LG B5 OLED TV review

The LG B5 OLED replaces the LG B4 as the value-priced OLED TV in the company's lineup, but very little has changed since that previous model. The B5 ($1,399.99 on sale as tested, $1,999.99 MSRP) boasts a few new AI features and the sleek redesigned Magic Remote. But based on my testing, performance has barely improved.

Yes, you get good color reproduction, strong gaming performance, and the slick webOS software that could help it compete with some of the best TVs. But, unfortunately, the B5 OLED’s brightness remains on the low side. That would matter less if LG didn’t face stiff competition in this price range, but it does from both Sony and Hisense.

Your best move might be waiting until Black Friday, when the B5 is likely to be at its cheapest. Here are the pros and cons in my LG B5 OLED review.

LG B5 OLED: Pricing and availability

Following LG’s clear, easy-to-remember naming scheme, the B5 replaces the LG B4 in the opening slot of the company’s OLED catalog, with the more midrange C5 and the flagship G5 above it. The B5 is available in a full array of size options to satisfy any living space and meet any budget:

• LG OLED48B5PUA (48-inch): $1,299.99 | Sale: $699.99
• LG OLED55B5PUA (55-inch): $1,499.99 | Sale: $1,199.99
• LG OLED65B5PUA (65-inch): $1,999.99 | Sale: $1,399.99
• LG OLED75B5PUA (77-inch): $2,999
• LG OLED83B5PUA (83-inch): $4,499 | Sale: $3,699.99

We evaluated the 65-inch model, but because all five use the same picture and processing technologies, we anticipate seeing comparable performance no matter which size you choose.

LG B5 OLED: Design and ports

The B5 is hardly a flashy TV, but it’s in no way bad-looking. The 65-inch set measures 57x32.8x1.8 inches and weighs only 37.7 pounds, so you may be able to move it by yourself, but the screen is so svelte (only a quarter-inch thick), you might want help with it anyway. Under the power light on the bottom edge is a physical button you can press to turn the power on and off or adjust the inputs, volume, or channel.

More interesting in terms of design is the B5’s rear, which uses the same dark-gray, marble-like finish of LG’s other sets. It’s an alluring, stylish touch, even if you will never spend much time looking at it. The only other notable features are the 300x200 VESA holes you can use to wall-mount your TV, though the stand, which consists of two sharply rectangular metal feet, is good looking in its own right.

The permanently attached power cable leads off the right side of the B5’s rear panel; all other connections are found on the left. Four ports face directly out the left edge: two HDMI, coaxial cable, and one USB. The remaining ports — two more HDMI (one with eARC for connecting an external audio device), one USB, an RS-232C service port, S/PDIF optical audio out, and Ethernet — are all aimed straight back.

All four HDMI ports adhere to the HDMI 2.1 specification, which offers faster and variable refresh rates (in this case, up to 120Hz) as well as features such as Auto Low-Latency Mode (ALMM). It’s nice to see a TV not skimp on these ports; some higher-end TVs from other manufacturers only include two, which is becoming a less-tenable solution (particularly if your house is home to multiple gaming consoles).

LG B5 OLED: Performance and test results

The traditional problem with OLED TVs is that the same technology that makes them so exciting — the infinite contrast that arises from pixels that are perfectly black because they turn entirely off — can also result in muddy, indistinct pictures when what’s on screen relies on the interplay between multiple dark shades. In recent years, OLED sets have been getting markedly brighter, meaning you get something closer to the best of both worlds. But with the B5, this is not quite the case.

There’s no skirting around the issue: Watching the recent Ryan Coogler hit “Sinners” in Filmmaker Mode was almost impossible in a room with even a moderate amount of lighting. Featuring many nighttime scenes (which you would admittedly expect from a vampire film) and a predominantly Black cast, the movie is as dark in color as in tone until its last few minutes. Because the B5 lacks the advanced antiglare technology LG introduced in the more expensive C5 and G5 TVs in its OLED lineup, reflections run rampant.

Much of Autumn Durald Arkapaw’s gorgeous cinematography gets swallowed up by the ghostly floating presence of the edges of furniture or window panes on the other side of the room, and these items constantly divert your focus from the intense intimate scenes that drive Coogler’s screenplay. Only by drawing the shades and turning every light off was I able to enjoy the movie (and it still looked far better at night).

The “workaround” for this is to use one of the brighter picture modes, such as Standard or Vivid, to cut through the glare. But then, with the dark overtones gone and oversaturated colors flooding the screen, you’re not seeing what Coogler and his team intended.

Our test results fully backed this up, with the B5 in Filmmaker Mode managing only 204 nits of brightness with SDR content and 632 nits in HDR. (Those other modes don’t buy you additional HDR headroom, either.) This is nearly on par with what we saw from the B4, but far behind the LCD-based Hisense U8QG and firmly half of what we saw from the Samsung S90F.

Color performance was a lot better: Its Delta-E (a value representing the difference between a color at the source and as displayed on the screen, with lower values being better) of 1.65 is terrific, and it covers decent swaths of the Rec. 709 (SDR) and UHDA-P3 (HDR) color gamuts. (The Hisense and Sony sets easily better it in Rec. 2020 gamut coverage, though.)

