LG B6 (OLED65B6) review

The LG B6 is an entry-level OLED TV with big aspirations, being the first (we believe) set to sport a spiffy new OLED SE panel – a key bit of hardware that promises to improve performance while also bringing OLED costs down.

That makes it a very interesting set, despite its bottom-of-the-range status, as, if it delivers on LG’s performance promises, it could be the most accessible OLED we’ve ever reviewed and a step closer to our ultimate wish – a truly affordable OLED TV.

While its price is still slightly above what we’d call truly affordable, after putting it through its paces in our test rooms including against its arch-rival, we can confirm it’s a step in the right direction. But there’s still work to be done.

Price

LG’s B-series is the most affordable option in its current OLED portfolio in most regions, but it’s never been truly “cheap” – which we describe as being below £500 / $500.

That continues on the latest B6 line. The smallest, 48-inch option launched with a £1300 RRP in the UK (LG decided not to launch this size in the US). The largest 83-inch B6 model went for an even more wallet-busting £3600 / $4500.

The 65-inch LG B6 model we have in our review rooms cost £2400 / $2400 / AU$3300 when it first launched – £100 more than its main Samsung rival, the S85H.

But since then, the B6 line has had its price slashed at most UK and US retailers (Australian discounts are much less widespread), and at the time of writing, you can grab the 65-inch model for £1399 / $1300.

While there are regular fluctuations in the prices of both models, Samsung’s S85H is generally available for roughly the same price as the B6.

As you would hope, in the UK at least, the B6 is available for a good deal less than the ever-popular C6, which is currently around £1699. In the US, though, the price difference is just $100 right now, and in Australia the two TVs are inexplicably identically priced, which rather complicates the value argument.

Design

No one expects much from an entry-level TV when it comes to aesthetics, even an OLED – especially one from LG, which hasn’t really tweaked any of its B-, C- or G-series TV designs for a while. That remains the case for the B6, which is a fairly chunky unit, featuring a textured, fake marble-like plastic back, and attachable screw-in feet that are also, you guessed it, made of slightly cheap-feeling plastic.

Thankfully, despite feeling cheap, the build quality is solid, and the feet manage to hold the TV up without any wobble (as happens on many rival cheap TVs), leaving us fairly certain it will withstand the odd bump, or cat/toddler attack, without toppling.

But we do have a couple of issues with its design. First, its feet only have a single, wide set-up option. This means if you have a smaller cabinet or rack, it won’t fit. You’ll need one that’s at least 60 inches wide, based on our measurements. This isn’t unheard of on affordable TVs, but it’s annoying when its main rival, the Q85F, does offer a central placement option for its feet.

Second, like the LG G6 and LG C6, the remote remains unchanged. You’ll be forced to use the same ageing, shiny plastic remote LG has paired its OLEDs with for nearly half a decade. Are the motion controls useful? Sometimes. But in today’s world, we’d like to see USB-C charging and backlighting added sooner rather than later. Both are fairly standard, especially on rival TCL and Hisense Mini LED sets, and even Samsung’s Q85F at least has USB-C charging.

Features

You don’t normally expect to be writing “first” when reviewing an entry-level TV, but we’re 99 per cent certain it's an accurate description for one key element of the B6: its panel tech.

While LG Electronics never reveals the specific panel it uses on its TVs, all evidence suggests the B6 is one of the first-ever TVs to feature LG Display’s new OLED SE panels, as unveiled at the start of the year at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

This is a variant of the base WOLED seen in most entry-level and even step-down OLED sets. Unlike the premium Primary RGB Tandem OLED and QD-OLED tech you see on flagship sets, OLED SE is bespoke-designed for cheaper sets, and hopes to gradually bring entry-level OLED costs down, making the tech more accessible.

But the part we found most interesting when we attended its launch is that LG Display claims it will simultaneously improve the performance of cheaper sets in a few key metrics, including peak brightness.

The B6 has a quoted 1000 nits peak brightness. While peak brightness isn’t the be-all and end-all when it comes to picture quality, that’s still pretty amazing considering even five years ago a flagship OLED would probably struggle to go over 700 nits.

