Samsung QN900F vs LG OLED B6

QN900F is truly a bright television – it can generate nearly 2000 nits, a figure that remains unattainable for most models available on the market. But the mere ability to achieve such brightness is not everything – it also matters whether the television can make good use of it. And here, it is not always perfect. Our tests on cinematic test patterns showed that in scenes such as those from Life of Pi or The Meg, the QN900F can truly shine – literally and metaphorically. In such moments, its greatest advantage, which is brightness, makes a huge impression. However, in more demanding scenes, challenges arise – similar to when assessing contrast. When smaller, bright elements appear on screen, the television often struggles with the decision: should it highlight them at the expense of black levels, or perhaps maintain deep blacks while toning down brightness. The result is situations where, for example, in the film Sicario 2, brightness dropped to just 200 nits, making details barely visible. Dimming algorithms could definitely be better for a television of this class.

The 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 the new, budget OLED SE panel from LG Display. In practice it simply gives a bit more headroom and makes HDR look fuller in many scenes than on last year’s lower‑end OLEDs. That does not mean the B6 has no limitations. In very bright shots, when a large part of the screen is strongly lit, brightness can fall below 400 nits. This behaviour is typical for OLED TVs, especially in this segment, and that’s where you see the biggest difference compared with more expensive models. Even so, we judge the B6’s results as genuinely solid. It’s still not a TV for breaking brightness records, but the HDR effect is strong enough that films truly feel like a step up from ordinary SDR. Colour gamut Using the OLED SE panel has had a slight impact on wide colour gamut coverage. Compared with last year’s model the results have fallen by a few percentage points. It covers roughly 96% of DCI‑P3 and about 71% of BT.2020. That doesn’t mean the colours on the LG B6 are weak. In most films and series they look lively, 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 stems from the WOLED panel structure. Besides red, green and blue subpixels it also uses a white subpixel, which helps to boost brightness. However, this comes at a price. At very high luminance some colour is effectively 'diluted' by the white light, so the saturation of certain colours can be slightly lower. In everyday use this isn’t a major issue, but in the most demanding scenes you can notice it.

Testing the QN900F in Filmmaker mode, the characteristic features of the image were quickly noticeable, even though this mode is designed to reflect the director’s vision. The white balance was not perfect – the television displayed distinct deficiencies in the blue colour. This made the entire scene take on a warmer tone, as if someone had applied a subtle filter in shades of yellow and orange. In films where bright shots dominate – for example, scenes in the snow or in strong daylight – this gave the impression of slight warmth that did not always convey the director's intent. The second noticeable element was the management of brightness. The QN900F could sometimes brighten the image more than necessary. It looked as though the exposure had been slightly 'pulled up', causing the scene to lose its naturalness. Shadows were sometimes too shallow, and the contrast slightly weakened. These are not disqualifying errors, but for a television in this price range, it is evident that Filmmaker mode has not been perfected one hundred percent. This is particularly noticeable when we compare its image with what was seen after the screen calibration.

We tested the LG B6 in Filmmaker Mode, the best picture setting available straight out of the box. ISF modes produce very similar results, but in our tests we always stick to Filmmaker Mode for better comparison with other TVs. Each of them is, in any case, a much better starting point than Vivid or Eco mode, where the picture is heavily boosted and noticeably less natural. On SDR material the factory settings perform really well. Colour errors are small, the gamma response is correct, and the picture during normal viewing looks natural and does not feel overly "pumped up". It's a bit worse with HDR. When such content is played you quickly see that the white balance hasn't been set perfectly. Too much blue and red gives the image a slightly pink tint. This is also confirmed by colour gamut measurements and the ColorChecker, where samples clearly shift in that direction. It's not a flaw that completely spoils the picture, but it is noticeable with HDR films. Therefore anyone who wants the most faithful image should consider calibration, which we cover further on in the review.

After calibration, we managed to eliminate errors in white balance and adjust them to a level that can be considered acceptable. It is not perfect, but it is definitely better than the factory settings. Most colour errors now lie within the deltaE 2–3 range, so in practice, they should not be noticeable during everyday viewing. However, the most significant improvement is evident in how the television manages brightness in SDR content. Shadows and details are no longer flattened, which gives the image depth and naturalness. As for 4K HDR material – colours themselves are no longer an issue, but some imperfections of Mini-LED technology can still be observed. The QN900F tends to dim the smallest bright elements too much, causing them to sometimes disappear from view. However, it should be noted that this is a much better solution than boosting the entire screen, which would spoil the contrast. This is more of a characteristic of this technology than a typical flaw, but it is worth keeping in mind. The effects of calibration are truly very good.

During calibration, we concentrated mainly on HDR content, because that's where the factory settings needed the most correction. We did not, however, neglect SDR mode, which after adjustment was brought almost to perfection. Colours are very accurate, and brightness is controlled as it should be. The biggest improvement in HDR came from fixing the white balance. Removing the excess red and blue eliminated the pinkish tint, and the image became much more natural. Skin tones, whites and all colours that had previously shifted towards pink improved. After calibration most errors fell below a Delta E of 2–3, the threshold at which the average viewer stops noticing differences with the naked eye. So the LG B6 can deliver a very accurate picture, particularly for the manufacturer's entry-level OLED model.

