LG 65EF9500 review

LG does away with OLED's controversial curve

LG 65EF950V
LG does away with OLED's controversial curve

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Two of the main things that have apparently being putting AV fans off buying an OLED TV are their price and the fact that they use curved rather than flat screens. The 65EF9500 attempts to address both of these issues - and in doing so becomes at a stroke the best TV LG has ever made.

Its native UHD pictures are frequently breathtaking in a way no LCD can match, and it even proves itself capable of looking lovely with the new high dynamic range content coming our way.

Add to all this LG's exceptionally easy to use webOS interface and despite some black level inconsistencies, you really do have a TV special enough to justify its price tag.

We liked

The 65EF9500 looks almost otherworldly beautiful with its super-slim design and barely there screen frame.

For the most part its picture quality is out of this world too, propelled to glory by the sort of contrast performance LCD technology can currently only dream about.

The webOS interface does a great job of making it easy to find content in today's complicated TV world, too.

We disliked

There's a strange shadowy effect down each side of the image that can occasionally be seen in bright scenes, and sometimes the usually remarkable black levels suddenly slip into LCD-like grayness (though you can minimize this issue by keeping brightness controlled).

Also, while the 65EF9500 is actually great value by OLED standards, it is still more expensive than any similar-sized LCD TV.

Verdict

Despite a couple of strange lighting flaws, there are times - lots of them, in fact - where the 65EF9500's pictures look pretty much perfect.

Certainly the amount of contrast and shadow detail on show will be a dream come true to home cinema fans still mourning the death of plasma TVs. The set is gorgeously designed too, and LG's webOS interface is on hand to make sure it's never hard to find something to watch.

The fact that all the 65EF9500's in some cases unique attractions are here available in a flat screen at a more affordable price than expected is just the icing on the cake.

John Archer
AV Technology Contributor

John has been writing about home entertainment technology for more than two decades - an especially impressive feat considering he still claims to only be 35 years old (yeah, right). In that time he’s reviewed hundreds if not thousands of TVs, projectors and speakers, and spent frankly far too long sitting by himself in a dark room.