I’ve bought the LG C4 4k OLED TV (55′) in July 2025 because I was specifically looking for a gaming TV with a high refresh rate in order to replace my “old” Sony Bravia (which was a very good 4k OLED TV but not ideal for gaming since it had only 60hz refresh rate and no specific gaming features) and to complete my gaming setup with my custom HTPC console. Specifically the LG G4 has a native refresh rate of 120hz which can be pushed to 144hz if a PC is connected to the TV. I never thought that a gaming TV could be that “life changing” compared to a “normal TV”, but as soon as I plaid for the first time with the LG C4 I was shocked too see how much better the games look like and how much smoother they run by having a high refresh rate and also VRR.

[ i ] VRR (Variable Refresh Rate) is a technology for which the monitor/TV adjusts its refresh rate (eg 120hz, which means that the image is redrawn on the screen 120 times each second) according to the FPS (Frames Per Seconds) generated by the GPU in order to avoid “visual glitches” and make the gaming experience more fluid. The more is the delta between FPS and native refresh rate, the more VRR is helpful, for instance, if your console/PC generates 50 FPS and your monitor/TV has a native refresh rate of 120hz, you have a refresh rate that is more than the double of the generated FPS (70 FPS delta)… this will prevent your games from running smoothly and depending on your sensitivity also cause motion sickness and/or headache. By using the VRR the ratio between FPS and screen refresh rate will be 1:1 (so, 60 FPS -> 60hz, 90 FPS -> 90hz and so on) resulting in a fluid gaming experience without any issue. Bear in mind however that VRR has a minimum refresh rate of 40hz and won’t go any lower than that!

I’ve initially tested the LG C4 using my PS5 (since I hadn’t completed my HTPC build yet by then), so even with the same machine but just by replacing the display the results were improved drastically: improved responsiveness thanks to ALLM (Auto Low Latency Mode), smoother movements in the game, better colors, better image definition, extremely clear and sharp texts in the game UI (previously it was really hard to read texts in some games on my Sony Bravia even though it wasn’t a low tier cheap TV). Aside from the high refresh rate and VRR, the LG C4 (and all the LG gaming TV in general) includes a specific “game optimizer” mode, a dedicated set of configurations and options for gaming, which allows you to see current FPS, switch presets based on the game type (RPG, FPS, Sport…), activate a specific VRR technology like Nvidia G-Sync or AMD FreeSync and activate specific HDR color tones mapping like HGIG. Also the brightness, despite what I read online before buying the TV is really good in “game optimizer” and in general (in standard mode it’s almost too bright and I lowered the brightness a bit), only the “Film maker mode” is too dark in my opinion, even though it offers the best color accuracy to watch movies and TV series, but personally I use the “cinema mode” for that, because to me it’s the best trade off between color accuracy and brightness. Also intense sunny days making the room super bright and/or reflections on the display are not an issue anymore with the LG C4, of course you can see lamps reflections in a dark room or perceiving a lowering in the brightness in a bright room, but the image on the the display will still be perfectly visible and you won’t be annoyed by reflections (with my previous TV in the summer days it was basically impossible to distinguish anything on the screen).

[ i ] Bear in mind: The images above have been acquired using a smartphone in a dark room and the quality is quite poor! (unfortunately it seems there is no way to take screenshots from the TV itself 😛 )

I’ve also realized how much HDR and HGIG tone mapping matter when it comes to gaming, colors are amazing: foliage in a game like Far Cry 6 is unbelievable with tons of shades of green, smoke and light effects are beautiful and realistic as well as reflections on waters. Sometimes I just stare at the TV while I’m crying rainbows from my eyes by admiring some scenes in a game! So, the LG C4 is a fantastic gaming TV, but why I’m suggesting you to buy a 2024 model when the 2025 model (LG C5) has already been released and why the “C family” which is not the top tier version (LG gaming TV are named using B, C and G prefixes from the entry level to the top tier)? Because in my opinion the C4 has the best value for money! First of all, C tier costs less than G tier and offers basically the same functionalities and performances, there are only 2 specs that are better in the G tier: higher brightness and a better processor (which matters significantly only when it comes to upscaling SD content and/or for AI features for dynamic adjustments and those are just marketing bull$hits worth nothing in the real world usage and you’ll get better results by disabling all that stuff!), in second place there is usually no much of improvement from a model compared to the one of the previous year (C5 vs C4, or G5 vs G4) and finally a device that has been released by several months is very likely to be more stable, without manufacturing defects or bugs compared to one that has been released only recently (in fact both 2025 models G5 and C5 have had HDR issues and, at the time of this writing, it seems that those are have still not solved 100%). Therefore it’s a smart move to buy a previous year LG TV model, especially because they get way cheaper once the new model is released, so that’s why I bought the LG C4 (2024) instead of the LG C5 (2025). In my case I bought the C4 55′ for ~850$ (compared to the launch price in 2024 of 1999$!), I’ve been lucky finding that deal, but usually you can buy it today for ~1000/1100$ which is basically half the original price and at this price point in my opinion you won’t find any comparable alternative (for instance Samsung has valid gaming TVs, but some technologies like Dolby Vision are not implemented in their devices and it’s a pity since many streaming services are offering Dolby Vision content by now, while LG TVs have everything you can dream of).

Another nice surprise, coming from my previous Sony Bravia, has been a better ARC/eARC (Audio Return Channel) implementation and compatibility with my old Samsung Soundbar. Previously in fact it happened from time to time that the TV wasn’t able to automatically switch to the right soundbar mode for TV audio if previously I had used it to listen to music for instance, or I wasn’t able to rise or lower the volume as I wished using the TV remote. With the LG C4 instead, it works 100% of the times without any issue and I don’t use the soundbar remote anymore (unless I’m using it for listening to music and the TV is turned off of course).

Being a nerd, I also love to be able to “debug” what’s going on on the TV by pressing multiple times the green button on the remote, which will open a small popup showing the active display resolution, the refresh rate, the HDR and Chroma info (which helped me out a lot in figuring out how things work and writing this post).

The only complain I have regarding the TV, is its remote. It doesn’t feel “something premium” like the panel itself (which has a gorgeous marble effect on the back, a beautiful stand and a thin profile), it doesn’t have back lighting, the tactile feedbacks are not the best you can wish and LG has had a questionable idea of choosing the quick access buttons by adding services like Rakuten TV (who’s using it?) instead of YouTube (I expect it do be a dedicated button on every “smart TV”). Of course YouTube is available and accessible in the home and you can also configure the remote to open it or any app you like by long pressing a button of your choice, but you won’t find a specific YouTube button on the remote (and to me this is quite dumb).

[ i ] The LG C4 (C series in general) is also available in 42′ size, while other models like G4 (G series in general) start from 55′. This make this TV also viable to be utilized as a PC monitor, because you won’t fined any OLED 4k monitor with that size and price!