System-on-Chip platforms have long promised to eliminate the need for external media players in digital signage deployments. According to a new benchmark report by SignageOS, LG's latest WebOS 9.0 platform reached a new milestone. The premium UP5Q series became the first display platform in the history of the SignageOS benchmark program to successfully pass all test scenarios, providing a new reference point for SoC-based digital signage.
PC-Parity: LG Sets New Standards for SoC Performance
For digital signage integrators, CMS providers and end users, the report delivers a detailed workload-by-workload analysis of LG’s two webOS 9.0 hardware tiers and highlights where an integrated SoC is sufficient and where an external media player may still add value.
First display platform to pass every benchmark
Published by SignageOS in cooperation with content provider Screenfeed, the report evaluates LG’s latest professional display portfolio powered by WebOS 9.0. The standout performer is the LG UP5Q series, which passed all 60 benchmark scenarios, a first across all platforms tested since the benchmark program was launched seven years ago. That puts LG’s premium digital signage screen en par with the performance of a current Windows PC.
Notably, the UP5Q was also the first webOS-based display to achieve gapless UHD playback in both landscape and portrait orientations using H.265 encoded video. According to the results, the platform showed no measurable performance degradation when moving from Full HD to UHD workloads.
The display further passed all three of Screenfeed’s real-world HTML5 workloads, including demanding content scenarios featuring news, weather and sports applications with dozens of simultaneously animated elements.
Two hardware tiers, one operating system
One of the most interesting findings of the report is the distinction LG has created within the WebOS 9.0 ecosystem.
While both the UH5Q and UP5Q series run the same operating system, they target different performance requirements. The mainstream-oriented UH5Q successfully passed 54 of 60 test scenarios, achieving a 90 percent score overall. Five of its six missed scenarios were linked to UHD workloads, while the remaining challenge came from the most demanding HTML5 benchmark.
Importantly, the UH5Q passed every Full HD video scenario, including:
- Multi-playlist playback
- Mixed media content
- Streaming applications
- Synchronized video wall deployments
For many everyday signage use cases, these results suggest that the UH5Q provides more than sufficient performance. However, projects involving UHD playback, browser-intensive applications or advanced mixed-content scenarios benefit from the additional processing power offered by the UP5Q platform.
A more practical approach to benchmarking
Rather than relying on a single aggregated score, the report divides results into 15 individual test groups, allowing stakeholders to match performance directly to deployment requirements.
For example, a customer planning a Full HD menu board network can evaluate different criteria than an operator deploying a UHD corporate lobby display or a synchronized multi-screen video wall. The granular approach makes it easier for integrators and end users to determine which hardware tier best matches their content strategy.
The benchmark also compares both LG display tiers against a dedicated Windows 11-based media player, providing a useful reference for projects where external computing power remains part of the design consideration.
SoCs continue to close the gap
The report highlights the rapid evolution of integrated signage platforms over the past decade.
“Every SoC generation we benchmark closes gaps the previous one couldn’t,” said Lukas Danek, CPO and co-founder of SignageOS. “WebOS 4.0 struggled with simultaneous playlists, WebOS 6.0 solved that but not UHD, and now UP5Q has closed that gap too. The takeaway for buyers is that SoC displays are no longer catching up to mainstream signage needs. They’ve moved past them, and the question has become how much headroom you want for what’s next.”
The statement reflects a broader industry trend. As modern SoCs become increasingly powerful, the traditional argument for external media players becomes less compelling for a growing number of deployments. Especially in current times, where memory prices have tremendously driven up external media prices.
While the largest experiential installations, AI-driven applications and highly interactive projects may still require dedicated computing hardware, many mainstream digital signage deployments can now run natively on the display itself.
What it means for the market
For LG, the report provides independent validation of its WebOS strategy and reinforces the company’s position among leading SoC-based signage platforms. For integrators, the benchmark delivers practical guidance when specifying hardware for different project scales and content demands.
Perhaps most importantly, the findings suggest that the industry has reached a new phase in SoC development. The discussion is shifting away from whether integrated platforms are capable enough and toward determining which performance tier offers the right balance of cost, scalability and future-proofing.