LG 55B8 (OLEDB8SLC) OLED Review & Comments

After missing out on the last 65" B7 stock the other week, I think I will be purchasing this set, come Black Friday. I don't expect they'll be much knocked off it (if any), it being a 2018 model, but I've been without a TV since May, so a few more weeks won't hurt. I will be jumping from a 51" Samsung Plasma I bought in 2011 (after a brief 3 weeks with a Sony x900f in August) so It will look even more amazing! My mind is set, just debating now whether to venture onto the owners thread...
What made you get rid of the Sony x900f????
 
I think I just had a duff unit, could of happened with any set. After 14 days of light evening use it completely stopped responding to the remote, and then a few days later the screen just blinked off mid film, and refused to turn back on, even from the wall. Shame as the PQ was fantastic when it did work, but I still opted for a refund over a replacement. The streamed DV content looked terrible (dark, cloudy and blotchy) and left me very disappointed after all the buzz. It is only since I returned it that I have read Sony's implementation of DV isn't great, and not to base it off that. Since DV has its own automatic preset you can't adjust any settings.

The main reason I was kinda glad I had a valid reason for return was the Android OS. I had read all the reviews mentioning it, and had just dismissed it being a factor as "only cos they have other sets for a direct comparison". After all, the Nvidia shield is excellent. However, It ran like a 3 legged dog even after disabling the stuff supposed to speed it up, and I found it really hampered the set. Daily operation was so frustrating, especially as you spend so much time in the menus, as mine changed preset values all the time. Plus 2 factory resets to cure freezing. I had no faith and was not willing to risk waiting and hoping the Oreo update would resolve the issues I had with it.
 
As I am now evaluating the purchase of a new TV and I am quite tempted by the latest OLEDs (maybe also because I'm coming from a plasma unit), I'm wondering about the actual USB PVR capabilities of the 55 B8 (or C8) models.

In particular, I'd like to know if the B8 or C8 (more powerful, I guess) TVs are able to:
  • adequately power 500GB/1TB 2.5'' non self-powered USB disks
  • simultaneously record two different programs (sat + dtt) on the connected USB hard disk(s)
  • watch a live program (sat or dtt) while recording another
  • (most important to me) watch a recorded program during recording; that is, playback media stored in the connected USB disk while recording live programs.
I know those features should be somehow obvious in such high end products (someone has already kindly told me something about the B7 series in another thread), but my experience with consumer electronics taught me that odd or even "unbelievable" limitations, often due just to low level firmware settings, are not so rare.
I also know that trying to ask to retailers is almost useless, because they obviously can't fully know all the products they sell and so, most of the times, they are forced to just... report the specifications provided (and selected) by manufacturers.

So here I am, hoping that some forum member (owner, reviewer, tester...) can help me shed some light. :]
 
I think I just had a duff unit, could of happened with any set. After 14 days of light evening use it completely stopped responding to the remote, and then a few days later the screen just blinked off mid film, and refused to turn back on, even from the wall. Shame as the PQ was fantastic when it did work, but I still opted for a refund over a replacement. The streamed DV content looked terrible (dark, cloudy and blotchy) and left me very disappointed after all the buzz. It is only since I returned it that I have read Sony's implementation of DV isn't great, and not to base it off that. Since DV has its own automatic preset you can't adjust any settings.

The main reason I was kinda glad I had a valid reason for return was the Android OS. I had read all the reviews mentioning it, and had just dismissed it being a factor as "only cos they have other sets for a direct comparison". After all, the Nvidia shield is excellent. However, It ran like a 3 legged dog even after disabling the stuff supposed to speed it up, and I found it really hampered the set. Daily operation was so frustrating, especially as you spend so much time in the menus, as mine changed preset values all the time. Plus 2 factory resets to cure freezing. I had no faith and was not willing to risk waiting and hoping the Oreo update would resolve the issues I had with it.
Well I had duff unit too mine arrived Wednesday from richer sounds for £1060 for 55inch it has very bad blooming and clouding. Unsure what to get now! They are collecting TV tomorrow. Tempted to try the smaller 49inch model from TPS for £795
 
I'd like to confirm which audio formats the B8 can passthrough via HDMI to my AVR. It looks like everything bar Dolby True HD is compatible.

Rather than replacing AVR just yet, wondered about connecting UHD BD player to the TV HDMI for picture, then TV ARC to AVR for sound?
 
