After two months with the 65‑inch LG QNED86, I have a settled view of what it’s good at and where it falls short. In Australia, the 65-inch QNED86 usually lists around AU$3,495 but drops near AU$2,995 during promos. That matters because older LG OLEDs—C3 and sometimes C4—often slide into the same price bracket when discounted. So the choice is less “is this a good TV?” and more “is this the right TV versus a similar‑money OLED?”
Day to day, it’s easy to live with. webOS 23 is quick, apps launch fast, and the Magic Remote remains simple. As a living‑room screen, brightness is the main draw. Mini LED backlighting gives daytime viewing strong punch, so sport, YouTube and general streaming look clean even with sun in the room. Dolby Vision IQ helps HDR adapt to changing ambient light, and the built‑in AI Sound Pro lifts dialogue enough for casual shows. Overall responsiveness is high, which makes the TV feel effortless when you’re bouncing between sources.
On PS5, it has the right gaming features: 4K at 120Hz, VRR and ALLM behave properly, input lag feels low, and motion is clean without spending half an hour tweaking. Game Optimiser keeps the relevant settings close. In brighter games, the panel’s strength shows—highlights in Spider‑Man and Cyberpunk stand out, and colour is lively without becoming cartoonish once you move away from the aggressive presets. Across many sessions, it’s consistent and uncomplicated.
Cloud gaming expands what the TV can do without a console. GeForce NOW has been on LG TVs for a while, and now Xbox Cloud Gaming arrives as a native app on webOS. Setup is simple: install, sign in, pair a Bluetooth controller. Over a strong 5GHz Wi‑Fi connection or Ethernet, image quality holds up well in bright content and latency is acceptable for adventure, racing and slower action. It’s still not ideal for twitch shooters where timing matters, and you won’t get the same 4K120 consistency or input feel as PS5, but as a “jump in quickly without downloads” option, it works. The TV’s brightness helps streamed games look clean in daylight, and the same caveats apply at night around high‑contrast HUDs.
Audio is worth improving. The TV’s speakers are fine for news, thin for films. Pairing it with LG’s S70TY sound bar and enabling WOW Orchestra makes a noticeable difference. Dialogue anchors to the screen, the centre up‑firing channel improves clarity, and Atmos effects gain some height. It doesn’t turn the room into full surround, but it rounds out streaming and movie nights in a way that matches the TV’s strengths. The integration is straightforward and stable.
The limitation is dark‑scene performance. Local dimming and blooming are the weak points. LG’s “Precision Dimming” handles many scenes well, but in 2025 haloing is still visible around bright elements on dark backgrounds—HUDs on PS5, white subtitles over black bars, small specular highlights. Starfields and dim interiors lift toward grey, and you can see the zones working when UI elements move. “Million Grey Scale” helps mid‑tone detail, and the a7 Gen6 processing keeps faces and HDR tone mapping looking natural, but challenging scenes remind you this is an LCD with zones rather than per‑pixel light control. In a bright room, you notice it less; at night, it’s more obvious.
Streaming follows the same pattern. Bright, colourful content looks great; apps are fast, and Dolby Vision shows off the panel’s highlight capability. Dark, moody films are less convincing. Candlelit scenes, single light sources in black space and high‑contrast text reveal the limits of the dimming. It’s watchable, but if you’re sensitive to blooming, you’ll see it.
That brings the pricing context back into focus. When the QNED86 sits around AU$3k on promotion, older LG C‑series OLEDs in the same range are compelling alternatives. A C3 or C4 delivers true blacks with no blooming, similar or better gaming support, and a more consistent experience for films. You give up some raw brightness, and OLED prefers dimmer environments, but the overall picture quality—especially for night viewing—lands a tier higher. If your use leans toward daytime gaming and bright content, the QNED86’s punch can make more sense. If you care about contrast and clean HDR after dark, the OLEDs are more satisfying.
After two months, my takeaway is straightforward. The 65QNED86 is bright, colourful and simple to use. It’s solid for PS5, and cloud gaming via GeForce NOW and Xbox Cloud Gaming is a convenient bonus for quick sessions without a console. Pairing it with the S70TY and WOW Orchestra brings the audio up to match. For the sale price, it’s okay value if your priorities are gaming features, daytime punch and fast smart TV performance. But with local dimming and blooming still visible in 2025, I’d rather put the same money toward a discounted C4 OLED. True blacks and cleaner HDR change how everything looks at night, and that’s when the difference matters most.
LG Australia kindly loaned the QNED86 to PowerUp for the purpose of this review.
