deep, not counting the roughly 30-pound counterweight. Total weight is 70 kilos, however you’re solely hefting 44 kilos to get the TV upright. MSRP for the 65-incher is $4,300, and a 55-inch mannequin is obtainable for $3,300.
I/O ports contains 4 HDMI, three of that are side-facing (with ARC and eARC supported on HDMI 2); three USB 2.0 ports (one facet dealing with); a coax connector; composite AV; ethernet; a 3.5mm jack for RS-232C management; and an optical S/PDIF output.
The E9’s facet ports are hidden below a detachable panel cowl to the fitting of the rear-facing ports. You gained’t see the seams even if you happen to click on and enlarge. It’s there, belief me.
Wireless communications are through 802.11ac Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 5.0. The E9 has Google Assistant onboard, and Alexa is coming through a firmware improve. Dolby Vision, HDR10, and HLG excessive dynamic vary are supported, however HDR10+ just isn’t. Most materials is broadcast in a number of codecs, so the shortage of the latter just isn’t an obstacle.
There’s assist for Dolby Atmos and DTS-HD, plus WiSA (Wireless Stereo Audio) streaming, though the latter requires an elective dongle. That will set you again round $80.
Improvements for 2019
While LG’s E8 sequence generated roughly 700 nits of peak brightness, I measured 790 nits from the E9. That means it may well do a bit higher by way of total element in addition to making HDR pop a bit extra. To the attention, the distinction is hardly drastic.
LG has added HDR and SDR Technicolor Expert Modes for calibration junkies and professionals, and the corporate is now doubling down with two passes by the de-banding algorithm. An improved automated tone-mapping algorithm has additionally been added, and the lag in gaming mode has been lowered.
Remote and interface
It’s not excessive vogue, however LG’s common Magic Remote is certainly one of my two favorites; the opposite being Samsung’s One Remote. I discover the Magic Remote’s means to maneuver a cursor concerning the display screen freely—as you’ll with a mouse—to be a time saver. An excellent analogy for it’s utilizing a PC or Mac with a mouse and keyboard, versus only a keyboard.
LGThough it seems to be regular sufficient, LG’s Magic Remote controls a free-moving cursor, so you possibly can bounce concerning the interface as if you happen to have been utilizing a mouse. It delivers an enormous uptick in ease of use. Huge.
The fast settings menu that pops up while you press the settings button has been moved to the left-hand facet of the display screen, the place the deep settings menu already resided. That may sound like a trivial change, but it surely means your eye is already centered the place it must be while you go to tweak the settings.
Performance
The E9 is a glass bezel OLED, which suggests it has the most effective blacks and display screen conformity within the enterprise. Put alongside, final yr’s E8, you’d be hard-pressed to inform the distinction in efficiency with the bare eye. I actually was.
The shade is wealthy, saturated, and largely correct. The use of a white sub-pixel will skew the colour a bit in very vivid areas, but it surely’s not one thing you’ll discover with out instrumentation. OLEDs, being self-emitters that may be turned off individually, endure no LCD backlight leakage. That means wonderful distinction and blacks—the keys to OLED’s enchantment.
LGI’m undecided why LG thinks this picture exhibits off the E9’s wonderful image high quality, however that is what they offered. The picture is all blues and darkish browns, with white wave caps to little question exhibit the E9’s elevated brightness.
Motion might be as easy as you would like, relying on which TruMotion setting you choose. There is a slight lag earlier than it kicks in on quick pans, however that’s one thing shared by all TVs. Sadly. It’s not often a problem and solely actually noticeable with video designed to disclose the phenomenon.
The solely actual annoyances with the E9 have been a little bit of moiré in some advanced particulars in movement (flying filth), and that solely sometimes. Very massive darkish areas will flatten out into what seems to be all black, dropping refined variations. The latter defect is ever so barely much less noticeable than with the E8 as a result of better peak brightness.
The sound emanating from the E9 is much above common. So far above, you’re unlikely to really feel the necessity for a soundbar. The emanations aren’t fairly nearly as good as what you’ll hear from a Sony OLED, however they’re darn shut. It’s a special story if you happen to’re a surround-o-phile. While you possibly can apply Dolby Atmos to regular materials utilizing the E9’s inner 4.2 system to generate a nice quasi-surround impact, it’s not like having separate audio system in separate areas.
Streaming to the E9 from my QNAP TS-253B NAS field was additionally fairly facile. The E9’s inner engine handles 4K UHD information simply tremendous, although I needed to play these from a neighborhood USB drive for an interruption-free expertise.
Quite doubtless the TV you need
The E9 is a good TV, and reality be identified, nearly everybody who seen it right here at IDG singled it out because the decide of the litter. Let’s simply say, that if you happen to’re trying to purchase the most effective OLED available on the market, the E9 is it.
That stated, if you happen to discover an important deal on LG’s E8 sequence, they usually have been nonetheless accessible on the time of this writing, you’re not giving up an entire lot. Additionally, you get largely the identical expertise, sans glass, with the considerably cheaper C9 sequence.