LG G2 vs C2 vs B2 vs A2 OLED TV Comparison Review

photos: lg.com

The LG G2 vs C2 vs B2 vs A2 differences are down to the following factors:

1. Do they have a heat sink or not? (Only the LG G2 has.) 
2. Do they have WBE or WBC panel? (The LG G2 and C2 have WBE panels (in the 55-inch class and above) while the LG B2 and A2 have WBC panels.)
3. Do they use α9 (Gen 5) or α7 (Gen. 5) processor? (The LG G2 and C2 use α9 (Gen 5) whereas the LG B2 and A2 use α7 (Gen 5).) 
4. Is the refresh rate 120Hz or 60Hz? (The refresh rate is 120Hz on the LG G2, C2, and B2, whereas the LG A2 has 60Hz refresh rate.)
5. Are their HDMI ports version 2.1 or 2.0? (The LG G2 and C2 only have HDMI 2.1 ports, the LG A2 only has HDMI 2.0 inputs, and the LG B2 has both HDMI 2.0 and 2.1 ports.)

The LG G2 vs C2 differ only because of the heat sink whereas the LG C2 and B2 differ in both the type of panel and image processor. The LG B2 and A2 differ in their refresh rate and HDMI bandwidth.

LG G2 vs C2: Same OLED.EX/evo panels, but a heat sink (and wider pixel aperture) allow the LG G2 to reach up to 1,000 cd/m² in HDR while the lack of a heat sink on the LG C2 limits the peak brightness up to 800 cd/m² (even though it has wider pixel aperture)

The LG G2 can achieve higher peak brightness with HDR content than the LG C2 despite both LG OLED TVs having the latest generation OLED.EX (WBE) panel (in the 55-inch class and above) with wider pixel aperture (alongside the improvements that were brought by the previous generation EVO panel such as utilizing deuterium compounds instead of hydrogen, and having a new green emitting layer for the purpose of increasing the stability and longevity of the organic light emitting diodes).  Based on the wider pixel aperture alone (or Brightness Booster as LG calls it), the LG C2 is able to reach up to 800 cd/m² in small HDR highlights. The LG G2, however, features the Brightness Booster Max (which essentially is a combination of the wider pixel aperture and a heat sink) thanks to which the peak brightness is up to 1,000 cd/m² with HDR content.

LG C2 vs B2: Clearer separation between the red and green spectral regions on the G2/C2 vs B2/A2, but color volume is not improved by much due to limitations of the WOLED technology

As previously mentioned, the LG C2 (and G2) have the latest generation of OLED evo panel (OLED.EX/WBE) whereas the LG B2 (and A2) use previous generation of non-evo OLED panels (WBC). Besides the improvement in the power efficiency (which allows them to reach higher luminance levels without increasing the power consumption), the OLED.EX panels have more clear separation between the red and green spectral regions in comparison to the WBC panel, thus increasing the purity of the primary colors, and the color volume as well. That being said, the difference between the LG C2 vs B2 is rather limited due to the fact that even the latest gen OLED evo panels still have the 4-th white subpixel which tends to dilute colors, especially at higher luminance levels. Furthermore, the LG C2 still uses color filters (as opposed to quantum dots, for example), meaning that despite  having a distinct red and green spectral regions, the peaks are not as narrow as in the blue region. All LG OLED TVs, regardless of the type of panel used, support 10-bit color depth, or in other words can display over a billion color shades.

LG C2 vs B2 vs A2: The wider pixel aperture on LG C2 translates to higher HDR peak brightness in comparison to the B2, albeit only by up to 100 cd/m² (and so is the difference between the LG B2 vs A2)

Even though the LG C2 lacks a heat sink, the wider pixel aperture of the OLED.EX panel (in the 55-inch class and above) alone  is enough for the LG C2 to reach up to 800 cd/m² in small areas of the screen with HDR content vs 700 cd/m² on the LG B2. This doesn't apply to the 42-inch and 48-inch class sizes in the LG C2 series, however. It's not only because smaller sizes tend to be dimmer than its bigger counterparts but also due to the possibility of them using previous generation (WBC) OLED panels (depending on the manufacturing date). Even though the LG B2 and A2 use WBC panels their peak brightness with HDR content is not the same. Specifically, the LG A2 can only reach up to 600 cd/m² in small highlights whereas the LG B2, as previously mentioned, is capable of up to 700  cd/m² in this situation. The brightness advantage can be used to reduce the amount of tone-mapping the TV needs to perform, meaning that HDR content can be shown closer to how the director intended.

