LG OLED B5 vs Haier Q80FUX

LG B5 is a moderately bright OLED TV. Regardless of the scene – it can generate about 500 nits of peak brightness. And interestingly, it does this even in full-screen shots flooded with white, where most OLEDs usually struggle. So, is this screen suitable for HDR films? Yes – absolutely, because such brightness really allows you to feel the magic of HDR effects. However, it’s worth noting that compared to last year's B4 model, the new B5 is darker – by about 100 nits. It may seem like a small amount, but at such average peak values, it makes a significant difference. Fortunately, the TV makes up for it with another strength – excellent coverage of the DCI-P3 and BT.2020 colour gamuts. This means HDR films look truly vibrant, lively, and impressive even in more demanding scenes.

Alright, let's move on to the topic that really sparks discussions, which is the capabilities of the TV in HDR mode. Let's be clear from the start: the Haier Q80FUX is certainly not a brightness demon. The panel of this set can generate about 350 nits at peak, which in today's reality is an absolute minimum to even talk about the presence of HDR expanded dynamic range. On the plus side, this brightness is at least stable – regardless of the test pattern or film scene we used, measurements consistently hovered around 300-350 nits. These are at best adequate results, definitely far from the dazzling display of capabilities that we know from more expensive models. Fortunately, there is one aspect where the Q80FUX makes up for these shortcomings and does so considerably. We are talking about a QLED TV (or more precisely PFS LED), which means that thanks to the quantum dot filter used on the panel, it can generate truly juicy, vibrant colours. These are not empty promises – covering nearly 95% of the DCI-P3 colour gamut is an impressive result and directly translates into very pleasant, saturated colours for the eye.

B5 was tested in Filmmaker mode and… we’d love to see more TVs like this right out of the box. Seriously. The white balance is very well set – there’s practically nothing to nitpick. Well, if you really want to, you might notice a slight deficiency in blue, which can make the overall picture have a slightly yellowish tint. But that’s just our editorial nitpicking. Most of you probably won’t even notice. We also have minimal reservations about brightness management in HDR format. The EOTF curve – which is responsible for how the TV distributes brightness across the scene – sits just below ideal. In practice, it may happen that the darkest parts of the image appear too dark and simply… disappear. But these are details that only come out in measurements. Generally: we are impressed. But we also know that LG TVs respond very well to professional calibration. You can extract nearly reference-quality picture from them, so – although it’s already very good out of the factory – we took the liberty to go a step further and fine-tune everything to the max.

Factory settings for movie mode are seldom perfect, but in the case of the Q80FUX, we encountered a noticeable imbalance. In SDR content, the image was definitely too warm, due to an excessive amount of red in the white balance, giving the overall picture a slight sepia tone. Conversely, in HDR materials, the television fell into the other extreme – an excess of blue caused an unnatural, cool effect in perception. However, it wasn't the fickle white balance that was the biggest issue with this TV. The real culprit, responsible for the previously described problems, was hiding deeper. It turned out that the Q80FUX has completely miscalibrated gamma values and, crucial for HDR, a poorly executed EOTF curve. It was these erroneous factory settings that caused the notorious clipping of the brightest parts of the image, imposing that characteristic milky filter over them. Thus, we found the source of the problem. This situation led to general, significant colour inaccuracies that were easy to catch even for an untrained eye. Like every television we tested, we decided to calibrate this model as well, and you can find the results of these adjustments in the next paragraph.

We have to admit that we didn't have much work with the LG B5. It's one of those TVs that look good right from the start, but after calibration… they can really impress. The white balance was nearly perfect – down to a level of errors invisible to the human eye, unless you're a professional colourist with a magnifying glass at the screen. We also managed to control the TV's tendency to slightly dim the darkest details, especially in HDR scenes. After proper tuning, everything looks cohesive: blacks remain deep but don't swallow information. Highlights maintain a natural sparkle, and colours are true to the director's vision. This is truly one of those models that show you don't have to spend a fortune to have an almost reference-quality image. If you can opt for professional calibration – it's definitely worth it for the B5.

The results of our calibration procedures must, unfortunately, be regarded as twofold. Generally speaking, the picture is undeniably better than before the adjustments; however, the biggest winner of this process has been SDR content. It is precisely here, after correcting the gamma curves and white balance, that we achieved results that can safely be called very good. Once set up, the Q80FUX truly shines in standard dynamic range, displaying only slight errors in the most challenging skin tones. Unfortunately, the weakest link remains HDR content. And here's the paradox: even though we managed to calibrate the white balance to near perfection, the overall colour errors still remain at quite a high level. The reason is that the television still interprets the static HDR10 metadata "in its own way," stubbornly enforcing that unfortunate image clipping effect, which inevitably leads to significant distortions. Although we successfully eliminated the factory excess of blue, due to this electronic interference, the screen can still veer into somewhat too cool tones. That’s just how this television is.

