Hi Everybody, Carl here with Abt.
This is something that we’ve been really excited about since they announced their OLED
late in 2016 and now that Sony has finally rejoined the game, we can do a side by side
video for you between their A1E OLED and LGs new G7P.
So let’s get right into it, and keep in mind, most of what we’re dealing with here
is subjective, so if you have any thoughts to share make sure to let us know in the comments
section.
Starting off, we’ll take a look at the designs.
They both have really slim bezels so there isn’t anything distracting you from the
picture on the screens.
The LG has a little glass edge running around the perimeter and the sony is just the metal
frame.
Both look good in their own way and are extremely minimal in their screen design.
Now, the actual depth of the screen is another thing.
The LG uses a picture on glass design that puts the OLED module right on the glass which
makes it incredibly thin.
The Sony’s a bit thicker, but when you put it up against really anything other than the
LG, it’s still going to be considered super thin.
They also have unique speaker systems that are incorporated into their designs.
The LG uses it’s pedestal as a 4.2 channel, Atmos equipped, soundbar while the Sony uses
their kickstand style pedestal to house a 4” subwoofer and it uses the actual glass
screen on the TV along with two actuators on the back of the set to produce it’s sound.
I will say that I found the Sony’s sound to be a little fuller than the LGs and both
are better than just about any other stock TV speakers, however I still think that either
of these two sets deserve to be part of a more robust surround sound system.
They can both be wall mounted as well.
The Sony by folding in the kickstand on the back and the LG by rotating the soundbar/pedestal
at the bottom.
When you do this you get a total depth on the Sony of 3.5” and on the LG you’re
looking at 2.7”.
And they’re both VESA compliant so you don’t need any sort of proprietary wall mount to
make them work.
Now, touching back on the speakers/pedestals for a moment, that’s also where you’re
gonna find the inputs.
And they’re almost identical.
Both TVs have 4 hdmi inputs that are HDCP 2.2 compliant and both have one with an audio
return channel.
They both have 3 USB inputs, a spot to hard wire an ethernet cable, an RS232 hookup and
an optical audio output.
They even both have an analog input for an old vcr or dvd player that may not have an
hdmi connection.
So you get plenty of spots for hooking up components on both.
And I guess the other thing to mention as far as design goes is how easy they are to
move around.
Now, I realize this isn’t something you’re gonna do every day, but having had to move
both of these TVs several times to get different shots for the video I will say definitively
that the LG is way easier to move from one spot to another.
The Sony is just awkward to pick up.
They’re both really sturdy, but every time I moved the Sony I always heard that voice
in the back of my head saying, “Please don’t break.
And I suppose if it did I could get by with one kidney, but it’s not ideal.”
Moving on, let’s talk about the pictures on these sets, because that’s why we’re
all here watching this, right?
Now, I know different aspects of the picture can be measured scientifically, however, nobody
has the same eyes, so again, what I’m telling you here is my opinion and different people
are going to say different stuff, so if you don’t agree with me, let’s talk about
it in the comments.
I think most typical users are going to be really happy with the image quality on both
of these sets right out of the box.
The colors on both looked natural and I didn’t find myself thinking that either needed to
be calibrated to enjoy the picture but, for the videophiles out there, you can still fine
tune both sets to really dial it in.
Black levels were obviously remarkable being that these are OLED sets, and although they
don’t list brightness levels on them, I found both to do well in a brightly lit room
and they were exceptional in the dark.
It was easy to see the LG adjusting to the brightness of the room which was a little
distracting at times, but nothing that would cause me to say, “Don’t buy this TV.”
The other thing I noticed on the LG was some vertical banding.
At first glance I didn’t see it at all, but then I looked at an all grey picture on
the screen and once I did that I started noticing it and then I could tell while I was watching
videos as well.
It’s one of those things that if you really focus, you can see it, but for the majority
of everyday TV watchers, you’ll never notice it happening.
I didn’t find that to be an issue on the Sony.
Upscaling was good on both.
I don’t know that I can say one was better than the other because they both, I felt,
did a nice job with 720 and 1080p content and 4k HDR, as you can imagine, looks unbelievable
on both.
And they handled motion very well.
No noticeable trails on the screen for any fast moving objects and no blur that was easily
detectable.
Viewing angle is another thing to touch on.
These both held up well.
I’m not sure I can say one was better than the other.
If there was a difference it was so small that I didn’t notice.
I was still happy with the picture even sitting well off to the side.
One last thing to talk about for the picture category, and this may carry more weight with
some than with others, is the fact that the G7P, right out of the box, has Dolby Vision
and HLG HDR compatibility while the Sony has HDR, but the HLG HDR and Dolby Vision aren’t
available as of the filming of this video.
Now, the A1E is scheduled to get a firmware update later this year to accommodate both
of those features so I don’t feel like it’s a total strike against Sony since it’s coming,
but it’s something LG has currently, and Sony doesn’t.
Plus there’s not much content available at the moment to take advantage of anyways.
And the last thing to mention on these sets would be the smart features, and I’ll include
my thoughts on their remotes in this category as well.
I have an android phone and with Sony having an android operating system they worked pretty
seamlessly together.
I didn’t notice much lag at all going from app to app and moving between menus was smooth.
That being said, the LG has WebOS 3.5 which I like a lot and it’s super fast.
I didn’t notice any lag in opening apps or switching from one to another and going
from menu to menu was great.
To me it seemed faster than the Sony, but that’s more of an eyeball test than anything
scientific.
The voice recognition, from my attempts, was much better on the Sony, but the LG was adequate.
I just found that the Sony understood the meaning of what I was asking for where the
LG was very literal in it’s translation of what I was saying.
The LG does have an advantage in it’s ability to use the buttons on the remote as shortcuts
to apps though.
The Sony gives you a couple shortcut buttons for Netflix and google, but the LG magic remote
is more customizable with the new features of it’s operating system.
Also, I don’t really care for the pointer on the screen of the LG.
It’s nice to be able to type things in faster, but there were times where I felt like it
didn’t match up with where I was pointing.
That being said, if you find you don’t like that feature you can always use the directional
button instead.
Overall, both of these TVs have their positives and both have some negatives, but I would
be happy watching either one.
So what do you guys think?
Have you seen em both in person?
Which one would you pick?
Make sure you let us know in the comments.
As always, thank you for watching and remember to like and subscribe to see all of the cool
stuff we have here at Abt.