LG QNED86A / QNED85A / QNED87A vs Blaupunkt UGC5500S

Against the backdrop of contrast and black, the brightness of the QNED86A and the overall HDR effect performs much better. This is a television that can reach around 700 nits in the best conditions, so in terms of brightness alone, there is nothing to be ashamed of. As a result, scenes with strong lights, explosions, flashes, or bright parts of the landscape look clear and can make an impression. Interestingly, even in more challenging moments with small, contrasting elements on the screen, the television handles their backlighting well, and the details are quite visible. The problem resurfaces when there are a lot of dark tones. The lack of effective local dimming causes black to virtually disappear, and instead, we get a gray glow spreading across the entire screen. This kills the sense of depth and makes the image look flat, as if it lacks a cinematic quality. In bright animations or colorful family films, this won't be an issue because colors and bright light dominate there. But in horrors or productions set in darkness, these limitations are very palpable. As a consolation, it’s worth mentioning that the QNED86A is actually a QLED television with a PFS LED filter, which gives it very good coverage of wide color gamuts. Both the DCI-P3 palette and the wider BT.2020 perform really solid here. This ensures that colors in HDR films are saturated, vibrant, and have the right depth – even if the black itself disappoints, the colors can save the viewing experience and make the image look attractive.

Here, we won't beat around the bush either – if you're looking for a TV strictly for cinematic HDR experiences, you've come to the wrong address. The Blaupunkt UGC5500S unfortunately is not a machine designed for such challenges. This is primarily due to its very low brightness, which we measured during our tests. A result of around 250 nits on film screens speaks for itself. It's simply too little to even talk about any real HDR effect. To be honest, everything displayed here in this format can best be considered a slightly "boosted" SDR mode. We expected this because practically every device in this price range fails in this regard, but we feel obligated to warn you. Manufacturers love to boast about HDR compatibility stickers on the boxes, but in reality, this format simply doesn't exist here – it lacks the "fuel" of brightness.

The situation is made all the more difficult for Blaupunkt because we have a panel with a very basic DCI-P3 color gamut coverage of just around 80%. You won't find any advanced coatings that enhance these capabilities (like quantum dots), making scenes that are supposed to burst with richly saturated colors appear simply desaturated on this screen. Therefore, we have a concrete piece of advice for you: do not push the HDR mode on this model. If you have the option in the streaming app settings – just turn it off. Sticking with the classic SDR mode will ensure that the TV won't try to "enhance" something that it can't handle hardware-wise.

We primarily tested the QNED86A in Filmmaker mode, which is designed to provide the most accurate picture. Unfortunately, right out of the box, there were quite a few shortcomings. The most noticeable issue was the poorly adjusted white balance – there was a lack of blue, causing the overall image to lean slightly yellow, and at times, even orange. An even bigger problem turned out to be the way the television manages brightness. Due to its technical limitations – namely, local dimming that only works along the edges of the screen – the QNED86A tends to over-brighten entire scenes. This is where the flattening effect we mentioned earlier comes from. Instead of distinct depth and contrast, we get something akin to "boosted brightness," which can strain the eye over time.

We also took a close look at how Blaupunkt handles colors in movie mode, and here the situation is, to put it briefly, twofold. We must clearly separate what we see in the standard SDR format from what happens when HDR is turned on, as these are two completely different worlds. Let’s start with the better side of the coin. If you plan to watch classic television, YouTube, or older movies on this TV, you can count on really well-tuned colors. In our test sample, the white balance in movie mode was exceptionally accurate, which honestly surprised us. Of course, to not make it too rosy, we noticed some flaws. Looking at the gamma charts, we observed that the processor struggles with properly dimming the image in its brightest parts. Additionally, there is quite strong, at times too aggressive, red saturation, which resulted in noticeable errors in reproducing certain shades. Nevertheless, in general terms, the image in SDR is simply solid and watchable without a grimace on your face. Unfortunately, the magic fades when we re-enter the world of HDR. Here, Blaupunkt behaves as if we suddenly switched it to store mode, and in its worst form. The excess blue in the white balance is so overwhelming that it literally clashes with the eyes, ruining any realism of the scene. Furthermore, the TV interprets brightness very loosely, which, when analyzing the EOTF curve, clearly showed that for most of the time the colors appear simply washed out and lacking depth. This is, by the way, perfectly visible in the color errors that become evident in this mode. Once again, we are left with the same conclusion: Blaupunkt in SDR mode looks significantly better and more natural than in HDR, which feels forced and not properly refined.

What was saved in the QNED86A6A is undoubtedly the colors. After calibration, the white balance was set with great precision, resulting in deviations on the Colour Checker palette mostly not exceeding the threshold of visibility for the human eye. In other words – the colors finally looked natural, without strange yellow or orange tones that previously ruined the experience. Unfortunately, even the best calibration cannot bypass design limitations. The already mentioned very modest number of local dimming zones and their unfortunate placement made the analysis of the EOTF curve in films still show clear over-brightening of scenes. The image tended to flatten, lacking cinematic depth. Fortunately, this effect is not as noticeable in older productions or SDR content. There, calibration really does its job and allows taming the QNED in such a way that the image can be pleasing. However, the specifics of this design – especially the contrast issues – cannot be entirely overcome.

