Review: LG B8 OLED Smart TV Range

Blog by Jon,

Another year, another impressive range of televisions from LG. From the introductory HD set up to their glorious OLED TV’s, they haven’t failed to prove that they produce affordable products of good quality.

As ever LG’s OLED televisions are the crème de la crème of the 2018 TV line up. With multiple review sites such as ‘expertreviews’, ‘trustedreviews’ and ‘whathifi?’ awarding them a sparkling 5/5 stars.

To be expected by this point, LG’s 2018 OLED range are beautifully designed, equipped with incredibly slim bezels and an astonishing screen depth of no more than 0.5cm. The premium design and performance of LG’s B8 range sets them aside from other manufacturers, ensuring that the consumer is getting a product with quality that exceeds the value spent. Size options for the B8 include both a 55” and 65”, if you are after a 77” you’ll have to step up to the B8’s bigger brother, the C8.

Personally, the picture quality is by far the B8’s greatest feature. Still supporting the inky blacks that OLED’s are known for, it is complimented wonderfully by rich colours and improved details in light and dark areas. Being an OLED, the B8’s viewing angles are superb with full colours still visible at a 65 degree angle. As with the usually poor standard of modern day TV speakers, the B8 stands out with fairly impressive sound (however an external speaker, such as LG’s SK9Y, will always beat the inbuilt speakers).

The B8 also supports a plethora of certifications that reinforce the capability of the 2018 range. This includes the likes of HLG (Hybrid Log Gamma) that helps to deliver a HDR solution to terrestrial television, the HDR10 that gives the brightest, piercing whites which plunge down into the darkest of blacks. It also supports Dolby Vision, which uses dynamic metadata for frame-by-frame accuracy for as precise an image as possible.

The B8 offers up a full package of today’s now standard connectivity specs. No user should have connectivity problems with this model when connecting to external media devices or hard drives, as long as all hardware used is in working order. In other words, the B8 comes equipped with multiple HDMI and USB ports as well as other necessary connectivity slots. The television comes with full HDMI 2.0, HDR-supported bandwidth in all four HDMI ports.

One major bonus to LG’s 2018 OLED range is the introduction of HFR (High Frame Rate) support. This enables the range to reach a smooth 120fps, which is welcomed news for gamers. In addition, the input lag has been measured at 21ms, which is considerably better than previous years. Already building on the success of previous models, LG have continued to use the exceptional A7 processor from the 2017 range in the B8, keeping the same amazing standard of performance as the previous OLEDs.

Customers will also be pleased to note that Freeview Play is also available on LG’s 2018 range; enabling consumers to use the standard Freeview guide in a much more fluid way. It offers seven days of programmes to ‘scroll back’ to, from all major broadcasters. In a ‘Radio Times’ style guide, this will be very similar to what most consumers are already used to, listed on each channel programme-by-programme, at the time it was shown on the day.

One aspect of the new LG range is the added compatibility with Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant; this enables you to control the volume, change channels and manoeuvre around the smart system without even having to pick up a remote. Isn’t technology amazing?

Advanced and yet simple to use, the access and use of the operating system is incredibly easy. With just one touch of the remote’s home icon, a scrolling bar at the bottom of the screen appears allowing an easy route of navigation from one smart feature to another. Having the smart access at the base of the screen also enables you to choose your next viewing option without having to lose the picture of what you are currently watching.

We currently have the 55 inch model displayed in over 10 of our Hughes branches, including Bury St Edmunds, Martlesham, Norwich and Lowestoft. If you want to experience true colour, pop in to one of our branches and ask for a demo or buy online and use click and collect today!