LG B8 OLED TV - Owners and Discussion Thread

Tuscans

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I couldn't see a topic on the B8 so thought after buying one, one of many OLED's which you will find out about, I would share my views, opinions and experiences of plunging into the OLED world.

I started looking for a new TV in early January of this year. I spent several months checking reviews online and price drops. I'm coming from a plasma, a Panasonic 42G20B, a lovely television that's never had a fault or issue of any kind but I felt it was slowly losing it's pop and the black level was getting a little dull. But as I was still keeping it for the bedroom, I always wanted a bigger TV and I couldn't ignore 4K any longer.

I could write a text book on my experiences of the LG 65B7 and LG 65B8 but I want to keep it as short as possible. Since May this year I have had four B7's and three B8's, two of the B7's I could of kept but I persevered in looking for better, no tint issues and no line mura ( others call it banding but I always thought it was line mura ). Three of the four B7's went back to Crampton & Moore, the third one being almost impossible to get an exchange so I cancelled my purchase with them and tried another retailer. I went for AO.com and after setting this one up I still wasn't that satisfied with what I saw. Hearing many say the 2018 panels are a little better I sent it back and tried a B8 from them, which impressed me at first until I started watching Arrival at night. I immediately saw the dark vertical strips about a foot from the right of the screen and one a little closer to the centre. Called AO and no questions asked, sent me another which was a contrasting experience compared to the last retailer. So I opened up my second B8, OLED number six and something caught my eye. When I lifted off the box and pulled down the bag they come in, I noticed thousands of scratches over the protective film on the screen. It was also covered in dust which I remembered the B8 I just sent back arrived in a similar state...the screen itself was fine but the film was dusty and covered in scratches. Anyway I peeled it off and the protective film did its job by keeping any scratches from away from the TV but it didn't feel right for two new televisions that just came off the production line in August to arrive like that. So after putting the TV through it's regular tests I could see nothing had improved, in fact it was almost identical to the last one so back to AO I went. I explained to guy called Jack what was wrong with the TV but was more concerned in the condition of it inside the box. Jack agreed they shouldn't be in that state so spoke to a colleague at the warehouse who would open up a few to see if if more were like it and if he could find one that was pristine inside would I want that one to see if it was nay better. I thought so far the level of customer service with this company was spot and couldn't be happier with what he arranged so went a long with it. The next day Jack called me saying hos manager at the warehouse opened a few boxes and said he found some in the same condition I mentioned so would speak to LG to discuss. There was one though that was spotless so I was sent that one....which arrived today. The last two looked like they had come of the production line and sat in a corner for a matter of months, being knocked about and getting covered in grime without a bag of box over them, but not this one.

So after all that I found a keeper, there's a slight yellow tint but in terms of mura, it's one of the cleanest I've seen, in real life and online. Arrival, Ozark and IT have been on I can't find a dark line anywhere. The 5% grey screen shows barely a streak anywhere so as far as I'm concerned I'm never going to get it this good and I couldn't be happier with what is pretty expensive product.

So after experiencing the B7 and now the B8, what are the differences. Well most of you will know not a lot, a processor that's had a little extra juice squeezed out of, a couple of additions in the menu and OS, a black frame and back and different stand. So you might say it's not worth the extra cash compared to it's older brother and I would agree until I started watching the tv and playing around with a few things. First of all I prefer the uniform black all over, I just didn't quite get the silver back and off white box on the back of the B7, but that's a minor plus for me. In Saying that I you get a silver magic remote with the B8 which surely would of been better suited going with the silver B7 instead. They have also placed the power button at the bottom left at the back of the tv instead of underneath, dead centre on the B7. Secondly I had to buy a right angled ethernet cable and 90 degree adapter for my ariel cable as when I was mounted the B7 I didn't have enough space to play with when plugging them in. I think on the back of the B8 they have very slightly moved the back of the holes for wall mounting further down which by my surprise gave me just enough space to plug everything in at the back with adapters. Now I don't know if this is because of the extra juice from the processor or tweaking the tuner but to my eyes terrestrial tv looks a touch cleaner and sharper. I'm using their built-in freeview tuner and straight away I noticed how quick the guide would start and how the interface had been changed with a slightly sleeker look. It took exactly 5-6 seconds for the tv guide to start up on the B7 but with the B8 it pops up almost instantly. You have the Logo Luminance adjuster which I haven't seen kick in yet and Motion Pro is useless, as well as a few other extra options in the menu but nothing to write home about.

