LG UA75006LA (IPS) vs Samsung Q8F

It looks even more modest in the version with an IPS panel, where the peak brightness only reaches 250 nits. In practice, this means that a real sense of HDR effect is out of the question, and the materials being viewed resemble regular SDR. Similar to VA panels, the image behaves stably across most test patterns, but in demanding scenes with fine details, the television tends to slightly dim the picture. As a result, blacks appear a bit better, but at the cost of losing detail in bright elements. The absence of additional colour filters is also noticeable here. The UA7500 in the IPS version is neither a QLED nor a PFS LED panel, and the DCI-P3 colour gamut stops at 80%, which means that HDR films lack significant colour depth and appear quite flat.

In terms of brightness, the Samsung Q8F performs surprisingly well for a TV without local dimming. It measures up to 500 nits, which in practice means that most movie and series scenes look pleasant, and it cannot be faulted for lacking the "HDR effect." In films like Life of Pi or The Meg, the screen can burst with bright light, delivering a level of lighting effect that is satisfying. It struggles more in challenging moments—such as dark scenes with single bright points. The global dimming used causes the TV to darken the image to maintain deep blacks, but at the expense of detail brightness. This is clearly visible in the scene from Sicario 2, where the brightness of the helicopter lights dropped to around 200 nits. This is a deliberate design choice that gives the impression of deeper blacks but takes some shine away from individual elements, and one should simply keep that in mind. Regarding colour reproduction, the Q8F uses quantum dot technology, which expands the colour gamut. A coverage of the DCI-P3 palette at 91% can be considered a decent result, although it is not a record-breaking figure compared to other QLEDs.

The Filmmaker mode on the LG UA7500 performs better than you might expect from such a budget television, but let’s not get carried away with admiration. The picture is put together quite sensibly and at first glance is not irritating; however, its weaknesses quickly become apparent. This is most noticeable in scenes with bright points – lamps in the background or reflections of light on skin are clearly oversaturated. The faces of characters often appear unnatural, as if they have been "blown out." Additionally, the default gamma setting brightens even the slightest details and causes the picture to lose subtlety in the darker areas. That said, for its price range, the UA7500 in factory mode provides a pretty decent starting point. However, it is clear that without additional adjustment, these issues won't be avoided, which is why – as with other televisions – we decided to see what could be achieved after calibration.

We decided to check out the Filmmaker mode because right out of the box it gave us the best picture. However, that doesn't mean it was perfect. The white balance had too much of a blue and red tint, causing the whites to lean towards a slight purple-pink hue. Such imbalance affected the visibility of virtually all colours, which is clearly seen in the comparison photo below. The brightness characteristics in SDR content were quite well calibrated, although in HDR materials we noticed that the TV didn't always handle its global dimming well — at times the screen was too dim, while at other times it could suddenly brighten up. Fortunately, issues related to colours can be effectively corrected with calibration tools, so we decided to get to work.

The biggest improvement we noticed was when calibrating the mode intended for everyday SDR content. We managed to smoothly adjust the white balance in an acceptable manner and tame the issue of excessive brightening of small elements due to the gamma characteristics. As a result, the image gained consistency and a naturalness that was lacking in the factory settings. After such a correction, we can confidently say that for everyday television content, programmes, or materials from YouTube, the LG UA7500 performs really well – especially after professional calibration. The situation is somewhat different for HDR content. Here, calibration did manage to tame the white balance and slightly improve brightness management, however, the design limitations are immediately apparent. The lack of additional filters that expand the colour palette means that the most vibrant colours appear flat, and the image lacks the intensity one would expect from good HDR. In SDR, the UA7500 performs quite well, but in HDR – despite the corrections – it remains far behind, and this is a characteristic that one must accept when choosing this television.

After calibration, we managed to correct the white balance to almost perfection. Older SDR content looks fantastic — most errors are within a value of 2, which is definitely below the threshold of human perceptibility. In HDR, we also brought the white balance to an acceptable level, but a different problem arises here. So why are there still relatively large errors in colour reproduction? This is mainly due to the limited colour palette and the way the television manages brightness. The global dimming technique used does not give the user control in the settings, so analysing the EOTF curve in HDR films, it's clear that the Q8F can modify luminance on its own. This can be seen as a limitation, but still, the image after calibration is much more enjoyable to watch than in the factory version.

