Sony X75WL vs LG UA75006LA (VA)

The luminosity chart for the X75WL Sony television showed a maximum value of 350 nits, which is unfortunately not an impressive result. The television does not surprise with its brightness, and all the HDR scenes we tested lacked depth and the appropriate light effect that should accompany HDR content. Additionally, the poor coverage of the DCI-P3 colour gamut makes it difficult for the television to reproduce rich colours, which significantly affects the overall viewing experience of HDR content. The lack of adequate brightness and weak colour coverage mean that HDR effects are very limited in this model.

The LG UA7500 with a VA panel holds brightness at around 350 nits, which does not make a significant impression by today's standards. It is hard to speak of a true HDR experience here – most content looks more like classic SDR with a slight attempt at boosting the highlights. The advantage is that regardless of the tested scene, the effect remained relatively stable. However, we noticed that in very extreme scenes with a lot of fine details, the television can gently dim the image to achieve better black levels, but this comes at the expense of visibility of bright effects. It is also worth noting that the UA7500 is not equipped with any additional technologies for expanding colours. It is neither a QLED panel nor PFS LED, which is why the coverage of the DCI-P3 colour gamut is only 80%, making many HDR films appear flat and not conveying the full diversity of colours.

Colour reproduction tests for the model Sony X75WL are carried out in movie mode, which offers the best image settings, but it also has its flaws. The biggest problem with the X75WL Sony is the white balance – for both HD and 4K HDR content – which is characterised by a dominance of blue. As a result, the entire image feels too cold. The colour checker confirms these errors, showing that the colours lean towards cooler tones. In terms of brightness characteristics, the contrast gamma is at a fairly decent level, however, the same cannot be said for the EOTF curve. There are significant issues with maintaining appropriate brightness – the image is either overly bright or too dim, which impacts the visual perception of content.

The Filmmaker mode on the LG UA7500 performs better than one might expect from such a budget television, but let’s not get carried away with praise. The image is put together quite sensibly and does not irritate at first glance, however, its weaknesses quickly become apparent. This is most evident in scenes with bright points – background lamps or reflections of light on the skin are distinctly exaggerated. The faces of the characters often look unnatural, as if they have been 'overexposed'. Added to this is the default gamma characteristic, which brightens the smallest details and causes the image to lose subtlety in darker areas. Nevertheless, it is a fact that for its price range, the UA7500 in factory mode provides a fairly decent starting point. However, it is clear that without additional adjustment, it will not be possible to avoid these problems, which is why – as with other televisions – we decided to see what could be achieved after calibration.

X75WL Sony is one of those cases where image calibration may not be highly spectacular, but it offers a very good improvement in the perception of colours. The white balance, for both HD and 4K materials, has been significantly improved – there is no longer a strong dominance of cooler shades. The gamma curve also appears more stable, which translates into better image quality. However, the biggest issue remains the EOTF curve, which is responsible for brightness in 4K materials. Due to the technological limitations of the television (IPS panel and lack of local dimming technology), it is hard to speak of a significant improvement, as we cannot extract more from this model. Despite these limitations, the tonal quality of the image has been significantly enhanced.

The biggest improvement we noticed was when calibrating the mode intended for everyday SDR content. We managed to smooth out the white balance in an acceptable way and tackle the problem of excessive brightening of fine details due to the gamma curve. As a result, the image gained the consistency and naturalness that was missing in the factory settings. After such adjustments, we can confidently state that for everyday television content, programmes, or materials from YouTube, the LG UA7500 performs very well – especially after professional calibration. The situation is somewhat different for HDR content. Here, calibration allowed us to tame the white balance and slightly improve the brightness management; however, the limitations of the construction are immediately apparent. The lack of additional filters to widen the colour palette results in the most vivid colours appearing flat, and the image does not display the intensity we would expect from good HDR. So in SDR, the UA7500 performs quite well, but in HDR – despite corrections – it remains far behind, and this is a characteristic that one must accept when choosing this television.

In the case of low-quality tonal transitions, the television Sony X75WL performs poorly. The lack of any feature to improve tonal transitions results in noticeable imperfections in colour gradation. However, one can credit the quite good digital processing – the image is displayed without overscan, and overall it looks relatively good thanks to the added slight sharpness, which some users may appreciate.

LG UA7500 with a VA panel performed really well in this category. Image scaling from Full HD or even SD materials was surprisingly smooth. The picture looked smooth, edges were not overly jagged, and the television retained a considerable amount of detail, meaning that even older films did not lose their character. It particularly excelled with faces – there were no artificial contours or 'mask' effects, which often occur in cheaper models. The way the television handled tonal transitions in lower quality materials is also noteworthy. Thanks to digital processing, colours did not bleed into each other, and gradients appeared natural and smooth. There was no excessive smoothing of the image or loss of cinematic grain. This makes the UA7500 great for everyday content – from terrestrial television, through sports, to YouTube, where we often watch materials in various resolutions.

The X75WL Sony television is equipped with a 60 Hz panel, making it more suitable for watching films than for dynamic gaming. This model features a motion smoothing function called Motionflow, which allows the user to adjust the picture on a 10-point scale. Smoothness is responsible for adding intermediate frames, thereby increasing the fluidity of motion, while the image becomes more theatrical, minimising the cutting effect. Clarity reduces motion blur, which is particularly useful in fast scenes such as sports or dynamic actions in films. With this feature, users can adjust the fluidity and sharpness of motion to their own preferences.

The LG UA7500 is a television with a 60 Hz panel, so it's difficult to expect much admiration in this category. It's more of a screen intended for everyday content or an evening film viewing rather than for following dynamic sporting events or playing action games. It's clear that the manufacturer targeted this model specifically at that group of consumers – and it performs correctly in that regard. We have the TruMotion feature available, which is a motion smoother. It's simple, with only one slider, but it can introduce a noticeable difference. At the lower settings, the image appears more raw and cinematic, whereas at higher values, the motion becomes smoother and more pleasing to the eye.

X75WL is not the best television for gamers. It only has the ALLM (Auto Low Latency Mode) feature and a basic Game Bar, which are not enough to satisfy more demanding users. In this price range, one could expect support for features like VRR or 120 Hz refresh rates - although in FULLHD, which are already standard - unfortunately, they are lacking here. This is a major downside for Sony, as the competition offers much more for gamers in a similar budget.

The LG UA7500 is a television that can be confidently recommended to "casual" gamers. It lacks a 120 Hz panel and HDMI 2.1 ports, so it cannot fully utilise the potential of modern consoles. However, the manufacturer has included several features that can enhance the gaming experience. Notably, the Game Bar stands out – a very well-designed panel where you can quickly preview and change the most important settings. From this interface, we have access to features like ALLM mode (automatic switching to game mode) and frame synchronization, which is VRR. The VRR range is limited – it works from 48 to 60 Hz – but the mere presence of this feature in such an affordable television makes a positive impression.

Additionally, it supports HGiG, which is the HDR calibration mode for gaming. It sounds good, but based on our testing experiences, we already know that for the UA7500, this option doesn't make much sense. The television doesn't handle HDR very well, so paradoxically, we achieved better results with this mode disabled. This is another indication that the UA7500 is more of a screen for occasional gamers who value simplicity and convenience rather than for those seeking the full experience from the latest consoles.