So is the B8 worth the extra £500 over the B7? Probably not but after the four and half moths of swapping one tv for another I have actually found one that meets my expectations, eventually. Lastly I have to give a shout out to the guys at AO who were nothing but helpful, understanding and even when I called at 9:50pm to return a tv and another at my house within 12 hours of making the call.
 
If you don't see that line mura on Arrival then treat yourself and celebrate being a winner of the brutal panel lottery.
 
I know mate it's a shame that so many consumers have had to replace them not just once but many times over. I've had 3 televisions in 19 years bought by myself, never returned or fixed. Get's you thinking that possibly OLED as a tech has arrived too soon maybe? I would rather issues were rectified before they hit the mass market and wait a couple of years but we know business doesn't work like that. Reading a few articles else where it's possible for every panel to be tested correct each pixel and sub-pixel for uniformity but that would cost time and money for LG and obviously the yield would be affected. Hopefully with how many are going back to them they will continue to improve for many, two issues.
 
I know mate it's a shame that so many consumers have had to replace them not just once but many times over. I've had 3 televisions in 19 years bought by myself, never returned or fixed. Get's you thinking that possibly OLED as a tech has arrived too soon maybe? I would rather issues were rectified before they hit the mass market and wait a couple of years but we know business doesn't work like that. Reading a few articles else where it's possible for every panel to be tested correct each pixel and sub-pixel for uniformity but that would cost time and money for LG and obviously the yield would be affected. Hopefully with how many are going back to them they will continue to improve for many, two issues.

Screen issues with TVs isn't just an OLED problem, we've been talking about this on these forums for at least 10 years across LCD, Plasma and now OLED. Banding, blooming, DSE, light bleed, DFC, green blobs, purple worms and many more issues. Very little changes in terms of QC year on year.

There's a very small percentage of consumers who test and inspect their TVs like some do on these forums (me included) so the returns/replacemets are just written into the business model, far more cost effective than inspecting each panel

My OLED experience has been very positive, beats everything I've ever owned
 
Screen issues with TVs isn't just an OLED problem, we've been talking about this on these forums for at least 10 years across LCD, Plasma and now OLED. Banding, blooming, DSE, light bleed, DFC, green blobs, purple worms and many more issues. Very little changes in terms of QC year on year.

There's a very small percentage of consumers who test and inspect their TVs like some do on these forums (me included) so the returns/replacemets are just written into the business model, far more cost effective than inspecting each panel

My OLED experience has been very positive, beats everything I've ever owned

Of course, all tech mass produced by man and machine will have issues from time to time. I just feel with these OLED's that the amount of returns are just a little higher than they should be. Don't get me wrong I'm now extremely happy with what I have but I feel I shouldn't of had to go through 6 of them to get an image that's clean and clear.

All good now though.
 
Just picked up my B8 this morning and am in the process of setting it up

So far, so good.

I can get the "magic" remote to control some of the features of the Sky box, but can't seem to find a way of bringing up the Sky TV guide.

Am I missing something or is this not possible?
 
Not sure if this is acceptable on my B8 (Two weeks old)
UKox1CV.jpg


The right side of the screen is noticeable when watching dark scenes and some end credits.
 
Guys, anyone has a clue how the prices changed during the Black Friday sale? What can we expect this year with the pricing if it were to follow similar logic as last year? Anyone remembers?
 
Not sure if this is acceptable on my B8 (Two weeks old)
UKox1CV.jpg


The right side of the screen is noticeable when watching dark scenes and some end credits.
Return it if you're not happy. You might get one a slightly better or you might get one that's worse. You will get one with it there though.
 
Guys, anyone has a clue how the prices changed during the Black Friday sale? What can we expect this year with the pricing if it were to follow similar logic as last year? Anyone remembers?
Anyone?
 
yup....the c7 and b7 dropped from £1799 to £1499..... i missed out but got 1 a few months later when they went back down to £1499
 
I think the B8 could be close to being the first sub £1000 Oled :clap:
 
I'm hoping that the B8 drops closer to the £1,000 mark on Black Friday.

My only slight concern is screen burn in, i'm a casual gamer but do occasionally have sessions that are a few hours long, would this cause issues?

