The best-in-class gaming performance is provided by the best 4K TV on the market. The C2 is easier on your wallet and still delivers a viewing experience that can wow anyone sitting in your living room even if the G2 is more expensive.
The 65-inch C2 is on sale for less than $2,500. Thanks to the frequent discounts, the C-series has established itself as the sweet spot of the lineup, and this feature-packed TV showcases everything the company has learned. You can count on an image with a lot of depth and blacks. While QD-OLED TVs offer some noticeable picture benefits, the first sets from Sony and SAMSUNG are more expensive than the C2, and neither can match the comprehensive gaming chops of the C2
One of the main improvements that has been made to the C2 will be obvious long before you start using it. The TV design is light and striking. The weight has been reduced in a big way because of the switch. I tested a 65-inch model with or without a stand and it weighed in at 40.8 pounds. The difference between last year's version and this year's is substantial. When setting up one of the larger-sized C2s, you will still need a helping hand, but the weight is no longer a problem. The stand is appreciably taller, lighter, and narrower, and that is not a problem since the screen of my old CX is partially obscured by the stand.
How can a TV be so small?
If you put a TV on a media stand or mount it on a wall, it should be less heavy than if you put it on a wall. It was easier to unbox and maneuver in the C2 compared to that combination. All the way up to an 83-inch model costs $5499. All of them are on sale a lot. All of the TVs have the same features and have four HDMI ports.
The C2 takes after its predecessors, but there are still improvements. When the TV is powered on, it keeps you fully immersed in whatever is on the screen, be that a movie, game, or those gorgeous Apple TV screensavers that can steal my attention for minutes. The glossy glass panel can be prone to distraction depending on the time of day and where the TV is located in the room. The richness and punch of the TV's image is only enhanced by the materials used by the company.
All four of the HDMI ports can be used for 4K gaming and all of the features of HDMI 2.1 are present. It is nice to not have to worry about which device is plugged in. You will want to make sure your soundbar runs through the eARC HDMI port, but the rest give you plenty of flexibility. While some TV makers are finally catching up and going full-bandwidth on every HDMI port, others like Hisense and TCL still limit some of the most important features to two ports.
When you switch on the C2 using the Magic Motion remote, you will be greeted by the newest version of webOS. Two years ago, the company switched its TV software to a full homescreen experience that is similar to Smartcast OS. The company got with the times and I can't fault them for that. Navigating around webOS on the C2 is smooth and responsive, whether you are browsing apps on the home screen, using features like AirPlay 2, orggling on smart lights through the Home Dashboard.
webOS has become very busy, bloated, and random. There are a lot of things. It's definitely true. The C2 supports a lot of different voice assistants. HomeKit is in there as well. It all feels messy because of the amount of work that is being done by the company. Over the last few months, no progress has been made on the top of the home screen. It was a mix of weather, tips for using the TV's features, and ads at first.
The new take on webOS feels too ad-laden.
There is a huge logo in the top banner that takes up a lot of room. There are ads beneath that. The Home Dashboard combines smart home device controls and HDMI inputs in the same row, and is part of the App List. The experience is thrown together and convoluted after that. There is a row dedicated to the built-in web browser on the home screen. There is no way to hide or remove the sports alert carousel if I don't like it. Many of the apps in the apps list can not be removed. There are rows of suggested content that are repetitive. I want to see webOS given greater focus and purpose in its next lineup of TVs because there is little rhyme or reason. I'm not very hopeful.
Life would be better if there were more home screen ads.
There are no sections that can be hidden or erased. They can only be rearranged.
The TV settings menus are the same as they have been in the past and are easy to navigate. As you explore the different picture modes and other settings, you should turn off the energy-saving features that dim the screen and keep the C2 from looking its very best. If the homescreen layout of webOS gets on your nerves, you can always hook up a streaming player from Apple, Roku, Amazon, or Google and ignore the TV's software.
Once you start watching a movie or TV, you'll forget about any quibbles with the C2's home screen or default settings. This is the highest quality picture you can get for the price. The C2 is perceptibly brighter than last year's C1, even if it's no match for the blindingly bright Hisense sets. If your living room gets a lot of sunlight, it would make sense to use one of the QD-OLEDs, since their improved color brightness can make the whole image seem more radiant. The G2 increases the total brightness beyond what the C2 is capable of.
It is not going to win out in all scenarios, but the C2 left me wanting for more. It makes good use of the contrast and blacks that have been used in the past. The colors are vibrant and the highlights are good. The experience of watching Top Gun is special.
There's more to it than that. The C2's picture gives a lot of depth and depth. The way the Alpha 9 Gen 5 chip separates the foreground subject from the background makes a difference. I used to dismiss this sort of thing as a marketing ploy, but I am sold on it here. The effect is subtle but adds a small amount to the video fidelity of the C2. When watching movies and other 24 frames per second, the quick response time of the panels can produceudder. If you are sensitive to that kind of thing, the Cinematic Movement toggle does a good job of smoothing it out.
Every smart device has a set of terms and conditions that you have to agree to before you can use it. It is not possible for us to read and analyze all of them. Since these are agreements most people don't read and can't negotiate, we're going to start counting how many times you have to agree to use the device.
You must agree to the following in order to use the C2.
There are more than one optional agreement. All of them can be found on the website of the company. They are included.
There is a viewing information agreement, a voice information agreement, an interest-based and cross-device advertising agreement.
Up to six optional agreements are included in the final tally.
If you don't have a surround system for a while, the C2's audio output is better than you might think. At moderate volume levels, the company uses some artificial intelligence tricks to maintain good balance, but don't expect a lot in the way of bass. You should pair the C2 with a better sound system to give it a better audio experience.
When you play a game on a console, you will be automatically recognized by the manufacturer. The settings button on the remote brings up a gaming dashboard that displays the current frame rate, lets you dial in black level adjustments, or choose from picture preset based on the genre of the game you're playing. The C2 has a low input lag across all of its HDMI ports, as well as being the only one that supports the open standard version of VRR. The TV is a great match for the PS5 and Xbox Series X consoles and can get the most from them. The gaming experience isn't always as consistent as other TVs. The S95B QD-OLED has had some growing pains this year that have had a negative effect on the performance.
As we enter the holiday season, the C2 is already being discounted into very tempting territory. There are not a lot of differences between last year's C1 and this year's C2. Many of the best attributes of the C2 can be found in the model that was released last year. It is still the leader in the market with years of experience, even though it is facing stiff competition from other companies. The C2 is a beautiful, versatile, and surprisingly light rectangular. Few TVs are as uncompromising as the one you can get for a fraction of the price.
Chris Welch is a photographer.
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