Choice between LG 65" C2 vs LG 77" B2

[FrantzM]

Hi

I presently have a 100 inches Steward GrayHawk screen with a BenQ HT2050 front PJ. A good, decent picture, but in term of Picture Quality, the 55"" LG OLED in my bedroom blows it, (perhaps any and all Projectors/Screen combinations) in almost everything that matters in picture quality... No need to be a videophile, both are reasonably calibrated. No comparison, even an Q-LED 85 inches Samsung that I had briefly in the HT room surpassed by all PQ metrics, the Benq + Stewart... Yet, the impact of the 100 inches screen was unmistakable.. Everything was more.. cinematic, dramatic, fitting the stories more, etc.. find the epithet or adjective the bigger screen made more of an impact..
If one can take bigger when it comes to a dedicated HT.. md if one can, OLED, miniLED has been said to be a better, perhaps cheaper alternative.. Literally, we'll see...

Peace.

 

[JRS]

So an interesting display. In short--when it's on, its delicious, but there seem to be significant software issues which have been crippling in a couple of areas--mostly how it responds to DV and HDR+ content, which appear to confuse the TV and results in unstable luminance levels, the impact of which can vary from completely unacceptable on some material to meh, it's annoying but not a deal breaker.

I am avoiding watching the most egregious examples posted at AVS, preferring to be oblivious versus Ar*r!!rg, I cannot "unsee" it and it is all I notice now. So really I have really only sampled Amazon Prime content which for me includes Showtime. When it's "on" it's as good as anything I have seen. Disappointing is the blooming I see during credit rolls where the text is surrounded by a low level light blob. Never have I seen this on my OLED's and it's distracting, but to tell the truth, I rarely watch the credits more than once for a series, and maybe not even once during a movie. Lot of the stuff I have been viewing are "older" films. Not to bad on subtitles.
I'm also adjusting to 4k rez on a big screen as well. To me some of the material looks a bit artificial in a hyperdetailed crepe paper effect when compared to my lLenovo aptop 14" OLED UHD which looks creamy perfection at whatever resolution I'm getting (vs overetched/tad creepy synthetic). I also think there's a slight blue bias that needs to be corrected. But this weekend I plan on spending some time fine tuning the display.

But when this is viewed in dark conditions with no software issues, it is mindblowing--I half expect to see the display melting where the dazzling brights hit. I had to back down the brightness to 30 something to keep from flinching when the brights come on. So some material can be simply too jarring for these old eyes. In a word breathtaking at its best, but how aggressively TCL will respond to the complaints and get new firmware written is the 64K question for a few dozen of us on the owners forum who are in a wait to see what happens--can do a BB return worst case.

whic

 

[Spocko]

So I need some help in making a decision about which display to buy. As it turns out I can either get the early 2022 LG B2 in 77" or the later 2022 C2 in 65" for the same price--around 1650 USD. No replacement for displacement as they say, but in this case it will land in a medium sized living room of about 18' x 12'. So it will be imposing piece of furniture that will go on a glass audio/video rack.

Some but not a lot of sunlight, and I watch mostly at night and almost exclusively to streamed sources such as Netflix, Prime, etc. No gaming, tho one never knows now that I'm retired. Occasional Blue Rays but apart from network sports (the B2 does not have the 3.0 Nextgen tuner), its exclusively movies, series, docs, and YouTube music.

And there is one other choice that keeps saying buy me and that is the midrange Sony Bravia 65 OLED. There the attraction is much better audio--good enough that I'm sure with some EQ it would provide perfect center fill for my 2.0 system--has a sub of sorts and uses the screen itself as a vibrating panel that's split into 3 major sections and will even localize sound to the speaker or object, all of which sounds really cool to me (along with limited ATMOS processing), and it would make a soundbar unnecessary. I don't really do action films with lots of bass slam--this is an apt or I'd haul my AE 15H subs out to play.

Thoughts? It's a wonderful time to be buying a display, and in the past I have always bought either 55 or 65 Panny plasmas before making the switch to LG OLED. The last 65 I bought was in 2019 and that was gob smacking good for the around 1800 price. Sold it thinking I was going abroad, but plans have changed.

You post this question without tagging me? COME ON!
Watching mostly at night means you should go with the 77" B2. The midrange Sony OLED does NOT have better audio that's worth compromising on size - as a matter of fact, any Amazon special soundbar+sub package you can get for $149 on Prime Day will sound better than any 65" TV, period. You are the perfect use case for the 77" B2 actually with your room lighting environment and content watching preferences. Anyway, please ask any questions you may have about TVs, as more likely than not I've either personally reviewed, currently own or am greatly familiar with any OLED model you are considering.