Also the other half likes to leave the one channel on all day if she is home alone, it has a channel logo in the top left but this dissapears during adverts...Would this be an issue?

This will be my first step into the world of OLED so want to make sure I don't make any rookie errors!
 
Return it if you're not happy. You might get one a slightly better or you might get one that's worse. You will get one with it there though.

Is this normal for the B8 then? I've had mine a week and mine is displaying the same "bloom" especially on 4K HDR content that is fed via HDMI.
 
Is it worth getting the B8 over the C8? I'm looking at the 65 inch one and there's nearly a thousand pounds different between them. The C8 isn't that much better is it?
 
Is it worth getting the B8 over the C8? I'm looking at the 65 inch one and there's nearly a thousand pounds different between them. The C8 isn't that much better is it?

I think the C8 has the newer processor. But from reading the RTings comparisons between the two there isn't much in it imo image vs image.
 
My only slight concern is screen burn in, i'm a casual gamer but do occasionally have sessions that are a few hours long, would this cause issues?

Also the other half likes to leave the one channel on all day if she is home alone, it has a channel logo in the top left but this dissapears during adverts...Would this be an issue?

This will be my first step into the world of OLED so want to make sure I don't make any rookie errors!

I have been playing FPS when I bought my first Panasonic Plasma in 2008, i used to game 7-8 hours straight and had only image retention, but i made sure that during the day it runs something else. Can OLEDs be worse than Plasma when it comes to screen burns?
 
Expecting my 65" B8 any day now. Missed out on the Crampton & Moore offer over the weekend (65" C7 for £1709), but called them Monday and they offered me a 65" B8 for £1899, which I thought was a good enough offer to accept. It's replacing a Panny P65VT65 so hoping it's a step up.

What's the best way to check for banding? Does anyone have a link to a decent youtube video to use?
Thanks
 
Not sure if this is acceptable on my B8 (Two weeks old)
UKox1CV.jpg


The right side of the screen is noticeable when watching dark scenes and some end credits.

Same with my C8. There is a separate thread for the right hand side being brighter.
 
I have been playing FPS when I bought my first Panasonic Plasma in 2008, i used to game 7-8 hours straight and had only image retention, but i made sure that during the day it runs something else. Can OLEDs be worse than Plasma when it comes to screen burns?
My only slight concern is screen burn in, i'm a casual gamer but do occasionally have sessions that are a few hours long, would this cause issues?

Also the other half likes to leave the one channel on all day if she is home alone, it has a channel logo in the top left but this dissapears during adverts...Would this be an issue?

This will be my first step into the world of OLED so want to make sure I don't make any rookie errors!

The screen burn talk is over exaggerated like it was on plasma years ago. You won't have any images watching tv or playing games in terms of screen burn. If you had skysports news on 24/7 without turning the tv off then you'll probably get some burn in after a fortnight but I doubt you would do that at home. The colour red is a culprit but most static logos are a dim white but there's a logo luminance adjuster on the 2018 models so that's not a problem.

You'll be fine if you had a plasma.
 
Expecting my 65" B8 any day now. Missed out on the Crampton & Moore offer over the weekend (65" C7 for £1709), but called them Monday and they offered me a 65" B8 for £1899, which I thought was a good enough offer to accept. It's replacing a Panny P65VT65 so hoping it's a step up.

What's the best way to check for banding? Does anyone have a link to a decent youtube video to use?
Thanks
That's good of them to offer you one for that price.

You will have banding or line mura on the tv, that's a given...depends how much it effects you. When using youtube on the tv just type or say "5% grey oled" and you will bring up some grey slides...you'll see it on them but it's normal. Watch some dark scenes like Arrival or Marco Polo and see what it's like. It will probably be virtually invisible on bright scenes.
 
Would one of you be as so kind as to measure the gap below the screen please? Looking at new TV's and finding it hard to source one that has enough of a gap to place my soundbar and not have it block part of the screen. Thanks
 
Would one of you be as so kind as to measure the gap below the screen please? Looking at new TV's and finding it hard to source one that has enough of a gap to place my soundbar and not have it block part of the screen. Thanks
45mm according to the dimensions on the LG site


  • Size W/O Carton, W/O Stand

    1449 x 831 x 47


  • Size W/O Carton, With Stand

    1449 x 876 x 220
 

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