LG OLED G4 vs Samsung R85H / R86H

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.

If it’s about brightness, the R85H performs really well. In most of our test scenes the TV reaches around 800 to 900 nits, and with larger bright elements it can break 1000 nits. These aren't, of course, levels on par with the most expensive Mini-LEDs, but they're more than enough for watching movies and TV series in HDR, and the effect can be quite noticeable. The problem shows up again in more demanding scenes where there's a small bright element on a very dark background. Here the TV can significantly reduce its brightness so it doesn't illuminate too much of the screen. In our measurements such small highlights dropped to around 200 to 250 nits, so you can see that a limited number of local dimming zones combined with the specific behavior of the algorithm has its consequences. Fortunately, it's not something that bothers you all the time. In typical mixed HDR scenes the R85H looks good and can deliver appropriate image dynamics. You just can't expect the same punch from very small points of light as you get with TVs that have many more zones or with OLEDs.

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.

In Filmmaker mode our R85H sample performed adequately in SDR, but a few things immediately showed up in the measurements. In the white balance, as brightness increased more red crept in while blue decreased. As a result, the brighter parts of the image had a slightly too warm tint. On top of that, gamma only held to the target value at the start. It then gradually fell, making most of the image a bit too bright. The combination of the two also affected colors — errors grew especially in the brighter, more saturated samples. It didn’t look bad, but for Filmmaker mode we expected a bit more accuracy. Interestingly, in HDR our unit handled things noticeably better. White balance was much more even and, for most of the range, the individual RGB components stayed close together. Only in the brightest areas did red begin to fall short, causing the white point to shift slightly. The EOTF curve looked very good, tracking the target luminance values across almost the entire range. That doesn’t mean HDR colors were perfect. The ColorChecker still shows some deviations, particularly in some of the more saturated hues, but the errors are clearly smaller than in SDR.

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 R85H shows it has impressive color reproduction capabilities. It performed best in SDR, where the white balance was brought almost perfectly into line and the gamma stays very close to the target across most of the range. That also translated into very low errors in the ColorChecker, so there's really little to fault here. HDR also shows a clear improvement, although some issues can't be corrected as well. At peak brightness the character of the backlight itself starts to show and the individual components of the white balance begin to diverge. The same goes for the most saturated colors, which don't always land exactly where they should. Despite these limitations, overall the image is significantly more accurate than on the factory settings, and the biggest difference is clearly in SDR. However, there's one thing calibration can't fix. With highly saturated elements, color can subtly bleed onto adjacent bright parts of the image. It's easiest to notice this on white, which can pick up a slight tint from a neighboring hue. It doesn't occur in every scene, but when the content is demanding the effect can be visible. This is more a characteristic of the way the RGB backlight works than an issue with picture settings.

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.

In the R85H, image processing is handled by the Micro RGB AI Processor. The name is new, but in terms of upscaling lower-quality content, the TV’s behavior remains very similar to what Samsung has shown before. And that’s not a bad thing, since the company has handled this aspect quite well for years. Low-resolution material is displayed cleanly, edges don’t become overly soft, and the TV doesn’t try to artificially extract details at any cost. The result is simply balanced, and with regular TV or older recordings the R85H performs as you would expect from a Samsung at this level. The only minor drawback is overscan, which can’t be completely turned off at the lowest resolutions. A separate issue is the additional processing of weaker sources. The R85H can smooth posterization and tidy up heavily compressed footage a bit, but it’s worth stressing that it does so relatively aggressively. At stronger "noise reduction" settings it starts removing not only compression artifacts but also fine details and natural film grain. It’s best to use it only when the material actually needs it.

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.

R85H has a 144 Hz panel, so motion is really smooth here. Just remember that the extra hertz above 120 will mainly be used when connected to a PC, so in this category we don't treat them as a particular advantage. For movies and TV, what's more important is that the panel is fast enough to provide access to an advanced motion-smoothing feature, "Motion Clarity", which lets us set motion from more film-like to very smooth. The panel's response time is a bit weaker. Because this is a VA panel, fast-moving objects can leave a slight trail. On bright backgrounds that's not very noticeable, but the darker the scene, the more visible the smearing becomes. That's a typical characteristic of this type of panel, and it's easiest to spot in dark scenes.

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.

Samsung has been steadily expanding its gamer-focused features for several years, and the R85H really lacks nothing important in that area. The TV supports 4K at 120 Hz, VRR and ALLM, so you can easily take advantage of the capabilities of the PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X. HGiG also works correctly, so with the right HDR settings on the console games retain proper brightness and you don't unnecessarily lose detail in the brightest parts of the image. The only major omission is Dolby Vision Gaming, which Samsung doesn't support on any of its TVs.

Game Bar is also very useful, a handy menu you can bring up without leaving the game. You can quickly check the frame rate, VRR operation, or change the most important picture-related settings. Samsung also adds a few less obvious features, such as the ability to change the aspect ratio or Game Motion Plus, which can further smooth games running at 30 or 60 fps. Of course, this comes at the cost of higher input lag (around 55 ms), but for slower-paced titles it may be an interesting option for some players.