LG C5 65" OLED evo

The C5 is the TV LG should have shipped a year ago. Same C-series formula as the C4, but with the α9 AI Gen 8 processor inside, four full HDMI 2.1 ports running 144Hz, and ClearMR 9000 motion certification. Replaces the C4 in LG's 2025 OLED lineup. If you were holding off on the C4 because it felt like a refinement rather than a generational leap, the C5 is the one to bring home.

The Australian street price story

Launched April 2025 with a recommended retail price (RRP) of $3,395. By May 2026 it is sitting at $2,599 across JB Hi-Fi, Harvey Norman, The Good Guys, Bing Lee, Retravision, and Appliance Central. That is organic LED (OLED) picture at quantum dot LED (QLED) prices for the first time. Watch for OzBargain runs that drop another 5 to 8 per cent during end of financial year (EOFY) and Click Frenzy. If you want OLED and you have been waiting for the price to make sense, this is the moment.

Picture quality in a real Australian lounge

Drop this in a west-facing lounge room at 4pm in summer. The C5 holds its own better than the C4 did. Peak high dynamic range (HDR) on a small specular highlight clears 1,500 nits, which is enough for sun-flare shots on NRL footy or cricket on the grass. Where it still loses to a Samsung Q80F or QN90F is sustained full-field brightness in a bright room. If your living room has unmanaged direct afternoon sun, a Mini-LED QLED is honestly still the right call.

In a controlled-light room the C5 is unbeatable. Load up a SBS On Demand episode of something dark, Wallander or the latest Nordic crime drama, and watch shadows resolve without crushing or lift. Black is properly black. The α9 Gen 8 upscaler is a noticeable step up over the C4's Gen 7, especially on lower-bitrate streaming from Stan, Binge, or 7Plus, where the difference between adequate and clean shows up immediately.

Gaming is where the C5 lifts the bar

Four HDMI 2.1 ports at 40Gbps, 144Hz refresh, 0.1ms response, NVIDIA G-Sync compatible, AMD FreeSync Premium, auto low latency mode (ALLM), variable refresh rate (VRR). ClearMR 9000 certified. If you have a PS5 Pro or a current PC, the C5 is genuinely as capable as the G5 for gaming. The only thing the G5 buys you is brighter sustained output and the matte anti-glare finish; the gaming pipeline is identical.

Motion and sport

Test cricket on the grass at the SCG, AFL marks taken at the MCG, MotoGP at Phillip Island. The C5 handles fast pan and pursuit motion without the smearing or judder that cheaper sets give you. OLED's per-pixel response time means there is no liquid crystal display (LCD)-style motion blur to interpolate around. LG's TruMotion processing has been polished further in the Gen 8 silicon, so soap-opera-effect overcorrection is now genuinely tuneable.

webOS 25 and the five-year update promise

LG has committed to five years of webOS upgrades on the C5, which is the longest software window any 2025 OLED carries. That is genuine value, given Samsung, Sony, and Hisense have all been less specific about lifecycle commitments. If you intend to keep this TV until 2030, that promise matters.

Burn-in, the OLED conversation that never goes away

Static content burn-in remains a real OLED risk. The C5 has the same suite of mitigations as the C4: pixel refresh, screen shift, logo dimming, ABL. None of these are perfect. If you watch six hours of a 24-hour news channel every day with the static ticker visible, you will eventually see ghosting. For most people watching mixed content, you will never see it within the consumer guarantee lifespan window. Use the auto screen-saver settings, do not pause Netflix and walk away for two hours, and you will be fine.

Your rights under Australian Consumer Law

At $2,599 street this is premium-tier money. Australian Consumer Law reasonable lifespan expectations for a TV at this price land around 7 to 10 years. LG's 1-year manufacturer warranty is the floor, not the ceiling. If the panel develops burn-in inside that window, HDMI ports stop accepting signal, or you get pixel failure clusters, that is a consumer guarantee claim. Make it against the retailer you bought from. JB Hi-Fi, Harvey Norman, The Good Guys, Bing Lee all have to handle the claim themselves under the ACL and cannot redirect you back to LG support as a substitute for their own obligations. Bring your receipt, document the fault with photos, and start with the store's customer service team.