What’s even more annoying is that TVs usually freeze a few times when trying to re-watch or move forward quickly when streaming with Apple TV+ and Disney+. Streaming box is an easy solution, but I hope LG will solve these problems in future updates.
The G5’s gaming portal is the only place I can’t seem to kill ads, but the 2025 iteration makes up for the addition of Xbox Cloud Streaming, as well as options like Amazon Luna, Nvidia Geforce, and others. The TV is four full-width HDMI 2.1 inputs for gaming in every aspect, using 165 Hz VRR support for PC-compatible, and Automatic Low Latency Mode (ALLM). The game looks great by default, and LG’s Game Optimizer offers a lot of customization options.
There are many other ways to customize your experience, including multiple “AI” features like LG’s AI pictures and sound modes. AI is an important topic for G5 (even if it’s full name), including the new AI Concierge, a useful and clumsy navigation tool.
Speaking of navigation, the new remote is more stylish and confusing. I’m glad LG keeps a Wii-like click and clicker, but the lack of a mute key requires you to fix the volume key in mute, and I had to look up and figure it out. The lack of a dedicated input key also cheered me up until I tried the surrounded home key, which pulled up the full input list with a dedicated smart hub. To align with AI themes, both Google Assistant and Alexa are supported, and so are streaming on AirPlay and Google Cast.
Photo: Ryan Waniata
In picture mode
I have a detailed guide that locks in a beautiful photo that you can certainly blend in with the weeds with the many options of the G5 and the movie-wide pattern, but the most accurate picture proves to be very simple. After using modes and settings for precise tone mapping using modes and settings such as Professional mode, the Filmmaker mode looks almost perfect on SDR (standard dynamic range) and HDR10 (LG does not support HDR10+).
If the filmmaker is too dim, you can raise the backlight in SDR, or turn on the tone mapping of HDR10 for a serious boost. This isn’t suitable for Dolby Vision, so I used a few minor tweaks in the cinema, which included off the motion smoothing. For consistent testing, I also turned off the TV light sensor in the ECO and picture mode settings.
Perfect picture
LG’s revolutionary MLA OLED panels take the TV to a whole new level, which proves last year’s G4 and Z95A. Adding truly influential HDR brightness to the screen is an exciting experience, from menus to flickering candles, it seems to emerge from the black candles, like ink painted with flames. These TVs are bright enough for almost any use case, especially since most streaming content is limited to only 1,000 columns.
The G5 is still brighter, but like Sony’s excellent Bravia 9, LG has wisely pushed its new brightness booster. Most of the scenes look sophisticated that they even resigned in filmmaker mode. This makes the film and prestige drama look rich, saturated, and almost luxurious as the TV follows the director’s intentions, saving real glitz and punching for a selection of highlights. However, when this TV pops up, it does pop up, especially if you feed it into high nose 4K Blu-ray.
