LG OLED G4 vs LG QNED86A / QNED85A / QNED87A

LG G4 guarantees an incredibly vibrant HDR effect, placing the television firmly at the top of the rankings. The highest model in the manufacturer's 2024 portfolio, equipped with the second generation of microlens technology (MLA), has achieved a maximum brightness level of 1474 nits in real scenes. The only area where the product of the Korean manufacturer may fall short compared to LCD televisions with Mini LED backlighting is during a full-screen scene featuring a lot of white. If we were to disregard the latter scene, the average result would be even higher. It's also worth mentioning scenes with very fine details, where each one shone at full intensity, which is not as evident in non-OLED televisions. The combination of such brightness and wide coverage of the DCI-P3 color space ensures that HDR materials are more engaging than ever before.

Against the backdrop of contrast and black, the brightness of the QNED86A and the overall HDR effect fare much better. It's a television that can achieve around 700 nits under the best conditions, so in terms of luminance alone, there’s nothing to be ashamed of. As a result, scenes with strong lights, explosions, flashes, or bright parts of the landscape – look clear and can make an impression. Interestingly, even in tougher moments with small, contrasting elements on the screen, the television does well with backlighting and details are quite visible. The problem arises when there are many dark tones. The lack of effective local dimming means that black virtually disappears, and instead, we get a grey glow spreading across the entire screen. This kills the depth effect and causes the image to appear flat, as if it lacks cinematic character. In bright animations or family films with vibrant colours, this won't be an issue, as the colours and bright light dominate. But in horror films or productions set in darkness, these limitations are strongly felt. As a consolation, it’s worth noting that the QNED86A is essentially a QLED television with an LED PFS filter, which gives it very good coverage of wide colour gamuts. Both the DCI-P3 palette and the wider BT.2020 perform solidly here. This means that colours in HDR films are saturated, juicy, and have the right depth – even if the black itself is disappointing, the colours can save the viewing experience and make the image look appealing.

The best factory mode in terms of colour reproduction was "Filmmaker". This is the one we used during our tests. Let's check how its characteristics looked before the calibration process. Taking a closer look at the white balance first, we can notice a significant dominance of red and green colour. As a result, the image had a warm yellow tint. This is the kind of characteristic we usually observe in "Cinema", "Filmmaker", or similarly named modes. The effect of such a colour balance was clearly visible in both SDR and HDR content, which, after switching from "Standard" mode, was distinctly yellowed. Now let's move on to two graphs that are responsible for brightness characteristics, and consequently, image contrast. The first one (Gamma), representing materials with a standard colour palette, performed decently. For most of the time, the midtones and bright whites were represented very accurately, however, it noticeably lost the darkest details which blended into a black patch. On the other hand, HDR materials, represented by the EOTF curve graph, exhibited a significant drop in contrast due to a strong boost in brightness. There was also an issue with the colours themselves as seen on the "ColorChecker" graph since they were noticeably undersaturated.

We primarily tested the QNED86A in Filmmaker mode, which is designed to provide the most faithful picture. Unfortunately, right out of the box, there were quite a few shortcomings. The most glaring issue was the poorly calibrated white balance – there was a lack of blue, which caused the overall image to take on a slightly yellowish, and sometimes even an orange hue. An even bigger problem was the way the television manages brightness. Due to its technical limitations – that is, local dimming functioning only along the edges of the screen – the QNED86A has a tendency to oversaturate entire scenes. This is where the flattening of the image that we mentioned earlier comes from. Instead of clear depth and contrast, we get something akin to "boosted brightness," which, in the long run, can strain the eyes.

The manufacturer has been implementing extensive support for the calibration process in their LG televisions for many years. Therefore, we used 2- and 20-point grey scale adjustments along with an advanced CMS (Color Management System) and got to work. As you can see, thanks to the procedure carried out, each of the parameters has significantly improved. The use of tools has resulted in extremely beneficial effects, which include: studio colour reproduction, recovery of details in dark areas of the image, appropriate brightness characteristics, and proper colour saturation. Thus, we have maximised our approach to the reference image, or the one that the film director saw on the preview monitor. It is worth noting that the LG G4 televisions are the only ones that allow for even deeper intervention in image quality due to the capability to calibrate with 3D LUT matrices. However, this solution is recommended only for post-production or graphic studios.

What was saved in the QNED86A6A is undoubtedly the colours. After calibration, the white balance was set with great precision, ensuring that deviations on the Colour Checker palette mostly did not exceed the visibility threshold for the human eye. In other words – the colours finally looked natural, without strange yellow or orange tones that had previously marred the perception. Unfortunately, even the best calibration cannot overcome structural limitations. The already mentioned very modest number of local dimming zones and their unfortunate placement meant that the analysis of the EOTF curve in films still showed noticeable scene over-exposures. The image tended to flatten, lacking cinematic depth. Fortunately, this effect is not as visible in older productions or in SDR content. There, calibration really does its job and allows the QNED to be tamed so the image can be pleasing. However, the specifics of this construction – especially the contrast issues – cannot be completely bypassed.

The tested television did not perform well with content rich in tonal transitions, resulting in a strong posterisation effect. However, there is a partial remedy for this ailment. The manufacturer has equipped the LG G4 with a smoothing system called "Gentle Gradation," which we can apply at three levels: Low, Medium, and High. Each of these options guarantees quite high smoothing effectiveness on bright colours, though low on darker ones. We recommend primarily using the first one due to the fact that the other two interfere with directorial intentions, removing film grain.

