LG OLED B5 vs TCL P89K / TCL P8K

The LG B5 is a moderately bright OLED television. Regardless of the scene, it can generate around 500 nits of peak brightness. Interestingly, it achieves this even in full-screen shots saturated with white, where most OLEDs typically struggle. So is this screen suitable for HDR films? Indeed – and very much so, because such brightness allows you to truly feel the magic of HDR effects. However, it is worth noting that compared to last year's B4 model, the new B5 is darker – by about 100 nits. It may seem like a small amount, but at such average peak values, it makes quite a significant difference. Fortunately, the television compensates with another advantage – excellent coverage of the DCI-P3 and BT.2020 colour gamut. As a result, HDR films look really colourful, vibrant, and impress even in more demanding scenes.

The maximum brightness of the TCL P8K is around 300 nits, although in real film scenes, the television maintains more of a level of about 250 nits. These values cannot be considered sufficient to achieve a full HDR effect – they are closer to a solid base for SDR content. Therefore, we will not see spectacular flashes, bursts of light, or moments in which the screen actually "blinds," as is the case with more expensive models. This makes the image somewhat flat, and the differences between light and shadow are more symbolic than realistic. Fortunately, TCL has a few aces up its sleeve that save the overall reception. One of these is the coverage of the DCI-P3 colour palette at around 93–94%. Thanks to an additional QLED layer (PFS LED), the colours gain depth and intensity, clearly surpassing standard LCD panels. As a result, although there is a lack of the typical "wow effect" associated with HDR brightness, the image itself can impress with its saturation and vibrant tones, making film scenes pulse with colours and not appear strongly washed out.

We tested the B5 in Filmmaker mode and... we would love to see more TVs like this straight out of the box. Truly. The white balance is set very well – there's practically nothing to complain about. Well, if one were to nitpick, one might notice a slight deficiency in blue, which makes the overall image seem slightly yellowish. But that’s just our editorial quibbling. Most of you probably wouldn’t even notice it. We also have minimal reservations about brightness management in HDR format. The EOTF curve – which is responsible for how the TV distributes brightness in a scene – is slightly below ideal. In practice, it may happen that the darkest parts of the image are displayed too dark and simply… disappear. But these are details that only come out in measurements. Generally: we are impressed. However, we also know that LG TVs respond very well to professional calibration. You can achieve almost reference-quality picture from them, so – while it's already very good out of the box – we allowed ourselves to go a step further and refine everything to perfection.

In Filmmaker mode, the TCL P8K revealed certain imperfections in image reproduction from the outset. We noticed that the television had a tendency to slightly brighten scenes – its gamma was somewhat low, causing the image to appear slightly "washed out", lacking depth, as if the contrast had slipped out of control. This was most evident in HDR content, where the EOTF brightness graph clearly deviated from reference values. As a result, darker areas of the image appeared too gloomy, while brighter areas did not always reach the correct level of luminance. Another noticeable issue was a slight overemphasis on blue – the television stubbornly boosted this colour, causing certain parts of the image, especially skin tones and reds, to have a subtle purple tint. This is not a major flaw, but it is noticeable to a trained eye. Fortunately, most of these errors could be corrected during calibration. You can see the results of this adjustment in the graphs and photos below.

We must admit that we didn't have much work with the LG B5. It's one of those televisions that look good right from the start, but after calibration… they can really impress. The white balance was brought to almost perfect levels – to the point of errors that are invisible to the human eye, unless you are a professional colourist with a magnifying glass at the screen. We also managed to master the tendency of the television to slightly dim the darkest details, particularly in HDR scenes. After proper tuning, everything looks cohesive: black remains deep but does not consume information. Highlights maintain their natural sparkle, and colours align with the director's vision. This is truly one of those models that shows you don't have to spend a fortune to have an almost reference-quality picture. If you can opt for professional calibration – it’s definitely worth it in the case of the B5.

After calibration, the TCL P8K showed a completely different face. It managed to achieve nearly perfect, even reference-level color reproduction in both SDR and HDR content. The screen no longer had a tendency towards a cool tint, and the white balance was perfectly balanced. The gamma values for SDR material also finally look as they should – the image has the proper depth and no longer appears washed out. The only remark that can still be made about the P8K concerns its "Chinese" traits, known from most TCL models. The TV still likes to manipulate saturation in HDR content in its own way – sometimes slightly boosting it, sometimes smoothing it out, which means the effect is not always fully predictable. Nevertheless, after calibration, the colors look stunning, and their accuracy is truly surprising. In most cases, measurement errors dropped below values of 1-2, which is a result that significantly more expensive models would not be ashamed of.

LG B5 really positively surprised us in terms of handling lower quality content. Thanks to the enhancement and smoothing features, materials in HD resolution or even SD gain a second life. Importantly – when this option is activated at the "low" or "medium" level, we do not feel that the image is artificially softened or smoothed out unnecessarily. Details remain intact, film grain does not disappear, and the edges of objects do not look washed out 😉. This is truly a useful tool – especially if you are watching terrestrial television, archival materials, or content from YouTube in lower resolutions. The image is clear, coherent, and simply pleasant to the eye.

