LG OLED G4 vs SAMSUNG OLED S95F (QD-OLED)

LG G4 guarantees an incredibly vivid HDR effect, placing the television among the very best. The equipment of the highest model in the producer's 2024 portfolio with the second generation of micro-lens technology (MLA) has achieved a maximum brightness level of 1474 nits in real scenes. The only area where the product from the Korean manufacturer may lag behind LCD televisions with Mini LED backlighting is during the full-screen scenes featuring a lot of white. If we disregard the latter type of scene, the average result would be even higher. It is also worth mentioning scenes with very fine details, where each one shines at full intensity, which is not as evident in non-OLED televisions. The combination of such brightness and wide coverage of the DCI-P3 palette makes HDR materials more engaging than ever before.

The new generation of QD-OLED matrices in the Samsung S95F shows its full potential, with brightness results that are truly stunning. In test film scenes like "Life of Pi" or "Sicario 2," where smaller light elements appear – stars, the moon, or headlights – the television managed to achieve over 2000 nits of brightness. This is a result that surpasses even most top-of-the-range Mini-LED models.

The secret lies in the technology itself – instead of a limited number of dimming zones like in Mini-LED televisions, here we have millions of emitting pixels, allowing the television to fully showcase its power without technological compromises. Of course, as this is still an organic panel, in full-screen scenes flooded with white – like in the final sequence of the film The Meg – the brightness drops to around 1400 nits. Nevertheless, the result remains excellent and clearly exceeds what any OLEDs, both QD-OLED and WOLED, have offered so far. The colour reproduction is also particularly noteworthy. Thanks to QD-OLED technology, the television achieves nearly 100% coverage of the DCI-P3 colour space and about 80% in BT.2020. These values make HDR images not only dazzling in brightness but also captivating in the richness of colours.

The best factory mode in terms of colour reproduction was "Filmmaker". This was the one we used during our tests. Let's check how its characteristics looked before the calibration process. Looking closely at the white balance first, we can notice a significant dominance of red and green. As a result, the image had a warm yellowish hue. Such characteristics are typically observed in "Cinema", "Filmmaker" or similarly named modes. The effect of this colour balance was clearly visible in both SDR and HDR content, which after switching from "Standard" mode appeared distinctly yellow. Now, let's move on to two graphs that are responsible for the brightness characteristics and consequently the contrast of the image. The first one (Gamma), representing materials with a standard colour palette, performed decently. For most of the time, midtones and bright whites were reproduced very accurately; however, it noticeably lost the darkest details, which merged into a black blob. Conversely, HDR materials, represented by the EOTF curve graph, exhibited a significant drop in contrast due to a strong boost in brightness. The colours themselves also posed a problem, as can be seen on the "ColorChecker" graph, since they were noticeably under-saturated.

The best picture mode straight out of the box is undoubtedly Filmmaker Mode – a mode that Samsung has been using for several years, designed to faithfully convey the creators' intent. In SDR content, its implementation is not bad, although some imperfections can be observed. The image is slightly dimmed, and the screen has a subtle pinkish tint due to the dominance of red and blue in the white balance. Colour errors were maintained at a level of 3–4 ΔE units – and for those who are not familiar: a value above 3 is the threshold at which the average human eye starts to notice differences.

However, much greater problems arise in HDR content. Here, the white balance was not such a significant issue – a slight excess of blue did not significantly hinder the viewing experience. The problem became managing brightness. In practice, the television "blasted" the image too much, causing details in the blacks to completely disappear. The final effect was far from expected, and colour errors in this mode became quite pronounced. It's hard to say why such a design decision was made, but it was evident that the factory HDR settings did not allow this television to showcase its full capabilities.

The manufacturer has implemented extensive support for the calibration process in its LG televisions for many years. We therefore used 2- and 20-point greyscale adjustments, as well as an advanced CMS (Colour Management System), and got to work. As you can see, thanks to the procedure carried out, each parameter has significantly improved. The use of tools allowed for the achievement of extremely beneficial effects, which include: studio colour reproduction, recovery of details in dark areas of the image, appropriate brightness characteristics, and suitable colour saturation. This brings us as close as possible to the reference image, which is what the film director saw on the preview monitor. It is worth noting that the LG G4 televisions alone allow for even deeper intervention in image quality thanks to the ability to calibrate with 3D LUTs. However, this is a solution recommended only for post-production or graphic studios.

After calibration, it was possible to make subtle adjustments to the white balance and significantly improve the image characteristics. In SDR content, the quality has become practically reference-level – most colour errors have fallen below a ΔE value of 1, which is the level at which the human eye can no longer discern differences. This is a result that places the S95F among the very best televisions available on the market.

In HDR materials, the calibration also brought about a significant improvement. The television's tendency to blow out highlights has been brought under control, as confirmed by the analysis of the EOTF curve. A slight tendency to brighten the entire scene or occasional loss of detail in blacks can still be observed, but this does not significantly affect the overall perception. After calibration, the S95F reveals its full potential and can be described as one of the best televisions on the market!

The tested television did not perform particularly well with materials rich in tonal transitions, as a result of which we could observe a strong posterisation effect. However, there is a partial remedy for this issue. The manufacturer has equipped the LG G4 with a smoothing system called "Gentle Gradation," which we can apply at three levels: Low, Medium, and High. Each of these options guarantees quite a high effectiveness of smoothing on light colours, although it is low on darker ones. We recommend primarily using the first one, as the other two interfere with the director's intentions by removing film grain.

