LG’s UP7500 series is a mainstream 4K UHD TV that comes in a wide variety of screen sizes, from 43″ up to 75″. Positioned above the UP7000 and below the UP8000 series, this entry-level UHD TV is equipped with basic connectivity, updated webOS platform, and good picture quality that shows its strengths in a brighter environment for full-screen content.
The design of LG’s model is very simple with a dark grey bezel, two feet, logo, and status LED at the center below the screen. The TV is quite thick – over 8 centimeters since direct LED backlight is implemented behind the screen. All the outer surfaces are made of plastic.
Connectivity is very basic with two HDMIs, one supporting eARC connectivity, one USB, antenna and satellite inputs, Ethernet, Toslink, and a common interface. Wireless connections include Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. Using Bluetooth, you can connect up to four different devices, including gamepads for Sony’s PlayStation or Microsoft Xbox consoles. Cable management is as basic as it gets, with one cable tie supplied in the package.
The TV comes with webOS 6.0 – the latest version of LG’s smart TV platform that started its journey back in 2014. The new platform changed the home menu so that it occupies the entire screen when opened which for some people might not be a step in the right direction. Instead of keeping things simpler, LG made it more complicated but putting too many things on one screen. You can still arrange the position of apps on the app list, but that is as far as the customization goes.
Coming to picture quality, UP7500 performs well within the limits of the IPS panel technology. Colors are well-saturated in the best performing picture modes, the contrast is low which affects mainly movies and TV shows, viewing angles are good, static sharpness is great, and motion resolution is limited. UP7500 doesn’t have advanced features such as local dimming, so even though it uses a direct LED backlight, the contrast is limited to the panel itself.
Even though screen uniformity on my unit was good, the fact that contrast is low could not really create the necessary depth for movies in both SDR and HDR. Samsung’s AU7100 has several times higher contrast and it is a better choice for watching content in a dark environment. The only advantage is the fact that UP7500 can produce a brighter picture – with a peak of over 370 nits. That’s over 100 nits more than what was seen on Samsung’s AU7100, which makes LG a better choice for bright environments.
TV can only cover the standard color gamut, so just like on Samsung’s AU7100, you won’t see deeper colors in HDR content. Related to HDR videos, I like the fact that LG has implemented a control to turn on or off HDR tone mapping, so users can choose whether they want a brighter image with fewer details or vice versa.
UP7500 has a good picture processor so upscaling is without artifacts and stair-stepping effects, interlaced signals are detected correctly and TV has effective noise reduction. There are also many controls for picture adjustment and calibration.
Having a native Ultra HD 4K panel, the sharpness was great in static scenes. In motion, due to a 60 Hz panel, a loss of details is visible, similar to Samsung AU7100. However, IPS panels are known to perform almost the same in both bright and dark scenes and this was the case here as well. So compared to Samsung’s AU7100 and its VA panel that gets worse in dark scenes, LG has an advantage here.
UP7500 is well-equipped for gaming. There is a Game optimizer mode with low input lag, auto low latency mode, and HGiG option for HDR games. It’s perfect for gaming with no blur or dirty screen effect. For PC usage, full-color resolution is supported in PC mode.
The sound quality was basic with two down-firing speakers that cover mainly the midrange, without bass or high frequencies. You will get a much better sound if you connect the TV to an external audio system. The TV doesn’t support Dolby Atmos or DTS through its media player or apps and stereo sound is only available when using HDMI ARC connectivity.
To conclude, LG’s UP7500 is a decent mainstream 4K UHD TV with basic connectivity, updated webOS platform, and good picture quality mainly that shows its strengths in a brighter environment for full-screen content. It’s recommended for those who are not mainly interested in watching movies in dark rooms. For those TVs with VA panel types are a better choice. One example is Samsung AU7100.
Thanks to the Croatian retailer Links for sending the TV for testing. You can check out their large selection of products on www.links.hr.