LG offers new low price to the B8 for its OLED TV offering

This is the time of year when television prices start to fall. It's usually in late winter / early spring that retailers and TV makers start sketching last year's models to empty their stocks and give way to their successors. Often these old TVs are even more than enough for the average consumer. The money thus saved can compensate for the new features that await you while waiting for a new model.

This type of business has started to appear sporadically in recent weeks, but today offers a particularly interesting discount: the 55-inch variant of LG's OLED B8 television is currently reduced to $ 1,100 at Walmart and Amazon. It's a good $ 400 to $ 500 reduction from its usual rate and as low as this specific model has been seen at a major retailer. The purchase comes with a one year warranty, standard for LG.

What you get

Until MicroLED panels begin to take off, a good OLED display is leading the way in terms of modern TV performance. It offers superior contrast, brighter colors and better HDR performance than the best LCDs. The B8, while technically the lowest in LG's OLED line, is no exception. It supports Technicolor's HDR10, Dolby Vision, HLG and Advanced HDR formats and looks great. If it was not already obvious, the display is in 4K resolution. Ultra HD contents is still not ubiquitous, but the contrast and color advantages of OLED remain useful when you are stuck streaming to 1080p.

If you need it, Google Assistant is built into the B8 and the LG webOS interface is generally cleaner than most smart TV user interfaces. Regarding connectivity, there are four HDMI ports, three USB 2.0 ports, an Ethernet jack, and an optical audio output port. Input offset is not a problem; There is no 1440p support, but the usual 1080p at 120Hz and 4K at 60Hz work well. Its remote control activated by voice and movement is well designed. As the owner of this set, I can also say that the installation of the TV should only take a few minutes.

That said, the B8 is not perfect. There is always a risk of burn if static images are left on the screen for too long. It's a game like Red Dead Redemption 2 beautiful in HDR, for example, but if you play it All the time you can see the outline of its UI elements even when the game is disabled. (Rtings, the technical review site, offers some useful long-term tests, if you want to get a better idea.) Movement management is generally excellent and generally better than the average LCD, but not flawless . And because it's not as bright as high-quality LCD TVs, it works better in a dark room than in a well-lit room – even if the extremely deep blacks make HDR content more striking here than on a non-widescreen TV. -OLED. TV.

The B8 runs specifically on LG's older "Alpha 7" chip, which means it's not technically as fast as the high-end C8 or E8 OLED TVs, nor does it perform as well in advanced video processing. But aside from those who have great experience in using high-end televisions, I do not see most people noticing major differences in performance. If you want peace of mind, you could pay another $ 260 to get the C8, but you would sacrifice value.

In general, an OLED package will make the most of nerds of image quality: I had to delve into the image settings and perform a small calibration in order to get the most out of it. To be clear, however, it will still be a serious improvement for most living rooms for years to come.

Last month, LG announced its 2019 OLED product line at CES. The B8, C8 and E8 will all be abandoned in the coming months – hence the fall in prices here. The new models will support HDMI 2.1, which is now a largely sustainable measure for the future, but will allow 4K content to play at an ultra-smooth refresh rate of 120 Hz. a "second generation" Alpha 7 processor, while all models will support AirPlay 2, variable refresh rates and an improved "game mode" with a shorter input delay.

These are not minor improvements, but as the B9 will have the same panel and picture specifications as the B8, those looking to save a few dollars today are not likely to feel completely left behind. account in the coming months. You do not have to give up on this deal if you bought another high-end TV in the last two years – and there is still a chance for the B8 or C8 to drop again in the spring. – but if you look to cross the OLED course, it's still a good entry point at a good price.