The LG B4 OLED is the cheapest OLED TV for a reason — here's why

LG B4 OLED on stand in living room
(Image credit: LG)

Although they're both incredible-looking TVs with extensive features, LG's last two mid-range OLED TVs — the LG C3 and the LG C4 — are still pretty pricey. That's where the LG B4 OLED comes into play.

The C4 in particular is a gorgeous TV with well-rounded specs, but just look at the LG C4 vs LG B4 comparison to see just how far your dollar goes with the latter. At a starting price point of $749 for its 48-inch model, the LG B4 OLED is the easiest way to upgrade to OLED.

It helps that the B4 has plenty of features in its back pocket: a 120Hz refresh rate, LG's Game Optimizer mode, and Dolby Vision support, just to name a few. These features add up to one of the best gaming TVs for the price (especially for those looking to nab a great deal for their new PS5 Pro).

The question you really should be asking yourself is this: Do I need a brand new LG OLED TV, or should I buy an older TV model, like the 2023 LG C3?

There's a lot to love with the B4, and LG tried it's best to not cut corners. Let's get into it.

LG B4 OLED TV testing data compared

Swipe to scroll horizontally
LG B4LG C3 OLEDSony Bravia 3
SDR Brightness (10%, in nits) 617 237424
Delta-E (lower is better) 4.85611.39083.494
Rec. 709 Gamut Coverage 98.266599.090499.7199
HDR Brightness (10%, in nits) 641 820447
UHDA-P3 Gamut Coverage 99.3998.9895.88
Rec. 2020 Gamut Coverage 76.5373.7773.07
Input Lag (ms) 9.7 (Game Mode)9.1 (Game Mode)9.8

The LG B4 OLED on a living room wall.

(Image credit: LG)

Against similarly-priced TVs, the LG B4 stuns as a budget OLED model. It's not got the same oomph that you might see on a cheaper Mini-LED TV, but it still gets the job done with 617 nits of brightness in standard content. This is where it helps to have the perfect black levels of an OLED TV, as this greatly improves perceived contrast.

The B4 lags a bit behind the others when it comes to color accuracy, putting forth a Delta-E score of around 4.8 (with lower being better). That's not too great if you're trying to watch animated content like "Frieren: Beyond Journey's End," but for the vast majority of everyday content, it shouldn't be too noticeable. (Note: We've reached out to LG in regards to this high Delta-E score, so we'll update this page if more information comes to light.)

The B4 is an exceptional gaming companion, too, with its low input latency of just 9.7ms. Plus, as mentioned, the B4 comes with LG's Game Optimizer mode for on-the-fly tweaks to gaming performance.

LG B4 OLED on stand in living room

(Image credit: LG)

Although the B4 can't compete with the C3's 820 nits of HDR highlight brightness, it's still in excellent shape whenever HDR content is coming through, in large part due to its perfect black levels.

At just $1,199 for its 55-inch model, the B4 is a testament to LG's continued efforts at delivering quality OLED TVs at multiple price points. There are cheaper, brighter alternatives out there, but you'd have to look at Mini-LED models like the Hisense U8N or the Samsung QN90D QLED TV for a similar value proposition.

Is the LG B4 OLED worth its budget price?

The LG B4 OLED on a living room wall.

(Image credit: LG)

The B4's got flare. While it might not live up to its LG C3 OLED counterpart in terms of performance, it definitely delivers for the price. It also helps that LG is often slashing the B4's price quite a bit, with it currently sitting just under $1,000 on Amazon.

You could always wait and see how well it fares against the Samsung S85D OLED TV, which might be the B4 and C4's biggest rival in terms of price and power. We don't yet have testing data available on the S85D, but stick with Tom's Guide for a full comparison soon.

Ryan Epps
Staff Writer

Ryan Epps is a Staff Writer under the TV/AV section at Tom's Guide focusing on TVs and projectors. When not researching PHOLEDs and writing about the next major innovation in the projector space, he's consuming random anime from the 90's, playing Dark Souls 3 again, or reading yet another Haruki Murakami novel.