LG C4 55-inch OLED Review: Still Worth Buying at Run-Out Prices?
The set you are looking at is the OLED55C44LA — LG's 2024 C4 in its UK trim. It has been replaced twice over, by the C5 in 2025 and the C6 this year, and that is exactly why people are still buying it: a television that launched at £1,900 is changing hands around the £1,000 mark. We have put the measured numbers, the running cost and today's prices in one place so you can judge whether the run-out is a bargain or a bin-end.
Where the reviews line up
Three very different kinds of evidence, and they point the same way. TechRadar put a C4 on a meter and published the figures. The long-running owners' thread at AVForums — 762 posts and counting since May 2024 — is where the complaints live. And AO's verified buyers, 67 of them, tell you what people think once the box is in the skip.
It is brighter than the C3, and that is the upgrade. TechRadar measured 1,065 nits on a 10% HDR window against 830 for the C3, and 202 nits full-screen against 163. FlatpanelsHD, testing separately, got roughly 1,100 nits and called it a 25% gain. Nobody disputes the direction; the exact number depends on whose meter you read, and both labs tested the 65-inch.
The gaming spec is the least compromised part of the set. All four HDMI ports are 2.1 at full bandwidth, so 4K at 120Hz on every input, VRR up to 144Hz, ALLM, G-Sync and FreeSync compatibility, and Dolby Vision game mode. TechRadar measured input lag at 11.9ms in Game Optimiser and 9.2ms in Boost. That is a specification the 2026 mid-range still has not meaningfully beaten below £1,200.
Two honest deductions. This is a WOLED evo panel without the MLA layer the G-series gets, so it is bright for a C-class set rather than bright full stop. And forum owners keep coming back to two things: raised black levels when VRR is running, and soft, mushy pictures on low-bitrate broadcast and streaming — the α9 Gen7 processor does not rescue bad sources the way the G4's chip does.
The buying decision is price, not picture. At £999–£1,079 against £1,599 for a 55-inch C6 at Currys today, the C4 is the better pound-for-pound buy. At anything near its old £1,900 RRP it is not — and stock is now thin enough that John Lewis and Currys' own listings come back empty.
The three reviews this summary is built from
- TechRadarLab-measured brightness, colour gamut and input lag on a 65-inch C4. Al Griffin, 1 June 2024.
- AVForums owners' thread762 posts over 31 pages since 17 May 2024 — the green tint, the VRR blacks, the stand that costs extra.
- AO verified buyers4.9/5 from 67 reviews on the OLED55C44LA, checked 19 September 2026.
Before the review: which C4 is this?
LG sells the same panel under several UK part numbers. OLED55C44LA is the standard UK 55-inch C4 (the .AEK suffix is the retail box). OLED55C46LA is the same television in a different retail variant, and you will also see .US60T and .USC9S codes where the TV is bundled with an LG soundbar. American reviews quote OLED55C4PUA — same panel, different tuner and smart platform region. Check the letters before you compare prices, because a bundle price is not a television price.
