TCL C6KS / C69KS / Q6CS vs LG OLED G6 (G64LW, G66LS)

And what about HDR? Here the C6KS performs quite well and – as is becoming the theme of this review – just like in the C6K model. The maximum brightness generated by this television is around 600 nits. In bright scenes, this translates to a really solid, cinematic effect and generally, video materials look good here. However, it's important to keep in mind the specifics of the dimming algorithm in this model. When very small, bright points (e.g. stars) appear on a dark background, the television can quite significantly dim them. The goal is simple: to eliminate blooming and maintain the best possible black. It's a reasonable compromise. Most viewers will definitely appreciate deep, “true black” more than additional microscopic details, the display of which could cause the screen to appear greyed out. Such is the nature of local dimming technology in this price range, and one must be aware of this. It’s also worth noting that the TCL C69KS (C6KS) has an additional PFS coating, which is marketed under the QLED technology slogan. Thanks to this, the colours are saturated and vibrant – our measurements showed that the coverage of a wide colour gamut reaches as much as 92%.

The LG G6 is currently one of the brightest OLEDs on the market. Its peak brightness reaches nearly 2500 nits and, best of all, this translates directly to real movie scenes. The TV flawlessly extracts details in the bright areas of the image. And this is regardless of whether we are talking about very small points in the form of stars in the sky or slightly larger elements on the screen. Naturally, with full-screen, uniformly white scenes, the brightness of the G6 drops due to the panel protection system (ABL). However, in real, varied movie shots, this value still hovers around an impressive 2000 nits, which can be considered a remarkable result. The coverage of the color palette also deserves praise. The new 2nd generation Tandem OLED panel has brought about only a cosmetic change, but still an improvement. The coverage of the DCI-P3 color space reaches nearly 99.5%, while the ultra-wide BT.2020 is around 84%. These are very good results, although it's important to remember one thing: at extremely high brightness levels, the volume of colors will be lower than in QD-OLED panels from Samsung Display due to the use of white sub-pixels (WOLED). However, in everyday content and most films, capturing this difference will be very difficult.

In contrast to the more expensive C6K model, in the tested C6KS we don't find an option in the menu labelled as Filmmaker Mode. Is this a reason to cry? Absolutely not. Our tests showed that in practice, in terms of colour reproduction, the lack of this specific label makes virtually no difference. The best available Film/Cinema mode here offers an almost identical picture profile to the aforementioned Filmmaker in the more expensive model. So we get a very similar image, just under a different name. Therefore, if you were wondering whether paying extra for the C6K would give you better colours – the answer is: no, in both cases the base is the same and requires slight adjustments.

We tested the LG G6 in the best factory mode for colour fidelity, which is FILMMAKER MODE. In the case of our test unit, this mode was reasonably well tuned straight out of the box. In SDR content, the only issue we noticed was the white balance, which leaned towards warmer tones. This made the image occasionally appear slightly yellowish, but overall, it wasn't a significant problem. The G6 performed a bit worse in HDR content. There, the white balance showed too much blue component. This caused the image to veer towards cooler shades, resulting in quite noticeable errors. As can be seen on our ColorChecker chart, the colours shifted towards these cooler registers. Nevertheless, considering the factory settings, the television presented a perfectly decent level. However, we know that OLED screens – particularly those from LG – respond exceptionally well to professional calibration, so we immediately proceeded to do just that.

Thanks to the white balance adjustment, the C69KS's tendency to distort colours has been effectively limited, leading to a very good final effect. After calibration, we will no longer see excessive warmth in SDR scenes or overly cool tones in HDR. However, it is worth noting the brightness characteristic. In SDR content, there are hardly any objections – the image looks very good, especially in older films, TV shows, or YouTube materials. Evaluating the television's performance in HDR is much more difficult. Analysis of the EOTF curve suggests correct behaviour, but its practical variant shows certain limitations. The C69KS can overly brighten the smallest elements of the frame, while at other times it can dim the entire scene. Calibration has therefore brought clear benefits in terms of colour, but certain limitations resulting from local dimming and the way it is controlled by the C69KS cannot be avoided, which we also observed in the C6K test.

