LG OLED G5 vs SAMSUNG S95F (TANDEM OLED 83")

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.

The Samsung S95F in the 83-inch variant with a Tandem OLED panel also manages to enchant with HDR effects. In test film scenes, such as "Life of Pi" or "Sicario 2", where smaller light points dominate – stars in the night sky, the glow of the moon or headlights – the television effortlessly achieves brightness values exceeding 2000 nits. This is a result that not long ago seemed unattainable for OLEDs and positions this model alongside the best Mini-LED constructions.

The limitations of organic panels only reveal themselves in full-screen scenes filled entirely with white. In the case of this model, for instance in the final scene from the film The Meg, brightness drops to around 1000 nits – a bit lower than in the smaller QD-OLED variants, where the result hovered around 1400 nits. Nevertheless, we are still talking about a remarkable result, unprecedented in OLED televisions of this size. The colour reproduction is equally impressive. The new Tandem OLED panel virtually catches up with QD-OLED televisions, offering excellent coverage of a wide colour gamut. The results are slightly weaker than with QD-OLED, but in practice, they still provide an image whose intensity and naturalness of colours are hard to compare with any other television.

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.

The best picture mode straight out of the box is undoubtedly Filmmaker Mode. This is a mode that has been available in Samsung televisions for several years and is intended to reproduce the image as faithfully as possible to the creators' vision. In SDR material, it performs reasonably well, although not without faults. The image is slightly subdued, and the white balance tends to shift towards red and blue, resulting in a slight pinkish tint on the screen. The average colour errors hover around a value of ΔE 3–4, which is at the limit of what most people can discern with the naked eye.

Much more pronounced are the limitations when it comes to HDR content. Here, a slight excess of blue in the white balance is not such a big problem – the real obstacle is the way the television manages brightness. In many scenes, the image appeared as if it had been overexposed, and details in the blacks could completely disappear. The final effect did not reflect what the hardware of this class is capable of and led to significant colour errors. It's hard to understand why such a factory characteristic was chosen, as the HDR reception in this version was definitely not what it should have been.

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 S95F shows what it is truly capable of. The white balance has been corrected and minor inaccuracies adjusted, resulting in an almost exemplary image for SDR content. The colour differences have dropped below the level that the human eye can perceive – looking at the screen gives a sense of complete naturalness and colour coherence.

In HDR, the improvement is equally noticeable. The TV performs much better with brightness, eliminating the issue of "blowing out" the entire frame. Bright scenes are more controlled, and blacks retain more detail, although there can still be a slight brightening of the image as a whole. However, this does not change the fact that after calibration, the S95F delivers an image that can comfortably be called one of the best on the market – regardless of whether we are watching movies in SDR or spectacular productions in HDR.

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.

In the Samsung S95F model, there is a noise reduction feature aimed at improving the smoothness of tonal transitions. Its operation can hardly be called ineffective – on the contrary, it can overly interfere with the image. Older films or materials of poorer quality, such as those from YouTube, acquire a soft, smoothed character thanks to it, reminiscent of a painting effect. The problem is that along with the noise, the natural film grain disappears, stripping the image of its cinematic character. Fortunately, the feature does not blur significant details, so its use is more a matter of taste. If someone prefers a slightly polished and smooth image, it is worth enabling, but in our opinion, the most sensible setting is “Standard”.

A better impression is left by the upscaling. The S95F efficiently enhances the quality of lower resolution content – even 576p video looks quite good, although minor artifacts in the form of blockiness can be noticed. Overall, the effect is very solid, although when compared to competitors – such as the Sony Bravia 8 (II) or LG G5 – it is noticeable that those models can extract a bit more from the image. However, it is worth remembering one inconvenience: with older films and photos, there is an overscan issue that causes a slight cutting off of the left edge of the image.

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.

In the case of the 83-inch S95F with a Tandem OLED panel, the fluidity of motion also makes a huge impression. The panel, with a native resolution of 4K, offers a refresh rate of 165 Hz, and this combined with organic technology makes games and sports look superb. Additionally, the manufacturer has added a film smoother and a motion blur reduction system, allowing each viewer to adjust the image to their own preferences – whether it's a more "frame-rate" cinematic effect or a smooth, almost theatrical spectacle.

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.

Low smearing and phenomenal motion fluidity, which are the hallmarks of OLED displays, are just the warm-up. The Samsung S95F has been designed with gamers in mind – and this is evident at every turn. Four HDMI 2.1 ports with a bandwidth of 40 Gb/s may sound like a compromise on paper, but in practice, neither consoles nor PCs will experience the slightest limitation here. On board, there is a full set of gaming features: Variable Refresh Rate (VRR), Auto Low Latency Mode (ALLM), as well as a flawlessly implemented HGiG standard that allows you to enjoy HDR exactly as the creators intended. All of this is complemented by Game Bar – an intuitive command centre where you can check and adjust the most important settings in seconds.

Particular attention should also be paid to Game Motion Plus, Samsung's proprietary motion smoothing technology. It can add extra fluidity to animations, which can be a lifesaver in games running at 60 frames per second, where stability doesn't always hold up. Indeed, support for Dolby Vision in games is lacking, but it’s hard to consider this a serious flaw – the manufacturer compensates for this gap with other solutions. The S95F is one of the absolute favourites for the title of the best gaming television on today's market.