Tuscans
Established Member
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.
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.