Samsung S85D vs LG MRGB85B

Brightness is an important factor in televisions, and the S85D offers a level similar to older OLED models. While it’s not outstanding in this area, it comes at a very competitive price. With peak brightness at 600 nits, HDR content looks sharp, delivering a hint of cinematic quality at home. Like many budget OLEDs, though, very bright, full-screen scenes—such as the final shot in The Meg—may cause the brightness to drop by nearly half, which is noticeable compared to pricier models. However, with 99% DCI-P3 colour coverage, the S85D delivers vibrant, accurate colours.

LG MRGB85 offers moderate brightness. On test patterns it reaches about 700 nits, which by itself is a decent result. In actual movie scenes the values are lower and most often fall between 400 and 600 nits. Bright, expansive shots perform best. In scenes with a lot of black the TV noticeably limits luminance, trying to maintain the highest possible contrast. The HDR effect is therefore visible, but it is far from the level offered by more advanced Mini-LED designs. Especially in darker parts of films the limitations of edge-lit backlighting and imprecise local dimming become noticeable again.

HDR Colors

A much stronger suit of the MRGB85 is its colors. The TV covers about 95% of the DCI-P3 color space and 74% of BT.2020, allowing HDR material to look vivid and striking. Colors are well saturated, and the difference compared with basic LCD TVs is clearly visible. It is worth noting, however, that this is not a classic RGB backlight, where each of the three primary colors is generated by a separate diode. Red is produced by a PFS phosphor, which expands the palette and yields more saturated red shades. This solution works well for color reproduction, but it does not change the limitations of dimming itself. The LEDs are not driven independently in the way the series name might suggest... so it turns out that Mini RGB is not the same as Mini-LED RGB!

The Filmmaker mode on the Samsung S85D offers the best factory settings, but it is not free from flaws, particularly noticeable in colour reproduction. The white balance chart for HD and HDR content shows clear issues – both red and blue are significantly weakened, leading to a dominance of green. The result is an unnatural yellowish glow that can affect the perception of realistic scenes. The Colour Checker test also highlights issues, with colour samples deviating from expected values – for HD materials, colours tend to be too saturated, with a noticeable shift towards green, as seen in the white balance chart. In contrast, for 4K HDR content, colours appear too dull and lack depth, diminishing the attractiveness and naturalness of the image. This effect is particularly noticeable in delicate scenes where colour precision plays a key role, which can be disappointing for discerning viewers who expect faithful reproduction of details and colour intensity.

When it comes to brightness, the gamma chart for HD content produces positives, but there is a noticeable spike at the end, exceeding a value of 2.4. Although this is not a major problem in most scenes, in more demanding sequences it can affect the clarity of bright details. For 4K content, the problematic aspect is the EOTF curve, responsible for delivering brightness. The initial part of the chart shows a small spike. This phenomenon can result in excessive boosting of brightness in the brightest areas of the image, leading to loss of detail in very bright scenes.

Although the Samsung S85D’s factory settings are reasonable, especially in Filmmaker mode, it is worth considering a manual adjustment of settings to improve some imperfections, particularly in colour reproduction.

We tested the TV in Filmmaker Mode, because among the available settings it produced the image closest to the reference. Factory color reproduction was not perfect. The biggest deviations were in the white balance, with too much red and not enough blue, which pushed the picture noticeably toward warmer tones. Whites took on a slightly yellowish cast, and skin tones and bright areas did not always look natural. It wasn’t a flaw that completely ruined the viewing experience, but in a direct comparison with the same screen after calibration the difference was clearly visible.

After calibration, Filmmaker mode on the Samsung S85D truly stands out. White balance adjustments across all content types yield significantly more natural colour reproduction. In the Colour Checker test, colour reproduction errors are minimal and well within acceptable limits, reflecting precise and true-to-life hues. Factory settings fell short in this regard, but now colours appear realistic, as though accurately rendered according to the creators’ intent. This marks a substantial improvement over previous generations, where colours often appeared distorted or overly saturated.

Brightness also benefits from calibration, becoming sharper and more refined. The Gamma, already fairly consistent, is now even more stable, delivering a deeper and more natural image. Adjustments to the EOTF curve enhance detail visibility in darker areas and improve contrast balance. With these refinements, the television provides a nearly reference-quality image, greatly enriching the experience of movies and HDR content.

Calibration primarily corrected the white balance and removed the previously visible warm tint. After the adjustment, whites no longer had a yellow cast and colors became more neutral and natural. The biggest improvement was seen in SDR content, where the picture looked even and much closer to the reference. A similar effect was achieved in HDR. After calibration the picture became more controlled, although not all of the TV's limitations could be eliminated. The biggest issue remained the intense reds, which were not always reproduced with the necessary precision. In practice the MRGB85 handles everyday SDR content very well, but in more demanding HDR material its limitations remain clearly visible.

