LG QNED86A / QNED85A / QNED87A vs LG NANO81A / NANO80A

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.

If you're hoping that HDR on the NANO81A will bring tears to your eyes, I have to disappoint you. This TV is just too dark to show what this format is really about. With a brightness of only 250 nits, HDR really only exists on paper here. In practice, during viewing, it's very hard to tell whether we're watching material in high dynamic range or regular SDR – it simply lacks that “punch” of light in the bright parts of the image. But, to balance out the criticism, we do have one light at the end of the tunnel – and quite a distinct one at that. It's about colour gamut coverage. Here, the NanoCell filter shows that it's not just marketing nonsense. Our measurements indicated that the coverage of the DCI-P3 space is around 88%. That's a really solid result, placing this model significantly above typical budget models based on regular white LEDs without any filters. Of course, it still lags a bit behind QLED TVs or advanced panels with PFS filters, but for this price range, the colours are surprisingly saturated and vibrant. It’s just a shame that this low brightness doesn't allow them to fully “spread their wings” with the Nano filter.

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.

For every film fan, the natural choice in LG televisions is the Filmmaker Mode. It is designed to show the image as the director intended – without unnecessary "enhancements". Unfortunately, in the case of our test unit NANO81A, the factory settings left a bit to be desired. The main issue turned out to be the white balance. Measurements revealed a distinct deficiency of blue, which in practice meant that many scenes had a slightly yellowish, even "yellowed" tint. The white wasn’t perfectly clean, which took away the freshness of the image. Additionally, the brightness management wasn't perfect either – the factory-set gamma was too low. The image often appeared oversaturated, as if it had been pulled too much from the shadows, which detracted from its naturalness and depth. Fortunately, LG, even in this relatively low price range, does not block access to advanced settings. The calibration options for this model are extensive, which is a significant plus for those who enjoy "fiddling" in the menu. We decided to approach the matter our way and see how much we could squeeze out of this panel with professional calibration.

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.

After calibration, the NANO81A is a completely different television. What LG offers in terms of image enhancement tools, even in such an affordable model, deserves major credit. We were able to completely eliminate that annoying yellowing of whites and make the colours natural, vibrant, and simply "real". In SDR content (i.e., regular television, YouTube, or older films), the picture now looks miles better – it’s clean, well-balanced, and no longer strains the eyes with strange hues. It’s clear that this panel has significant potential, which is simply wasted out of the box due to poor presets. However, we have one serious reservation that calibration cannot fully overcome – it's about brightness management in HDR mode. The LG algorithm in this model is very conservative. The TV deliberately dims the HDR image to avoid clipping the already weak blacks of the IPS panel. The developers faced a choice: either provide more light and accept that black would become light grey, or dial down the brightness to maintain any contrast. They chose the latter. Despite this, after our adjustments, watching anything on the NANO81 is considerably better.

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.

It often happens that cheap 4K panels ruthlessly expose all the "dirty laundry" and imperfections in lower resolution materials. However, with the LG NANO81A, the situation is completely different. It's a really solid performer when it comes to handling content that's far from ideal. The built-in processor does a great job with upscaling. Even older recordings look quite decent on this screen – the image is coherent, cleaned of digital noise, and simply pleasant to the eye. A big plus is the gradation reduction feature, which you can find in the settings. It is exceptionally effective in combating colour banding, which is a godsend when watching low bitrate materials, such as from some streaming services or older files from the web. However, it is worth maintaining a certain vigilance. Since we are dealing with a less powerful chip than in LG's top models, too aggressive a setting for this option can sometimes result in minor artifacts or slight blurring of details. Despite this risk, I definitely encourage experimentation with this feature – in many cases, it can save the viewing experience and make low-quality material fully watchable.

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.

In terms of motion fluidity, the NANO81A unfortunately has a bit of a hurdle. The television is based on a panel with a refresh rate of 60Hz. If you're looking for perfect sharpness in dynamic football matches or fast-paced action games, you might feel somewhat dissatisfied. With such a low native refresh rate, fast objects on the screen will always be a bit blurry.

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.

NANO81A is unfortunately not a device designed with esports in mind. The lack of 120 Hz signal support is a fact that users planning to purchase this model simply have to accept. Nevertheless, LG’s engineers have worked hard to squeeze the maximum potential from this 60 Hz panel, offering a set of features that genuinely improve gaming comfort. First and foremost, the television supports VRR technology (in the range of 48–60 Hz) and ALLM. This ensures that the image remains stable and does not "tear," and the device automatically switches to low latency mode as soon as it detects a signal from a console. Managing these settings is extremely simple thanks to a dedicated system overlay that allows for a quick preview of parameters without leaving the game. A very significant advantage is support for the HGiG format. This solution is crucial for owners of modern consoles, as it allows the television to correctly "understand" the intentions of game developers regarding HDR tone mapping. In practice, this helps avoid the effect of "blown-out" bright spots, such as clouds or light sources, which is unfortunately a common issue in budget LCD televisions.