LG G2 OLED Gallery Edition 65in review

LG calls this Gallery Edition because the LG G2 can sit flush with the wall. It comes with an unusual mounting bracket that mounts from the top and sinks into the telly chassis when you push it closer to the wall. LG says that the LG G2 Gallery Edition sits on a wall like an art frame and I sort of understand what they mean, however, that’s not even the best part about the TV. It’s actually the display that makes the Gallery Edition so superb. It has one of the brightest displays in the LG OLED lineup. It’s razor-thin, in bezels and thickness, so you won’t have any squabbles with your loved ones over space issues. You don’t get a table stand here. It only comes with the wall mount or else the Gallery Edition may not resemble The Louvre, right?

Speaking of which, the Gallery Edition also lets you display art from different artists from around the world. You can also have your photos there but it never really made the G2 feel special like the Samsung Frame which dedicates efforts to the bezels as well to have it look like an art frame.

The display quality on the LG G2 is incredible. Capable of reaching 1000nits of peak HDR brightness, the telly is well suited for all manner of HDR streaming and if you really want to enjoy the LG G2 OLED, the HDR content is where the fun starts. The LG G2 Gallery Edition handles bright and dark scenes in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power with incredible fidelity. The whites are whiter and the blacks are simply deeper because it's an OLED. However, part of what makes the LG G2’s quality an all-rounder of sorts is that it can perform very well in lit room conditions. There’s a filter on the display that kicks out most of the glare and if your viewing conditions are in the living room with some ceiling lights, the LG G2 is quite capable of maintaining richer colours and deeper blacks. LG says the Dynamic Tone Mapping Pro feature scans across 5000 blocks across the screen to deliver better HDR tones. Whatever the LG Alpha 9 Gen 5 AI Processor is doing, it’s working. The whites are even brighter than our award-winning LG C1. It’s also brighter than the LG C2 which makes this G2 delectably eye-searing when an episode from The Rings of Power decides to pan towards brighter scenes in Dolby Vision. 

Filmmaker Mode pops up when you decide to binge anything that is a worthy cinematic spectacle. The black and red hues in The Batman are handled with cinema precision. Watching the movie in Standard mode isn’t the same as watching it in Filmmaker Mode. LG simply cut the work for you and anyone who wishes to sit and calibrate this thing. It’s done very well and you will enjoy the colour fidelity out of the box. 

The LG G2 handles motion processing extremely well too. None of that soap opera effect and you won’t find it to be a jittery mess either. It’s done just about right. Again, LG G2’s picture presets are a cut above the rest. The Cinema Mode is another shining example of how even if you lack the basic sensibilities of tuning the picture quality, the LG will present you with options that make the right choice a lot easier.

The brightness is what makes the LG G2 OLED Gallery Edition a true rival to Samsung’s QD-OLED. It’s got a bigger heatsink to drive the brightness higher and keep the thing from burning out. Higher brightness means brighter colours.

The telly is also one heck of a premium gaming display. It’s got four HDMI 2.1 ports each capable of supporting 120Hz gaming. The games on my PS5 feel incredibly different. Not only does the LG G2 OLED Gallery Edition support 120Hz but it also has Nvidia G-Sync, AMD Freesync and VRR. LG says the telly is also capable of 0.1ms response time but I have my reservations. Nevertheless, games like Dirt 5, Elden Ring, Gran Turismo 7, Horizon Forbidden West and God of War have never looked this gorgeous. Our entire game time for the upcoming God of War Ragnarok (due November 9th) is on the LG G2 OLED and we even plugged in the mighty Nvidia RTX 4090 to experience true 4K 120Hz gaming to test the LG’s gaming chops. Some big-budget games let you dim the game's HUD brightness but some don’t. Dirt 5 in particular has a white speedometer in the HUD which looks like a retina-burning patch of white on the LG against the game’s gorgeous night races. It’s not a complaint about the telly but the game itself. Some games like Horizon Forbidden West take full advantage of the OLED’s inky blacks and paint a mesmerising picture of the game’s colourful and ever-changing weather system. Safe to say, that someone from the Stuff team (me) might raid LG offices for this particular telly.

Now razor thin design does have its shortcomings and audio is one of them. However, LG isn’t too bad and it’s quite a capable-sounding telly among its peers. The Sony has better separation because of the Acoustic Surface Audio and LG only manages to sound meatier at higher volumes. It’s not tinny in any measure but makes you wish for more especially when your eyes are enjoying the sweet givings of its bright display.

The LG magic remote is fantastic as usual and the webOS has all the necessary apps needed to have a delightful viewing experience. It doesn’t have any shortcomings that might make you think of plugging in a Google Chromecast. It’s fast and reliable. You can use the remote to channel your inner Harry Potter and navigate the webOS using its mouse pointer. However, that flicky mouse pointer might be a tempting target for your cat to pounce at every movement. Be warned!

If you have other LG appliances in your house that are Wi-Fi enabled, the webOS lets you connect to them and have them displayed in your Home Dashboard. I did connect my LG refrigerator but aside from knowing its freezer temperature, there wasn’t much. Depending on how advanced (read as expensive) your LG appliances are, you could possibly connect and control them too. It also supports Apple AirPlay 2, Apple HomeKit, Amazon Echo, Google Home, Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa. All devices and ecosystems will work seamlessly.

The LG G2 OLED Gallery Edition feels like a last-minute attempt from LG to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Samsung and Sony’s QD-OLED range. It may still be using the WOLED technology but overdriving the pixels to deliver higher brightness is definitely paying off. We’re enamoured with the LG G2’s performance. It’s bright, vivid and packs the best in class colour calibration. Not to mention, a lot cheaper than the QD-OLEDs in the market. However, it’s very expensive and that somehow makes the LG C2 look like a hot new Christmas deal.

It’s also one of the best gaming TVs out there. Capable of connecting four HDMI 2.1 sources so if you’re an enthusiast gamer then having a PS5, a high-end gaming PC and your home theatre setup all connected without compromises is a win in our books.