Scaling as such works very well – even content of poor quality is reproduced with surprising fidelity. Unfortunately, there was a slight hiccup. Although the menu contains the option to disable overscan, the television still has issues with correctly displaying images of very low resolution. It may seem like a detail, but when watching older materials – it can be irritating.

The TCL P8K performs somewhat worse when it comes to the fluidity of tonal transitions in lower-quality materials. The television does offer a function to smooth out unwanted bands; however, its effectiveness leaves much to be desired. Even at the highest setting, it's hard to talk about any real improvement – at times the effect is almost the opposite of what is intended, as the function can introduce small artifacts and unnatural blurring on the screen.

On the other hand, upscaling – that is, scaling the image to 4K resolution – looks significantly better. The P8K handles this task surprisingly well – HD content, and even SD, is enhanced in an aesthetically pleasing manner without excessive loss of sharpness. While there are slight "hard" edges typical of this class of equipment, this can be easily adjusted with the sharpness slider to suit personal preferences. The final effect is more than satisfactory, especially considering the price range in which this model is situated.

LG B5 is a television with a 120 Hz OLED panel. It may not sound as impressive as the marketing claims of “144 Hz” or “165 Hz” found in gaming monitors, but honestly? The smoothness is excellent nonetheless. The picture is sharp, fluid and simply enjoyable to watch – even when there is a lot happening on screen. The organic panel does its job – the pixel response time is almost instantaneous, meaning there’s no sign of smearing or blurring that can spoil dynamic shots. Sport, fast-paced games – everything looks clear and distinct.

We also have the classic LG smoothness enhancer, TruMotion. This allows you to smooth out films shot at 24 frames per second – which, to put it bluntly, is most of what you watch on Netflix or from Blu-ray discs. If you set lower values on the “De-Judder” slider, you’ll get a picture closer to a cinematic look – with a slight judder, but without any artificiality. Higher settings? A soap opera effect is guaranteed. Fortunately, LG gives you the option to tune everything to your liking.

TCL P8K is one of the cheapest televisions offering a refresh rate of 144 Hz, which in itself is quite an advantage in this price segment. Thanks to the fast panel, this model can confidently be recommended to both sports fans and video gamers – the image is smooth, and the movement of the ball or dynamic actions look natural. However, this does not mean that the P8K is suitable solely for sports. On the contrary – it can also maintain appropriate dynamics in films without introducing the artificial effect of "theatricality", as long as we set the parameters wisely. The television is equipped with a motion smoother called "Motion Clarity", which features two sliders: blur reduction and judder reduction. The first is responsible for smoothing the image by generating additional frames, which increases fluidity, but may cause a slight soap opera effect. The latter, on the other hand, reduces judder and improves sharpness during movement, although it can slightly darken the screen. Properly adjusting these two parameters allows for a really good balance between natural motion and fluidity. It has a 60 Hz refresh rate, but it is hard to say that it is a top-tier panel in terms of response speed. It will perform well for dynamic content, although more demanding users will notice that it is not a screen from the highest class in terms of motion clarity.

There are already a few televisions on the market with the label “for gamers” that, in practice, don’t understand what that means. The LG B5 is not one of them. Everything here is spot on – there are four HDMI 2.1 ports, it has 120 Hz, VRR, and ALLM, and it even has a Game Bar that is actually useful, not just looks good in the brochure. You connect your console – it works. You set 4K at 120 Hz – it works. You have an Xbox and want to play in Dolby Vision – it works too. And this is not in the sense of “theoretically supports”; it really turns on, looks good, and you don’t need to fiddle with the settings for half an hour. Additionally, there’s the HGiG picture mode that LG implemented correctly – which means HDR in games doesn’t turn the screen into a flash lamp, but shows exactly what it should. There are no surprises here, no strange limitations, no “buts.” And you know what? That’s how it should be. Cheers to the LG B5!

Although the TCL P8K is a budget television, it cannot be said that it is unsuitable for gaming. On the contrary – it is a screen that can pleasantly surprise any gamer. It features two HDMI 2.1 ports, allowing for 4K output at 120 Hz without any issues. For those gaming on a PC, they will also be pleased to know that the television can operate with a refresh rate of up to 240 Hz at a lower resolution – a small thing, but it delights. Additionally, it comes with a full set of gaming features: automatic game mode, Game Bar with quick parameter previews, VRR, HGiG, and support for Dolby Vision in games. All of this makes gaming on the P8K a truly enjoyable experience – the picture is smooth, the response is quick, and the television communicates well with next-generation consoles. The TCL P8K shows that a cheap screen doesn't have to mean giving up on fun. Certainly not in terms of gaming.