I just did my livestream early impressions of the QM8, and it's in the lead for best value HDR TV of 2023, and at the 85" size, nothing will come close to beating it for under $3K unless you pay a little more for the Sony X95L.

Lastly, when considering TVs with this level of brightness, Dolby Vision vs HDR10 vs HDR10+ discussions are mostly pointless.

 

[JRS]

You post this question without tagging me? COME ON!
Watching mostly at night means you should go with the 77" B2. The midrange Sony OLED does NOT have better audio that's worth compromising on size - as a matter of fact, any Amazon special soundbar+sub package you can get for $149 on Prime Day will sound better than any 65" TV, period. You are the perfect use case for the 77" B2 actually with your room lighting environment and content watching preferences. Anyway, please ask any questions you may have about TVs, as more likely than not I've either personally reviewed, currently own or am greatly familiar with any OLED model you are considering.

I just did my livestream early impressions of the QM8, and it's in the lead for best value HDR TV of 2023, and at the 85" size, nothing will come close to beating it for under $3K unless you pay a little more for the Sony X95L.

Lastly, when considering TVs with this level of brightness, Dolby Vision vs HDR10 vs HDR10+ discussions are mostly pointless.

My bad. But in my feeble defense, I'm not that knowledgeable about the current state of video, and am just learning about the multiple methods of making video better with adaptive codec software.

But it seems as if I managed to make the right call not once, but twice!

I was all in for the 77 LG B2, until I discovered the 75" QM8 could be had for the same price, and had a few tricks under its sleeve that even a C3 or G2 would be hard pressed to counter. The 85 was not even on the map, though it was briefly available on Amazon for about 2k.

Man I was raised in a household where a 27 inch TV was both unforgivably ostentstious and worse, signalled to peers an intellectual deficiency. I am very happy i fought thru it to go 75.

As for the Sony audio, it was a particular review that really touted the audio which piqued my curiosity including the on screen mapping of dialogue that makes it sound as if it us coming from a distinct part of the screen. And cool to repurpise the screen as a driveable membrane. That's the out if the box thinking that made Sony no baloney.

So duly chastized, you have a rec regarding a sound bar to complement the Elac Debut reference speakers I have flanking the screen? Looks like I might have 6 inches now, more if I buy a new floor stand that swivels above the usual glass shelved stand.

Incidentally the QM8 pedestal stand rocks. Light, strong and less than a foot wide.

 

[Spocko]

My bad. But in my feeble defense, I'm not that knowledgeable about the current state of video, and am just learning about the multiple methods of making video better with adaptive codec software.

But it seems as if I managed to make the right call not once, but twice!

I was all in for the 77 LG B2, until I discovered the 75" QM8 could be had for the same price, and had a few tricks under its sleeve that even a C3 or G2 would be hard pressed to counter. The 85 was not even on the map, though it was briefly available on Amazon for about 2k.

Man I was raised in a household where a 27 inch TV was both unforgivably ostentstious and worse, signalled to peers an intellectual deficiency. I am very happy i fought thru it to go 75.

As for the Sony audio, it was a particular review that really touted the audio which piqued my curiosity including the on screen mapping of dialogue that makes it sound as if it us coming from a distinct part of the screen. And cool to repurpise the screen as a driveable membrane. That's the out if the box thinking that made Sony no baloney.

So duly chastized, you have a rec regarding a sound bar to complement the Elac Debut reference speakers I have flanking the screen? Looks like I might have 6 inches now, more if I buy a new floor stand that swivels above the usual glass shelved stand.

Incidentally the QM8 pedestal stand rocks. Light, strong and less than a foot wide.

Currently, the best flagship soundbar for the money is the Samsung Q990B, 990C ($1400) or for slightly less 930C ($1000) due to their best in class implementation of surround/sub for the money. Sonos does the exact same thing for a whole lot more due to their platform and ecosystem expansion capabilities. Sony flagship soundbar system sounds exactly the same but costing $1000 more. For under $700, it's the Vizio Elevate M-Series.

Sadly, none of these soundbars "complement" your Debut reference speakers because there's no way to easily integrate the soundbar to your speakers. Instead, I suggest you add a $700 subwoofer, and send the ARC signal from your TV to a $35 ARC audio extractor (any highly rated Amazon special will do) convert it to SPDIF optical signal which connects to your DAC/preamp which hopefully has a subwoofer out.

 

[JRS]

You post this question without tagging me? COME ON!
Watching mostly at night means you should go with the 77" B2. The midrange Sony OLED does NOT have better audio that's worth compromising on size - as a matter of fact, any Amazon special soundbar+sub package you can get for $149 on Prime Day will sound better than any 65" TV, period. You are the perfect use case for the 77" B2 actually with your room lighting environment and content watching preferences. Anyway, please ask any questions you may have about TVs, as more likely than not I've either personally reviewed, currently own or am greatly familiar with any OLED model you are considering.

