I replaced 55C7 with a 65A8H. Look forward to your impressions on LG against the Sony.
Well, I have the 65A8F which is like 3 years old now. So any comparison do not apply to the current A8H.
The A8H is more close to the A9G master series than the A8G. Has the X1 Ultra processor which I would imagine will be far better.
A8G is literally A8F with a name change though and the pricing is same as CX. So the comparison is valid if you are looking for A8G.
Please also note that the LG is very new and I have not settled with the settings (Though very limited tweaking made the picture good enough to stop tweaking and enjoying the content). A8F is perfectly tunes to my dark room viewing preferences.
Add to that I am generally biased against LG. I would not touch any IPS tvs of the LG lineup because of their inherent flaws and also their OLEDs if not significantly cheaper than the competition due to my past bias. LG usually sells tvs based on features and NOT on picture quality and are fit to people looking for maximum features for the price and are ready to compromise on picture. In fact the main reason I got the LG OLED itself was because, it was cheaper with more warranty and for the fact that it will NOT be my main tv. It was selling in the samsung Frame ballpark with bigger warranty and looked good. Also, I had the only other OLED sold in india which is sony, so a bit of variety will help.
Inspite of the above biases, the LG did excellent and looked awesome from the get go. To start with the OS seem purpose built for an OLED tv. The OS and apps projects black and generally have a dark appeal and gets bright only when playing content and when the content demands it. The OS is also much faster and very responsive to the bluetooth remote. (the on screen pointer is a torture though and I generally am not using it). The UI is full of components with adjustable transparency which adds to the appeal. Static content both in OS UI and during paused scenes get over written by a purpose built screen saver projecting black again. Coming out of screen saver is also single click and even the click is consumed. Meaning, you dont have to press play 2 times, one for coming out of screen saver and one for playing, a single press would do. The picture frame app also does a good job to ensure no static content is displayed in the screen for long.
Sony's OS on the other hand is a direct lift from generic android tv 8.0 and is slow to the core in comparison. Adding to that the remote is unergonomic and IR based and needs line of sight. Looks ancient in comparison. The menus are generally gray and lifeless and setting picture is a chore with lot of screen real estate taken by the menu system itself leaving lesser area for the content that needs tuning. The android tv is also not built for OLEDs and on side by side is clear that the static content wastes lof of power and panel life and increases burn in susceptibility (although there is none in 3 years). LG makes you feel safer from burn in issues in case you are the worrying type. In short the OS between LG and Sony is like iPhone ios vs android. One is purpose built for showing the device's strengths and hiding the weaknesses and the other is just generic OS focussed on compatibility with as many devices as possible, not shining on any of the devices as a result. The remote is the fly in the ointment.
Between LG and A8F, the picture quality is in the same ball park. LG has richer overall picture and sony is more natural and lifelike.
I don't see difference in details at all like I read from reviews, rather colour and presentation differences jumps out.
Also LG is sharper in every scene, maybe due to high pixel density due to smaller size but not sure.. Even with 0 sharpness the picture is sharper than the 65A8F. Does not look artificially sharpened though.
Movies look a bit better in sony but I guess there is a setting which can make the tvs look alike if we spend the time. But that would make constant switching of settings based on content which is chore in long run. Better to leave the tvs to their strengths as it gives 2 different comparable pics both watchable.
Sony can go more warm than the warmest LG setting and still look natural. This is the biggest difference. Any tweaked setting in the LG looks cooler than the setting I have on the sony in dark room.
But LG can go cooler than the coolest sony setting but it affects skin tone unnaturally and no one would use that.
DV is definitely better in LG after multiple checks of different content spread over 3-4 days without prejudice. Earlier I have seen gray blocks in dark content sometimes in sony, never saw in LG. Generally more brighter and rich picture in LG with better shadow details. Dolby vision is one area where the difference is totally visible with a darker and generally not comparable picture with the sony. Current sonys could be better or maybe not depends on sony processing.
Our planet in netflix differentiates the tvs better, slightly real and lifelike picture in sony, slightly amped up and rich enjoyable picture in LG.
Motion I feel is better in LG which is surprising, maybe due to various reasons.
Being smaller, viewing distance longer, 3 year worth of processing difference, 120 hz panels etc all might contribute.
But generally sony has better motion. A8H with 120 hz panel is the correct competitor but no 55" released in india.
Colours are better in sony but only if you pause and see the scenes side by side. The sony differentiates small differences in colour changes very well without looking for it specifially. This also adds to realism and natural images. Watching different contents in isolation, one does not feel superior to another though. Sony has an unexplainable preference to colour which they have perfected over the years though.
Main thing is the flawlessness which you see in every frame on both tvs. None of the LEDs I saw have this sort of inherent flawlessness in the picture. With LEDs we need to struggle with the imperfections showing up more in some places vs others. Having every frame showing flawlessness is very good independent of brand. Looks like a good platform for various companies to showcase their picture processing without worrying about overcoming inherent LED problems.
If the decision is between LG and Sony, it is a toss up based on current offers though LG looks better optimised for usability and sony has that last bit of finesse to the picture.
If the decision is between LED and OLED, definitely the OLED. With OLEDs coming down in price the high end LEDs like X9500g will cease to exist imo from next year. But if they exist and costs around the same, definitely the OLED is prefereble.
