KlineMJ's Review of 2020 LG 86" TV (86UN8570puc)
Nov 30, 2020 21:21:03 GMT -5
LCSeminole, HunTer, and 3 more like this
Post by klinemj on Nov 30, 2020 21:21:03 GMT -5
First, thanks to everyone who inputed on my questions on 4K TV pricing in the coming months. My projector was only 1080p and needed another new bulb. I'd noticed some good prices on flat panel TV's >80", and that got me thinking about switching to a large screen TV. After reading your input, looking at some options live in person at local stores, and scanning prices - I came across an LG 86UN8570puc for $1499 with free shipping. I decided it was time to pull the trigger. I have 2 other LG TV's, and I've been very happy with them - so...welcome LG #3.
It arrived today, and I had pre-installed the wall mount bracket (Sanus BLT2-B1) and reviewed the installation instructions. So, my son helped me unpack it and attach the wall-mounting brackets to the TV. That all took about 15 minutes and a lot of huffing and puffing for the 2 of us to lift the 97 pound beast onto the wall bracket. My wife came down to the cave to check our progress and said "oh my God...".
After a short break for a drink of ice water, a rest, and a couple Advil I knew I would be needing the help from within an hour...I set out to hook up a source.
My XMC-1 is on the way to Emotiva to be exchanged for an XMC-2. (If you talk to my wife - I told her to take advantage of 4K, I needed to send it to Emotiva for them to upgrade the XMC-1...shhh...that's not a lie...just...a little stretch of the truth...) So, I just hooked up my Roku Ultra directly to the LG, and I am using the TV's speakers (which I won't once the XMC-2 is here).
Net, at this point, I can't drop in a disk (and my 4K BluRay player won't arrive until Thursday anyway...). But, I can stream from the Roku Ultra.
After ~15 minutes setting up the LG, I was watching various things on my Roku. So far, I've watching Premier League soccer via Hulu Live, last weekend's F1 race from Bahrain (recorded via Hulu Live), a little ordinary TV (Diner's Drive-ins and Dives via Hulu Live), the beginning of Christmas Chronicles 2 (on Netflix), some other Netflic (4K UltraHD version of a Keith Richards documentary "Under the Influence" as well as the first part of "The Ballad of Buster Scruggs"), and I'm now watching Monday Night Football on Hulu Live.
I'll cut to the chase and just say "I'm impressed and I don't feel like I've lost anything significant in dropping down from a 106" screen to an 86" I was worried the reduction in size would be very noticable, but it was not. And, the image quality is a big step up.
So, what am I seeing? Well, to start with - I'm not "down" with all the usual buzz-words on video and don't know what half of them mean. I see people talk about screen door effect, motion blur, degrees of blackness/contrast/etc, and blah-tee-blah-tee-dah. I have vague understandings of the concepts, but I could not honestly say I've ever seen any of them except on lousy TV's. What I can say is that a Formula 1 car in motion has never looked so good, so clear to me as what I am seeing. In Ballad of Buster Scruggs, the opening scene has Buster riding his horse playing his guitar...never noticed the fingerprints on the guitar before...nice. The soccer looked like what I've come to expect...closeups of players look great, but the distant camera shots of the action go in and out of focus...that's not linked to this TV...I think the camera guys are drinking a lot and can't keep the shots in focus. Monday night football looks great - I don't see any "blur" even in fast action motion.
As far as off-axis viewing...I don't know...my seating is dead-on straight. So, I never watch off angle.
As far as impacts of lighting...my theater can be totally blacked out thanks to heavy curtains over the windows, and ability to use side-lighting only that are dimmable. I do think there's a lot more contrast with the TV than the projector. This was very obvious in Christmas Chronicles 2 and Under the Influence...much more detail evident. Well, until Keith blew a bunch of cigarette smoke toward the camera...which he often does.
Setup with the LG models is quite easy. It's very automated and quick. I'm even using the LG remote to control my Roku Ultra. Switching inputs on LG's is really easy (and I won't be doing that much as I'll be using the XMC-2 for that). Speaking of remotes, this is the 2nd LG I own that has the magic remote. It's a very nice remote, but once the XMC-2 is here - I'll be using my Harmony mostly.
