LG QNED91 review: "One of the best TVs you can buy right now"

The LG QNED91 arrives and marks a moment in time where this new breed could give the LG's own best OLED TVs a run for their money at the top of the pile.

LG undoubtedly makes some of the best gaming TVs money can buy with their OLED TVs leading the charge with their excellent pixel response, fantastic picture quality, and game bar. But the days of LG OLED being king of the hill are numbered thanks to its new line of QNED panels. Using a proprietary blend of Quantum Dot and Nanocell technology with a Mini-LED backlighting system, the new LG QNED91 4K TV is, for all intents and purposes, as good as the infamous LG OLED C1. Combined with LG’s 7th Gen Alpha processor, AI smarts, and impressive gaming features, there is almost nothing to complain about this TV.

Features & Design

The LG QNED91 4K Mini-LED comes in three sizes 86, 75, and 65-inches - the latter being the size of our review unit. The TV is a little on the thick side compared to its OLED siblings and also pretty heavy at 28kg, but the wide, curved stand does a good job keeping it upright. It does need a fairly deep cabinet to sit on so watch out for that.

Likewise, the TV won’t win any beauty awards but it’s stylish enough in its simplicity with a gray metal finish and tiny bezels all around that let the panel shine. Round the back is a generous port selection that includes two HDMI 2.1 ports, Ethernet, Optical, and USB ports. For added connectivity, the TV supports WiFi 6 and Bluetooth.

The star of the show is of course the panel. It has over 900 individual Mini-LED zones, more than the Samsung QN95A that we also loved. This enables the QNED to achieve impressive clarity, contrast, and vibrancy in both SDR and HDR modes.

The Alpha 7 Gen 4 AI processor works excellently behind the scenes to control those Mini-LEDs to a powerful effect. The intelligent 4K upscaling and real-time image processing guarantee a stunning image at all times, and there is also support for all the major HDR formats such as HDR10, HLG, HGiG, and Dolby Vision IQ. 

Like its OLED siblings, the QNED91 runs on Web OS 6 which is intuitive and easy to navigate with an emphasis on getting you into content quickly.

The handy Game Optimiser is here too, and with the TV supporting ALLM, VRR, AMD FreeSync, and Nvidia G-Sync, this could easily storm up our best TV for PS5 and Xbox Series X and best 120Hz 4K TV guides on specs and feature sets alone.

Performance

It’s unsurprising that the QNED91 performs exceptionally well. The new Mini-LED backlighting is both bright and offers excellent levels of contrasts with much deeper blacks than any other LCD TV I’ve seen. There's still a little blooming around bright white objects or text but nothing distracting enough to ruin the viewing experience though.

The TV’s AI smarts do a phenomenal job in 4K upscaling and color management to display a beautiful, true-to-life picture in movies and streaming. Unlike the C1 OLED, I hardly experienced the soap opera effect when watching content. HDR performance is great thanks again to those Mini-LEDs and the improved contrast and brighter highlights for a peak 1000 nits and an impressive 6000:1 contrast ratio.

Unsurprisingly, gaming on the QNED91 is excellent. Colors were crisp and vibrant - easily matching the best QLED TVs - and details pin-sharp while the fast-paced movement was buttery smooth thanks to adaptive sync. Horizon Zero Dawn Frozen Wilds looked utterly spectacular with the HDR beautifully rendering the snowy peaks that contrasted with Aloy’s colorful armor and the chaotic explosions during fights. Halo Infinite runs fast and smooth with no noticeable latency in responding to my inputs.

The Game Optimiser makes monitoring and adjusting performance a breeze and the universal remote functionality even allows you to control your consoles with the TV's remote. Rounding off the experience is the exceptional audio performance of the QNED91. The 40W 2.2 speaker system produces a very rich and full sound soundscape with exceptional detail and strong bass. It impressed me with how precisely it rendered bullet casings dropping to the ground while Neo rescued Morpheus in the Matrix movie. Mind you it's a chaotic scene with a ton of gunshots, explosions, and the punchy soundtrack. LG’s AI Sound Pro system does an excellent job no matter the content.

Overall - should you buy it?

My colleague Steve called Mini-LED a transformative technology and the LG QNED91 is absolute proof of that. LG has made an LCD TV that's as good as its OLEDs in so many ways – possibly even a teensy bit better. No longer do you have to worry about the dreaded OLED burn-in. No matter whether you are watching Dolby Vision movies on Disney+ or playing Halo Infinite at 120fps, the QNED91 absolutely shines. It’s a shame then that at current pricing, the QNED91 is comfortably more expensive than the C1 OLED of the same panel size. It's a fantastic TV to be sure but is it worth that much more than an OLED? No, probably not. But that doesn't change the fact that the LG QNED91 is one of the best TVs you can buy right now.

Editor's note: USA availability for this model seems to be slim at the moment, but there has been word that this should reach the North American market.