The LG C5 OLED TV could be one of the best OLED TVs to release this year — but in order to maintain its price point as the center of LG's 2025 TV lineup, it's making more than a few concessions with ATSC 3.0, HDMI 2.2 with 165Hz refresh rate and four-stack OLED chief among the list of missing features.
In lieu of those features, when it comes to this particular mid-range offering, LG is largely focusing all of its efforts on AI enhancements that most end-users don't need. It's making broad, sweeping claims not just on better general picture performance (in everything from improved color accuracy to higher brightness) but also several AI enhancements thanks to webOS 25.
It's the same mistake I felt LG made last year with the LG G4 OLED: This is a great-looking TV, but I'm still not convinced a slew of AI enhancements is the sort of upgrade that most folks expect when spending $2,000 or more on a new TV.
Getting to grips with this 4K upscaling guru
To get a closer look at LG's C5 OLED, I traveled to a press event at LG's North American HQ in New Jersey. Much of the trip was focused on the LG G5 OLED, which we first saw at CES 2025, but LG's C5 OLED demo focused on its upscaling chops. The team put two 65-inch C5s side by side with one playing a baseball game in 720p (upscaled to 4K) versus the other playing the same content in native 4K.
The 720p version actually looked identical (if not slightly better) than its native 4K counterpart.
We were asked to choose which one was playing the native 4K content and, to my surprise (after choosing incorrectly), the 720p version actually looked identical (if not slightly better) than its native 4K counterpart.
And I wasn't alone. Other attendees were stunned and impressed by just how identical both forms of content looked on the screen. It's a testament to the prowess behind LG's new a9 gen8 AI processor that could make viewing broadcast TV, particularly sports games and major events (like the 2025 Oscars), look incredible.
Most content we watch on a daily basis tends to be in 1080p, especially live broadcasts. The C5's advanced upscaling, if anything, is a silver lining in the face of (once again) not coming equipped with an ATSC 3.0 tuner, which would give you access to NextGen TV and 4K broadcasts.
That being said, I am excited to see more of the LG C5 OLED in action — and if there's anything else the demo highlighted it would be excellent motion processing. I even turned off motion smoothing to get a better grip of this in action specifically with the baseball game, and there wasn't any noticeable blurring going on or stuttering that might happen on weaker sets.
If there's anything I could knock the C5 for, it's poor glare mitigation.
If there's anything I could knock the C5 for, it's poor glare mitigation. Maybe it's a product of the testing environment, but I don't see it getting much better unless you have your lights set away from the screen and not directly above or behind it.
As far as brightness and color is concerned, it's hard to tell. From my eye, the C5 looks just as if not slightly brighter than the LG C4 OLED, which we tested in a 10% window at 1,148 nits in standard content and 1,103 in HDR. We won't know for sure until we get it in for testing, though.
Is AI upscaling enough to warrant upgrading?
In a year where other TVs in the lineup are getting the cutting-edge four-stack OLED panel from LG Display, it's a bit of a letdown that AI upscaling is the hat the C5 OLED will hang its hat on. AI upscaling is a worthwhile upgrade, sure, but if I were paying several thousand dollars, I'd want a feature that makes the C5 stand out from the crowd.
AI upscaling is something every TV maker is offering in 2025: Samsung is also touting a slew of AI upgrades that (in all honesty) most users will either turn off or not know are even enabled to begin with.
Instead of touting a bunch of AI that most users don't really need, LG could have gone all-in on hardware advancements — even if it might've led to the C5 costing more.
I wish LG took a broader swing and risk with its C5 OLED. Instead of touting a bunch of artificial intelligence that most users don't really need, LG could have gone all-in on hardware advancements — even if it might've led to the C5 costing more.
I can't speak to all the upgrades LG could've made here, but one easy-to-spot place for improvement is with glare. Only the LG G5 OLED will have any anti-glare coating, despite the whole lineup benefitting from its inclusion.
I also wish the new-and-improved C5 took up that 165Hz refresh rate. It's a minor inconvenience and really only applies to users running the best gaming PCs, but it would've helped make the LG C5 OLED one of the best gaming TVs in 2025.
LG C5 OLED outlook
I'm not writing the LG C5 OLED off; it's shaping up to be one of the best OLED TVs of 2025. I just feel like there was room to improve here, and LG might intentionally be holding some important features back to cut down on the price.
If I were to judge it solely based on the over two hours of hands-on testing time I had with it, I'm convinced the same cons we gave the C4 will still carry over to the C5 — and more might follow suit.
Thankfully, though, there's still a little time left before launch and if US prices follow the same pattern of the already-announced EU prices, the C5 might start at the same price as the C4 OLED.
Whatever ends up happening in terms of final specs and price, we're looking forward to getting the LG C5 OLED into our labs for testing, and we'll report back once we have a final verdict later in March or April.
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