Specification at a glance
| Spec | Figure | Confidence |
|---|---|---|
| Model | LG OLED55C44LA (C4 evo, 2024) | LG UK product page, 19 Sep 2026 |
| Panel | 55in 4K WOLED “OLED evo”, no MLA layer — that is a G-series feature | FlatpanelsHD states WOLED without MLA |
| Processor | α9 AI Processor 4K Gen7 | LG UK; Currys repeats it |
| Refresh rate | 120Hz native panel; VRR up to 144Hz | LG UK |
| Peak brightness, HDR 10% window | 1,065 nits (TechRadar) · about 1,100 nits (FlatpanelsHD) · about 998 nits (Smart Home Sounds) | Three published figures, all on the 65-inch. Nobody has published a 55-inch measurement |
| Full-screen white | 202 nits HDR (TechRadar); over 200 nits SDR (FlatpanelsHD) | Two labs, same ballpark |
| Colour gamut | 98.7% DCI-P3 · 72.7% BT.2020 | TechRadar measurement |
| Input lag | 11.9ms Game Optimiser · 9.2ms Boost | TechRadar |
| HDMI | 4 × HDMI 2.1, 48Gbps, 4K/120Hz on every port, eARC, VRR, ALLM, QMS | LG UK and What Hi-Fi agree |
| Gaming | G-Sync Compatible, AMD FreeSync, Game Optimiser dashboard, Dolby Vision game mode | LG UK; 144Hz Nvidia-certified per TechRadar |
| Energy class | G (SDR and HDR) | LG UK lists Grade G; AO repeats it |
| Energy use | 81 kWh/1000h SDR · 162 kWh/1000h HDR | AO product listing, 19 Sep 2026 |
| Measured draw | Just under 60W average, SDR calibrated | FlatpanelsHD, on the 65-inch — the 55 will draw less |
| Dimensions without stand | 1222 × 703 × 45.1 mm (W × H × D) | LG UK |
| Dimensions with stand | 1222 × 757 × 230 mm (W × H × D) | LG UK. AO lists 122.2 × 70.3 × 4.6 cm as “with stand” — those are the stand-off figures |
| Stand footprint | 470 × 230 mm central pedestal | LG UK. The feet sit centrally, so the unit needs 23cm of depth but not the full 122cm of width |
| Weight | 14.1 kg without stand · 16.0 kg with | LG UK |
| Wall mount | VESA 300 × 200 | LG UK |
| Sound | 2.2-channel, 40W, Dolby Atmos, virtual 9.1.2 | Currys spec; TechRadar rates it good but bass-light |
| Software | webOS 24, five years of OS upgrades promised | LG UK |
| Warranty | 1 year manufacturer (AO) — but Currys Business advertised a 5-year guarantee | LG's 5-year panel warranty covers G, M, W and Z series, not C. See below |
| UK launch RRP | £1,900 for the 55-inch, April 2024 | AVForums' UK pricing announcement, 3 Apr 2024 |
| Price today | £1,079 at AO (£971 member) · £999 Richer Sounds in-store clearance | Both checked 19 September 2026 |
TechRadar
This is the measurement we have leaned on hardest, because it is specific and repeatable rather than impressionistic. On a 10% HDR window TechRadar recorded 1,065 nits, against 830 for the outgoing C3 — a genuine generational jump rather than a marketing one. Full-screen white came in at 202 nits, up from 163. Colour coverage was 98.7% of DCI-P3 and 72.7% of BT.2020, which is what you want to see on a set you will use for films. Input lag was 11.9ms in Game Optimiser and 9.2ms in Boost mode.
Two caveats matter. The set tested was the 65-inch, reviewed at £2,699 — no lab we found has published a measured figure for the 55-inch specifically, and smaller OLED panels typically do not hit the larger ones' peaks. And TechRadar's brightness figure is not the only one on record: FlatpanelsHD's Torben Rasmussen measured roughly 1,100 nits on 17 June 2024 and framed it as a 25% gain on the C3, while the retailer Smart Home Sounds quotes around 998 nits in its C4-versus-C5 comparison. We have printed all three rather than pick one. TechRadar's sound verdict is worth having too: good for a flat panel, but limited bass dynamics, which is the standard OLED tax.
Watch: LG C4 OLED TV Review | My Best Compliment Yet?
A full editorial-style video review of the C4. We could not open it to confirm the channel, so treat the attribution as provisional.
Watch on YouTube ↗AVForums owners' thread
A two-year thread is more useful than a launch review, because the problems that are still being posted about in year two are the real ones. Four keep recurring. Raised black levels with VRR running — an artefact FlatpanelsHD also flagged, so it is not a forum myth. Soft, out-of-focus pictures on compressed broadcast and streaming, which is the α9 Gen7's limitation: the better processing stayed on the G4. Off-axis green tint, reported by RTINGS and argued over at length — notably, AVForums' own reviewer said he could not see it on his sample, which is the honest state of that question. And viewing angles some owners rate worse than the C3's.