The version with the IPS panel performed noticeably worse here. Image scaling was uneven – this was especially evident in lower quality materials, where edges became jagged and the image looked less detailed. At times, there was also a sense of slight blurriness, which took away sharpness and made the overall picture seem less refined than in the VA version. The tonal smoothing function turned out to be a rescue. On medium settings, it worked quite well – it did not ruin the image with excessive softening, while also smoothing out colours in such a way that everyday content gained consistency. The difference was particularly noticeable with TV programs or streaming materials of poorer compression quality, where the television with the function enabled presented itself much better. This is one of those additions that are worth keeping active, as they significantly improve the reception of everyday materials.

Let's see how the Q8F handles older content, which often has poor quality. Starting with the positives: the upscaling works really well. The TV performs nicely with both classic television and materials from YouTube, not giving the impression that we're dealing with something completely unattractive. It struggles more with content in very low resolutions, such as 576p — the image can be cropped, and unfortunately, the overscan phenomenon cannot be disabled. Moreover, the digital processing does not look great either. The noise reduction feature, instead of removing unwanted artefacts, smooths out almost everything: film grain (which many viewers desire) disappears along with the texture of the image, and actors' faces start to resemble characters from cheap Turkish soap operas. It's hard to consider this option useful — it's best left completely off. Perhaps Samsung will refine the function’s performance in updates, but for now, it’s difficult to view it as anything other than an unnecessary addition.

LG UA7500 is a television with a 60 Hz panel, so it's hard to expect any excitement in this category. It's more of a screen intended for daily content or an evening movie session rather than for following fast-paced sports events or playing action games. It’s clear that the manufacturer designed this model specifically for that audience – and it performs well in that regard. We have the TruMotion function available, which is a motion smoother. It’s simple, has only one slider, but can make a noticeable difference. At the lower range, the image looks more raw and cinematic, while at higher values, the motion becomes smoother and more pleasurable to the eye.

Due to the applied 60 Hz panel, it's hard to call the Q8F a television made for gaming or watching sports. The panel isn't particularly fast, making motion blur clearly visible. If you were expecting a spectacular, almost 'stadium-like' experience during broadcasts, you might feel a bit disappointed. Fortunately, for movies and series, Samsung hasn't given up on the motion smoothing function. It's nothing more than a smoother that allows for improved fluidity of productions recorded at 24 or 30 frames per second. This way, you can decide for yourself whether you prefer a more fluid, 'television-like' image or to retain the cinematic character. It all depends on the viewer's preferences, and the ability to adjust this parameter is undoubtedly a plus.

LG UA7500 is a TV that can be confidently recommended to "casual" gamers. While it doesn’t feature a 120 Hz panel or HDMI 2.1 ports, making full use of the potential of modern consoles isn’t something we can expect. However, the manufacturer has included several additions that can enhance the gaming experience. Notably, there's the Game Bar – a very nicely designed panel that allows quick access to and changes of the most important settings. From this panel, we have access to the ALLM mode (automatic switching to game mode), as well as frame synchronization, or VRR. The range of VRR is limited – it works from 48 to 60 Hz – but the mere presence of this feature in such an affordable TV leaves a positive impression.

Additionally, it also supports HGiG, which is a HDR calibration mode for games. It sounds good, but from our testing experience, we know that for the UA7500 this option doesn’t make much sense. The TV doesn't perform well with HDR, so paradoxically, we achieved better results with this mode turned off. This is another signal that the UA7500 is more of a screen for occasional gamers who value simplicity and convenience rather than for those looking for the full experience from the latest consoles.

It's not entirely clear what Samsung has messed up this year with its TVs, but the Q8F isn't free from all the confusion with updates and shortcomings. While its older cousin, the Q67D, could still be recommended with a clear conscience to casual gamers, it's hard to find a reason to do so here. Aside from the automatic game mode and the attractively designed Game Bar, we get practically nothing that could appeal to gamers. The lack of proper HGiG implementation is a major issue, especially since the feature simply disappeared after the 1126 update. The situation with VRR is even worse. Even though it appears in the manufacturer's brochures and shows up in the Game Bar, we couldn't get it to work. The Xbox Series X console wouldn't allow it to be activated at all, and the option remained greyed out and inactive. It's difficult to praise such a TV even to casual gamers, which is a shame because Samsung has had a strong selling point in the gaming segment for years.