LG G4 OLED Review: Buy It for HDR, Skip It for Sunlight

Buy the 77-inch G4 for HDR movies and games if you want brighter highlights without losing OLED's deep blacks. That's the main takeaway from this LG G4 OLED review: its Brightness Booster Max panel is a real picture-quality upgrade over the C4, not just another gaming badge. Skip it if you mostly need the whole screen to stay bright in a sunny room. A high-brightness Mini LED TV is better for that.

LG's 2024 flagship pairs a Micro Lens Array panel with the Alpha 11 Processor 4K and four HDMI 2.1 ports. A compatible PC can run it at 4K 144Hz, while PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X games max out at 120Hz. LG's advertised 0.1ms figure is pixel response time, not the delay between pressing a button and seeing it happen on screen.

What puts it above the LG C4 OLED is extra brightness, better processing, and a body designed for wall mounting. The US OLED77G4WUA covered here comes with a Slim Wall Mount in the box, and the tabletop stand is sold separately. There's a five-year limited panel warranty, but the labor coverage changes after the first year.

Product Overview

Brightness Booster Max is the headline feature here, made possible by the 77-inch panel's Micro Lens Array. Tiny lenses pull out light that would otherwise stay trapped inside the panel, which gives this OLED more room for bright highlights.

The Alpha 11 chip handles upscaling, picture processing, and Dynamic Tone Mapping Pro, which adjusts brightness and contrast in different areas of the image. It supports Dolby Vision, HDR10, and HLG, and Filmmaker Mode gives you a movie preset that turns off processing like motion smoothing. That preset is a good place to start, but not every source or room will need the same settings.

At 67.4 inches wide, 38.7 inches tall, and 1.0 inch deep without a stand, it's a big TV with an unusually even profile. LG's Gallery design works well above a low media cabinet, especially if you plan your cables and connections before you install it. How flush it sits still depends on your wall and installation, so don't count on a zero gap in every home. If you're putting it on furniture in the US, remember the stand is a separate purchase.

All four HDMI ports run at 48Gbps, so you can connect a PC and modern consoles without fighting over one high-bandwidth port. HDMI 2 has eARC for a compatible soundbar or receiver, and there are three USB ports, Ethernet, and optical audio for everything else. NVIDIA G-SYNC Compatible and AMD FreeSync Premium support variable refresh rates with the right hardware. They cut down on tearing when frame rates jump around, but they can't make a struggling game run faster.

Smart features run on webOS. It shipped with webOS 24, and future software upgrades are covered by LG's Re:New program. AirPlay 2 works with compatible Apple devices, and Matter lets you control supported smart-home gear. Those are handy extras, but they don't guarantee every gadget in your home will work with it. You'll still need your own streaming subscriptions and audio gear.

LG G4 OLED Review: Key Specs and Compatibility

Read the refresh rate and response time rows separately. It's a 120Hz TV that can accept 144Hz from a compatible PC, and the response time is how fast pixels change, not overall gaming lag.

What you actually get still depends on your source, cable, and settings. A console can't use the PC-only 144Hz mode, and an eARC sound system takes up one of the four HDMI ports. Plan which device goes where before you hide the cables behind the screen, especially if your sound system and consoles share the same cabinet.

What Stands Out

HDR is the clearest reason to buy the G4 over a regular OLED. A bright reflection or light can fill a small part of the picture while the pixels right next to it stay black, so you don't get the halo you see with an LCD backlight. Brightness Booster Max adds more light output than the C4 on top of that. Against QD-OLED rivals like the Sony BRAVIA XR A95L, there are trade-offs in brightness and color, and neither one wins outright.

Having four equally capable HDMI ports is another practical win. You can hook up several gaming devices without swapping cables or saving one special port for your PC. That matters more than a long list of processor claims when your cabinet already has consoles, a computer, and a sound system in it.

The Gallery styling has a practical purpose too. The flat back and included mount are made for a clean wall install, which helps if you're planning the room around the TV. If you already have furniture for a regular TV stand, though, it means one more thing to buy.

Strengths

Lighting each pixel on its own is what makes it great for movies. Dark backgrounds stay black next to bright subtitles or highlights, with no backlight zones involved, which makes the G4 a good pick for movie nights. Dolby Vision support is another plus if your streaming services or discs use it. Just remember it's a home theater TV, not a professional mastering monitor.

Its gaming features suit a mix of uses too. A compatible PC gets 4K 144Hz and variable refresh rates, and consoles still get 4K 120Hz. Game Optimizer puts the relevant picture and lag settings in one place, so they're easy to find when you switch between movies and games. Set them up on purpose instead of assuming every picture mode behaves the same for gaming.

