Philips OLED769 vs LG QNED80A6A (VA)

Philips OLED769 performs quite well, especially in movie scenes with small light points. The television surprises with its brightness, reaching around 800 nits, which is an impressive result. This means that small light sources, like street lamps at night or stars in the sky, are vivid and full of detail. However, the biggest challenge for this model is the scene with a full-screen sun glare. In such moments, the brightness drops to around 250 nits, which isn’t very impressive. This is a typical issue with cheaper OLED displays, which struggle to maintain high brightness across the entire screen.

Let's talk now about how this TV shines. If you’re expecting dazzling light effects, we need to cool your enthusiasm. The LG QNED80A is a moderately bright television. Our measurements in most film scenes indicated values around 350-400 nits. That’s not enough to speak of a full, cinematic HDR experience and the feeling of that famous “high dynamic range” that flagship products offer. However, brightness is not everything. Although the QNED80A is not a “light monster,” it makes up for it in another key category: colours. This is where PFS technology comes into play, which LG marketers hide under the name QNED/NanoCell. With this trick, the TV offers a significantly wider colour palette than classic LCD constructions. In our tests, the coverage of the cinematic DCI-P3 palette reached a solid 93-94%. What does that mean for you? That even at lower brightness, when watching films in HDR, the colours will be vibrant, deep, and properly saturated. The image is not washed out but juicy, which is a significant advantage in this price range.

The "Film" mode turned out to be the best factory setting in terms of fidelity to the original material, and it was on this setting that we based our tests. However, like other factory modes, it was not without its flaws. Let’s take a closer look at what exactly went wrong in the SDR and HDR materials.

In both cases, the white balance was disturbed by excessive dominance of green and red colours. This phenomenon created a yellowish tint that spilled over the entire image, leading to issues such as yellowed whites and unnatural skin tones. These problems were clearly highlighted on the "ColourChecker" palette, where each of the samples was shifted towards warmer shades.

As for contrast and brightness, in the Philips OLED769, we can look at two key graphs: Gamma for HD content and the EOTF curve for 4K HDR content. In the case of the first graph, the gamma value is below the optimal level of 2.4, resulting in the bright parts of the image being lightened. This means that bright elements may be somewhat overexposed, losing detail and depth. Meanwhile, the EOTF curve for 4K HDR content performs really well. The graph shows that the television effectively reproduces details in both the brightest and darkest parts of the image, translating to a realistic and dynamic representation of scenes.

It might seem that since the QNED80A is one model, it should offer the same picture regardless of the version. However, practice shows something completely different. Analyzing the variant with the VA panel in the best factory setting – that is, in Filmmaker Mode – we noticed a specific characteristic. This TV "out of the box" delivers a picture with a clear dominance of red and a deficiency of blue. Overall, it is very warm, almost hot. Many users might describe it as an "overly cinematic" picture, leaning towards sepia. Additionally, there is the issue of gamma curve – the TV has a tendency to slightly and artificially brighten scenes (gamma is too low), which causes the picture to lose some of its plasticity. The good news is that these are not panel errors, but merely software issues. As always in our tests, we performed professional calibration, which completely eliminated these drawbacks, restoring natural white balance and correct saturation.

After professional calibration, Philips OLED769 truly shines in terms of colour accuracy. The television has been completely rid of any yellow tint in both HD and 4K content. The Colour Checker test confirms that deltaE errors are minimal, occasionally exceeding 2, which means we can talk about almost perfect renderings of the director's vision.

When it comes to contrast, the situation is equally impressive. For 4K materials, there wasn't much to improve from the start, while the gamma graph has been significantly enhanced. As a result, dark and bright parts of the image are represented with greater accuracy, leading to realistic and dynamic scene reproduction.

The calibration has unlocked the full potential of this television, both in terms of colour and contrast. Philips OLED769 now offers vivid, natural images of high quality that will delight any user, whether they're watching movies or using other multimedia.

Was it worth spending time on calibration? Definitely yes. We managed to tame the initial, overly warm white balance and, most importantly, correct the gamma curve. The television stopped artificially brightening scenes, resulting in a deeper image. The biggest gains are visible in SDR content, such as when watching regular television, YouTube, or playing games without HDR. Here, the QNED80A shows its class – colour reproduction errors (DeltaE) fell below a value of 2. In technical terms, this means the errors are essentially invisible to the human eye. The image in everyday use has simply become very attractive, natural, and correct. The difficulties start with HDR content. Although we managed to improve the white balance, the EOTF curve (responsible for brightness at various levels) shows that the television still "interprets" the image in its own way. This results from the nature of the edge-lit backlighting with local dimming and the fact that LG gives the calibrator very little control over this parameter. In short: the television struggles to hide its hardware shortcomings, sometimes ignoring our commands. Nevertheless, the final image is significantly more accurate and pleasant to view than the factory settings, even if it still lacks a bit compared to studio perfection.

