LG OLED G4 vs Samsung Neo QLED QN95D

The LG G4 excels in delivering an incredibly vivid HDR experience, positioning it as one of the best models in its class. Equipped with second-generation Micro Lens Array (MLA) technology, it achieves a remarkable peak brightness of 1474 nits in real-world scenes. While it may not match Mini LED-backlit LCD TVs in full-screen white scenes, the overall performance is outstanding. The fine details in HDR content shine brightly, a distinct advantage of OLED technology over non-OLED displays. With this impressive brightness and wide DCI-P3 colour gamut coverage, HDR content is brought to life with unmatched engagement and immersion.

The Samsung QN95D excels in HDR performance, achieving an impressive peak brightness of approximately 2000 nits. In tested movie scenes with fully lit screens, the television delivers an intense and realistic representation of HDR content, significantly enhancing the viewing experience. However, as with its handling of contrast, the dimming algorithm occasionally reveals limitations.

Despite the large number of Mini LED zones, the television doesn’t consistently provide extraordinary brightness. For instance, in scenes from "Life of Pi," featuring a bright moon against a dark background, and excerpts from "Sicario 2," showcasing intense light effects on dark backdrops, the QN95D underperforms. In such instances, the television mitigates halo effects by dimming the image to a level closer to SDR quality. While this ensures deep and uniform blacks, it comes at the cost of losing some detail in bright areas. This compromise is intended to preserve black quality but can detract from the image’s dynamism.

Despite these occasional shortcomings in the local dimming algorithm, the QN95D deserves commendation for its wide coverage of the DCI-P3 colour gamut. Thanks to the quantum dot coating, also known as QLED technology, the television produces vibrant and richly saturated colours, adding to its appeal for HDR content.

Before calibration, the "Filmmaker" mode on the TV had a noticeable red and green colour dominance, resulting in a warm-yellow hue across both SDR and HDR content. This warm tone, typical of modes like "Cinema" and "Filmmaker," led to a yellowish cast that was evident when switching from the "Standard" mode.

Looking at the brightness characteristics, the Gamma chart showed decent performance for mid-tones and bright whites, but it struggled with the darkest details, which tended to merge into a black blob. HDR content, as represented by the EOTF curve chart, displayed a drop in contrast due to excessive brightness, which overshadowed fine details and negatively affected the overall image quality. Additionally, the "ColourChecker" chart revealed that colours were under-saturated, contributing to a less accurate and vibrant visual experience.

This provided a good foundation to build on, but calibration was needed to bring out the full potential of the "Filmmaker" mode and address these issues.

The Samsung QN95D was evaluated for factory colour reproduction in Filmmaker mode, which provides the manufacturer’s optimised settings. While this mode delivers good performance, it is not without shortcomings. For HD content, notable colour deviations were observed, particularly in white balance, where a red tint dominated the chart. Improvements were noted with 4K HDR content; however, significant deficiencies in blue colour reproduction persist. This is evident in scenes such as those from Star Wars, where the main character appears in tones that are warmer than intended.

Regarding contrast, the gamma chart reveals an initial steep rise, demonstrating the television’s capability to emphasise brighter image areas effectively. However, the chart also shows a clear dip at the lower end, suggesting a potential loss of detail in darker tones. This gamma curve shape could impact the clarity of dark scenes, where details may appear overly blurred or obscured. Additionally, the brightness curve (EOTF) was mostly accurate, aside from an initial drop.

Despite these minor issues, the QN95D boasts impressive features and cutting-edge technology that solidify its position as one of the top televisions on the market. However, refinements in colour accuracy and contrast are needed to maximise its potential fully.

The manufacturer has been offering extensive support for the calibration process in its LG televisions for many years. Therefore, we used 2- and 20-point grayscale adjustments along with an advanced CMS (Colour Management System) to optimise the display. As shown, the calibration procedure greatly improved each parameter. The results included studio-quality colour reproduction, enhanced detail in dark areas, corrected brightness characteristics, and accurate colour saturation. This led to a near-perfect match with the reference image—the one the film director saw on the preview monitor. It’s also worth mentioning that LG G4 televisions are unique in offering even deeper image adjustments through 3D LUT matrices, a feature primarily suited for post-production or graphics studios.

After calibration, the Samsung QN95D delivers truly impressive results. The white balance is perfectly aligned, with error readings rarely exceeding 2, indicating faithful colour reproduction. Most samples from the Colour Checker test fall well within an acceptable error range, confirming the television's excellent performance in accurately displaying colours. Contrast has also improved significantly, and the gamma curve has become more stable, ensuring better visibility of details in both dark and bright scenes.

However, the EOTF (Electro-Optical Transfer Function) curve still shows a slight divergence in film tests. While the television performs well in most scenarios, some details in black may still be lost in extreme cases due to the aggressive dimming algorithm.

Despite these minor imperfections, the overall image quality remains outstanding. After calibration, the Samsung QN95D impresses with its visual performance, offering an exceptional experience that will satisfy anyone seeking a top-tier television.

