I have a confession to make.
Up until last month my partner and I had a TV so old that we had to use a HDMI cable to hook up our laptops to it just to watch Netflix and 7Plus.
Where plenty of my friends were talking about their exciting new fire stick or the Apple TV they’d just connected to, I was shamefully hiding my secret double life as a 70-year-old grandmother who regularly watches Escape To The Country on a Sunday night (It’s on 7Two if you’re interested).
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When we moved house a lot of our furnishings came with us but it became acutely apparent that we’d outgrown our television and needed to get an upgrade. And stat.
There are plenty of smart TVs on the market but for the average consumer we’re not looking for so many remote control buttons you don’t know where to start, or a certain number of pixels — the main excitement comes from connectivity and being able to switch between apps quickly.
Best in class range of tech
Enter LG’s range of G4 4K OLED TVs.
The G4 range comes in a range of sizes but the so-called smaller size 55” was the perfect look on top of our Koala TV cabinet.
Now the work after the purchase of a new piece of tech actually starts from the day you get it delivered, and boy was that a seamless process.
I live in a top floor apartment so it was no easy feat getting a couple of enormous boxes up more than 50 stairs but the two delivery men who handled my products did it with ease.
They actually assured me that this wasn’t the most difficult delivery job they’d ever been tasked with.
After splaying out a number of boxes on our living room floor they set to work setting it up on top of our TV cabinet, quietly working in the background and picking up polystyrene foam as they did so.
Ten minutes later the TV and the S95TR soundbar that we opted to get with it were all set up and ready to be turned on and enjoyed.
How does it stand out from the rest?
This TV system can easily be wall mounted but because we’d only just moved into our new home — and we’re still super old-school at heart — we’ve actually just left it atop the cabinet with great success.
To get started was extremely simple, we just had to log into each of our main accounts on Netflix and Amazon Prime Video, for example, and once logged in you don’t have to keep signing in every time.
For those who still enjoy live TV (myself included) the guide is easily spotted on the remote control and there is a toggle — much like a computer mouse — that appears and allows you to select the program you’re looking for.
While I’ve decided to watch Gilmore Girls with my newfound excellent TV my partner has been taking full advantage of catching up on the Premier League on Optus Sport.
The visuals are next-level clear and bright on the screen and the S95TR soundbar we added means you don’t actually have to turn the volume controls up very loud to get crystal clear sound.
We haven’t yet hosted a housewarming party, but when we do, that soundbar will be tapped into immediately. It can Bluetooth to your phone and act as a regular speaker too, not just for the TV.
When watching a movie it’s almost the same as sitting in a cinema — surround sound with next level clarity.
You can tailor the sound itself to the space you’ve got the soundbar in too, which comes in handy when I’m not wanting to disturb the neighbours.
The verdict
LG coincidentally is the world’s number one OLED TV brand — OLEDs are used to create digital displays on things like TVs and have a faster response rate than LEDs.
There are minimal cables involved in powering up both devices so you don’t have to worry about it looking anything less than aethetically pleasing.
It’s early days in my smart TV exploration but I think I might have stumbled on the ultimate option for Australians looking to invest in high quality tech that actually performs.
The G4 55” is priced at $4,199 and the S95TR soundbar is $1,699 but currently on sale for $1,399.