The picture is genuinely impressive. Everything else is a fight.
In the quiet pursuit of a better picture, LG's C6 OLED arrives as a study in contradiction — a panel that renders light and color with uncommon grace, wrapped in software that seems almost determined to remind you it is there. Somewhere between the promise of seamless viewing and the reality of intrusive interfaces, the C6 asks its owners a quiet question: how much friction will you accept in exchange for beauty? The answer, for many, may be to simply route around the problem entirely.
- The C6's OLED panel is genuinely exceptional — accurate colors, deep blacks, clean motion, and 165Hz gaming support make the display itself hard to fault.
- WebOS 26 arrives bloated with dual AI assistants, home screen ads, and a free-TV feature that occasionally overrides the power button and turns the set back on uninvited.
- The redesigned Magic Remote compounds the chaos — its directional buttons register inconsistently, and the central scroll wheel is too easily grazed, sending navigation spiraling off course.
- Streaming apps stutter, YouTube blacks out after ad breaks, and sluggish load times persist even on wired connections — pointing to software overhead rather than hardware limits.
- At S$3,800, the C6 is priced competitively, but Samsung's S90H looms as a credible rival with a superior matte coating, available for as little as S$3,600 on the market.
The LG C6 is a television at war with itself. Its OLED panel — the same WOLED technology found across LG's more accessible lineup — delivers colors that land true, blacks that feel absolute, and motion clean enough to satisfy both film purists and competitive gamers. The 65-inch model tested supports 165Hz at 4K through four HDMI 2.1 ports, and while it isn't the brightest panel LG makes, it handles daytime viewing well, with only a faint angular tint as a concession. The new processor offers a modest improvement over last year's C5, and Filmmaker Mode needs almost no calibration out of the box.
Then the software enters the frame. WebOS 26 loads the home screen with banner ads, two competing AI assistants — Gemini and Copilot — a curated art gallery, and a free streaming tier called LG Channels that occasionally resurrects the TV after you've powered it down. Disabling the smart features entirely is the only reliable remedy, which is a strange solution for a smart TV. The ads can be turned off in settings, but their presence as a default feels like a statement of intent.
The Magic Remote, redesigned for simplicity, introduces its own complications. Stripped of its numpad, it centers navigation on a scroll wheel surrounded by directional buttons that register presses unreliably. Brushing the wheel mid-navigation sends the cursor somewhere unintended. Simple menu browsing becomes a test of patience and fine motor control.
Streaming performance disappoints regardless of connection type. YouTube goes dark after ad breaks and requires a full app restart. Netflix and others fail to load on first attempt with quiet regularity. The same issues appeared on an older C1 during testing, suggesting the culprit is software weight rather than hardware age.
When content finally plays, the C6 earns its place. The picture is genuinely impressive at its S$3,800 price point, down from the C5's S$4,300 launch. The chassis is slim and elegant, though the narrow central pedestal won't accommodate most soundbars, and the built-in speakers offer little reason to try. Samsung's S90H presents a real alternative — officially priced at S$4,499 but available closer to S$3,600 — with a matte coating that manages reflections far more gracefully.
The most practical advice is also the most telling: pair the C6 with an Apple TV 4K and bypass the built-in software entirely. Let the panel do what it does beautifully, and let something else handle the rest. That a television's best use case involves ignoring most of its features says something worth sitting with.
The LG C6 arrives as a television caught between two worlds. On one side sits a genuinely excellent OLED panel—the kind that makes you forget you're watching a screen at all, with colors that land true and blacks that seem to swallow light. On the other side sits everything else: a software layer so cluttered with features, ads, and competing AI assistants that using the TV becomes an exercise in patience.