The LG G4 does not perform well with materials rich in tonal transitions, leading to a pronounced posterization effect. However, the manufacturer has included a smoothing system called "Gentle Gradation," with three levels: Low, Medium, and High. These settings are effective at smoothing bright colours, though less so for darker tones. It is recommended to use the Low setting, as the higher levels can distort the director's intentions by removing film grain.

When it comes to upscaling lower-quality material, the television's performance is quite good, delivering a sharp and clear image. However, attention should be paid to the jagged edges of fine details and the occasional halo effect around figures. This occurs due to the sharpening imposed by the LG G4, even when the lowest setting is selected (0). This is a noticeable change from the LG G3, which did not apply such strong sharpening, even at setting 0.

The Samsung QN95D television handles tonal transitions even in lower-quality materials, thanks to the noise reduction feature that works like a gentle gradation. This function is extremely effective, smoothing out the image and eliminating unwanted noise, thus significantly improving the quality of the displayed material. However, as is often the case, overly good effectiveness can lead to unintended side effects. In the case of some materials, this feature may also blur elements that should remain clear, such as film grain.

Despite this, the television performs well in terms of image scaling, eliminating larger jagged edges. In a scene where branches are visible, they are not overly artificially sharpened, which allows for a natural look, and the model does not have an artificial outline. Overall, even in more challenging conditions, the footage is presented satisfactorily on the Samsung QN95D. The only downside when watching HD/SD content (such as regular terrestrial television) is the fact that the image is slightly cropped - this is caused by the so-called overscan, which cannot be turned off.

The LG G4 offers a maximum refresh rate of 144 Hz, achievable when connected to a powerful PC. For most users, however, the TV operates at a maximum of 120 Hz, ideal for watching sports or other content with fast motion. To improve image fluidity, the television includes the "TrueMotion" motion smoothing system, which features two separate sliders: De-Blur (for the sharpness of moving images) and De-Judder (for judder reduction). These sliders allow users to adjust the level of smoothing between 0 and 10, ensuring everyone can find the ideal setting.

With a response time of 0.78 ms, the LG G4 delivers exceptionally clear images, outperforming LCD televisions, which can have much slower response times. This results in no trailing blur behind moving objects, as shown in the "UFO Test." The TV also provides precise control over motion smoothing, which is especially beneficial during fast-paced video game sequences. Thanks to OLED technology, the G4 eliminates ghosting, ensuring a crisp and clear image even during the most dynamic sports or action scenes.

The Samsung QN95D panel excels in motion blur and fluidity, offering a 120 Hz refresh rate along with features designed to reduce blur and judder. This allows users to adjust the picture settings to their liking, whether for movie watching or dynamic sports broadcasts. The television provides a 10-point scale for adjusting image smoothness, ranging from a frame-like appearance reminiscent of traditional film to a smoother, more cinematic effect, which is especially beneficial for sports broadcasts. This level of customization enhances the viewing experience across various types of content.

The LG G4 TV supports all the features encompassed by the HDMI 2.1 standard, making it a gaming powerhouse. During testing, every feature activated seamlessly, ensuring a smooth experience for both console gamers and PC users. Notably, the HGIG mode (HDR Gaming Interest Group) is implemented correctly, allowing games mastered to brightness levels higher than the TV’s maximum luminance to map tones accurately, preserving the game’s original visual integrity.

A notable highlight is the dedicated GameBar, which can be accessed at any time to quickly check or adjust game settings. More importantly, enabling VRR (Variable Refresh Rate) does not compromise contrast—a common issue in TVs with local dimming or Mini LED backlighting. This is thanks to the OLED panel’s self-emissive pixels, which maintain consistent contrast. However, a slight grey flicker may appear when VRR is enabled, though this is standard across OLEDs.

In summary, the LG G4, like most OLED TVs, is ideal for gaming and online competitions. Its HDMI 2.1 ports offer a full 48 Gbps bandwidth, supporting features such as VRR, ALLM (Auto Low Latency Mode), G-Sync, FreeSync, and HDR Dolby Vision gameplay, ensuring an exceptional gaming experience.

The Samsung QN95D offers several features that gamers will appreciate. First, the TV supports a variable refresh rate (VRR), which eliminates screen tearing and provides smoother gameplay, especially in dynamic scenes. It also includes an automatic game mode (ALLM) that switches the TV to low latency mode when a connected console or computer is detected, resulting in more responsive controls.

Additionally, the QN95D has a game mode that reduces input lag to an impressively low level, which is vital for games where quick reflexes matter. With a high refresh rate of 120 Hz, the image remains exceptionally smooth, enhancing the experience of fast-paced action games and sports. The TV also supports G-Sync and FreeSync technologies, further improving gameplay and user comfort. An interesting addition is the 'Game Bar' – a special menu that provides easy access to all gaming-related settings, allowing users to quickly adjust the image and other parameters without interrupting gameplay.

While the Samsung QN95D does not support Dolby Vision, which is typical for Samsung models, it does feature HGiG functionality, ensuring that HDR games are displayed with the appropriate image quality in line with the creators' intentions.