The practical grumbles are worth as much. The stand is not free in every market (one poster quotes €120), the remote gets called cheap plastic, and there are scattered reports of lip-sync drift on streaming apps. Burn-in comes up, as it always does on OLED threads, without anyone producing a burned C4 — the mitigation features are acknowledged, and the honest answer is that two years is too early to tell. The thread's own conclusion, repeatedly, is a value one: when the G3 was £1,800 for a 65-inch with MLA, forum regulars said buy that instead. Apply the same logic today and the question is simply what the C4 costs against a C5 or C6 in front of you.
Watch: LG C4: A Straightforward Review (After 6 Months)
A long-term owner review at six months, which is the closest video equivalent of what the forum thread is telling you.
Watch on YouTube ↗AO verified buyers
Sixty-seven is a small sample and 4.9/5 is a high score on a page that sells the product, so treat it as a sentiment check rather than evidence. What it is good for is confirming that the thing people buy it for is the thing they get: picture quality for films and games, described in the concrete terms owners use — deep blacks, bright whites, vivid colour, crisp detail. Nobody in the visible reviews is complaining about the panel.
The listing is also where the numbers that decide the bill live. AO publishes the energy class G and, unusually for a UK retailer, both consumption figures: 81 kWh per 1,000 hours in SDR and 162 kWh per 1,000 hours in HDR. That is our arithmetic, not AO's, but at 25p a unit 1,000 hours of ordinary viewing costs about £20 and 1,000 hours of HDR about £40.50. Three hours of telly a night for a year is roughly 1,100 hours, so you are looking at £20-odd a year for most households and rather more if everything you watch is HDR. FlatpanelsHD's measured draw — just under 60W average in a calibrated SDR mode on the larger 65-inch — is consistent with that.
AO also states a one-year manufacturer warranty, and that matters more than it sounds. LG's advertised five-year UK OLED warranty covers the G, M, W and Z series only, and even there it is panel-only after year one with labour chargeable. The C-series is not on that list. Currys Business's C4 listing advertised a five-year guarantee, which is a retailer promise rather than LG's — so if a long guarantee is part of why you are buying, get it in writing from the shop, not from the brand.
Watch: LG C4 OLED TV Review: Best TV for Movies & Gaming?
The films-and-gaming framing that matches what buyers say they bought it for. Confirmed by search listing only.
Watch on YouTube ↗What it costs today, and what replaced it
The C4 launched in April 2024 at £1,900 for the 55-inch, in a range that ran £1,399 for the 42 up to £5,999 for the 83. Here is where it stood on 19 September 2026:
| Where | Price on 19 Sep 2026 | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| AO | £1,079 (£971 with AO membership), was £1,199 | In stock, 1-year manufacturer warranty stated |
| Richer Sounds | £999 guide price | In-store clearance only. No mail order, no transfers, may show marks or be missing accessories; 12-month guarantee, no extended cover available |
| Currys | Not listed | The 55-inch C4 no longer appears; Currys Business shows it out of stock. Currys is selling a 55-inch LG C6 at £1,599 with a 5-year guarantee |
| John Lewis | Not listed | C4 searches return no stock at 55 inches |
Two generations have landed since. The C5 arrived in spring 2025 at the same RRP ladder (£1,399 to £5,999) with the α9 Gen8 processor, webOS 25 and roughly 1,174 nits against the C4's figure — better upscaling and tone mapping, an identical gaming specification. The C6 is the 2026 set, moving to the α11 Gen3 processor with a C6H variant using RGB tandem OLED and a standard C6 with MLA, and 165Hz gaming. Both are real improvements. Neither changes what you get out of an HDMI 2.1 port.
Our read: at £999–£1,079 the C4 is around 55% of what the current 55-inch C6 costs at Currys, for a set whose gaming specification is unchanged and whose measured brightness is within a couple of hundred nits. That is a good buy. The run-out risk is not the television, it is the transaction: clearance stock, thin availability, and warranties that vary by shop rather than by brand.
Strengths and weak points
What holds up
- Measured 1,065 nits on a 10% HDR window (TechRadar), up from 830 on the C3 — a real jump, corroborated at about 1,100 nits by FlatpanelsHD.
