—

The world of high-end televisions is a battlefield dominated by titans. Each year, manufacturers roll out their top-tier models, like LG’s own G-series, which invariably capture the headlines and win the shootouts. These are the Formula 1 cars of the TV world—engineered to perfection, priced for enthusiasts, and dazzling in every respect. In 2025, the flagship LG G5, for instance, has already proven its mettle, holding its own against formidable rivals from Sony, Samsung, and Panasonic in blind tests and expert reviews alike. It’s a phenomenal piece of technology, no question.

Following closely behind is the perennial crowd-pleaser, the C-series. The LG C5 is the workhorse of the lineup; it’s the TV that most people who are serious about picture quality aspire to own. It represents the sweet spot where cutting-edge features become accessible to a broader audience. Naturally, when the Black Friday discounts start rolling in, most eyes will be fixated on the C5, waiting for that price to dip into the realm of “irresistible.”

But focusing solely on these two popular models would be a mistake. It would mean overlooking the real story of value in LG’s 2025 lineup. Hiding in plain sight is the LG B5, the entry point into LG’s OLED ecosystem. The “B” might as well stand for “balance,” because this television represents one of the most compelling compromises in the consumer electronics market today. It challenges the very notion that you must pay a premium for a truly premium experience. For those willing to look past the marquee names, the B5 offers a gateway to the world of perfect blacks and infinite contrast that is, frankly, astonishing for its price.

A Cinematic Powerhouse Without the Hollywood Budget

The primary reason anyone invests in an OLED television is for its unparalleled picture quality. This is where the technology’s fundamental advantage—pixels that create their own light—shines brightest. While more expensive models boast higher peak brightness and more advanced image processors, the LG B5 delivers the core OLED experience with such confidence and finesse that the differences can often feel academic in real-world viewing.

Painting with Light: Where Color Comes to Life

During extensive hands-on evaluation, the B5’s prowess with color was immediately apparent. It’s not just about saturation; it’s about authenticity and nuance. Watching a vibrant, candy-colored animated feature like Pixar’s Elemental, the screen erupts with a controlled explosion of punchy, yet believable, hues. The distinct textures of the fire and water characters were rendered with a depth that made them feel tangible. The B5 managed to convey the film’s artistic intent without ever pushing the colors into an artificial, oversaturated territory that can plague lesser displays.

This mastery extends to live-action cinema. In a visually rich film like Wicked, the Emerald City wasn’t just a flat, monotonous green. Instead, the B5 painted a symphony of shades—from deep, shadowy jades to brilliant, glistening limes—creating a world that felt both fantastical and grounded. Skin tones, a common stumbling block for many TVs, were consistently natural and lifelike, imbued with subtle gradations that add to the realism. This is the kind of color fidelity you expect from a display costing twice as much, yet the B5 delivers it with ease.

The Art of Darkness: Mastering Contrast and Shadow

Of course, the true calling card of any OLED is its ability to render absolute black. Since each pixel can be turned off completely, there is no backlight bleed, no “grayish” blacks, and no haloing around bright objects. This creates a level of contrast that traditional LED TVs simply cannot replicate. The result is a picture that has a stunning, almost three-dimensional pop.

To truly test its mettle, we turned to one of the most notoriously difficult films for any display: The Batman. Matt Reeves’ Gotham is a city perpetually shrouded in darkness and rain, a visual torture test that can crush shadow detail on inferior screens. In the film’s opening sequence, where Batman investigates a crime scene, the B5 performed spectacularly. It expertly balanced the piercing beam of the Bat-Signal against the inky black sky, with no light bloom whatsoever. More impressively, it revealed the subtle textures and details lurking in the shadows of the room—the grain of the wood, the fabric on a coat—that are often lost in a muddy gray mess on other TVs. It’s this ability to discern detail in near-black conditions that separates a good television from a great one.

The Magic of Self-Emissive Pixels

This performance isn’t a fluke; it’s the science of OLED. Unlike LCD/LED TVs (including QLED and Mini LED) that use a backlight shining through a panel of pixels, each of the over 8 million pixels in an OLED screen is its own tiny light source. This “self-emissive” nature allows for pixel-level control of light and color. When a scene calls for black, the pixel simply turns off. This is why OLEDs are said to have “infinite contrast,” and it’s a foundational advantage that the B5 leverages to its full potential, creating a dynamic and immersive viewing experience.

Demystifying the Brightness Debate

One area where the B5 differs from its more expensive siblings is in peak brightness. The G5 and C5 can push their highlights to a higher nit level, which can make a difference in a sun-drenched room or with certain HDR content. However, the B5’s brightness is more than sufficient for the vast majority of viewing environments. In a moderately lit or dark room, its “middling” brightness is a non-issue. In fact, the perfect blacks create such a profound sense of contrast that the perceived brightness and “punch” of the image often feel more impactful than on an LED TV with technically higher brightness specs. Unless your living room is a conservatory, the B5’s light output will be thoroughly satisfying.

