LG OLED G5 vs LG NANO81A / NANO80A

LG G5 with the new Tandem OLED matrix brings the biggest change in terms of the brightness of the television. And it's substantial. This is truly an astronomically bright OLED. In every scene tested – whether it was point lights or full-screen whites from the film The Meg – the brightness on the G5 exceeded 2000 nits. Just a year ago, such values on an OLED were simply unimaginable. And here we are – the G5 is approaching, and at times even surpassing, the best Mini-LEDs on the market. A new feature of the Tandem OLED matrix is also the expanded colour gamut – and here the LG G5 performs almost perfectly. DCI-P3 reaches a full 100%, and BT.2020 is maintained at around 83%. These are some of the highest values currently available on the market – it's hard to find any other television that comes close to such results, unless we are talking about the best displays with QD-OLED panels. The G5 has nearly reference-quality HDR – both in terms of brightness and colour saturation. This is an OLED that can truly shine – and not just figuratively.

If you are counting on HDR in the NANO81A to bring tears to your eyes, I must disappoint you. This television is simply too dark to truly show what this format is all about. With a brightness of only 250 nits, HDR exists here mainly on paper. In practice, during viewing, it is very difficult to distinguish whether we are watching high dynamic range content or regular SDR – it simply lacks that ‘punch’ of light in the bright parts of the image. However, to give credit where it’s due, we do have a glimmer of hope here – and quite a clear one at that. It concerns the colour gamut coverage. Here, the NanoCell filter shows that it is not just marketing nonsense. Our measurements indicated that the coverage of the DCI-P3 space is around 88%. This is a really solid result that places this model significantly higher than typical budget options based on standard white LEDs without any filters. Of course, it still falls short of the level of quantum dot (QLED) TVs or advanced panels with PFS filters, but for this price point, the colours are surprisingly saturated and vibrant. It's just a shame that this low brightness prevents them from fully ‘spreading their wings’ with the Nano filter.

Our test unit, the LG G5, struggled with certain issues in the factory Filmmaker mode. And although most people might have found the picture acceptable, we knew that this television was capable of much more. This mode had a clear excess of blue tint in the white balance, resulting in a significantly cooled image – particularly in HDR modes, where there was additionally a lack of red. The picture appeared cold, and its sharpness was artificially boosted and unnatural. Another significant issue was the brightness characteristics. In SDR content, the situation wasn't the worst, aside from a slight dimming of the entire image. However, it performed much worse in HDR materials – due to improper brightness management, the smallest details could completely disappear from the image, while larger, bright elements looked overexposed and lacking in gradation. Fortunately, the G5 supports calibration using 3D LUT (a tool for professionals for colour calibration), so we decided to make use of its professional capabilities and see what it could really do. Because although it wasn't tragic even before calibration, the potential of this television definitely deserved more.

For every film fan, the natural choice in LG televisions is the Filmmaker Mode. Its aim is to display images as the director intended – without unnecessary "enhancements". Unfortunately, in the case of our test unit NANO81A, the factory settings left something to be desired. The main issue turned out to be the white balance. Measurements showed a distinct deficiency of blue colour, which in practice meant that many scenes had a slightly yellowish, even "yellowed" tint. The white was not perfectly pure, which detracted from the freshness of the image. Additionally, brightness management was also not ideal – the factory-set gamma was too low. The picture often appeared oversaturated, as if overly lifted from the shadows, which caused it to lose naturalness and depth. Fortunately, LG, even in this relatively low price category, does not block access to advanced settings. The calibration possibilities of this model are enormous, which is a big plus for those who enjoy "digging" in the menu. We decided to approach the topic in our own way and see how much we could squeeze out of this panel with professional calibration.

After performing the calibration process using professional tools, we can confidently state that the LG G5 offers nearly reference-quality image. Most of the errors related to white balance and the ColorChecker test are below a value of 2, which is a phenomenal result, practically imperceptible to the human eye. And while one could still nitpick that in HDR films the television still has a tendency to slightly dim the smallest elements of the image, in practice this does not negatively affect the overall impression. Kudos to LG, as once again they provide the user with enormous possibilities for adjusting their display – and this, combined with the very good parameters of the panel itself, results in an image that is truly hard to beat.

