00:00Hey guys, welcome back to Buy or Skip. Today we're looking at pretty much the most budget-friendly
00:05mainstream OLED TV. So welcome to my LG B5 review. If you've been eyeing the C5 that I've already
00:12reviewed here on the channel, but maybe it's a little out of budget, the B5 is meant to be the
00:18approachable alternative. But does it hold up where it counts? Let's break it down. Now don't
00:25get me wrong, this is not a cheap TV, but it actually is affordable relative to OLED standards.
00:31I've got the 65 inch size here, it's $2,000 at full MSRP, but it's pretty much permanently discounted.
00:38You could find it as low as $1,000, like literally half off, so I'll put a link to the
00:42best LG B5
00:44OLED deal in the description. The B5 is going to undercut the C5 by a couple hundred bucks depending
00:49on the size, but the G5 is in a completely different price bracket. Honestly, not comparable.
00:56And you're also giving up some things by spending less. You don't get the brighter MLA panel you'd
01:01find on the C5 and G5, and you're capped at 120Hz instead of 144Hz. But the picture quality is still
01:08OLED level, and if you're stepping up from an older LED or a mid-range TV, the B5 is going
01:14to look like
01:14a massive upgrade that hopefully shouldn't hurt your wallet too much. Now let's talk software,
01:21what it's like to actually start using and watching content on this TV. LG's proprietary
01:27webOS is generally lean, fast, and easy to navigate. You've got all the major apps,
01:32you've got personalized content rows, plus very solid support for airplay and casting. It's still
01:38a little ad heavy on the home screen, but what smart TV isn't these days, am I right? If at
01:44a
01:44glance, this doesn't seem like your thing. You've got so many options. You've got Roku, Apple TV 4K,
01:50Google TV Streamer. In fact, let me know if you'd want to see a video just about all of the
01:55different
01:55plugin streaming devices that are out there these days. Okay, let's get into performance. The short
02:01version, the B5 doesn't disappoint. Colors are rich, accurate, and genuinely cinematic right out of
02:08the box. Skin tones look natural, neons pop, and animated content looks incredible. And our
02:14benchmarks back that all up. I'll drop a link below that has all of the numbers charted out if you're
02:19interested in taking a closer look. Speaking of taking a closer look, these perfect blacks and
02:25infinite contrast, that's just part of the OLED package. But even compared to the C5, the B5 holds
02:32its own. You do definitely lose some brightness, which I'll talk about in just a sec, but color
02:37quality, top tier. So now it's time for the reality check. This is the B-series OLED, and the B
02:45could
02:45stand for brightness compromise. This set is noticeably dimmer than the C5. It's about 650 nits
02:52HDR brightness in a 10% window on the B5 versus almost 1,200 nits on the C5. If your
02:58living room gets
02:59flooded with sunlight, you will see a ton of reflections making the picture look flat.
03:05That's the trade-off here. Those great OLED black levels, but not enough punch to fight bright
03:10environments. Evening viewing? Perfect. Midday with big windows? Not so perfect. So you're going to be
03:16limited depending on where you plan to put this thing. If it is a brighter environment and you do
03:21not have a premium OLED budget, you're going to be better off with more of a mid-range mini LED
03:26TV.
03:28This would be a great TV for a gaming cave though. Seriously, gamers, the B5 is absolutely playable.
03:34You get 120Hz, VRR, ALLM, and the big one, super low input lag. The default input lag measured at 13
03:42milliseconds, but with the boosted lag with the TV's game optimizer mode activated, it clocked in at 9
03:48milliseconds, which is one of the lowest we've seen on any TV we've ever tested. Speaking of which,
03:54LG has one of the best game optimizer dashboards around. And when you consider the B5 is available
03:59in a 48-inch size, you could build a pretty sweet setup around this thing as your gaming monitor.
04:05Just saying. A small thing, but I do have to call it out. LG's Magic Remote is still one of
04:12my all-time
04:13favorites. You've got the scroll wheel, the pointer controls, and actual short buttons that aren't
04:17placed in awkward spots. If you're coming from a bare-bones remote, you will appreciate this
04:23immediately. Anytime I use a Samsung remote or a Roku remote, I'm always happy to come, you know,
04:29back to a remote that actually has buttons that take me where I want to go.
04:33So buy or skip the LG B5 OLED. If you want OLED picture quality, accurate colors, smooth gaming
04:41performance, and an actually nice smart TV interface at a great price, I think you'll be happy with the
04:48B5. But if your room is bright, or you want the very best HDR performance LG offers, or you're picky
04:55about having all the nits on there with you, you should stretch for the C5 or maybe skip LG OLED
05:01altogether. But last I saw, the C5 is really just a couple of hundred dollars more, so I'll link it
05:06for you to compare. Let me know which TV you want me to check out next, and subscribe to the
05:11channel
05:11so I can see you in the next episode of Buy or Skip. Thanks for watching, guys. I will catch
05:16you next time.
05:31Bye.
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