When it comes to lower quality materials, the distortion reduction in the Philips OLED769 does well at smoothing tonal transitions, especially at the minimum setting. It's worth noting that at this setting, film grain isn't blurred, which is a pleasant surprise, as such negative phenomena often occur with other manufacturers. Overall, it's quite a decent solution. However, it should be noted that this setting doesn't work in HDR mode, where gradation issues are much more pronounced. In HDR mode, the television struggles with smoothing tonal transitions and may present more noticeable distortions and noise, reducing image quality in dynamic scenes.

As for digital processing, the Philips OLED769 performs well. The model in the picture isn’t overly jagged, and the branches in the background lack the characteristic artifacts. The television achieves this effect by avoiding artificial sharpening, which may be an advantage for some users. However, others may find this less appealing, as they prefer a more vivid, sharper image rather than a subtle effect. This effect can be mitigated by using a higher setting for the "Sharpness" parameter.

In this category, the QNED80A turns out to be a true "dark horse". It's a fantastic, affordable television for those who often watch lower quality content – for example, from traditional cable TV. The processor used here handles upscaling incredibly well, enhancing low resolutions to native 4K. The image after processing is natural, smooth, and most importantly – it is not overly jagged or artificially sharpened. In the menu, we also find a dedicated option for smoothing tonal transitions in low-quality content. This feature works really effectively, eliminating the annoying "banding" of colours during heavy video compression. However, we must remain vigilant. Remember, we are not dealing with the top-tier processor known from flagship OLED models. In more challenging scenes, the system might struggle and introduce minor artefacts or distortions. Nevertheless, it's definitely worth giving this feature a chance, because in the majority of cases, the quality improvement is visible to the naked eye.

Philips OLED769 features a multi-level motion smoother called "Motion Style," which will please users who value the ability to adjust motion fluidity in films. With this function, the image can be set to appear more stuttery or fluid, reminiscent of a theatrical effect. It's a great solution for those who want to tailor the displayed content to their visual preferences. Gamers will also not be disappointed, as the television, like most OLEDs, is equipped with a 120Hz panel. This ensures extraordinary fluidity and dynamic imagery. Unfortunately, Philips OLED769 does not have the BFI (Black Frame Insertion) feature, which could further enhance the smoothness and clarity of motion. Despite this limitation, the television still offers excellent visual experiences for both cinema lovers and gamers. This is definitely one of its strong points.

We move on to a topic that may be crucial for many. Unfortunately, here we must point out the biggest "Achilles' heel" of the QNED80A model. This television is equipped with a panel that has a native refresh rate of 60Hz. There’s no denying it – at this price, we were hoping for more as we know that Chinese manufacturers can offer 120Hz screens for similar money. Due to this parameter, dynamic scenes in sports or fast-paced games are not the strongest point of this screen. Fortunately, LG has equipped the television with a proven smoothing system called TruMotion. It works quite well with film material (24 frames). We suggest playing around with the De-Judder slider – from our experience, setting it in the range of 2-4 provides the best compromise: motion becomes smoother, yet still looks natural, without the artificial "television theatre" effect.

Philips OLED769 has been designed with gamers in mind, offering full compatibility with consoles and the highest quality gameplay. The television received the maximum rating in this category, providing everything your heart desires. With HDMI 2.1 ports fully supporting ALLM (Auto Low Latency Mode) and VRR (Variable Refresh Rate), the TV ensures smooth and hassle-free gaming. ALLM automatically switches the television to low latency mode, and VRR eliminates stuttering and screen tearing, resulting in smoothness and stability in gameplay. The Dolby Vision feature for gamers is another advantage, although it only works at 60 Hz. Most casual gamers will probably not feel the lack of a higher refresh rate, however, more demanding users may have some reservations. It allows for enjoying a dynamic range of tones and realistic images, enhancing the gaming experience. PC gamers will also not be disappointed, as the Philips OLED769 offers full compatibility with Nvidia graphics cards, thanks to support for G-Sync. This technology synchronizes the TV's refresh rate with the graphics card, eliminating tearing and stuttering, leading to excellent image smoothness.

Philips OLED769 is a television that perfectly meets the needs of gamers, offering a wide range of advanced features and technologies that significantly enhance game quality and user comfort.

Since we've already established that the QNED80A is a 60Hz TV, we must say it straight: we won't be gaming here at 120 frames per second at any resolution. Does this disqualify the device in the eyes of gamers? Not necessarily, especially for those "casual" players. LG decided to sweeten this technical limitation by packing in quite a few useful features. We have support for VRR (Variable Refresh Rate) in the range of 48-60Hz and an automatic game mode ALLM, which instantly reduces input lag upon detecting a console. We manage all of this via a very convenient, purple Game Optimizer menu (Player Panel), which has become LG's hallmark. The manufacturer deserves big points for consistency regarding HDR. Although the TV does not support Dolby Vision in games on Xbox consoles, LG adds a well-implemented HGiG standard. Thanks to this, even on a screen with moderate brightness, playing in HDR is clear, and the details in shadows and highlights are accurately rendered, rather than being "clipped".