WebOS has the main streaming apps and Quick Cards for grouping what you use, so you don't need a separate streaming box for supported services. The Magic Remote gives you both pointer control and regular buttons for menus. AirPlay 2 and Matter are useful if you already have devices that work with them. None of these extras alone is worth paying more than you would for another good OLED.

For a wall-mounted setup, audio is simple: eARC sends supported sound to a compatible receiver or soundbar. Dolby Atmos support doesn't mean the speakers inside a thin TV can recreate a room full of separate speakers. If movies are the priority, budget for the whole system, including sound and installation, not just the TV.

Weaknesses

Price is the first hurdle. At 77 inches, this is a flagship TV and a big purchase, and the LG C4 OLED has much of the same core feature set, including 144Hz support and four HDMI 2.1 ports. Check current prices for both at the same size before deciding. For console gaming, the connections are largely the same, so the upgrade comes down to brightness and how you want to install it.

Daylight viewing needs a more careful answer than the brightness branding suggests. A high-brightness Mini LED TV like the Sony Bravia 9 is better if you want bright, full-screen scenes in a sunny room. Small HDR highlights and a bright sports broadcast that fills the whole screen are very different jobs. Curtains and smart TV placement still matter with the G4.

Mounting still takes planning, even with the bracket included. You need enough clear wall for its 67.4-inch width, and putting it on furniture means buying a compatible stand. Plan for cable routing and access before you decide how close to the wall it should sit. A slim side profile won't fix a badly placed outlet.

OLED pixels can also wear unevenly if the same static image stays on screen for long periods. Pixel cleaning and logo-dimming settings help, but they don't make an all-day news ticker or desktop taskbar safe to ignore. The five-year panel coverage is useful, but years two through five cover the panel and not labor. Factor that into how you plan to use it and what you're willing to spend.

Fast pixel response has a downside for movies too: low-frame-rate content can look stuttery, especially in slow pans. Motion smoothing can reduce that, but it also changes how the film looks, so it comes down to taste. The built-in speakers have physical limits as well, so a separate sound system is the better route if you want cinema-scale audio.

Best Alternatives

Start with the trade-off you actually want to make: less peak brightness, a different color technology, more brightness for daytime, or a matte screen. Each of these alternatives covers one of those. Compare the full installed setup before you commit, including any stand or sound gear your room needs.

The LG C4 OLED keeps four HDMI 2.1 ports, 144Hz PC support, and webOS, but drops the G4's MLA brightness hardware and wall-focused design. The Sony A95L has QD-OLED color and Google TV, but tops out at 120Hz for gaming instead of the G4's 144Hz PC option. The Sony Bravia 9 uses Mini LED backlighting for a brighter picture in sunny rooms, trading OLED's per-pixel blacks for local dimming. The Samsung S95D has a matte screen that cuts glare where the G4 is glossy, but it doesn't support Dolby Vision.

Who Should Buy It

Movie fans who watch HDR in a dark or dimly lit room are the best fit. Brighter highlights combined with OLED's deep blacks are the main reason to choose this TV. If that's what you want to improve over a C4, the G4's hardware does exactly that. Paying extra just to get the same streaming apps makes less sense.

PC gamers with compatible graphics cards are another good match, especially if the TV also has to handle movies and consoles. Four high-bandwidth ports mean less rearranging, and the 144Hz ceiling gives a capable PC room above console refresh rates. You still need a game and graphics card that can actually hit those frame rates.

Wall mounting rounds it out. If you're building a room around a big screen, the included bracket and flat back are made for that. If movies, PC gaming, and a clean install all matter to you, those together make a better case for the G4 than any processor name.

Who Should Skip It

Go for a high-brightness Mini LED instead if most of your viewing is daytime TV in a bright room. Keeping large areas of the screen bright is where the G4 is weaker. A bright HDR highlight doesn't tell you how a whole football field will look next to a sunny window.

If you only play on consoles, don't treat 144Hz as an automatic upgrade. PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X stop at 120Hz, and the C4 already covers that. You might still want the G4's brighter picture, but pay for that, not for a PC feature you won't use.

Finally, skip this package if you want a simple tabletop setup without buying extra parts. All-day desktop use and lots of news channels with static logos are also weaker fits for OLED than a mix of movies and games. Pick a TV that suits how you actually watch, and don't expect the panel warranty to cancel out the trade-offs.