LG 55 B4 vs Samsung U8000F (IPS)

The brightness results in HDR materials LG B4 are very good. It is true that none of them exceed 1000 nits, although the luminance stability is excellent and looks practically the same in every scenario. The only moment where the tested television performs worse is the last scene, although this should not come as a surprise. Large frames filled with a lot of white have always been, and will likely continue to be, somewhat of a weakness for OLED televisions. However, the combination of perfect contrast, black levels, and brightness in the LG B4 allows for a full spectrum of the HDR effect. Additionally, the incredibly high coverage of the DCI-P3 colour gamut, which reached 99%, deserves recognition. As a result, colours look incredibly vibrant and stunning.

Better doesn't mean good – and that's exactly how you can sum up the capabilities of the U8092F when it comes to displaying bright movie scenes in HDR mode. The brightness of the panel is just under 250 nits, which is definitely too low to enjoy any light effects. An interesting situation was observed during measurements of the fourth scene from the movie Sicario 2 – the television clearly dimmed the entire screen in an attempt to achieve better black levels (which still remain weak). One could even suggest that the device employs some form of "global dimming," but unfortunately – the effects are still very poor. To make matters worse, the television does not support a wide colour gamut – the coverage of the DCI-P3 space is around 80%, so don’t count on truly vibrant colours. The HDR image here looks more like slightly brightened SDR, and that’s the approach we would suggest you stick to when it comes to this television.

The best factory mode prepared by the manufacturer is "Filmmaker," and we used it throughout the entire testing procedure. We must admit that the unit we received straight out of the box had quite decent colour reproduction. The biggest issue in both SDR and HDR content turned out to be white balance. In the former, there was a strong dominance of red, resulting in a noticeable yellow tint in the displayed image, particularly evident on skin tones and whites. In high-quality materials, this colour was also pronounced, but due to a lack of blue, there were also signs of green visible. Besides these shortcomings, we also encountered issues with greyscale and the colours themselves.

Samsung U8000F has been tested in the best possible built-in picture mode on the television, which is Filmmaker Mode. This mode should – at least in theory – provide a cinematic, reference image without unnecessary enhancements. For SDR content (mainly HD/SD), the television presented itself surprisingly well out of the box. White balance errors hovered around a value of 3, which is roughly on the edge of perceptibility. The only criticism could be directed at brightness management – the gamma chart showed a slight tendency to brighten or darken certain sections, but overall it performs quite well for this price segment.

Unfortunately, it looks much worse in HDR mode. Although the white balance was not terrible, the television had significant colour errors – particularly evident on the Color Checker chart, where almost every sample fell outside the target point. The image in HDR simply looks unnatural, and the colours can be shifted, muted, or too cool. This largely stems from the fact that U8000F does not support a wide colour gamut (DCI-P3). The television is physically unable to display correct colours in the HDR standard – and this is unfortunately felt in every more demanding material.

LG B4 has been providing very advanced calibration tools in its TVs for years. We can even say that as the only manufacturer on the market, it allows for such deep intervention in image adjustment. Thanks to these, we were able to calibrate the device so well. The evidence of this is the extremely low deltaE errors, which can be said to stand at a reference level. Both SDR and HDR materials now look exactly as the film director intended. It is no coincidence that TVs of this brand are most often used as preview screens for various graphic or post-production studios.

Even though the U8000F already offered a fairly good picture in SDR straight out of the box, we managed to tweak it a bit more. We were able to remove a slight purple tint and adjust the gamma to a more reasonable level. However, the television still tends to over-brighten the smallest and brightest parts of the image – the gamma chart shows a characteristic "dip" that is hard to fully straighten out.

Unfortunately, the situation looks worse in HDR. It's difficult to talk about any significant improvement here – the television simply isn't designed for HDR content. We tried to adjust the picture in the advanced settings, but despite our efforts, the colour errors remained quite noticeable – a delta E above 7 is already significantly visible deviations. It's a bit unfortunate, but that's the charm of a budget build. In SDR, the U8000F performs reasonably, whereas HDR is simply not its league.

In this paragraph, we will take another look at the tonal transition smoothing feature, but we will also check how the TV handles lower quality material. As we have managed to check, the setting responsible for smooth gradation works quite effectively, although it has its weaker moments. While the feature works well with SDR content, it becomes less useful with HDR content. Even at the lowest of options, it blurs essential details, so we advise against using it.