The Gamer’s Secret Weapon

For years, gamers had to choose between the fast response times of a monitor and the beautiful picture of a television. The LG B5 emphatically declares that you can have both. It is, without exaggeration, one of the most capable and feature-rich gaming TVs available at its price point, making it an ideal companion for the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, and high-end gaming PCs.

More Than Just an Alphabet Soup of Acronyms

The B5’s spec sheet reads like a gamer’s wish list. It boasts four HDMI 2.1 ports, a rarity at this price, all capable of handling a 4K resolution at a buttery-smooth 120Hz refresh rate. This is the gold standard for next-generation console gaming, providing both incredible detail and fluid motion.

Beyond that, it supports a full suite of cutting-edge gaming technologies:

• Variable Refresh Rate (VRR): With support for both AMD FreeSync Premium and Nvidia G-Sync, the B5 can synchronize its refresh rate with the frame rate of the console or PC. In layman’s terms, this eliminates screen tearing and stutter, resulting in a perfectly smooth visual experience, even when the action gets intense and frame rates fluctuate.
• Auto Low Latency Mode (ALLM): The TV automatically switches to its “Game Mode” when it detects a console, ensuring you always get the fastest response time without having to fumble with menus.
• Dolby Vision Gaming: For supported titles on Xbox, this brings enhanced HDR to your games, with dynamic metadata that optimizes the picture scene by scene for incredible color and contrast.
• HGiG (HDR Gaming Interest Group): This ensures that the HDR presentation of games is displayed as the creators intended, preventing washed-out or over-brightened highlights.

In the Trenches: Performance Under Fire

Features on a box are one thing; performance in the heat of the moment is another. The B5 excels here, too. Firing up a chaotic multiplayer match in Battlefield V, the B5’s low input lag—measured at a blistering 9.1ms with its boost feature engaged—is immediately tangible. Every movement of the analog stick, every trigger pull, feels instantaneous and one-to-one. There is no perceptible delay between your input and the action on screen, a critical advantage in competitive online play.

The combination of 120Hz and VRR makes fast-paced movement feel incredibly fluid. Whipping your view around 180 degrees to engage an enemy behind you happens without a hint of motion blur or image tearing. And all the while, the inherent beauty of the OLED panel elevates the experience. The sharp, refined visuals make spotting enemies in the distance easier, while the perfect blacks and vibrant colors make the explosive set pieces of the campaign mode feel truly cinematic. From the rapid-fire action of a first-person shooter to the high-speed racing of Forza Horizon, the B5 delivers a responsive, immersive, and visually stunning gaming experience that punches far above its weight class.

The Smartest TV on the Block

A great picture is nothing without a great user interface to navigate it. Here again, the B5 benefits from LG’s top-tier engineering, running the latest version of its celebrated webOS smart platform. In a market flooded with clunky, slow, and ad-filled TV operating systems, webOS remains a benchmark for speed, simplicity, and user-friendliness.

Navigating menus is snappy and responsive, apps load quickly, and the layout is intuitive. The included Magic Remote, which functions like a motion-controlled pointer, makes navigating the interface and typing in search terms a breeze compared to laboriously clicking through an on-screen keyboard with a standard directional pad. While LG has incorporated more AI-driven content recommendations, which may not appeal to every user, these can be largely ignored. The core experience—fast, logical, and comprehensive access to all your favorite streaming services—is second to none.

The Black Friday Equation: Why Value Trumps All

This brings us to the B5’s ultimate trump card: its price. Even at its standard retail price, the B5 represents a significant saving over its C-series sibling. As of this writing, the 55-inch LG B5 is typically priced around $999, while the 55-inch LG C5 hovers around $1,199. That’s a $200 saving right off the bat for a television that, for most people, will provide a nearly identical viewing experience in everyday use.

Now, let’s factor in Black Friday. While the C5 will undoubtedly see attractive discounts, the B5 has the potential for even deeper price cuts, pushing it into a territory of value that is simply unbeatable. It’s not uncommon for these “entry-level premium” models to see more aggressive markdowns as retailers look to entice buyers who are on the fence about OLED. A C5 might drop to $999, which is a great deal. But the B5 could potentially fall to $799 or even lower, creating a price-to-performance ratio that is off the charts.

In a side-by-side comparison, would the C5 come out on top? Yes, technically. Its slightly brighter panel and more advanced processor give it an edge in a direct, critical comparison. But the crucial question is this: is that marginal improvement worth several hundred dollars? For the vast majority of buyers, the answer is a resounding no. The LG B5 delivers 95% of the C5’s performance for what could be 75% of the price come Black Friday. That’s not just a good deal; it’s a smart one. And for gamers looking for a slightly smaller screen, the 48-inch B5 model could become the undisputed king of desktop and bedroom gaming setups if it sees a significant holiday discount.

This isn’t to say you should ignore a fantastic deal on a C5 if one appears. It remains one of the best TVs of the year. But if your goal is to get the best possible OLED experience while keeping as much money in your pocket as possible, then your focus should be squarely on the LG B5. It’s the unsung hero, the dark horse, and the undisputed champion of value in 2025. This Black Friday, don’t just follow the headlines; follow the logic.

—

Source: https://www.techradar.com