This means that movies where the picture composition doesn’t rely on brightness play perfectly well. I experienced no problems with the likes of “A Minecraft Movie,” “Barbie,” “Deadpool & Wolverine,” “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse,” and “Wicked,” though “Dune: Part Two” and “Oppenheimer” exhibited some of the same problems as “Sinners,” if to a lesser degree. (Supported HDR formats include Dolby Vision, HDR10, and HLG, but not HDR10+.) And, as is typical of OLEDs, their pictures looked lush and rich viewed from any angle; even when there are implementation issues, OLEDs have real benefits.

But there’s one other thing worth mentioning about the B5’s performance: It’s nearly identical to the B4’s in every way. There was no noticeable improvement in brightness, and there was but a negligible increase in color performance. In terms of picture, the B5 offers not a single compelling reason to upgrade from the B4, so rest easy if you bought one of those last year.

LG B5 OLED: Audio

Like all of LG’s TVs — and most sets that aren’t high-end Sonys or made by Panasonic — the B5 has only-okay sound. I didn’t encounter any audio hiccups watching everyday movies or series; everything sounded as it should, with acceptable blending and clarity of elements including dialogue, sound effects, and music. There was, at best, middling bass response on The Knife’s “Silent Shout,” though my soprano test track, which climaxes in a high B-flat, played sufficiently clearly even at high volume levels.

The B5’s audio won’t wow you, and it won’t offend you, so there are few surprises here. But if you want to make the most of your entertainment experience, you will want to pair the B5 with one of our best soundbars.

LG B5 OLED: Gaming

All major TV makers have upped their gaming, uh, game the last few years, significantly improving gaming features and performance, and LG is no exception. The B5 may not be as advanced as the C5 or the G5, but its gaming experience is every bit as good as theirs.

Using my Leo Bodnar 4K Input Lag Tester, I measured the B5’s default input lag at 13.1ms and its “boosted” lag (with Game Optimizer mode activated) at 9ms — one of the very lowest we’ve seen.

Add in LG’s intelligently designed and informative Game Bar, which you can raise to get an instant look at critical performance and picture stats when you’re using the Game Optimizer, and the 120Hz native refresh rate and other HDMI 2.1 features, and you have a TV that games about as well as any on the market.

Indiana Jones and the Great Circle played extremely well in both its action and stealth sections and its cut scenes alike. The only problem? Some of those tombs beneath Vatican City can get mighty dark, and that’s when the B5’s reflection problems made themselves known again. In the brighter parts of the game, though, the quality and smoothness of the picture easily matched the fun I was having playing.

LG B5 OLED: Smart features

LG’s TV operating system, webOS, remains one of the best on the market, easily competing against the increasingly popular Google TV (and surpassing Samsung’s Tizen or Amazon’s Fire OS). It’s attractive, colorful, and simple to navigate.

Though you are unlikely to have too much trouble finding anything to watch, you can also use Google Cast or Apple Airplay 2 to view video from your mobile devices, or watch live broadcasts using the integrated ATSC 1.0 tuner. (ATSC 3.0, which is necessary for viewing 4K over-the-air TV, is still absent due to continued licensing disagreements.) Amazon Alexa and Apple HomeKit integration allow you to connect the B5 to your existing smart home ecosystem.

As with the C5 and the G5, the B5 utilizes an “AI Concierge” for answering your questions and making suggestions, and you can use AI voice search to scan for your preferred content across services. These features work, though the Concierge is nothing special, and what “AI” adds to voice search other than a couple of letters on the remote remains unclear to me.

LG B5 OLED: Remote

The B5 uses the glowed-up, slimmed-down version of the Magic Remote that LG has introduced this generation. Though it does everything the old one did (including, somewhat controversially, letting you wave it to activate a mouse-like pointer for interacting with on-screen interfaces), it sports a matte finish and a flatter, more modern-looking candy-bar design instead of the glossy, ergonomically oriented version it replaced.

It’s a good design overall, though I miss dedicated Mute and Input buttons—it may not always be clear at a glance what you need to do to activate certain functions. Everything else on this Magic Remote is clean and straightforward, including the six shortcut buttons (for Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+, LG Channels, Sling, and Alexa) at the bottom.

LG B5 OLED: Verdict

There are reasons why LG is one of the top TV manufacturers and its sets constantly occupy the top positions in our best TV lists. The B5 produces a decent picture and delivers a slew of other pluses that show just how hard LG has worked at refining its smart interface, its remote control, and everything in between.

But the screen’s low brightness and high reflectiveness present problems for some viewing scenarios (particularly during the day), and those need to be taken into consideration. As, for that matter, does the fact that the “AI” features and the redesigned Magic Remote are the only real differences from last year’s model.

Its price, however, may be its saving grace — emphasis on the “may.” As of this writing, its pricing has proven volatile, and it can currently be found for as little as $1,399.99, or $300 less than the (better-performing) Samsung S90F. That’s appealing for a current-generation OLED, though because both the similarly outfitted B4 and the much brighter Hisense U8QG can be found for about $300 less than that, the B5 is still on somewhat shaky footing.

That may change as prices fluctuate further (especially around the holidays), and if it does, the LG B5 would become a more obvious choice for a less expensive OLED. That wait-and-see approach might be best with the B5, which, despite being the latest, isn’t quite the greatest.