Any downsides? Well, I might like to see what a new OLED/QLED/whatever might look like. But, the reality is, my uncorrected vision is 20/600 in my left eye and 20/400 in the right. My vision can technically be corrected to 20/20, but thanks to damage to my eyes about 48 years ago - my vision varies daily and sometimes hourly. Some moments, I can't even focus if I try. Other moments, I can see things most can't. So, I'm happy with what I have, and I am loving the price I paid vs. what I'd have to pay for something beyond the LED TV I ended up with.
Another downside is that the LG manual does show that to wall-mount the TV, you need M8 bolts. But, it does not mention the length. The Sanus manual is very clear that you should not use bolts that are too short or too long (helpful! LOL!). A short call to Sanus told me that I should use whatever length allows "3-4 tight turns". I reached out to LG, and their chat bot was useless...after a short interaction, it referred me to a place to buy parts for LG's...not what I needed. A call to LG support took...a while. It started by having me try the phone version of the bot, but it quickly decided I needed to talk to a human - which is what I wanted in the first place, but I had to first "Face the bot". I was on hold for several minutes, and then the agent answered and tried to help. It took her quite a while (5-10 minutes?) to find the information, and I didn't really trust the answer. Then...when the TV showed up...it had the right bolts pre-installed! That would have been nice to know! The chat bot, the manual, and the agent were silent to that very important fact! Oh well, it worked out.
Other than that, I knew I would need some some fancy-dancy 4K-certified HDMI cables. So, on 11/22 - I placed an order for some from Emotiva. I am used to them quickly packing and shipping out orders. So, I thought I'd likely have them by today at latest - accounting for shipping delays due to Thanksgiving and the good folks at Emotiva taking the day off to celebrate my birthday Sunday. As of today, the order still shows "unfulfilled" and a call to Emotiva confirmed they still had not shipped. I was told they are behind due to impacts of COVID, the holiday, and their sale. But, I was also not given a firm ship date other than "they should be" shipped today or tomorrow. I told the person I talked to that I had really needed them today, and if I didn't see a shipping notice soon that I would have no option but to go elsewhere. As of 5 PM Central time, they had still not shipped. So, I cancelled the order and bought elsewhere. (On the upside...my new DIRAC kit for the XMC-2 arrived today...well before the XMC-2!)
I'll provide other updates to this after I get my new Panasonic 4K BluRay player and the XMC-2.
But for now - consider me happy with my new LG TV.
UPDATE: I forgot to mention...according to Best Buy, this model is being discontinued! If you want one - watch prices. They might drop more...or they might be gone.
Update #2: See my comments 2 posts down about the wall mount. The Sanus mount is basic and easy to use, and their support and their tool for determining mounting height are awesome!
Mark
It arrived today, and I had pre-installed the wall mount bracket (Sanus BLT2-B1) and reviewed the installation instructions. So, my son helped me unpack it and attach the wall-mounting brackets to the TV. That all took about 15 minutes and a lot of huffing and puffing for the 2 of us to lift the 97 pound beast onto the wall bracket. My wife came down to the cave to check our progress and said "oh my God...".
After a short break for a drink of ice water, a rest, and a couple Advil I knew I would be needing the help from within an hour...I set out to hook up a source.
My XMC-1 is on the way to Emotiva to be exchanged for an XMC-2. (If you talk to my wife - I told her to take advantage of 4K, I needed to send it to Emotiva for them to upgrade the XMC-1...shhh...that's not a lie...just...a little stretch of the truth...) So, I just hooked up my Roku Ultra directly to the LG, and I am using the TV's speakers (which I won't once the XMC-2 is here).
Net, at this point, I can't drop in a disk (and my 4K BluRay player won't arrive until Thursday anyway...). But, I can stream from the Roku Ultra.
After ~15 minutes setting up the LG, I was watching various things on my Roku. So far, I've watching Premier League soccer via Hulu Live, last weekend's F1 race from Bahrain (recorded via Hulu Live), a little ordinary TV (Diner's Drive-ins and Dives via Hulu Live), the beginning of Christmas Chronicles 2 (on Netflix), some other Netflic (4K UltraHD version of a Keith Richards documentary "Under the Influence" as well as the first part of "The Ballad of Buster Scruggs"), and I'm now watching Monday Night Football on Hulu Live.
I'll cut to the chase and just say "I'm impressed and I don't feel like I've lost anything significant in dropping down from a 106" screen to an 86" I was worried the reduction in size would be very noticable, but it was not. And, the image quality is a big step up.
