LG QNED86 : The perfect mid-range 4K TV

The LG QNED86 is introduced as part of the 2022 LG QNED TV lineup. This is a mid-range 4K LG QNED TV with mini-LED backlighting and Dolby Vision. QNED TVs, which are lower in the class, do not have Mini LED backlighting, and more expensive models also have a more precise backlight control algorithm.

The local dimming mini-LED backlight provides good contrast and high brightness, and the quantum dots are Nanocell colors. The 120Hz refresh rate makes the QNED86 a good TV for sports fans. In the LG 65QNED866QA 4K Mini LED HDR TV review, we’ll take a look at its specs and features, as well as its pros and cons.

LG QNED86 review

Design

The design of the LG 65QNED866QA is not really inspiring, no different from the LG QNED81 . The device looks very ordinary, with a dark gray back panel and a dark titanium-colored plastic frame. The crescent base is the only bright design accent. This base supports the TV screen about 8 cm from the furniture surface to leave room for the soundbar.

Although it must be borne in mind that between the two ends of the sickle there is only a little more than sixty centimeters. If the soundbar is wider, it must be positioned completely in front of the TV base. All cable connectors look sideways and down, without causing inconvenience when mounting the LG 65QNED866 TV on the wall using the VESA mount.

Functions

The TV is equipped with one TV tuner for digital TV (DVB-T2/C/S2) and a CI+ slot. Therefore, it is not possible to watch one and record another channel at the same time. LG provides Apple Airplay 2 and Google Cast for YouTube and Netflix. The media player supports major formats, subtitles and HDR. Only Xvid and DTS are not supported.

In addition to the existing sports alerts, there are two nice new features. Multi View allows you to view two sources at the same time. As promised, these features are now somewhat expanded. The Always Ready function allows the TV to work when you are not watching it. You can put clocks, photos, pictures or a media player on the screen.

Image Processing

Here, the Alpha 7 Gen 5 processor should be slightly inferior to the Alpha 9. The new Dynamic Tone Mapping Pro is especially missing, and this is noticeable in HDR. But the chip provides good deinterlacing, excellent noise reduction for both random noise and MPEG noise, as well as high-quality scaling that allows you to bring out a lot of details.

The LG 65QNED86 TV delivers pretty decent motion clarity, but it’s a bit below expectations despite the 120Hz panel. Adjusting the Trumotion parameter in the settings allows you to increase the clarity of movement, but with a possible loss of detail. The Motion Pro setting activates the black frame insertion (BFI) option, but at a frequency of 60 Hz. This causes too noticeable flicker, and sometimes exacerbates the delay.

Image quality

For the 65QNED866QA, LG has opted for ADS , an IPS variant with a wide viewing angle and moderate contrast. The panel shows good uniformity in both dark and bright images. It has a slight dirty screen effect, with dark vertical stripes sometimes visible when panning bright images.

The ANSI contrast ratio is, as expected, relatively low at 1070:1. The mini LED backlight can be dimmed in 15×12 (180) segments. This increases the ANSI contrast ratio to 2280:1, and in some test patterns even to 11700:1. But due to the low native contrast, it is difficult to avoid ghosting with such a small number of zones. The Filmmaker mode is well calibrated.

HDR

The 65QNED866 TV supports HDR10, HLG and Dolby Vision IQ, but not HDR10+. The ADS panel with mini LEDs provides more brightness. In the 10% window, the measured peak is 1130 nits, and in a completely white field, the screen shows 570 nits. QNED technology also provides a wide color gamut of 91% P3 and 68% Rec.2020. That is, HDR content is displayed quite strongly.

How big is the influence of the ADS panel? First, you lose quite a lot of nuance in the shadows. Dark images become flatter. And bright objects really create a clear halo, or make visible the borders of blackout zones. This combination is not ideal for this kind of content. But in bright frames, the TV shows beautiful colors. The Alpha7 processor supports Dynamic Tonemapping, and it’s best to leave it enabled.

Games, reflections and viewing angles

The 65QNED86’s ADS panel offers a surprisingly good viewing angle, both in terms of contrast and color. But definitely don’t sit too high or too low in front of the screen. In this case, a very clear haze is visible in the image. Keep the center of the image at eye level.

Output latency (input lag) of 14.8ms (4K@60) and 6/2ms (2K@120) is in line with LG’s best models. HDMI 2.1 ports provide ALLM and 4K@120. For VRR, there is HDMI VRR and AMD Freesync, but no NVIDIA G-Sync like on the LG C2 , for example . Dolby Vision 4K@120 games are supported (for Xbox Series X). On the game bar, you can see the frame rate of the console, whether ALLM is activated, and you can also go to the game menu, where LG offers all sorts of options for display settings.

Smart TV

WebOS 22 has a small update that further tweaks the home screen. Keep in mind that older (2021 and earlier) devices will not receive new versions of webOS. The latest webOS update especially cleaned up the main screen of QNED86 TVs. All the tiles in the top half are gone. Now there’s just a big webOS banner with icons at the top right for the EPG, search feature, settings, notifications, and your profile.

The center is still recommendations without the possibility of customization. At the bottom of the screen are applications that you can select yourself and organize. Other lines include a home control panel and connectors, frequently viewed channels, sports alerts, and a web browser. webOS 22 runs very smoothly anyway.

The Magic Remote is an essential part of using the QNED86 series TV. You simply move the pointer around the screen by pointing at it with the remote control. The slightly rounded remote fits comfortably in the hand, but the buttons require too much pressure. The remote has a numeric keypad, the buttons of which can be programmed as hotkeys for your favorite applications.

At the bottom are four buttons for Netflix, Prime Video, Disney+ and LG Channels. There is a general microphone button and separate buttons for Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa. This remote is slightly different from the model found on the LG G2 , for example, because it doesn’t have NFC to quickly connect your smartphone and TV, although it’s fairly easy to do so via the LG ThinQ app.

Sound quality

The sound quality of mid-range models can sometimes be disappointing, but this is not the case with the QNED866 series. The 40W audio system, of which 20W is from the subwoofer, delivers very reliable sound. It is adjusted using an automatic room acoustics analysis procedure. The TV has more than enough volume and the sound is quite warm with plenty of bass.

Connections

LG 65QNED866 has two HDMI 2.0 connectors and two HDMI 2.1 connectors. The latter provide a full bandwidth of 48Gbps and support ALLM, VRR, ARC/eARC, 2K and 4K HFR. There are also two USB ports, an optical digital audio output, two antenna jacks, an Ethernet port, WiFi and Bluetooth. This LG is also equipped with WiSA version 2.1.

Conclusion

We think the LG QNED86 is well suited for working in a well-lit living room. After all, the ADS panel provides only moderate contrast, and local dimming can only adjust it to a limited extent. QNED technology is mainly focused on brightness and wide color range. The TV performed well in these categories.

The wide viewing angle is a plus if you invite friends over. The TV is well calibrated and the Alpha 7 processor provides good image processing. QNED is also suitable for gaming thanks to two HDMI 2.1 ports and low output latency. The powerful sound is also a pleasant surprise. Only the price seems a little high: there are many competitors in this segment.

LG QNED86 Specifications