After completing a professional calibration, we gained complete control over the panel, and we managed to align all parameters to nearly zero. We were able to tune the white balance perfectly, which removed the factory's cool and warm tints from the screen. The effects are visibly clear in the ColorChecker test – the average colour reproduction errors dropped below the critical value of 1-2. And what does this mean? PERFECT colours, without any distortion! However, as a reviewer’s duty, we must point out how the LG G6 arbitrarily manipulates brightness, which is due to the EOTF curve's behavior. When we look at the standard synthetic graph, it might seem that the line is quite straight. However, the situation changes when we turn on the measurement filter, which shows how the television interprets brightness in actual, moving film scenes (EOTF in MOVIES). Then, it is clear as day that some of the smallest fragments on the screen are slightly overly brightened by the algorithm. Of course, for the average viewer, such a deviation will practically go unnoticed, but in the test of such an expensive screen, it’s worth noting – especially since we are talking about a model that has huge aspirations for the title of the best television of the year.

The C69KS handles upscaling quite well. The tested 576p content looks surprisingly decent – a considerable amount of detail is preserved, and the algorithm adds a subtle ‘rounding’ effect to sharp edges, making the image appear more cohesive. However, it doesn't perform as well when it comes to smoothing tonal transitions. The television practically cannot improve them, leaving the image in a rather raw state. With older materials, this can be simply exhausting, as the lack of additional processing highlights all imperfections.

No matter what one might say about the G6's issues with near-black signal, it must be fairly acknowledged that it handles heavily compressed material and lower resolution content extremely well. All unwanted, ugly tonal transitions are effectively reduced here by the "Smooth Gradation" feature. At the "Low" setting, the algorithm works flawlessly – effectively masking the artifacts resulting from strong compression without destroying the sharpness and details in the frame. Higher levels of this feature do further smooth the image, but they start to blur the real texture elements of the objects, so we recommend keeping this slider at a low level. As for the actual upscaling to 4K, the processor does an excellent job – edge sharpness and detail reconstruction are at the highest level, and in this respect, the G6 is on par with the global leaders.

C69KS offers a simplified motion enhancement panel in movies, allowing users to adjust the intensity of the effect using a slider. This makes it easy to tailor the smoothness to personal preferences. It also deserves credit for the ability to utilise higher refresh rates – even though the panel operates natively in 4K at 60 Hz, by lowering the resolution to 1440p, modes of 120 and 144 Hz can be enabled, on both consoles and PC. This sounds like great news, however, in practice, the image at these settings trails exceptionally badly. The effect is so pronounced that the overall experience simply appears mediocre and loses its appeal in everyday use.

The LG G6 is an OLED television, so in the category of motion fluidity, it traditionally deserves the highest marks. The TV supports very high refresh rates of up to 165 Hz in 4K resolution, but most importantly – there are absolutely no signs of blurring on the screen. The response time of the matrix is virtually instant, ensuring that dynamic images remain perfectly sharp.

If we overlook the smudging and lack of native 4K at 120 Hz, the C69KS is impressive in how well it performs for gaming. You get everything you would expect from a gaming TV: Variable Refresh Rate (VRR), Auto Low Latency Mode (ALLM), Dolby Vision Gaming mode, and a consistently functioning HGiG. The TV can also operate at 120 or even 144 Hz at lower resolutions, making gameplay on console or PC smoother. Additionally, there's a clear Game Bar that allows you to quickly check key settings while gaming. As a result — despite a few limitations — the C69KS can be a genuinely successful screen for gamers.

The LG G6 is a true beast for gamers and one of the best-equipped TVs on the market in this regard. The manufacturer didn't compromise and equipped this model with four full HDMI 2.1 ports with a maximum bandwidth of 48 Gbps. This means that no matter which port you plug in your PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, or powerful PC, you'll get the absolute maximum performance out of them.

The TV supports a full suite of gaming technologies: from VRR (Variable Refresh Rate), to AMD FreeSync Premium Pro, and Nvidia G-Sync Compatible. Let's add to that a remarkably low, almost imperceptible input lag and an excellently functioning game panel (Game Optimizer), which allows you to constantly monitor signal parameters. Gaming on this screen, with the perfect black of OLED and powerful refresh rates, is pure pleasure.