I'd like to confirm which audio formats the B8 can passthrough via HDMI to my AVR. It looks like everything bar Dolby True HD is compatible.

Rather than replacing AVR just yet, wondered about connecting UHD BD player to the TV HDMI for picture, then TV ARC to AVR for sound?
pretty much all uhd players have 2 hdmi outputs,so picture to tv,audio to amp,going via tv will not give you hd audio just dd,earc will fix this.
 
pretty much all uhd players have 2 hdmi outputs,so picture to tv,audio to amp,going via tv will not give you hd audio just dd,earc will fix this.
Just stumbled into your post, I guess it's probably well known already but this is news to me.

I thought as the TV is advertised as Dolby Atmos that this means it can passthrough over ARC to a Atmos compatible soundbar or receiver.

My intended setup is a B8 or C8, Xbox One X as the 4K UHD Player, and for the Atmos from Xbox to passthrough the LG TV to the Atmos capable soundbar or receiver. Will this not be possible?

Does this also apply for the LG apps as well, or just a limitation with connected HDMI devices?
 
Just stumbled into your post, I guess it's probably well known already but this is news to me.

I thought as the TV is advertised as Dolby Atmos that this means it can passthrough over ARC to a Atmos compatible soundbar or receiver.

My intended setup is a B8 or C8, Xbox One X as the 4K UHD Player, and for the Atmos from Xbox to passthrough the LG TV to the Atmos capable soundbar or receiver. Will this not be possible?

Does this also apply for the LG apps as well, or just a limitation with connected HDMI devices?
the tv does atmos from the apps but its dolby digital plus,no one is streaming hd audio yet,if you want hd atmos the audio needs to go a receiver,earc will allow hd audio over arc.
 
pretty much all uhd players have 2 hdmi outputs,so picture to tv,audio to amp,going via tv will not give you hd audio just dd,earc will fix this.

Okay, thank you for clarifying, sounds like my AVR is the limiting factor. Current setup works well with single HDMI from TV to AVR and CEC. I'll have to read up on using separate HDMI, see it works with CEC.
 
Fantastic review and really enjoyed reading it, even though I didn’t understand half of it, and I feel it has made my mind up for me.

Hopefully I’ll be ordering one later tonight when the deals start to kick off or in the morning.

Looks like my trusty Samsung C750 will be going in the bedroom.

Will probably end up picking up a Sonos Beam also to compliment the B8.
 
Hi, bought the 65" PLA version last week, made use of Currys' Black Tag event. My first TV in a long time, normally use projectors...

Absolutely love the TV. I have a 4K computer monitor, but the LG OLED screen with 4K HDR content is simply stunning.

Only question I have on setting up the TV (for 4K HDR) is what are the visible Black & White levels meant to be set at??? I've searched to no avail. SD and HD images are 16 and 235, only found one source that says UHD is 5 and 252. Not found anything on HDR source levels as yet!
 
Hi,
In view of the LG sales push on this and the 65" models and the large number of people now purchasing these sets. Could I encourage Phil and the team at A.V. Forums to do a small article on the best settings for these TV's. It sounds like there will be a large number of owners.
I have both the 55" and 65" LGE6 models and was extremely grateful for the Forums settings for my TV's.
One final point, the reviews are technically superb and spot on with their conclusions, so thank you Phil and the team. A real bonus when deciding on a TV.

In the real world, once you purchase a TV you watch it (on it's own) not alongside other TV's. Therefore comparisons are not so easily made. I am sure the latest LG Oleds would blow my ancient E6's out of the water (tongue in cheek). That aside, every day I sit in front of one of our E6's I am in awe of the quality of the picture, particularly the colours which are quite astonishing and thankfully filter down into even SD broadcasts. This would be my reason for not upgrading just yet.
Gregory
p.s. Plus the 3D on the E6's is superb. Whoever tells you 3D is dead, humour them.
 
My B8 55" arrived on Saturday and initially I was completely blown away by it, the picture was simply jaw droppingly good.

However, it is going back to JL this Saturday due to a lip syncing issue when playing content from external sources (Sony bluray player in my case) via HDMI with the sound going out to my Sonos Beam via the HDMI ARC channel. it appeared to be fine for all the inbuilt apps, although I did notice it slightly on freeview a couple of times.

The short version is, the picture is ahead of the audio, so using the audio delay options can't fix it. There are a couple of threads about the issue on Avforums so I won't go into all the details here.