After calibration, the NANO81A is a completely different television. What LG offers in terms of image enhancement tools even in such an affordable model deserves a big plus. We managed to completely eliminate that annoying yellowing of whites and make the colours natural, vibrant, and simply "true". In SDR content (that is, regular television, YouTube, or older films), the picture now looks worlds better – it is clear, well-balanced, and no longer strains the eyes with strange hues. It is clear that this panel has significant potential, which is simply wasted by poor presets out of the box. However, we do have one serious reservation that calibration cannot fully overcome – it concerns brightness management in HDR mode. LG's algorithm in this model is constructed very conservatively. The television intentionally dims the HDR picture to avoid overexposing the already weak blacks of the IPS panel. The programmers faced a choice: either to provide more light and accept that the blacks would become light grey or to reduce the brightness to maintain any contrast. They chose the latter. Nevertheless, after our adjustments, watching anything on the NANO81 is significantly better.

Upscaling and digital image processing in the LG G5 are quite impressive. The television handles lower quality content very well, especially when the "Smooth Gradation" feature is set to a low level. In this mode, it effectively removes unwanted artifacts and issues with visible tonal transitions. It may also slightly smooth out some desirable details, such as the subtle texture of clothing or skin, but importantly – it does not remove film grain, so it's difficult to speak of a serious compromise here. This is one of those options that is definitely worth enabling.

The G5 also performs well with upscaling, which improves the quality of older materials. The test image with the model looked really solid – slight jaggedness was visible, but that's an effect that cannot be completely avoided. Additionally, there were no problems with overscan, which – contrary to appearances – is not at all obvious, even in 2025.

It often happens that cheap 4K panels mercilessly bring to light all the "dirt" and imperfections of lower-resolution content. However, with the LG NANO81A, the situation is quite different. This is truly a solid performer when it comes to handling content that is far from ideal. The built-in processor does a great job with upscaling. Even older recordings look quite decent on this screen – the image is coherent, cleaned of digital noise, and simply pleasant to the eye. A significant advantage is the gradation reduction feature that you will find in the settings. It is extraordinarily effective in combating colour banding, which is a lifesaver when watching materials with a low bitrate, for instance, from some streaming services or older files from the web. However, it is worth maintaining a certain level of caution. Since we are dealing with a less powerful chip than in LG's top models, setting this option too aggressively may sometimes result in minor artefacts or slight blurring of details. Despite this risk, I definitely encourage experimenting with this feature - in many cases, it can save the viewing experience and make low-quality material fully watchable.

The motion smoothness on the LG G5 is simply phenomenal. The television is equipped with a 165 Hz refresh rate panel, and this, combined with the instant response time of the OLED matrix, delivers incredible results. The image does not tear or stutter like on traditional LCD televisions. Like most LG models, the G5 is equipped with a motion smoother, which can be useful when watching films – we are, of course, referring to the TruMotion mode. With the "De-Blur" and "De-Judder" sliders, we can adjust the smoothness of older materials according to our own preferences, whether we want to maintain the characteristic film stuttering or lean towards a more fluid, television-like effect.

When it comes to motion fluidity, the NANO81A unfortunately has a hard time. The television is based on a panel with a refresh rate of 60 Hz. If you are looking for perfect sharpness in dynamic football matches or fast action games, you may feel a bit disappointed. With such a low native refresh rate, fast objects on the screen will always be a little blurred.

Features for gamers? Perfect. That should be sufficient for you to know what level we are dealing with here. The G5 is a television designed with gamers in mind, so we will find literally everything you could expect from a gaming screen. There is a Game Bar, there is support for high resolutions with high refresh rates – that is, 4K at 120 Hz, and even more, as the panel has a refresh rate of 165 Hz (which PC gamers will benefit from). The television supports variable refresh rate (VRR), automatic low latency mode (ALLM), and also correctly handles HDR in games thanks to the HGiG function. All of this adds up to one of the best sets of gaming features available on the market. Well done, LG.

NANO81A is unfortunately not hardware designed for e-sports. The lack of support for a 120 Hz signal is a fact that users planning to purchase this model simply have to come to terms with. Nevertheless, LG's engineers have made an effort to maximise the potential of this 60 Hz panel, offering a set of features that genuinely enhance the gaming experience. Firstly, the television supports VRR technology (within the range of 48-60 Hz) and ALLM. As a result, the image remains stable and does not "tear", and the device automatically switches to low-latency mode as soon as it detects a signal from a console. Managing these settings is extremely simple thanks to a dedicated system overlay, which allows for quick viewing of parameters without leaving the game. A very significant advantage is the support for the HGiG format. This solution is crucial for owners of modern consoles because it enables the television to correctly "understand" the intentions of game developers regarding HDR tone mapping. In practice, this helps avoid the effect of "blown-out" bright spots, such as clouds or light sources, which is unfortunately a common issue in budget LCD televisions.