- 98.7% DCI-P3 coverage: films look the way the colourist meant them to.
- Four full-bandwidth HDMI 2.1 ports, so it does not matter which one the console lands in.
- 144Hz VRR, ALLM, G-Sync and FreeSync, and 9.2ms input lag in Boost.
- 14.1 kg without the stand is a one-person wall mount on a 300 × 200 VESA plate.
- 81 kWh per 1,000 hours in SDR — about £20 a year of electricity for most viewing habits.
- webOS 24 with five years of OS updates promised, which matters on a set you are buying late in its life.
What people complain about
- No MLA layer — this is bright for a C-class OLED, not bright like a G4 or a modern Mini LED.
- Raised black levels when VRR is active, reported by owners and by FlatpanelsHD.
- Soft pictures on low-bitrate broadcast and streaming; the better processing stayed on the G4.
- Off-axis green tint reported by RTINGS and argued over on AVForums — the AVForums reviewer did not see it on his sample.
- Energy class G, and 162 kWh per 1,000 hours if you watch HDR all the time.
- One year of LG warranty. The five-year OLED panel warranty is a G, M, W and Z series promise, not a C-series one.
- Stock is going: Currys and John Lewis no longer list the 55-inch, and Richer Sounds' price is in-store clearance.
Who it actually suits
Buy it if you want a 55-inch OLED for films and console gaming at around £1,000 and you are happy that a 2024 set with a five-year software promise will still be current in 2029. If you have a PS5 or a Series X and a PC, the four-port HDMI 2.1 arrangement is worth more to you day to day than the extra few hundred nits on a C6. Check the stand: the pedestal is 470 × 230 mm and sits centrally, so the unit needs 23cm of depth and enough strength under the middle, not 122cm of width.
Look elsewhere if the room is bright all day — a WOLED without MLA at around 200 nits full-screen is a compromise in sunlight, and a Mini LED will beat it on raw output for the money. Also look elsewhere if a long guarantee is central to the purchase, because on this model that comes from the retailer, not from LG, and the shops with the cheapest C4s are the ones offering twelve months. And if the price gap to a C5 or C6 narrows to a couple of hundred pounds, buy the newer set: the C5's processing genuinely is better, and it will be supported for longer.
What we could not check
- The videos. YouTube would not open for us, so all three videos on this page were confirmed by their exact watch URL and title appearing in two differently-worded search listings — not by us pressing play. Two of the three listings did not show a channel name at all, and the Digital Trends attribution on the first is inferred from a search that named the publisher plus a syndicated copy of the same headline. Treat channel names here as provisional.
- Any measured figure for the 55-inch specifically. Every brightness, gamut and lag number on this page was taken on the 65-inch C4. The panels are the same generation, but they are not the same panel.
- Three different brightness figures. 1,065 nits (TechRadar), about 1,100 (FlatpanelsHD), about 998 (Smart Home Sounds). We have printed all three and named who published each. We cannot reconcile them.
- Noise, heat and panel uniformity out of the box. Nobody publishes these for OLED in a form we could quote.
- Burn-in over five years. No source has a C4 old enough to answer it.
- The warranty conflict. AO states one year, Currys Business advertised five. LG's own five-year OLED page lists G, M, W and Z series only, with panel-only cover after year one. We could not find an LG page stating the C-series term in as many words, so ask the shop before you pay.
- A dated Currys and John Lewis price. Neither retailer would return a live 55-inch C4 listing on 19 September 2026, so we cannot give you their prices — only that Currys sells a 55-inch C6 at £1,599.
- Richer Sounds' exact price and condition. £999 is a guide; the listing says stock varies by condition and tells you to contact the branch.
- Price comparison sites. idealo.co.uk was blocked to us, so the “from £999.99” figure in its search listing is unverified.
- Running cost at your tariff. The £20 and £40.50 per 1,000 hours are our own arithmetic at an assumed 25p a unit, not a published figure. Use your own rate.
Sources last checked 19 September 2026. This is a run-out product: prices, stock and which shops still list it are changing week to week. Check the price and the guarantee on the listing in front of you before ordering.