I just did my livestream early impressions of the QM8, and it's in the lead for best value HDR TV of 2023, and at the 85" size, nothing will come close to beating it for under $3K unless you pay a little more for the Sony X95L.

Lastly, when considering TVs with this level of brightness, Dolby Vision vs HDR10 vs HDR10+ discussions are mostly pointless.

My bad. But in my feeble defense, I'm not that knowledgeable about the current state of video, and am just learning about the multiple methods of making video better with software.

But it seems as if I managed to make the right call not once, but twice!

I was all in for the 77 LG B2, until I discovered the 75" QM8 could be had for the same price, and had a few tricks under its sleeve that even a C3 or G2 would be hard pressed to counter. The 85 was not even on the map, though it was briefly available on Amazon for about 2k. Man I was raised in a household where a 27 inch TV was both unforgivably ostentstious and signified intellectual deficiency. I am very happy j fought thru it to go 75.

As for the Sony audio, it was a particular review that really touted the audio which piqued my curiosity including the on screen mapping of dialogue that makes it sound as if it us coming from a distinct part of the screen. And cool to repurpise the screen as a driveable membrane. That's the out if the box thinking that made Sony no baloney.

So duly chastized, you have a rec regarding a sound bar to complement the Elac Debut reference speakers I have flanking the screen? Looks like I might have 6 inches now, more if I buy a new floor stand that uses

Incidentally the QM8 pedestal stand rocks. Light, strong and less than a foot wide.

Currently, the best flagship soundbar for the money is the Samsung Q990B, 990C ($1400) or for slightly less 930C ($1000) due to their best in class implementation of surround/sub for the money. Sonos does the exact same thing for a whole lot more due to their platform and ecosystem expansion capabilities. Sony flagship soundbar system sounds exactly the same but costing $1000 more. For under $700, it's the Vizio Elevate M-Series.

Sadly, none of these soundbars "complement" your Debut reference speakers because there's no way to easily integrate the soundbar to your speakers. Instead, I suggest you add a $700 subwoofer, and send the ARC signal from your TV to a $35 ARC audio extractor (any highly rated Amazon special will do) convert it to SPDIF optical signal which connects to your DAC/preamp which hopefully has a subwoofer out.

Thanks for getting back. You might divine by my choice of speakers I am living on a beer budget for now and looking for outstanding value until such time I am in a position to get my old gear back or build new speakers. The apartment is the ball buster. Even with the wheezer of a SW in the TCL, I have had a complaint. I have an 18 (Dayton reference and 2 15's (Acoustic Elegance) in storage at the moment waiting for their day to be unleashed. So soundbar is out. I can live with that for now, or maybe try to find a more appropriate center channel like the Monoprice should I feel the need to solidify the center.

I do still entertain the idea of finding a small 10" that might not be much of a nuisance when used for a wee bit of 35 to 50 Hz augmentation. Not a huge sacrifice as most of my visdeo fare is "cerebral" and much of my audio is what one might call bass-light. Well obviously with that sable of subs, there are occasions....

In terms of hookup--I was under the impression that I could link my TV and AVR (Ebay special--Integra 5x120, circa 2014) via the eARC and get control of the subwoofer output that way? Or as a backup plan use the TV dig out into the AVR. I have a BRP and not much else to hook up-just my laptop and maybe a game console should I get the hankering. Laptop will be USB-C to HDMI adapter. I hope to add Dirac and am thinking that will be on the laptop and while I don't see an easy path from the TV back to the laptop, I'll just use the Dirac for straight audio, possibly get an external BRP that can feed the laptop, the signal processed and sent to the AVR. And really now that I think about it, I can stream via the laptop and avoid the TV wifi link altogether. Not sure what kind of latency, if any issues will come up with Dirac. But I do have access to delay the picture in the AVR on at least some inputs. May need to readup on that.

 

[JRS]

No activity so I thought I'd clsoe the thread after spending 2 weeks with this display.

It is spectacular--whatever minor issues that an OLED typically avoids (blooming, black crush, gray bars, etc) are so reduced that the spectacular dynamic range (that goes bright, not just because you can't divide by the zero light level of a quiescent screen) is amply repaid and with interest. Now that I am retired and watching some daytime TV the extra brightness is also welcome.

I see the prices have popped back up. I suspect this will be temporary, esp as the Hisense displays become available later this year. These are poised to be killers that take the promise of mini LED approach to unprecedented levels of brilliance.

 

[sweetchaos]

Digital Trends released their review of the TCL QM8 today:

His conclusion is at 15min:36sec.
He's going to recommend this TV for 90% of people this year.
Wow, bold claim.