When watching lower-quality content, the efficiency of the television during upscaling is extremely important. The image from the tested television is sharp and clear. However, attention should be paid to the jagged edges of fine details and minor issues around characters, such as the creation of a halo effect, which occurs due to the sharpening imposed by the LG G4 even when the slider is set to the lowest value, which is 0. It is worth noting that this is a change in relation to the LG G3, which did not impose such strong image sharpening, even when the appropriate slider was set to position 0.

If someone is worried about potential "steps" when blending colours, the QNED86A has a simple solution for that. Just turn on the feature called Smooth Gradation and set it to the medium level. Then the TV really smooths out all those unwanted transitions – especially in older productions – and it does so in a way that the film grain doesn’t disappear, nor do any strange artefacts appear. In other words, you can use it without any worries.

The upscaling itself also turns out quite well. Of course, there are no miracles here – with poorer quality sources, you can notice characteristic jagged edges. Fortunately, there is a sharpness slider in the menu, and if someone prefers a more "soft" image, it can be quickly adjusted to their own taste.

The maximum refresh rate that we can set on the LG G4 is 144 Hz. Naturally, this is only possible by connecting the LG G4 to a very powerful PC. Otherwise, we will be operating at a maximum refresh rate of 120 Hz, which is recommended if we primarily want to watch sports or content with high motion dynamics. For those who require high fluidity of image, the manufacturer has implemented a multi-level motion smoother called "TrueMotion". It has been divided into two separate sliders that adjust the sharpness of moving images (De-Blur) and judder (De-Judder). Both sliders can be set in the range from 0 to 10, with each increment affecting the degree of smoothing, so everyone can find their sweet spot.

The LG OLED G4 panel features an average response time of 0.78 ms (which directly results from our measurements), allowing for an incredibly clear image, unattainable by LCD televisions, which have response times of even several milliseconds. This is clearly visible in the "UFO Test" images, showing the absence of any trailing blur behind the object. Furthermore, the LG OLED G4 test showed that the television offers the ability to precisely adjust motion smoothing functionality, allowing users to choose the ideal level of image interpolation. We particularly appreciated this during fast-paced action in video games, where the LG G4 performed exceptionally well, minimising any blurriness. Thanks to OLED technology, this model eliminates so-called ghosting, ensuring that the image remains sharp even in the most dynamic sports or movie scenes.

QNED86A has been equipped with a 120 Hz refresh rate panel, so right from the start, it can be said to be suitable for both sports and gaming. And indeed it is – the picture looks smooth, and motion blur isn’t too much of an issue. IPS panels have always had a bit of a problem with this, and here too you can sometimes notice slight blurring, especially in very dynamic scenes, but it’s not something that ruins watching a match or a fast-paced game. For cinema and sports fans, LG has included the traditional TruMotion smoothing feature. In the menu, we have two sliders – one for movies (De-Judder), and the other for sports (De-Blur). The first adds missing frames and allows you to adjust the character of motion – from raw, cinematic to a more fluid, “theatrical” feel. The second improves sharpness during dynamic actions, so it’s worth turning it up a bit if you watch a lot of sports.

The LG G4 television supports all features that make up the HDMI 2.1 standard. During testing, each feature activated without any issues, which allows us to consider the television as designed for gaming. Its performance will certainly be appreciated by both console users and those connecting the LG G4 to a computer. It’s also worth mentioning the proper implementation of the HGIG (HDR Gaming Interest Group) mode, which ensures that games mastered to brightness levels beyond the maximum luminance of the LG G4 will correctly map tones, keeping the game image true to the original.

A nice touch is the presence of a special GameBar that we can bring up at any moment to check game parameters, but most importantly, to change them quickly. More importantly, turning on VRR technology does not degrade contrast, which is often a problem in televisions with local dimming or Mini LED backlighting. Of course, this is thanks to the OLED panel itself, characterised by pixel self-emissiveness. As a journalistic note, we will only mention a slight grey flicker, which, however, is somewhat normal when VRR is enabled.

In summary, the LG G4, like practically all OLED televisions, is an ideal product for all kinds of gaming and online competitions. With full HDMI 2.1 ports with a complete bandwidth of 48 Gbit, features such as VRR, ALLM, G-Sync, FreeSync, or HDR Dolby Vision gameplay will bring a lot of joy.

When it comes to gaming, the LG QNED86A6A is a complete tool. It features four HDMI 2.1 ports with a full bandwidth of 48 Gb/s, which means that whether you connect a PlayStation 5, an Xbox Series X, or a powerful PC – everything will work in full 4K at 120 Hz with support for all functions. This is a significant advantage, as some competitors still only feature two such ports, which can be troublesome when dealing with multiple devices. It also includes VRR, or variable refresh rate, which eliminates screen tearing, and ALLM, which automatically activates game mode when the console powers on. Dolby Vision Gaming is included as well, alongside proper implementation of the HGiG format, so titles that support these formats look livelier and more detailed. Additionally, there's the Game Optimizer – a kind of control centre for gamers. From this interface, you can view image parameters in real time, quickly switch modes, activate additional features, or adjust picture settings to your own preferences. The LG QNED86A6A has basically everything you would expect from a modern gaming television.