LG CX 48" 4K Smart OLED TV (2020)

I am very much an OLED fan. My tablet has an AMOLED screen and so does my phone. I love the deep, inky, blacks and vibrant, rich color that I only really see on an OLED screen. I’ve wanted an OLED for years. I actually had the money saved up nearly two years back but my problem was screen size. I simply could not fit a 55” TV in the space I had and that was the smallest OLED available. My previous TV, a Panasonic 46” G-10 filled the space I had. There was no way I could fit anything larger without completely rearranging my living space or (the horror!) ditching my favorite tower speakers and wall mounting some bookshelf speakers above the TV. I was delighted when I heard that LG was bringing out a 48” variant of its mid-range CX series. It’s widely held that LG OLEDs have pretty much the same picture quality across the model ranges. Some of the upper tier models have wafer thin mountable designs, next gen digital TV tuners (which I’d never use) and some other fancy features but, when it comes to the visuals, they’re all pretty similar. Unwrapping the TV was a little scary. It’s super thin and looks quite fragile. I would suggest having someone on hand to help with this even with a smaller model such as this one. The screen itself looks like a giant bezel-less android tablet. It has hardly any outer frame which contributed to my being able to fit the 48” into the same space my 46” had occupied. In fact if anything the 48” actually looks smaller and more compact than the TV it replaces even though it has an extra two inches of diagonal size. The screen sits on a base that contains the speaker(s) and has a cable routing channel which I didn’t find a lot of use for. It does stick out about 8 inches behind the TV so that might be a consideration if you are planning to desk mount. There’s also an angled valance which attaches to the front of the lower base leading to a clean, well sculpted presence. At the time I did the install for this I had also had my Harman Kardon AVR completely serviced so it made sense to do a complete reinstall of all components. I also installed a powered Ethernet hub on my equipment rack at the same time so that I could have a stable wired internet connection to this TV, my Roku box and a floating 14 foot cable allowing us to do Zoom meetings (as we increasingly do) out in the front yard without fear of signal loss due to weak WiFi. Once hooked up it takes you to its “WebOS” main screen to assist with the TV set-up. The set comes with a dedicated “Smart Remote”. You can point and click around the screen as well as conduct the usual volume up, channel down sort of stuff and navigating input select etc. There’s also direct support buttons for launching Netflix and Amazon Prime apps (and some others I don’t use). In theory it should work great but I have to say I hated it. I have slightly trembly hands and getting the pointer to stick anywhere near the function I wanted to operate was trying to say the least. Also the Smart Remote sends out RF (radio frequency) signals rather than the more traditional IR (infra-red) so I couldn’t even use it to program my master, learning, remote. I don’t like having a ton of remotes around so this was a nuisance. Fortunately the TV is also equipped with an IR sensor and most of the functions can be accessed using a more traditional LG remote. I bought one, used it to program my master remote and then put it away in the drawer. I think, for the ten bucks or so it would cost, LG could also include a traditional IR remote in the box for those of us that would prefer to go that route. Now my master remote works well with the TV. I do lose some functionality like direct voice control but, to be honest, I simply don’t care as long as I can navigate the menus, turn up the volume etc. I was even able to learn the IR codes to direct launch the aforementioned Netflix and Amazon apps. The set is connected to a Roku Ultra, my Spectrum cable box and an Oppo BDP-93 BluRay player via a four way HDMI switching box so that only one cable lands at one of the TV’s four HDMI 2.1 capable inputs. Unfortunately the switching box doesn’t support HDCP 2.2 so it won’t pass the 4K HDR signal my Roku is capable of outputting but, since the TV basically has most of the apps I use on the Roku built in, that streamer is kind of redundant now anyway. And the set's built-in apps do display 4K HDR and can look pretty spectacular in the process of doing so. I’m not so familiar with all the latest 4K formats. I was an avid AV fan up to the introduction of BluRay but, to be honest, that format looks so great I wasn’t sure how much better things could get. I was wrong which brings me to, Picture Quality: In a word wow! I set the TV up using C-NET’s recommended settings for the CX: Cinema (user) setting, contrast ramped back from 100 to 80 and switching off some of the various enhancement and motion settings. Once I’d done this I watched a couple of BluRays I’m very familiar with. Color was extremely close to the Panasonic (in other words it was right) and the overall picture seemed to have a lot more “pop” probably due to the set’s jet black contrast floor. 4K HDR, tested with Amazon Prime Video’s “The Expanse” space opera was AMAZING! OLED’s don’t go as bright as many LED TVs but that black floor means the brightest areas of a scene can still look searing compared to dark parts of the screen. Well shot starfields are mesmerizing. Could the set benefit from a full professional calibration? Maybe but not by much. This TV is pretty accurate straight out of the box. I’m betting that most people opting for this screen size, including gamers who this TV is heavily marketed toward, probably won’t be dropping several hundred on a full scale pro set-up and they won’t be lacking because of it. TV Sound: I actually have a pretty extensive surround-sound system and I really had to use it with my last TV as it sounded pretty terrible on its own. The LG actually sounds quite decent especially on dialog. There’s a reasonable amount of bass and voices are clear and get quite loud on the “Cinema” mode I’m using. There are a few other settings including one which enhances voices. It does work but I thought it sounded scratchy in that mode. I found the set’s sound perfectly acceptable for daytime cable viewing. There’s no need to have my theater sound on and that’s going to save wear and tear on the system, not to mention savings on electricity and a lot more heat belting out into the house. Verdict: If you want an OLED TV and don’t have much space, buy one! Sony’s 48” OLED will be out soon. It may have marginally better picture processing but from where I’m looking, I can’t see room for that much improvement. There’s also a 48” Panasonic (all these TVs use LG’s core panel) that’s supposed to be another level up but it costs considerably more and won’t be on sale in the US so you’ll need to import that TV from Canada when it comes out. Save yourself the trouble, get one of these.