LG B5 really surprised us positively in terms of handling lower quality content. Thanks to the enhancement and smoothing features, HD or even SD materials come to life. Importantly – when this option is turned on at the "low" or "medium" level, we don’t get the impression that the image is artificially softened or overly smoothed. Details remain in place, film grain doesn’t disappear, and the edges of objects don’t look washed out 😉. It’s a really useful tool – especially if you’re watching free-to-air TV, archival materials, or content from YouTube in lower resolutions. The picture is clear, consistent, and simply pleasant to the eye.

Upgrading as such works very well – even low-quality content is reproduced with surprising fidelity. Unfortunately, it’s not without a minor hiccup. Although the menu has an option to turn off overscan, the television still has issues correctly displaying very low-resolution images. It’s a minor detail, but when watching older materials – it can be annoying.

If there's one area where Haier clearly shows it still has a lot to catch up on compared to the market leaders, it's digital image processing. The upscaling, well... it's just okay. And that's really all that can be said about it. It does what it's supposed to do: ensures that lower resolution signals don't scare you with harsh pixelation on the screen and don't look like a forcibly enlarged postage stamp. However, it's far from the finesse and "intelligent" sharpening that more experienced players in this market have developed over the years. The biggest issue with the Q80FUX software is the almost complete lack of additional "cleaning" and smoothing features for the image. The receiver offers no noise reduction mechanisms or gradient enhancement. This means that with older or highly compressed materials, we simply have to accept that all the imperfections in tonal transitions or colour blending, which we mentioned earlier, will constantly accompany us during viewing.

LG B5 is a TV with a 120 Hz OLED panel. It may not sound as impressive as the marketing terms "144 Hz" or "165 Hz" commonly found in gaming monitors, but honestly? The smoothness is still excellent. The picture is sharp, fluid, and simply enjoyable to watch – even when there’s a lot happening on screen. The organic panel does its job – the pixel response time is almost instantaneous, which means there’s no risk of ghosting or blurring that can ruin dynamic shots. Sports, fast-paced games – everything looks clear and distinct.

We also have the classic LG motion smoother, TruMotion. It allows you to smooth out movies shot at 24 frames – in other words, most of what you watch on Netflix or from Blu-ray discs. If you set lower values on the “De-Judder” slider, you’ll get a picture closer to the cinematic experience – with a slight judder, but without artificiality. Higher settings? Soap opera effect guaranteed. Fortunately, LG gives you the choice, and you can tune everything to your liking.

The issue of motion fluidity and blurring is largely predetermined by the use of a 60Hz panel, which naturally makes it difficult to recommend this receiver to enthusiasts of very dynamic content. Fortunately, in the Q80FUX, we find a few options (although, as will soon become clear, really just one) intended to enhance the experience with older film productions. There is a "De-Judder" slider available, which indeed affects motion fluidity and allows us to adjust it to our preferences: from raw, cinematic frame rates to a more theatrical, smoothed presentation. However, a true surprise awaits us right next to it in the menu. There is also a second slider, supposedly dedicated to removing blur – this is a feature we typically encounter in 120Hz panels, aimed at combating blurring in sports. As we expected, recalling memories from testing the K85F model, here too this slider is merely a façade. Its adjustment contributes absolutely nothing to the picture and simply seems to be an oversight by the product engineers who left a non-functional option in the software for this type of panel.

There are already a few TVs on the market with the "for gamers" label that don't really understand what that means. The LG B5 is not one of them. Everything here is spot on – there are four HDMI 2.1 ports, 120 Hz, there’s VRR and ALLM, and there’s also a Game Bar that's actually useful, not just looking good in the brochure. You plug in a console – it works. You set it to 4K at 120 Hz – it works. You have an Xbox and want to play in Dolby Vision – it works too. And it's not just "theoretically supports," it actually turns on, looks good, and you don't have to fiddle with settings for half an hour. Plus, there’s the HGiG picture mode, which LG has implemented correctly – meaning HDR in games doesn't turn the screen into a strobe light, but shows exactly what it should. There are no surprises, no strange limitations, no "buts." And you know what? That's how it should be. Cheers to the LG B5!

Entering the realm of gaming, the Haier Q80FUX proves to be quite a good companion for the "casual gamer." It is equipped with some highly sought-after features today such as VRR (variable refresh rate) and ALLM (automatic low latency mode). However, the biggest surprise is something else. Even though we don't have a 4K@120Hz panel here, the television can accept and display a 120Hz signal at a lower resolution (Full HD). This is a very useful feature, allowing you to consciously switch the console to a lower resolution mode in exchange for significantly higher fluidity, which is a perfectly acceptable compromise in the gaming world.

We won't particularly complain about the lack of additions like the "Game Bar," as it's just a nice extra. However, the most concerning issues arise when we enter the world of HDR in gaming. Due to the fact that the television continuously adapts the signal "in its own way," setting the brightness on the console according to the HGIG standard is almost impossible to accomplish according to the instructions. Worse still, in Dolby Vision mode for gaming, the input lag increases to around 50 ms, which is a high enough value that essentially makes this mode unusable. Generally speaking, we still wouldn't recommend gaming on this television in HDR mode, so these aren't that serious shortcomings. What’s most pleasing is the presence of 120Hz in Full HD, making the Q80FUX quite a cool television for the occasional gamer.