The image scaling on LG B4 is rated fairly moderately positively. Although there is no edge splitting, the image itself is naturally "soft". We can change this by adjusting the sharpness slider.

When it comes to how the Samsung U8000F handles lower quality materials, we must admit that Samsung has made progress compared to its predecessor from last year – the DU7192 model, which theoretically occupies the same place in the offering.

This year's model has been equipped with a function to improve the smoothness of tonal transitions, which has been implemented significantly better than last year. Yes, the TV still uses quite strong algorithms that can distort details or remove film grain, but even so – it can be confidently said that it operates effectively.

However, not everything has gone perfectly. The U8000F has noticeable issues with slight frame stuttering when watching very old content in very low resolution. If someone plans to play their old VHS tape, they must be aware that the picture may appear slightly "choppy".

The maximum refresh rate we can set on the LG B4 is 120 Hz. This is the absolute minimum for those who require high image smoothness. The manufacturer has implemented a multi-level motion smoother called "TruMotion". It has been divided into two separate sliders that adjust the sharpness of moving images (De-Blur) and stuttering (De-Judder). Both sliders can be set in the range from 0 to 10, with each level affecting the degree of smoothness, so everyone can find their sweet spot.

The LG OLED B4 panel features an average response time of 0.1 ms (which directly results from our measurements), allowing for an incredibly clear image, unattainable for LCD TVs, which have response times of even several milliseconds. This can be clearly seen in images from the "UFO Test", showing no trace of blur trailing behind the object.

Samsung U8000F is equipped with a 60 Hz panel, so right from the start, it's clear that we shouldn't expect miracles. This is simply the standard in this class – sufficient for everyday viewing, but without any fireworks.

The television offers one motion smoothing slider – a feature called “Motion Blur Reduction”, which allows us to adjust the smoothness of the image in movies. Higher settings provide a more “theatrical” and smoothed effect, while lower ones maintain the original character of the film with a slight 24p effect. An interesting feature is “Clear Motion LED”, or BFI mode – which inserts black frames between the image frames to enhance motion clarity. However, in practice, the screen flickers significantly when it's activated, and it's better viewed as an experiment rather than something that truly enhances gaming comfort.

The LG B4 television is equipped with four full-fledged HDMI 2.1 ports with a full bandwidth of 48Gbps. All functions corresponding to this standard activated without any issues, and throughout the entire testing procedure, they caused no problems. The combination of such extensive functionality and low input lags leads us to say that the tested television is truly designed for gaming. This is not surprising, considering that the manufacturer has always placed great emphasis on this. Therefore, we can enjoy both a properly implemented HGIG mode and gameplay in Dolby Vision with low latency. Such a tandem will surely attract the attention of all passionate gamers for whom quality is the most important.

A standard feature in televisions from the Korean manufacturer is also the implementation of GameBar, allowing for quick adjustments of settings "on the fly," without the need to exit the game. It also enables image adjustments for individuals with visual impairments, which is an extremely nice touch. Another important piece of information is that when the VRR technology is turned on, we will not experience a drop in contrast. This is, of course, due to the construction of the panel and the lack of conventional backlighting. However, it is normal for shades of grey to flicker slightly, although this is a characteristic feature of this function regardless of the manufacturer and the television.

In summary: The LG B4, like all OLEDs from the manufacturer equipped with 120Hz panels and HDMI 2.1 ports, creates a harmonious whole with the console. In practice, it is a complete television, and if we expect the highest possible efficiency in gaming, the B4 will be the ideal choice.

Samsung U8000F offers a basic set of features for gamers, which may still be sufficient for less demanding users. It has an automatic game mode – when a game is launched on the console, the TV automatically switches to low latency mode, which significantly improves response time. It also includes a VRR function, or variable refresh rate, which works within the range of 48 to 60 Hz. This means that both Xbox and PS5 won't produce the "tearing" effect – as long as we stay within this range.

And unfortunately, that's about it for the advantages. Additional features like Game Bar or higher refresh rates are reserved for higher models of Samsung’s 2025 line. In theory, the TV also supports the HGiG function, which should adjust the HDR image to the intentions of game developers. Unfortunately – although this function appears in brochures and store materials – its setup on the Xbox console turned out to be... impossible in practice.