So, what am I seeing? Well, to start with - I'm not "down" with all the usual buzz-words on video and don't know what half of them mean. I see people talk about screen door effect, motion blur, degrees of blackness/contrast/etc, and blah-tee-blah-tee-dah. I have vague understandings of the concepts, but I could not honestly say I've ever seen any of them except on lousy TV's. What I can say is that a Formula 1 car in motion has never looked so good, so clear to me as what I am seeing. In Ballad of Buster Scruggs, the opening scene has Buster riding his horse playing his guitar...never noticed the fingerprints on the guitar before...nice. The soccer looked like what I've come to expect...closeups of players look great, but the distant camera shots of the action go in and out of focus...that's not linked to this TV...I think the camera guys are drinking a lot and can't keep the shots in focus. Monday night football looks great - I don't see any "blur" even in fast action motion.
As far as off-axis viewing...I don't know...my seating is dead-on straight. So, I never watch off angle.
As far as impacts of lighting...my theater can be totally blacked out thanks to heavy curtains over the windows, and ability to use side-lighting only that are dimmable. I do think there's a lot more contrast with the TV than the projector. This was very obvious in Christmas Chronicles 2 and Under the Influence...much more detail evident. Well, until Keith blew a bunch of cigarette smoke toward the camera...which he often does.
Setup with the LG models is quite easy. It's very automated and quick. I'm even using the LG remote to control my Roku Ultra. Switching inputs on LG's is really easy (and I won't be doing that much as I'll be using the XMC-2 for that). Speaking of remotes, this is the 2nd LG I own that has the magic remote. It's a very nice remote, but once the XMC-2 is here - I'll be using my Harmony mostly.
Any downsides? Well, I might like to see what a new OLED/QLED/whatever might look like. But, the reality is, my uncorrected vision is 20/600 in my left eye and 20/400 in the right. My vision can technically be corrected to 20/20, but thanks to damage to my eyes about 48 years ago - my vision varies daily and sometimes hourly. Some moments, I can't even focus if I try. Other moments, I can see things most can't. So, I'm happy with what I have, and I am loving the price I paid vs. what I'd have to pay for something beyond the LED TV I ended up with.
Another downside is that the LG manual does show that to wall-mount the TV, you need M8 bolts. But, it does not mention the length. The Sanus manual is very clear that you should not use bolts that are too short or too long (helpful! LOL!). A short call to Sanus told me that I should use whatever length allows "3-4 tight turns". I reached out to LG, and their chat bot was useless...after a short interaction, it referred me to a place to buy parts for LG's...not what I needed. A call to LG support took...a while. It started by having me try the phone version of the bot, but it quickly decided I needed to talk to a human - which is what I wanted in the first place, but I had to first "Face the bot". I was on hold for several minutes, and then the agent answered and tried to help. It took her quite a while (5-10 minutes?) to find the information, and I didn't really trust the answer. Then...when the TV showed up...it had the right bolts pre-installed! That would have been nice to know! The chat bot, the manual, and the agent were silent to that very important fact! Oh well, it worked out.
Other than that, I knew I would need some some fancy-dancy 4K-certified HDMI cables. So, on 11/22 - I placed an order for some from Emotiva. I am used to them quickly packing and shipping out orders. So, I thought I'd likely have them by today at latest - accounting for shipping delays due to Thanksgiving and the good folks at Emotiva taking the day off to celebrate my birthday Sunday. As of today, the order still shows "unfulfilled" and a call to Emotiva confirmed they still had not shipped. I was told they are behind due to impacts of COVID, the holiday, and their sale. But, I was also not given a firm ship date other than "they should be" shipped today or tomorrow. I told the person I talked to that I had really needed them today, and if I didn't see a shipping notice soon that I would have no option but to go elsewhere. As of 5 PM Central time, they had still not shipped. So, I cancelled the order and bought elsewhere. (On the upside...my new DIRAC kit for the XMC-2 arrived today...well before the XMC-2!)
I'll provide other updates to this after I get my new Panasonic 4K BluRay player and the XMC-2.
But for now - consider me happy with my new LG TV.
UPDATE: I forgot to mention...according to Best Buy, this model is being discontinued! If you want one - watch prices. They might drop more...or they might be gone.
Update #2: See my comments 2 posts down about the wall mount. The Sanus mount is basic and easy to use, and their support and their tool for determining mounting height are awesome!
Mark
Congratulations on the purchase...!!!