Samsung S85D vs LG OLED B6

Brightness is a key parameter in televisions, and the S85D Samsung model offers a level comparable to other OLEDs from a few years ago. Though it doesn't impress in this regard, its huge advantage is a very competitive price. A peak brightness of 600 nits provides good image quality in HDR conditions, giving users a taste of cinema-like experiences in the comfort of their home. However, as with many budget OLED models, the biggest problem is very bright, full-screen scenes – in such moments, like the final shot from the movie "The Meg," the television can lose as much as half of its brightness, which is noticeable compared to more expensive OLED models. Despite this, the television offers an impressive DCI-P3 colour gamut coverage of 99%, allowing for the display of vibrant and accurate colours.

LG B6 is a moderately bright OLED. After calibration it reaches around 800 nits, roughly 200 nits more than last year's B5. That's down to LG Display's new budget OLED SE panel. In practice this simply provides a bit more headroom and makes HDR look fuller in many scenes than on last year's lower-end OLEDs. That doesn't mean the B6 has no limitations. In very bright shots, when a large part of the screen is brightly lit, brightness can fall below 400 nits. This behaviour is typical of OLED TVs (especially in this segment), and it's then you see the biggest difference compared with pricier models. All the same, we rate the B6's results as really solid. It's still not a TV built to break brightness records, but the HDR effect is strong enough that films really feel like a step up from ordinary SDR picture.

Colour gamut

Using the OLED SE panel has had some impact on wide colour-gamut coverage. Compared with last year's model the figures have dropped by a few percentage points. DCI-P3 reaches about 96%, and BT.2020 around 71%. That doesn't mean the colours on the LG B6 are weak. In most films and TV series they look vivid, well saturated and simply pleasing to the eye. You only notice the difference in very bright, highly colourful scenes. Then colours lose some intensity compared with QD-OLED panels. This is due to the WOLED panel structure. In addition to the red, green and blue subpixels it also uses a white subpixel that helps boost brightness. This comes at a cost: at very high luminance some of the colour is effectively 'diluted' by the white light, so saturation of some hues can be slightly lower. Day-to-day it's not a big problem, but you can see it in the most demanding scenes.

The Filmmaker mode on Samsung's S85D does indeed offer the best factory settings, but it is not without flaws, particularly evident in colour reproduction. The white balance graph for HD and HDR content shows clear issues – both red and blue colours are significantly weakened, leading to a dominance of green. The result is an unnatural yellowish tint that can affect the perception of realistic scenes. The Color Checker test clearly shows that the colour samples deviate from the expected values – for HD materials, the colours tend to be overly saturated, with a marked shift towards green, which is also evident in the white balance graph. Conversely, for 4K HDR content, the colours appear too dull and lacking in depth, causing the image to lose its appeal and naturalness. This effect is particularly noticeable in delicate scenes where colour precision plays a key role, which can be disappointing for discerning viewers who expect faithful reproduction of details and colour intensity.

When it comes to brightness, the gamma graph for HD content looks quite good; however, there is a clear spike at the end, exceeding the value of 2.4. Although this is not a major issue in most scenes, in more demanding sequences it can affect the clarity of bright details. For 4K content, the EOTF curve, responsible for rendering brightness, proves to be problematic. The initial part of the graph shows a slight spike. This phenomenon can result in excessive boosting of brightness in the brightest areas of the image, leading to a loss of detail in very bright scenes.

Although Samsung S85D offers quite decent factory settings, especially in Filmmaker mode, it is worth considering manual adjustment of settings to improve some imperfections, particularly in colour reproduction.

We tested the LG B6 in Filmmaker Mode, the best picture setting available straight out of the box. ISF modes give very similar results, but in our tests we always stick to Filmmaker Mode for better comparison with other TVs. Each of them is a far better starting point than Vivid or Eco, where the picture is heavily boosted and noticeably less natural. For SDR content the factory settings perform really well. Colour errors are small, gamma behaves correctly, and the picture looks natural during regular viewing and does not seem overly enhanced.

It's a bit worse with HDR. Once you start playing that kind of content it's quickly apparent the white balance isn't perfectly set. Too much blue and red makes the image take on a slightly pink tint. Colour gamut measurements and the ColorChecker confirm this, with samples clearly shifting in that direction. It's not a defect that completely ruins the picture, but you can notice it with HDR films. So anyone who wants the most faithful image should consider calibration, which we cover later in the review.

After calibration, the Filmmaker mode on Samsung S85D really impressed. The white balance, regardless of the type of content, has improved significantly, resulting in more natural colours. The Color Checker test shows that colour reproduction errors are now minimal and rarely exceed acceptable values, which indicates precise colour reproduction. The factory colour representation left a lot to be desired, but now the situation has significantly improved – colours are natural, accurate, and look as if they have been precisely rendered according to the creators' intentions. This is a huge step forward compared to earlier generations, where colours were often distorted or too intense.

The brightness characteristics have also benefited from calibration – it's now more vivid and precise. The gamma, although reasonably good before, has become even more stable, providing a deeper, more natural image. The EOTF curve has been flattened, allowing details in dark areas to be more visible, and the contrast is better balanced. Thanks to all these improvements, the television delivers an image close to reference quality, which definitely enhances the enjoyment of watching films and HDR content.