It may sound like a joke – pulling out professional measurement equipment for a television costing around a thousand zlotys / 250 dollars – but we wouldn't be ourselves if we didn't check it out. The question is: does such cheap equipment give us any room for calibration? To your surprise, the answer is yes, and absolutely so. In the Blaupunkt UGC5500S menu, we found surprisingly many options that allowed us to really work on the picture. These are not just empty sliders; they are concrete tools that enabled us to make use of our measurement sensors and software. In SDR mode, the effects were noticeable to the naked eye. We successfully eliminated the issue we mentioned earlier – that excessive, almost artificial saturation of reds. We also fixed the problem of incorrect dimming of the brightest parts of the image. After calibration, the standard format picture became much more balanced and simply correct. As for HDR, the situation was again more complicated. Although we managed to "tame" that aggressive blue tint in the white balance, it was evident that we were fighting a bit in vain. Even after changing the settings, the television still tried to intervene in the image in its own way, as if the electronics knew better than we did how the scene should look. Additionally, there's a hardware barrier that no slider can overcome – colors in HDR still remain unsaturated. This simply results from the quality of the panel itself; it physically cannot produce the most vibrant colors. To summarize this point: if any of you ask whether it’s possible to calibrate a television for "a thousand," we respond with full conviction: it is possible.

If someone is worried about possible "steps" when connecting colors, there is a simple way in the QNED86A. Just turn on the feature called Smooth Gradation and set it to medium level. Then the TV really smooths out all those unwanted transitions – especially in older productions – and does it in such a way that the film grain doesn't disappear, nor do strange artifacts appear. In other words, you can use it without worry.

The upscaling itself also turns out quite well. Of course, there are no miracles here – with lower quality sources, you can observe characteristic jaggedness. Fortunately, there is a sharpness slider in the menu, and if someone prefers a more "softer" image, it can be quickly adjusted to their taste.

If you expect that the processor in this model will magically "fix" the poor quality signal from cable TV or old films from YouTube, we must disappoint you. The capabilities of this television end with absolutely basic upscaling, which is simply stretching the image to a higher resolution. It does this correctly in that the image is not blurry, but there is no talk of any intelligent sharpening or adding details. Worse still, Blaupunkt is completely devoid of any functions that reduce unwanted tonal transitions. If the material being viewed has so-called banding (ugly "steps" instead of a smooth transition of colors, e.g., in the sky), this television will display them in all their glory. Additionally, the television tends to slightly crop the edges of the image. Instead of displaying 100% of what the source sends, Blaupunkt slightly enlarges the frame, causing us to lose details located at the very edges of the screen. In summary: in the category of digital "enhancement" of the image, Blaupunkt simply performs poorly. We receive a raw, unprocessed signal with all its flaws.

The QNED86A is equipped with a 120 Hz refresh rate panel, so right from the start, it's safe to say that it's suitable for both sports and gaming. And indeed, this is true – the image looks smooth, and motion blur is not very noticeable. IPS panels have always had some issues with this, and you can sometimes notice slight blurring here as well, especially in very dynamic scenes, but it's not something that ruins watching a match or a fast-paced game. For movie and sports fans, LG has added the traditional TruMotion smoother. In the menu, we have two sliders – one for movies (De-Judder), the other for sports (De-Blur). The first adds missing frames and allows you to adjust the character of motion – from raw, cinematic to more fluid, "theatrical." The second enhances sharpness during dynamic actions, so it's worth turning it up a bit if you're watching a lot of sports.

When it comes to motion fluidity, Blaupunkt has nothing to defend itself with. A 60 Hz panel at this price is standard, so none of us expected a perfectly sharp image during fast action scenes or while watching a game. However, the biggest drawback of this model is that you won't find any digital smoothers in the menu. The manufacturer did not give us any room to maneuver – there's no way to smooth anything out or adjust the image to our preferences. The image is always "raw" and we receive it exactly as the source transmits it. For fans of cinematic "motion jump," this might be fine, but everyone else just has to get used to the absence of any motion support.

In terms of gaming, the LG QNED86A6A is a complete tool. It features four HDMI 2.1 ports with full bandwidth of 48 Gb/s, which means that whether you connect a PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, or a powerful PC – everything will work at full 4K 120 Hz with support for all features. This is a big plus, as some competitors still have only two such ports, which can be problematic with a larger number of devices. It also has VRR, or variable refresh rate, which eliminates screen tearing, and ALLM, which automatically activates game mode when the console is turned on. There’s also Dolby Vision Gaming and a proper implementation of the HGiG format, so titles supporting these formats look more vivid and detailed. Added to all of this is the Game Optimizer – a kind of control center for the gamer. From this level, you can view image parameters in real-time, quickly change modes, activate additional features, or adjust image settings to your preferences. The LG QNED86A6A essentially has everything one can expect from a modern gaming television.

When it comes to gaming on the Blaupunkt, we didn’t expect miracles and indeed – the list of features is not very long. However, there are two interesting points worth mentioning, as they may be significant for some of you at this price. The first advantage is that the TV quite efficiently detects the connected console. Thanks to the ALLM (Auto Low Latency Mode) feature, the device automatically knows when you start gaming and switches to low latency mode. This is convenient because you don’t have to fiddle with the settings every time to prevent input lag from ruining the fun. The second point is a real curiosity that surprised us. Even though it’s a 60 Hz panel, the Blaupunkt can display images at 120 Hz at Full HD resolution. Sure, we lose 4K details then, but for those playing more dynamic, online shooters where fluidity is more important than resolution, it’s a really nice and unexpected addition in such an inexpensive piece of equipment. Besides these two points, however, you won’t find anything else here. There are no advanced systems for improving fluidity for gamers or extensive gaming menu bars. It’s a simple screen for occasional gaming.