My question for @Phil Hinton is, did you happen to test the ARC channel for external sources as part of your review? It seems like a lot of people are having the issue so it appears it could be a more general issue that needs a firmware fix rather than me having got a bad 'un... (googling 'OLED lipsync' gets a ton of hits)

This is genuine question, not a criticism of your review in any way.

Cheers
Rich
 
Last edited:
Hi,
In view of the LG sales push on this and the 65" models and the large number of people now purchasing these sets. Could I encourage Phil and the team at A.V. Forums to do a small article on the best settings for these TV's. It sounds like there will be a large number of owners.
I have both the 55" and 65" LGE6 models and was extremely grateful for the Forums settings for my TV's.
One final point, the reviews are technically superb and spot on with their conclusions, so thank you Phil and the team. A real bonus when deciding on a TV.

In the real world, once you purchase a TV you watch it (on it's own) not alongside other TV's. Therefore comparisons are not so easily made. I am sure the latest LG Oleds would blow my ancient E6's out of the water (tongue in cheek). That aside, every day I sit in front of one of our E6's I am in awe of the quality of the picture, particularly the colours which are quite astonishing and thankfully filter down into even SD broadcasts. This would be my reason for not upgrading just yet.
Gregory
p.s. Plus the 3D on the E6's is superb. Whoever tells you 3D is dead, humour them.

I second this, some forum settings for the B8 would be great.
 
Thank you Phil. This TV is hard to beat in terms of Value Proposition for a flagship 2018 TV.
 
Ordered a 65" version from Crampton and Moore and should be with me before Christmas.

Currently have a 65" Samsung KS8000 Quantum Dot that was perfect for over a year and now has visible LED's showing for a few inches on the bottom, a brighter streak down either side around 1" in from the edge and white uniformity is now very poor. These are common problems.
Samsung's customer service is dire and their promises of HLG and HDR10+ support has not materialised.
So another QLED for me is never going to happen.
 
Lg B8 55inch is now 1199eu in MediaMarkt DE!
 
Do we know if the Dynamic Tone Mapping feature has been carried over from the B7, or is it using the improved one available on the C8 and above?
 
Do we know if the Dynamic Tone Mapping feature has been carried over from the B7, or is it using the improved one available on the C8 and above?

All 2018 models including the B8 use the same Dynamic Tone Mapping that differs significantly from the 2017 models.

Differences 2017/2018 explained here
 
Hi,
In view of the LG sales push on this and the 65" models and the large number of people now purchasing these sets. Could I encourage Phil and the team at A.V. Forums to do a small article on the best settings for these TV's. It sounds like there will be a large number of owners.
I have both the 55" and 65" LGE6 models and was extremely grateful for the Forums settings for my TV's.
One final point, the reviews are technically superb and spot on with their conclusions, so thank you Phil and the team. A real bonus when deciding on a TV.

In the real world, once you purchase a TV you watch it (on it's own) not alongside other TV's. Therefore comparisons are not so easily made. I am sure the latest LG Oleds would blow my ancient E6's out of the water (tongue in cheek). That aside, every day I sit in front of one of our E6's I am in awe of the quality of the picture, particularly the colours which are quite astonishing and thankfully filter down into even SD broadcasts. This would be my reason for not upgrading just yet.
Gregory
p.s. Plus the 3D on the E6's is superb. Whoever tells you 3D is dead, humour them.
Sometimes they do a YouTube video on best settings but it would seem they haven't done it for this one for some reason.

Just got this TV today replacing a calibrated b6 I have done my best but it seems a liitle dark overall to my compared to my last one.

Recommended settings from the reviewer would be great ..
 
Just got this TV today replacing a calibrated b6 I have done my best but it seems a liitle dark overall to my compared to my last one.

Recommended settings from the reviewer would be great ..

Mine also seemed dark and seemed to blow out highlights when set at default or the recommended settings from rtings.

So I dug out my calibration blurays and checked with Black and white pluge patterns on you tube and I've had to lift brightness to 55 and contrast to 92 to attain proper white and black levels with gamma 2.2





Lee
 
Last edited:
What mode have you settled watching content in, isf bright or dark ect?

I have ISF light and Dark set up exactly the same apart from OLED Light 50 and 25.
 

The latest video from AVForums

TV Buying Guide - Which TV Is Best For You?
Subscribe to our YouTube channel
Back
Top Bottom