Outside of that, the B6 offers two main upgrades over the outgoing LG B5. The first is its use of LG’s Alpha 8 Gen 3 CPU. This still places it below LG’s G6 and C6, which feature the more powerful Alpha 11 Gen 3, but it is a step up from the Alpha 8 Gen 2 sported by the B5. Key claimed improvements include more refined picture upscaling, more intelligent and accurate dynamic tone mapping and superior SDR-to-HDR conversion.

The second is Dolby FlexConnect. This is a new audio technology that aims to let TV owners create Dolby Atmos wireless surround sound packages using a mix of compatible speakers. It even lets you use the TV’s built-in speakers as the central channel. While the first system we reviewed with the tech, the LG Sound Suite, didn’t blow us away with its audio quality, its clever room calibration powers did impress us enough to view support for the tech as a bonus.

Outside of that, the TV offers the stellar library of features we’ve come to expect from LG OLEDs.

For gamers, the TV has four full-speed HDMI 2.1 inputs and support for 4K/120Hz, ALLM and VRR. So console gamers are sorted, and truthfully, even if you have a PC, it would have to be an incredibly powerful one to run triple-A titles at frame rates above 120Hz.

As a final perk, Dolby Vision Gaming HDR and Bluetooth low-latency controller support are both on board. The latter is a nice touch if you want to connect a third-party Bluetooth controller to the set and play via the cloud on GeForce Now or Xbox Game Pass.

HDR support is strong, with the B6 playing nice with the big three: Dolby Vision, HDR10 and HLG. That gives it a slight edge on its Samsung rival, which, like all the firm’s TVs, doesn’t support Dolby Vision. Samsung instead continues to push its homebrewed, open-source HDR10+ tech as the superior option.

WebOS 26 then ensures robust app support with all the major services, including Netflix, Apple TV, Amazon Prime Video and Disney+ present and running correctly. Local catch-up support is also solid, with BBC iPlayer, Now and more all available in the UK.

Pretty impressive specifications for an “entry-level” OLED.

Picture quality

While the B6 doesn’t make the best first impression, that’s primarily down to the less-than-ideal default picture settings.

Playing our 4K Blu-ray copy of F1: The Movie, while running in its Standard mode, the set initially falls victim to some familiar pitfalls we experience with cheap TVs.

Movements feel floaty, with the cars appearing to be sliding, rather than driving, across the track. The contrast isn’t quite right, either, with the picture raising the brightest parts a tad too much, adding a cel-shaded, artificial feel to the picture.

Thankfully, as happens on nearly all of the modern LG OLEDs we’ve tested, things rapidly improve after switching to Filmmaker Mode.

Once done, the overbrightening disappears, and the image takes on a pleasingly punchy, but not overbaked feel.

There are only two minor quibbles. First, that motion still appears a tad smeary, compared to the C6 and Samsung S85H, even with all processing off – though not to the point that it's a deal breaker.

Second, that characters’ skin tones, in particular, feel a smidgeon green, an issue we sadly can’t easily fix, as the B6 doesn’t have colour profiles, instead relying on a slider control that only adjusts its temperature – and not with a great deal of finesse, making it better to leave it in its neutral setting.

Those points aside, the brightest part of the picture shines with a sparkle we didn’t expect from an entry-level OLED, with the fireworks shooting over the track holding a pleasing and distinct three-dimensional positioning in the night sky.

Our peak brightness stress test, Pan, is atypically mastered to 4000 nits. While the LG C6 is punchier than the B6 and retains a wider range of colours in the setting sun, the cheaper model delivers a performance that, even a few years ago, would have been considered unfathomably bright for a mid-range, let alone entry-level, model.

In isolation, the picture is pleasingly immersive.

But as we swap to our Sinners 4K Blu-ray, the green issue is exacerbated, to the point of being distracting. In the dim speakeasy, characters' faces appear jaundiced, and the intended red light effect is lost, replaced with a mellow yellow vibe. This gives the images a slightly smudgy, flatter feel than the S85H, which is a shame as it otherwise handles colours with more care, and more subtlety, than its affordable Samsung rival.