The picture quality is the easy part to praise. The 65-inch model tested here uses LG's WOLED panel, the same technology found in the company's more affordable OLED sets. It's not the brightest OLED panel LG makes—that distinction belongs to the Tandem OLED used in the larger 77-inch and 83-inch variants and the flagship G6—but it's plenty bright for daytime viewing, with only a faint purplish tint creeping in at extreme angles. Colors are accurate enough that Filmmaker Mode requires barely any adjustment. Motion handling is clean, with no artifacts or banding. For gaming, the TV now supports 165Hz refresh rates at 4K, and the four HDMI 2.1 ports mean serious PC gamers have the bandwidth they need. The panel itself is a minor upgrade over last year's C5, with a new processor that should theoretically improve picture processing. It does, but only slightly.
Then you try to actually use the thing. WebOS 26 arrives bloated in ways that feel almost intentional. There are not one but two AI models built in—Gemini and Copilot—sitting alongside a Gallery of free artwork, LG Channels offering free TV programming, and banner ads on the home screen. The ads can be disabled in settings, but they're there by default, a small insult that sets the tone for what follows. The LG Channels feature occasionally hijacks the TV entirely, turning it on after you've pressed the power button to shut it down. Disabling all the smart features is the only reliable way to stop it, which defeats the purpose of owning a smart TV.
The redesigned Magic Remote compounds the frustration. LG streamlined it from the older model, removing the numpad and keeping the air mouse functionality in the center scroll wheel. The problem is the directional buttons surrounding that wheel register presses inconsistently. It's too easy to accidentally brush or hit the scroll wheel while navigating, sending the cursor careening to the wrong spot. What should be a simple task—scrolling through a menu—becomes an exercise in precision and repetition.
Streaming apps feel sluggish, whether you're using Wi-Fi or a hardwired Ethernet connection. YouTube frequently goes black after an ad break with no recovery except closing and reopening the app. Netflix and other services occasionally fail to load on the first try. The reviewer tested this on a C1 model recently and encountered similar issues, suggesting the problem lies not with aging hardware but with the software itself, weighted down by all those extra features and background processes.
When the C6 finally settles into playing content, it excels. The picture is genuinely impressive for the price. The design is familiar—a super-thin OLED panel mounted on a larger chassis with a central pedestal that's too narrow to accommodate most soundbars. The speakers are forgettable; you'll want an external soundbar. At around S$3,800 (down from the usual S$4,099), the pricing is competitive, slightly lower than the C5 launch price of S$4,300. Samsung's S90H OLED offers a compelling alternative at S$4,499 officially, though it can be found for as low as S$3,600, and its matte coating handles reflections far more effectively.
The C6 is a television that wants to be everything and succeeds at almost nothing except the one thing that matters most: displaying a picture. But getting to that picture requires navigating a software experience that feels designed to frustrate. The simplest fix is the most obvious one: buy an Apple TV 4K and use it for all your streaming. Bypass the bloat entirely. Let the C6 do what it does best—show you something beautiful—and let something else handle the rest.
Notable Quotes
The TV is excellent for a mid-range OLED, but the software bloat and iffy remote make it frustrating to navigate and use.— Reviewer
One easy fix: Use an Apple TV 4K for your streaming apps.— Reviewer's recommendation
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
Why does a TV need two different AI models built in? What's the actual purpose?
That's the question I kept asking myself. Gemini and Copilot are there, but I never found a compelling reason they needed to be. It feels like feature-stacking for the sake of it—adding things because they're trendy, not because they solve a problem.
You mentioned the TV turning itself on. That's not a minor bug, is it?
No. It's genuinely unsettling. You press power, the TV goes dark, and then at some random moment it's back on. I couldn't even figure out what triggered it. The only solution was to disable all the smart features, which is absurd.
But the picture itself—you said it was excellent. How much does that redeem the software problems?
It redeems it enough that you'd want to own the TV. But it doesn't redeem it enough that you'd want to use it. There's a real gap between what the hardware can do and what the software lets you do.
The Magic Remote sounds like a design failure. Did LG test this with actual people?
The inconsistent directional buttons suggest they didn't, or they did and ignored the feedback. It's a remote that makes you work harder than you should have to.
So your recommendation is to buy the TV but use something else to stream?
Exactly. The C6 is a display first. Treat it that way. Plug in an Apple TV 4K and let the LG do what it's genuinely good at—showing you a picture that's worth watching.