During calibration we focused mainly on HDR material, because that’s where the factory settings needed the most correction. We didn’t neglect SDR, though. After tuning it was brought almost to perfection. Colours are very accurate and brightness is controlled as it should be. The biggest change in HDR came from improving the white balance. After removing excess red and blue the pinkish tint disappeared and the image became much more natural. Skin tones, whites and all colours that had previously leaned towards pink improved. After calibration most errors fell below Delta E 2-3, the threshold at which an average viewer stops noticing differences with the naked eye. So the LG B6 can produce a very accurate picture, especially for the manufacturer’s entry-level OLED model.

Samsung S85D does a great job of scaling images and smoothing tonal transitions. Like other Samsung models, the television offers three noise reduction modes: off, standard, and high. While it improves gradation well, it unfortunately also removes film grain, which many viewers desire to give the image a cinematic character. This grain often adds authenticity and a certain rawness to films that is lost once it is smoothed out. Removing the grain can make the image appear too sterile and smooth, which takes away some of the charm of the original film material. When it comes to image scaling, the Samsung S85D excels at displaying lower resolution content – the model in the photo and the branches in the background were shown correctly, without major issues with jagged edges. The only noticeable downside is the presence of overscan, which can sometimes cut off parts of the image, which may not appeal to everyone.

LG B6 copes very well with lower-quality material. Much of that is down to effective digital image processing, which can mask some source imperfections without excessively smoothing the whole scene. The "Smooth Gradation" feature proves particularly useful. It lets you noticeably reduce posterization mentioned earlier, especially in dark parts of the image. The safest choice is to set it to Low or Medium. The feature still effectively smooths out harsh tonal transitions, but doesn't yet interfere too much with fine details. Die-hard purists can of course leave it off. Upscaling to 4K also performs very well. Full HD and 720p content retain a fair amount of detail, and the image is neither overly sharpened nor heavily blurred. Some limitations are only noticeable with very poor sources below 720p, where the smallest text and fine elements aren't always perfectly sharp, but this is true for almost every other TV on the market.

As befits an OLED television, Samsung S85D offers excellent motion fluidity. Equipped with a 120 Hz panel and a fast response time, the TV delivers very smooth playback of dynamic scenes without visible blurring. For movie enthusiasts, there is a feature called "Picture Clarity Settings," which allows for adjusting the image smoothness to individual preferences on a 10-point scale. Motion blur reduction enhances the sharpness of fast-moving objects, while motion smoothing eliminates the "judder" effect for a smoother motion. This way, every user can set the appropriate level of clarity that best suits their taste, from a more cinematic effect to clearer, smoother movements.

One of the biggest advantages of OLED panels is their very fast pixel response time. That keeps the picture sharp and prevents visible smearing that often appears on LCD TVs. It does have a downside, though. During slow camera pans motion can look a bit choppier than on LCD screens, where the slower panel naturally masks some of that effect. Fortunately, on the LG B6 this is easy to tame with TruMotion. With the motion smoothing set correctly you can get smoother motion without giving the picture an exaggerated soap-opera effect.

Samsung S85D OLED is an excellent choice for gamers thanks to its many modern features that make gameplay easier and more enjoyable. The TV has four full-bandwidth HDMI 2.1 ports, allowing you to connect the latest consoles without worrying about limitations in image quality or frame rates. This means support for 4K resolution at 120 Hz, which is ideal for modern titles. Additionally, the Samsung S85D has an ALLM (Auto Low Latency Mode) feature that automatically activates low latency mode when it detects a gaming device. This means you don’t have to manually switch settings – the TV takes care of ensuring fast response times, which is crucial in games where every second counts.

The VRR (Variable Refresh Rate) feature and G-Sync support are additional elements that make gameplay smoother. VRR adjusts the refresh rate to match the frame rate generated by the console or computer, eliminating screen tearing and stuttering. This is especially useful in fast-paced games where the frame rate can fluctuate. Auto Motion Plus Game is a feature that Samsung introduced with gamers in mind, and it’s worth appreciating. It makes the picture in games smoother – 30 frames per second looks like 45, and 60 Hz gains in smoothness, giving an effect close to 90 Hz. At the same time, there’s no significant increase in input lag, which remains below 25 ms, making this feature stand out compared to others available on the market. Gamers can enjoy smoother visuals without worrying about reduced responsiveness.

Samsung has also thought of something extra – the TV has a built-in Xbox Game Pass app, which means you can game in the cloud without needing a console. It’s a great solution for those who want to enjoy gaming without investing in additional hardware. All you need is an internet connection, and you have a massive library of games at your fingertips. This makes Samsung S85D an excellent choice for both casual and more advanced gamers.

LG OLED B6 has plenty going for gamers; it's a complete base for the PS5, Xbox Series X/S or a solid PC. It comes with four full-size HDMI 2.1 ports with 48 Gb/s bandwidth, so you can forget about annoying cable swapping when you want to connect several newer devices at once. We get a full package of sync technologies, from classic VRR to G-Sync and FreeSync. The panel effortlessly syncs its refresh rate to the frame pacing produced by your console or graphics card. Of course ALLM is present: the B6 automatically recognises when a game is running and immediately cuts latency to a minimum. HDR support is also excellent. The TV supports Dolby Vision, and a correctly implemented HGiG means that after an initial calibration in the console settings the picture won't suffer from blown-out whites or lost detail in bright areas. The icing on the cake is the Game Bar. Instead of digging through the full menu mid-game, a single click lets you correct shadow visibility, tweak chosen parameters or simply check the display's current mode. All of this makes the LG B6 a great choice for gamers.