Pros
- Natural-looking SDR and HDR images
- Excellent for gaming
- Small size
- Wide selection of apps
- Currently cheaper than other 42-inch OLEDs
Cons
- Rivals arguably offer upgraded picture quality
- Doesn’t comfortably accommodate a soundbar
Modern TVs are ladled with helpful gaming features such as auto low latency mode, variable refresh rates and 4K/120Hz, and leading that charge is LG, its OLED42C2 is a OLED suited for smaller spaces and bedroom gaming.
It’s currently LG’s smallest OLED TV at 42-inches, which means it can double up as a gaming monitor as well as screen for watching films and TV. Auto low latency mode, variable refresh rates and 4K/120Hz are available across all the HDMI inputs, useful for those with multiple HDMI 2.1 sources and it also means you won’t have to worry about using up the eARC port, which passes through high quality audio to a connected soundbar.
Of the three 42-inch OLEDs we’ve tested, a list that includes the Panasonic LZ980 and Sony A90K, neither of those models match the LG for its connectivity of gaming features.
We measured latency at 12.9ms, which is not the fastest on the market but with HDMI VRR, Nvidia G-Sync and AMD FreeSync Premium Pro support, whether you’re a console or PC gamer, you can get even lower levels of lag for a faster, performance.
Features such as Game Optimiser adapt the TV’s performance for specific game genres. You can view the TV’s current performance in terms of frame rates and change aspects of the picture such as black levels to peak into the darker parts of the picture. If you ask us, that rather sounds like cheating…
We found picture quality to impress playing Gran Turismo 7 on the PS5. It’s a sharp, clear and detailed, with a peak brightness we measured of 699 nits on a 5% window, which is a very good HDR performance for a TV of this size. That level of luminance helped brighten the highlights, especially the decals of the cars and the glint of sunshine off their surfaces, as well as making for a bright picture performance in general. Unlike cheaper TVs, we didn’t find that switching to game mode doesn’t affect the colour performance in a negative way.
The OLED42C2 has support for Dolby Vision Gaming, which is of more use to Xbox Series gamers, and improves the HDR performance of compatible games, as well as offering a high performance with 4K/120Hz frame rates (where supported) and improved contrast.
We found it’s a decent-sounding TV, though we wouldn’t opt for the Game Optimiser sound mode. While it’s smoother than the sharp AI Sound Pro mode, it’s still a little too crisp when playing GT7, which made it hard to distinguish between the music, car engines and other effects. Standard mode is much smoother by comparison.
Reviewer: Kob Monney
Full Review: LG OLED42C2
