As a self-confessed sports nut with a side hobby on the PlayStation 5, there are very few things in my apartment that get as much of a workout as my TV does.
So it was a happy coincidence when I got the opportunity to roadtest the new LG QNED81 TV.
Marketed as a must-have for sports fans, the TV promises to deliver a stadium feel from the living room couch.
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LG’s OLED televisions are considered among the best in the market – but they also come with a hefty price tag.
That’s not to say that the QNED variants are cheap, but they do hit the hip pocket a little less.
The main difference is that QNED – LG’s take on QLED – has less wide viewing angles than OLED televisions, meaning that you might notice differences in colour and brightness.
But the QNED’s Quantum Dot and NanoCell technology still definitely crosses over for a brilliant spectrum of real colour.
How do I get it and how much will it cost?
The LG QNED75 and QNED81 TVs can be ordered online from LG’s website or in-store at major retailers including The Good Guys and JB Hi-Fi.
The QNED 75 range starts at $1099 and comes as a 43-inch, 50-inch, 55-inch, 65-inch or 75-inch.
The QNED81 range retails from $1999 and comes in screens measuring 55 inches, 65 inches, 75 inches or 86 inches.
I used the QNED81 75-inch TV for this review.
First impressions and setup
There’s no two ways about this – this is a two-man job.
Getting the TV out of the box was a struggle in itself. But once it’s standing, it’s very straightforward. The stand itself has two settings, meaning the screen can be closer to the base, or raised a few centimetres, depending on preference and height of your TV unit.
From the tech side of things, logging in to the system on the TV itself is easy, and compatible with your phone.
The screen
I road tested the QNED81 75-inch TV which, for my relatively humble Sydney apartment, was massive.
But even though the screen size itself was immense, I never felt my eyes were strained looking at the screen.
Part of this would likely be LG’s Dimming Pro technology. This lets the TV dim or brighten based on how bright the surrounding area is. So, when it’s light outside, the TV will also brighten the screen to minimise straining to see through the glare. Likewise, when it’s dark outside, the screen dims so that the brightness isn’t jarring.
This feature is defaulted on automatic and I was quick to turn it back on when I tried the TV without it.
Sound
The speakers are good, but I found that when the TV was in a corner, the speakers had a tendency to reverberate. But this is where the sound bar comes in. LG provided me with a sound bar to use alongside the TV and I found it to be a massive improvement.
The TV also has an AI Sound Pro feature, which plays into the angling of the TV towards sports fans.
The AI mixes TV sounds to create the effect of surround sound speakers for an immersive experience. It has extensive clarity and balance settings, so it can be tailored to any living room.
Sport and gaming
There are a few features of the TV that fly under the radar, but are quality of life additions that I loved.
The first one was something that I’ve never noticed in a TV before, where the TV automatically turns on and turns off when I turn on my gaming console. It’s a small thing, but it’s cool that the TV realises I’m done using it by turning off an external product.
The other marquee feature is Sport Card, which enables users to select and follow their favourite teams from across a range of sports, delivering key updates including game start times and live score updates, even when it’s on in the background. As a Swans fan, I unfortunately didn’t get to use this too far into September, but there’s always next year.
What I thought
Overall, the TV is unlike any other I’ve owned or used. The clarity is like having a cinema in the living room, and the addition of the sound bar makes for an immersive experience. I do love having the Sport Card feature, meaning I can keep up to date with my favourite NBA team in the summer and AFL throughout the winter.
I do think this is the sort of TV, though, where bigger isn’t necessarily better.
The quality of the picture on the 75-inch screen is great, but, particularly for those in a smaller area, perhaps a smaller TV would do.
With a price tag approaching $4000, it’s definitely worth being overly cautious and doing some additional measuring of your TV unit space.
LG provided this publisher with a loan device for testing purposes. This did not affect our views on the device, and our review remains independent of the manufacturer.