Samsung S85D performs excellently in image scaling and smoothing tonal transitions. Like other Samsung models, the TV offers three noise reduction modes: off, standard, and high. While it improves gradation well, it unfortunately also removes film grain, which many viewers desire to give the image a cinematic character. Grain often adds authenticity and a certain rawness to films, which is lost after smoothing. Removing grain can make the image look too sterile and smoothed out, which takes away some of the charm of the original film material. As for image scaling, the Samsung S85D handles lower resolution content perfectly – the model in the photo and the branches in the background are shown correctly, without significant jagged edge issues. The only noticeable drawback is the presence of overscan, which can sometimes cut off parts of the image, which may not be to everyone's taste.

Upscaling and digital image processing perform quite well on the LG MRGB85. The Alpha 8 AI 4K Gen7 processor efficiently upscales lower-resolution content, and you can easily disable overscan regardless of the source. The TV also handles compression artifacts fairly well. The "Smooth Gradation" feature can effectively reduce visible banding and tonal unevenness, but it doesn't always work precisely. At higher settings it can smooth over fine details, for example material textures. On the plus side, it doesn't remove film grain. It's safest to use the "Low" or "Medium" setting, which provides the best compromise between artifact reduction and detail retention.

As expected from an OLED television, the Samsung S85D offers excellent motion fluidity. Equipped with a 120 Hz panel and a fast response time, the television delivers very smooth playback of dynamic scenes without visible blurring. For movie enthusiasts, there is a feature called "Image Clarity Settings," which allows you to adjust motion fluidity to individual preferences on a 10-point scale. Motion blur reduction increases the sharpness of fast-moving objects, while judder reduction smooths out motion, eliminating the "stuttering" effect. This allows every user to set the appropriate level of clarity that best suits their taste, from a more cinematic effect to clearer, smoother movements.

The LG MRGB85 is equipped with a VA panel with a native 144 Hz refresh rate, so it performs very well in terms of motion smoothness. The TV easily handles 120 Hz content from consoles and higher refresh rates when connected to a PC. That matters not only for gaming but also when watching sports, where camera movement is noticeably smoother than on basic 60 Hz models. There's also the TruMotion system, which lets you set the level of motion smoothing yourself. You can keep a more cinematic motion or increase smoothness, which works well for sports broadcasts and TV shows. The range of adjustment is wide, so you can easily tailor the motion smoothing to your preferences.

The Samsung S85D is an excellent choice for gamers due to its many modern features that facilitate and enhance gameplay. The TV has four full-bandwidth HDMI 2.1 ports, allowing you to connect the latest consoles without worrying about image quality or frame rate limitations. This means support for 4K resolution at 120 Hz, which is ideal for modern titles. Additionally, the Samsung S85D has an ALLM (Auto Low Latency Mode) function that automatically switches to low latency mode when it detects a gaming device. This way, you don't have to manually switch settings—the TV takes care of ensuring a quick response time, which is crucial in games where every second counts.

The VRR (Variable Refresh Rate) feature and G-Sync support are further elements that make gameplay smoother. VRR adjusts the refresh rate to match the frame rate generated by the console or PC, eliminating screen tearing and stuttering. This is particularly useful in dynamic games where the frame rate can fluctuate. Auto Motion Plus Game is a feature that Samsung has introduced with gamers in mind, and it's worth appreciating. Thanks to it, the image in games becomes smoother—30 frames per second looks like 45, and 60 Hz gains fluidity, approximating a 90 Hz effect. Meanwhile, there is no significant increase in input lag, which remains below 25 ms, distinguishing this feature from others available on the market. Gamers can enjoy smoother visuals without worrying about a decline in responsiveness.

Samsung has also taken care of something extra—the TV has a built-in Xbox Game Pass app, which means you can play in the cloud without the need for a console. This is a great solution for those who want to enjoy gaming without investing in additional hardware. All you need is internet access, and you have a vast library of games at your fingertips. This makes the Samsung S85D a great choice for both casual gamers and more advanced ones.

When it comes to gaming, the LG MRGB85 performs best by far. The manufacturer didn’t skimp on the feature set and essentially brought the full suite of functions from higher-end TVs to this model. You get three HDMI 2.1 ports with full 48 Gbps bandwidth. Each of them supports 4K 120 Hz from consoles, and when connected to a PC also 4K 144 Hz. So you don’t have to worry about which port to plug your console or PC into, since they all offer the same capabilities.

It also includes VRR, AMD FreeSync Premium, NVIDIA G-Sync Compatible, ALLM, and HGiG. Dolby Vision Gaming is present as well, allowing supported games to use high refresh rates and dynamic HDR simultaneously on Xbox. Rounding it out is Game Optimizer, a handy in-game menu for gamers. Without leaving the game you can change the picture profile, brighten shadow details, or check the current frame rate. In terms of gaming features, the MRGB85 therefore offers almost the same as much more expensive LG models.