When watching lower-quality materials, the efficiency of the television during upscaling is extremely important. The image from the tested television is sharp and clear. However, one should pay attention to the jagged edges of fine details and minor issues around characters, such as the creation of halo effects, which occurs due to the sharpening imposed by LG G4 even when the lowest value on the slider, that is 0, is set. It is worth noting that this represents a certain change compared to the LG G3, which did not impose such strong image sharpening, even when the appropriate slider was set to position 0.

The Samsung S95F offers a noise reduction feature that is responsible for smoothing tonal transitions. It works very effectively, but in practice, it can be overly aggressive. Materials of lower quality – e.g., older recordings or videos from YouTube – become soft and plastic when this feature is activated, resembling an image digitally smoothed in a graphic program. Unfortunately, the natural film grain, which often adds authenticity to the image, disappears in the process. Fortunately, the television does not lose too many fine details, such as in skin textures or elements of the surroundings. Therefore, this feature is best used with discretion – depending on preferences, one can achieve a smooth image that is less natural, or one that is truer to the original. In our opinion, the most universal choice is the “Standard” setting.

The image scaling performs significantly better. The television handles materials of lower resolution well – even content at 576p looks quite decent, although a slight blockiness can be noticed. Overall, the effect is very good, although it somewhat falls short of what Sony Bravia 8 (II) or LG G5 can achieve. It is also worth mentioning a minor imperfection of the S95F – in older materials, overscan may occur, causing a slight trimming of the left edge of the image.

The maximum refresh rate that we can set on the LG G4 is 144 Hz. Naturally, this is only possible when the LG G4 is connected to a very powerful PC. Otherwise, we will operate at a maximum refresh rate of 120 Hz, which is recommended if we primarily want to watch sports or content with high motion dynamics. For those requiring high image fluidity, the manufacturer has implemented a multi-level motion smoother called "TrueMotion". This has been divided into two separate sliders that adjust the sharpness of moving images (De-Blur) and judder (De-Judder). Both sliders can be set in the range from 0 to 10, with each level affecting the degree of smoothness, allowing everyone to find their golden mean.

The LG OLED G4 panel features an average response time of 0.78 ms (as directly derived from our measurements), enabling an incredibly clear image, unattainable by LCD televisions, which can have response times of several milliseconds. This is perfectly illustrated by the images from the "UFO Test", which show no trailing blur behind the object. Moreover, the LG OLED G4 test revealed that the television offers the ability to precisely adjust the motion smoothing function, allowing users to select the ideal level of image interpolation. We particularly appreciated this during fast-paced actions in video games, where the LG G4 performed exceptionally well, minimising any blurring. Thanks to OLED technology, this model eliminates so-called ghosting, ensuring that the image remains sharp even in the most dynamic sporting or cinematic scenes.

The Samsung S95F shows phenomenal performance in terms of motion fluidity. The panel operates at a native resolution of 4K with a refresh rate of up to 165 Hz, and combined with QD-OLED organic technology, it delivers incredible results. Sports and games look stunning – the image is fast, dynamic, and very natural. Additionally, the built-in motion smoother and motion blur reduction system allow you to tailor the character of the picture to your own preferences. You can opt for a more "frame-like" effect with visible film structure or a smooth, theatrical spectacle. Every viewer will find a setting that suits them.

The LG G4 television supports all the features that make up the HDMI 2.1 standard. During testing, each of them activated without the slightest problem, which allows us to consider the television as designed for gaming. Their functionality will surely be appreciated by both console users and those connecting the LG G4 to a computer. It is also worth mentioning the correct implementation of the HGIG (HDR Gaming Interest Group) mode, which ensures that games mastered to brightness levels exceeding the maximum luminance of the LG G4 will correctly map tones, and the game's visuals will remain true to the original.

A nice touch is the existence of a special GameBar, which we can call up at any moment to check game parameters, but most importantly, to change them quickly. More importantly, enabling VRR technology does not degrade contrast, which is very common in televisions that feature local dimming or Mini LED backlighting. Of course, this is thanks to the OLED panel itself, characterised by pixel self-emission. As a matter of editorial obligation, we will only mention a slight grey flicker, which is somewhat normal after enabling VRR.

In summary, the LG G4, like practically all OLED televisions, is an ideal product for all kinds of games and online competitions. With fully-fledged HDMI 2.1 connections with a full bandwidth of 48 Gbit, features such as VRR, ALLM, G-Sync, FreeSync, or gaming in HDR Dolby Vision will bring much joy.

The advantages of low motion blur and excellent motion fluidity characteristic of OLED panels are just the beginning, as the Samsung S95F has been designed with gamers in mind. The manufacturer has equipped it with four HDMI 2.1 ports – although limited to a bandwidth of 40 Gb/s, in practice this has no impact on compatibility with consoles or PCs. We get a full suite of gaming features: variable refresh rate (VRR), automatic game mode (ALLM), as well as a very well-implemented HGiG standard, which ensures that HDR titles look exactly as their creators intended. Completing the package is the Game Bar – a clear settings hub where we can preview and change all key image parameters with one motion. The proprietary motion smoother, Game Motion Plus, also deserves commendation, as it can smooth out animations, which is particularly useful in productions running at 60 frames, where stability is not always exemplary. While support for Dolby Vision in games is lacking, it’s hard to view this as a serious drawback – Samsung compensates with other solutions. This is one of the best, if not the best, gaming televisions available on the market today.