LG QNED80 Review: Best 75 Inch 4k TV?

LG QNED80 Review Overview

I’ve spent over 1,000 hours reviewing TVs, watching countless TVs and movie shows to help you find the absolute best one. This is a Best 75 Inch 4k TV, but its best feature has nothing to do with TVs or movies. It’s got a surprise, and it might just replace your console.

So let’s start with like what kind of TV this is. I’d like to introduce you to my friend. This is the LG QNED80. You might also see it sometimes as a LG QNED80. That’s the version that’ll be sold in the US. 81 will be in the UK. So first off, this is an LCD Edge-lit panel. It’s a combination of LG’s Nano Cell Tech and quantum dot technology, sort of give the image an extra pop of color and a pretty decent depth to it as well. Kind of think of this in your head as the next generation of QLED TVs. In a world where OLED TV and Mini LED and Cutie OLED get a lot of the buzz, easy to forget that LCD TVs are still very much around, still evolving, and still getting a lot better.

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So this particular set I’ve got here is a 75-inch variant. LG also offers this in a bunch of sizes from 50 all the way up to a beastly 86. So it wasn’t that long ago that LCD TVs were big, fat, chunky sets. But like all TVs have gotten thinner, LCD tech has gotten way thinner too. It’s possible to mount this guy almost flush on a wall. This set is incredibly thin. LG’s done a really nice job kind of evolving the LCD set over the years.

LG QNED80 Picture Quality

So all that is fine, but I think what matters most to me and probably you is picture quality, what content’s gonna look like when we’re actually sitting down and watching something. All right, so let’s like watch some stuff. I think the big thing about this TV is the boosting of colors. Like that is what it is trying to do, and it does it really well. There’s just a vibrancy of color. So let’s just start with like a color explosion.

So it’s got Quantum dots on top of it, so you’ve got extra brightness and extra vibrancy coming out of those colors. But also, the AI built-in is kind of creating a bit of separation between the image and the background, not necessarily giving it a 3D effect, just kind of giving it, I think, more depth.

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Now, it is LCD, so you’re not going to have complete black levels. But if you’re watching something with a lot of color, a lot of vibrancy in it, the black levels actually look very good.

Also, an issue of concern with some LCDs is being angled. Sometimes you can’t always see from far sides. This is probably the best viewing angle of an LCD that I’ve tested in a while. If you go walk around Best Buy, you’ll see an OLED set, obviously, you’ll see black levels that are true black. You’ll see Mini LED that gets really close. The frequency of notion I think behind LCD is that just going to be very apparent those colors are not black.

And when you’re sitting watching TV shows or movies, you’re not watching this ridiculous color explosion, you’re watching sort of normal regular content. And this is where LG starts to shine.

LG QNED80 Processor

A lot of issues people have with TVs gets blamed on the screen tech, but a lot of that that’s happening is actually due to the processor. And because of LG’s new Alpha 7 AI processor 4K gen6, it’s a long name, uh, it is taking those sort of what would be dark grays making them even darker, so the fact that you really will not notice them when you are watching content.

Now, if you can stare at and get close, you will see that it is not actually black, but just enjoying anything, this will look black to you. And LG has done an incredible job flexing their processor strength here. It helps enable things like dimming Pro that goes a huge way helping reduce blooming and increase contrast.

LG also put a lot of picture profiles in here as well. If tweaking settings is necessarily your jam, I customize my picture, but again, LG does a nice job with their preset profiles, especially with ones like filmmaker mode that tend to display kind of whatever you’re watching as having director meant that content to look.

LG QNED80 Smart Features

That’s also obviously a smart TV, and LG TVs for years have been powered by webOS. I’ve got an LG TV as my main set at home. It works great. It’s mature.

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It’s got apps for absolutely everything that you need, and it’s been controlled with the Magic Remote. Now, this thing hasn’t really changed in a very long time either. It still has a number pad, but it does work incredibly well and intuitive for motion controlling what is on the screen.

LG QNED80 Pricing & Gaming

Well, the future quality looks great. I think what is going to sell this TV is two things. First is price. You’re gonna like it, and also it’s got a gaming feature that I’ve not seen on many other TVs. This TV brings a lot to the table.

Perhaps its biggest flex is when it comes to gaming. Now, obviously, you can plug in your next-gen console. I’ll talk about that in a minute. But perhaps its biggest trick, especially for its price, it’s got Nvidia’s GeForce Now built-in. All you need is a Bluetooth controller.

You can stream over 1,500 games straight from your TV. And look at the list of GeForce Now games that are available. Like these are tier A great games without ever having to go out and buy an Xbox or a PlayStation or a Switch if you don’t want to. It is another way to game that’s bringing gaming to you. It is a feature that traditionally has been on much higher-cost TVs. The fact that LG’s brought that here and then give you all the settings to optimize those games, it’s awesome.

LG QNED80 Game Optimizor

Now, I think it’s important to note the performance of those games can be based on how fast your net connection is as well as a subscription that you have to GeForce Now. But to me, if you’re considering picking this up, it is 100% worth checking out which games are available to see if the service is going to be right for you. When it works, it’s awesome and works incredibly well.

We’ve got about 100 to 150 down here at the studio. Crazy fast, latency was almost non-existent. It is an incredible way to play games without needing anything else. But if you do have something else, like say a next-gen console, that’s going to work really well here as well. It’s got a ton of I/O on the back. It’s got four HDMI ports, two of them are HDMI 2.1, so that means 4K 120 hertz. So this thing can display everything that your console can output. And while you’re playing, you also have access to LG’s Game Optimizer. So I’ll just put a bunch of settings. They’ve done a nice job with this throughout kind of everything with the TV, but all the game settings in one place.

So you can very quickly swap those settings to match kind of the game you’re playing. So things like access to FreeSync, VRR, monitor frame rates, sort of an extra performance with HDR and black levels through what LG is calling HGIG.

And the future is not here yet. That’s why it’s the future, but I think it’s very clear the physical consoles are eventually going to be a thing of the past. It will be replaced with streaming services, and GeForce Now being built in, you don’t have to plug another set-top box to get this to work or go buy a console. It’s another way to play your games, and if you use it, you’ll appreciate it. And if you don’t use it or you plug in your own set-top box, you still have an incredible TV. It’s not going to break your bank.

Now, TV prices notoriously change day by day, and there probably are sales going on by the time you’re Reading this.

Conclusion

If you’re looking to get an LCD TV now in 2023 or 2024, there are expectations for what this has to be. The way LCD TVs used to be, the older technology where black levels look gray and they were big and thick is no longer acceptable.

And fortunately, like all TV tech, LCD TVs have gotten so much better, and this is like typified perfectly by what LG is doing with the Quantum Dots over the screen, with the black levels getting really close to black with the crazy vibrancy, but GeForce Now being built in, WebOS power in the sky, HDMI 2.1, you’ve got a set for a very affordable price.

It doesn’t really make many compromises. And this is kind of the sweet spot of TVs. We haven’t been at this place for a very long time. If you want this feature set a few years ago, you’re paying two, three times the price. And it’s awesome to see a maker like LG, who makes them the best panels across pretty much every TV technology, put their best foot forward with LCD and deliver a set that has incredible value but also delivers incredible technology. It’s awesome to see. If you want to take a look at LG’s lineup or you want to pick up the LG QNED 81 for yourself, of course, we’ll have links to them down below.