But, more pressingly, blacks are not uniformly perfect, as they should be on an OLED. Parts of the picture are raised, giving them a grey, almost backlit look. Sadly, reducing the Near Black Detail from 0 to -1 doesn’t fix the problem; some blacks still look raised, there’s just less detail in them.

Pressing the point with the opening scene of Alien: Romulus, there is evident flickering during the opening credits that are meant to be fully black as the logos emerge, then recede. Then, while parts of the picture are deep and a cut above that which you’ll experience even on the best Mini LED, including the five-star TCL C8L we are testing it against, they still aren’t perfect. Some parts of the black void of space still look slightly grey, compared with what we experience on the S85H and C6.

It’s a conundrum, one that means, while the picture is very good for the money, it ultimately doesn't match what we’d expect when investing in an OLED – whose primary selling point is its pixel-level light control and ability to deliver perfect blacks.

Switching to our SDR copy of True Grit, the set does a decent job with the grainy, spaghetti western feel of the movie. Though the picture is slightly flatter than the C6 next to it, the falling snow over the black background retains a pleasingly realistic feel, never falling victim to noise.

Throughout the movie, although the B6 does occasionally feel fizzy, struggling with the intentionally grain, it never becomes unwatchable or overtly distracting – as it can on many of the sets we test.

Our only minor issue is that, as is the case on the S85H, the picture feels a bit soft compared with the step-up C6 model, though this is more than forgivable given the difference in price.

Sound quality

The B6 comes with a basic 2.0 channel, 20W downward-firing speaker system that relies on clever AI processing to deliver a virtual Dolby Atmos experience.

Like nearly all modern LG OLEDs, it also has a very select number of audio modes. The two big ones are its Standard and AI Sound Pro options.

Starting with the out-of-the-box Standard mode playing F1: The Movie, the sound is generally fine, but slightly too congested for our liking. The rumbling engines, race commentary and character dialogue all feel flat, and too tied to the centre of the TV.

Switching to AI Sound Pro, the soundstage opens up, but there’s a lack of finesse. Engine noise doesn’t match the cars’ on-screen movements, and voices take on a hard, artificial edge.

The issue is exacerbated with Sinners, where during the complex medley scene, the ‘voice of God’ narrator comes in too heavy-handed, drowning out the intermingling music tracks as it rises. Then, as the psychedelic guitar swells in volume, distortion creeps in.

Switching to the Standard mode, the audio sprints back to the centre, creating a muddy wall of sound. Ideally, we’d like something in the middle between the two options.

Moving to our Blade Runner 2049 chapter two, low-end stress test, the B6 fails to deliver the booming, menacing synth with enough force to do it justice, but is conservative enough not to veer into distortion – as many TV speakers do.

Dialogue lacks direction, but the speakers are good enough to hear characters' voices, and, to our surprise, the higher frequencies don’t sound too hard-edged or veer into sibilance during the subsequent interview scene – so long as we stick to Standard mode.

So, like all recent LG TVs, the speakers are fine for casual TV viewing, but you will want to invest in a separate soundbar system for serious movie watching.

Verdict

The LG B6 is a good entry-level OLED in most ways. Its gaming features, HDR support and app offering are excellent. And its picture in isolation is solid, especially if you are yet to make the jump to OLED, or on a very early model with the panel tech.

But there is definite room for improvement. Audio, like most recent LG OLEDs, is middling, even by TV speaker standards. But more pressing are the issues we’ve encountered with its black level and handling of dark scenes. Yes, blacks are still better and more immersive than anything you’ll find on a Mini LED at this level, but they’re not perfect. And the TV’s tendency to push greens too hard can become distracting during certain scenes.

This means that, for those who can afford the extra outlay, the step-up LG C6 is a better option. Those who can’t also have other options, including the equivalently priced Samsung S85H OLED, or, if you’re not wedded to OLED, TCL C8L.

SCORES

• Picture 4
• Sound 3
• Features 5

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