I'm still waiting for Rtings.com review.

 

[JRS]

Thanks for posting the review. I continue to be absolutely gob smacked by this display, and apart from the "corona" (what I called light blobs above) effect he mentions, is about the only flaw that I have consistently been--bothered is too strong a word--distracted by might be a better descriptor, and again that's really only with scrolling credits.

I really like the pedestal stand for my 75--as he notes, the number of choices goes way, way up without having to embrace feet--which look dorky as hell IMO (and yes the plastic part that screws to the back seems a bit cheesy, but out of sight, out of mind, the steel part that is visible more than makes up for it). Today I take delivery of a metal stand that is nearly as wide as the TV (so in theory it could have worked with feet), sits 2 feet off the ground bringing center screen to eye level, and best of all for my situation has an 9 inch shelf that will just accommodate the smaller Elac center channel. Granted it's still an MTM on it's side with the associated problems, but short of wall mounting which isn't an option for me, I'm hoping that it will take my pair of the Debut Reference up a notch. (Which I haven't really been able to put through the paces owing the need for some room treatment as I have huge swaths of wall and floor with nothing much to absorb reflections). A arge area rug is next, and then some DIY panels as needed.

The existing stand I had which is really for a 55-65" screen size would have been fine--I was just a wee bit nervous about the weight of the TV on a 1/4 inch piece of tempered glass with a considerable span between supports. Anyhow that's a win-win given I was able to add a center channel. Incidentally, in my very live acoustic, the built in speakers are pretty damn good in my opinion, and I switch back to these for late night viewing so as to not piss off my immediate neighboring apartment and at those volumes, it seems more than adequate. Maybe I'll get some BT buds down the road, but in no hurry.

One related option is that AFAICT, there is no way to get the optical audio output to work while using the built-in speakers--I know the Sony's can, cant recall re the LG's. Which really only means having to get into the settings menu and switching selected outputs versus just using the volume control on my AVR and the TV to control. Speaking of which I have had difficulty getting the AVR and TV to communicate via eARC, but that may be due to the ten year difference with the Integra I picked up on EBay. I suppose if I got in there for an extended thrash I could get them to play nicely, but now that Integra brand is history, don't know that any technical support is available--in any event, I doubt that's there would be an issue for anybody else.

But what makes me really, really in love with this TV is the picture depth--truly at time's it almost 3D and you feel as if you can walk into the scene--something I have never experienced to this degree. Textures are rendered gorgeously as well. Don't get me wrong--I watched a doc on the diamond trade and the new breed of lab made diamonds that are absolutely impossible to tell apart which was effing dazzling; metals look awesome as well.


I absolutely agree that this thing needs to be tamed a bit for dark viewing--I find the mid 30's of brightness to be perfect for dark viewing, and just fine for daytime viewing with the shades closed--so for me it's set and forget. Finally if you look at the zone density of the various sizes, the 75" seems to be in the sweet spot. Many people were having issues at AVS with the various brightness options and reporting wild swings in scene brightness, but that may be more or less confined to 65" models and firmware fixable. Happy to say it hasn't been a problem for me. Oh and Google TV seems like a fine interface for my multiple subscriptions. It hasn't had a chance to get to know me so not sure in that regard, and the remote is a sweetheart compared to others I've used, and the Samsungs just suck ergonomically I'm told. One problem is the proximity of the volume control and the back button, but I'm getting there--having a backlight is very nice.

Effing sweet TV--at $1800 for the 75, I'm happy as a clam and my checking acct agrees!

PS: I'll update the post once I get the stand and speaker set up with pics.

 

[JRS]

BTW I can't seem to edit the thread title to reflect that the TCI is involved. Help?

 

[sweetchaos]

Click on ..., then select 'Edit Thread'.

Now you can change the title.

 

[sweetchaos]

Finally, Rtings published their review of TCL QM8 today.

IMO: Meh...looks like nothing special.

If I was purchasing a new TV today, with no budget in mind, I would buy this year's OLEDs (either WOLED or QD-OLED). Rtings reviewed 4 2023 OLED models already, with more coming. I would personally wait until Sony A95L (this year's flagship option) and LG B3 (this year's budget option) reviews are out (estimated in September), before making any decisions.

If I had a budget in mind, say US$1800 (which is the same as TCL QM8 in a 75" size), then I would skip TCL QM8 and get last year's OLEDs. There are 9 2022 OLED models that rtings reviewed already, so you have plenty of options to choose from. But looking at the current deals at bestbuy.com, I can see that for US$200 more than TCL (or 11% more), I can buy the LG B2 in a 77" size. So while B2 doesnt get as bright as QM8, the B2 wins in every other metric.