If we want to eliminate jarring tonal transitions that can be irritating, for example, while watching YouTube, we can use a feature called noise reduction. It works really effectively – it removes issues with colour blending when we set it to Standard level. However, as with most Samsung televisions, this does involve some compromises. Although we did not notice this feature significantly affecting the structure of objects in the image, it unfortunately reacts quite aggressively to film grain. Most people will likely appreciate this effect – the noise is simply removed – but if someone is looking for an image as close as possible to reference settings, we definitely recommend turning this option off.

When it comes to scaling, or dealing with very low-quality content, the QN900F performs really well. On the test card with the model, the image appeared clear, with only slight aliasing that shouldn't bother most viewers. However, it is worth mentioning one issue – the television sometimes has problems with so-called overscan, which can cause older content to be slightly cropped. This might manifest, for example, in subtitles disappearing from the bottom of the screen.

The LG B6 handles lower-quality material very well. This is largely thanks to effective digital image processing, which can mask some of the source’s imperfections without overly smoothing the whole scene. The "Smooth Gradation" function proves particularly useful. It noticeably reduces posterisation, especially in dark parts of the image. The safest choice remains the Low or Medium setting. The function still effectively smooths out unsightly tonal banding, but does not yet interfere too much with fine details. Purists can of course leave it switched off. Upscaling to 4K also performs very well. Full HD and 720p material retain a good amount of detail, and the image is neither overly sharpened nor heavily blurred. Some limitations only become apparent with very poor sources below 720p, where the smallest text and fine elements are not always perfectly sharp, but this applies to almost every other TV on the market.

There really is nothing to complain about here – the QN900F looks very good in terms of motion. With a 165 Hz panel in 4K, it can confidently be said that this television is suitable for both watching sports and gaming. The motion enhancer plays a key role here. It works brilliantly – not only during sports broadcasts, where it can eliminate blurring and image shaking, but also in games, where the animation becomes clearer and smoother. And of course, if someone likes to experiment with films – they also have that option. At lower settings, a slight graininess and cinematic character can be seen, while at higher settings, it takes on a soap opera effect. In other words, everyone can adjust the picture to their preferences, and the television has the power to handle it.

One of the biggest advantages of OLED panels is the very fast pixel response time. This keeps the picture sharp and free of the visible smearing often seen on LCD TVs. However, there is a downside. During slow camera pans motion can look choppier than on LCD screens, where some of that effect is naturally masked by the slower panel. Fortunately, on the LG B6 this can be easily mitigated using the TruMotion system. With the motion smoothing set correctly you can achieve smoother motion without giving the picture an exaggerated soap opera effect.

[UPDATE] We have updated our 2025 Samsung TV reviews following the release of firmware version 1131, which officially restores the essential HGiG (HDR Gaming Interest Group) support.

It really is nice here. The QN900F offers a full set of features that we would expect from a top-end gaming television – we have VRR, ALLM, Game Bar, and also cloud gaming applications. However, the biggest standout is the proprietary motion smoother, which also works in games and – importantly – does not introduce noticeable lag. This is something we won't find with its other competitors. Unfortunately, there is also something concerning. This year, Samsung has evidently messed something up with its televisions. During the testing of the QN900F before its update, it had the HGIG feature, which allowed for perfect adjustment of HDR settings for the console. However, according to our procedures, we always update the equipment to the latest version – in order to give the manufacturer a chance to fix any shortcomings. And here… it turned out the opposite.After the update, the HGIG feature disappeared from the menu, making the correct configuration of the console for HDR practically impossible. It was supposed to be complete – 165Hz, four HDMI 2.1 ports, a full gaming package… but unfortunately, it turned out to be a small blunder. What a shame.

LG OLED B6 has plenty to offer gamers; it’s simply a complete base for PS5, Xbox Series X/S or a capable PC. It has four full-size HDMI 2.1 ports with 48 Gbps bandwidth, so you can avoid irritating cable swapping when connecting several newer devices at once. It offers a full suite of synchronization technologies, from standard VRR to G-Sync and FreeSync. The screen synchronises the refresh rate seamlessly with the frame output from the console or graphics card. Of course it includes ALLM: the B6 automatically recognises when a game is running and immediately reduces latency to a minimum. HDR support is also excellent. The TV supports Dolby Vision, and a correctly implemented HGiG standard means that, after initial calibration in the console settings, the image won’t suffer from blown-out highlights or lost detail in bright areas. The cherry on the cake is the Game Bar. Instead of digging through the full menu during gameplay, a single click is enough to adjust shadow visibility, tweak selected parameters or simply check the current display mode. All of this makes the LG B6 an excellent choice for gamers.