LG C2 vs B2: The α9 Gen 5 processor on the LG C2 (and G2) performs 5,000-block Dynamic Tone Mapping Pro while the α7 Gen 5 on the B2 (and A2) can only perform a single block of Dynamic Tone Mapping

The Dynamic Tone Mapping Pro on the LG C2 (and G2) is done over 5,000 blocks of the image resulting in more details in shadows and highlights being revealed. The Alpha 9 Gen 5 processor has an advantage over its Alpha 7 Gen 5 counterpart not only when it comes to generating dynamic metadata for HDR10 content (which only includes static metadata) but also with Dolby Vision content. The reason being is the Dolby Vision IQ with Precision Detail is present on the LG C2 (and G2) but not only the LG B2 (and A2) which omit the Precision Detail technology from the Dolby Vision IQ. As a result, the latter two LG OLED TVs can only use information from the ambient light sensor to broadly adjust Dolby Vision content for the surrounding light conditions but cannot improve visibility in shadows and highlights in the way the LG C2 (and G2) are able to.

LG C2 vs B2: The more powerful processor allows the LG C2 (and G2) to achieve 7.1.2-ch Virtual Surround whereas the LG B2 (and A2) are limited to 5.1.2-ch Virtual Surround

Despite the LG G2 and C2 having identical processing capabilities, the end result of producing virtual surround is not the same because of the different number of speakers that the two LG OLED TVs are equipped with. The LG G2 has a 4.2-channel speaker system (with 60 Watts of audio power output) so it has an advantage in creating virtual 7.1.2-ch surround sound over the LG C2  which in the 48-inch class and above utilizes only 2.2-channel speakers having 40 watts of audio power output, meaning that the virtual 7.1.2-channels are not as immersive. The LG B2 and A2 on the other hand, besides the more limited processing capability in producing virtual surround (only up to 5.1.2-ch),  omit the subwoofers so their on-board audio system is 2.0-channel with 20 Watts of audio power input (the same applies to the 42-inch class C2 model).

LG B2 vs A2: The LG A2 doesn't support VRR and HDMI 2.1 bandwidth due to its refresh rate being 60Hz. Conversely, the LG B2 has 120Hz refresh rate, VRR support, and HDMI 2.1 bandwidth (on two of its HDMI inputs)

The LG G2, C2, and B2 all have refresh rate of 120Hz, and support different Variable Refresh Rate standards such as HDMI forum VRR and AMD FreeSync Premium, in addition to being G-sync compatible. In contrast, the LG A2 doesn't support VRR because of its 60Hz native refresh rate. While all three HDMI inputs on the LG A2 are HDMI 2.0, some features such as ALLM (Auto Low Latency Mode) and eARC (enhanced Audio Return Channel) are nevertheless supported. The LG B2 has two HDMI 2.1  and two HDMI 2.0 ports. The LG G2 and C2 have 4 HDMI 2.1 ports that support 48 Gbps bandwidth, meaning that they can be used for transporting 4K@120Hz feeds with 12-bit color and full 4:4:4 chroma (without subsampling). The same applies to the two HDMI 2.1 inputs on the LG B2.

LG G2 vs C2 vs B2 vs A2:  Comparable input lag, albeit with a slight advantage of the LG G2 and C2

The LG G2 and C2 exhibit identical input lag of approximately 10 ms (with 60Hz signal) whereas the LG B2 and A2 take a bit more to react to your input since the lag is around 11 ms (with 60Hz feed). That difference, however small, disappears completely when it comes to 120Hz signals because the LG G2, C2, and B2 all exhibit about 6 ms of input lag in that case (the LG A2 doesn't support 120Hz feeds).

LG G2 vs C2 vs B2 vs A2: The LG G2 is the only one that includes wall-mount (but not a table-top stand)

Considering the LG G2 is designed to be wall mounted, it's hardly surprising that only a wall-mount is included but there is an optional table-top stand that can be purchased separately. Conversely, the rest of the LG OLED TVs (i.e. C2, B2, and A2) come with table-top stand included but not a wall-mount (they are all VESA compatible, though).