LG UM8070 TV Review

This TV is part of LG's 2019 basic lineup. It's only available in large sizes (82UM8070PUA and 86UM8070PUA), and its main competitors are expected to be the larger-sized models like the Sony X850G or the Samsung RU8000.

The overall design of the LG UM8070 is decent. It has a simple stand that supports the TV well but can't prevent all wobble. The TV has a metal back that looks very plain, and the borders of the screen are slightly thick but aren't annoying. It's a little thicker than most TVs, but given its size it's hard to notice. The TV is heavy, but has a solid build that should give you no issues.

The stand supports the TV well, but due to the TV's size, it can't prevent wobbling completely. Unfortunately, the stand is nearly the full width of the TV, so you'll need a really large table unless you wall-mount it.

Footprint of the 82" model: 65.2" x 13.8".

The back of the TV is very plain and made of metal. The power cable can't be removed. Also, some of the connectors are facing outwards and can get in the way if you plan to wall-mount it flush to the wall. There is no provision for cable management.

The borders are slightly thick but don't get in the way.

Considering the size of this TV, the thickness isn't an issue. It will, however, stick out if you wall-mount it.

The LG UM8070 has a decent build quality. It's very sturdy and quite heavy due to its metal back. We don't expect you to have any issues with this TV's build quality.

The contrast ratio of this TV is great, although not as good as other VA panel TVs like the recently reviewed Hisense H8F. Nonetheless, blacks look good in a dark room, even though there is no local dimming feature to further improve their appearance.

We expect the 86" version of this TV (the 86UM8070) to have a worse contrast ratio due to its IPS panel.

Unfortunately, this TV doesn't have a local dimming feature. The above video is for reference only.

The UM8070 has decent SDR peak brightness, which is okay for most decently-lit rooms. It's not as bright as the UM7300, but more closely resembles last year's UK7700. Like many LG TVs, there is very little variation in brightness with different content, and this is great.

We measured the peak brightness after calibration with the 'ISF Expert (Dark Room)' Picture Mode, Gamma set to '2.2' and Color Temperature set to 'Warm 2', as these settings are the most accurate. Different picture modes and color temperatures can produce slightly different results.

If image accuracy isn't as important to you, the 'Vivid' Picture Mode delivers a slightly brighter image, reaching a peak of 366 cd/m² with a 10% window.

This TV has disappointing HDR peak brightness and can't show off small bright highlights in some scenes. It's worse than the UM7300 and last year's UK7700.

We measured the HDR peak brightness with the 'HDR Cinema' Picture Mode and Color Temperature set to 'Warm 2' before calibration. Different picture modes and color temperatures can produce slightly different results.

If image accuracy isn't as important to you, the 'Vivid HDR' Picture Mode can produce a slightly brighter image with a peak of about 363 cd/m² with a 10% window.

The gray uniformity of the LG UM8070 is decent. Some clouding is visible, especially in the brighter scenes, and this might bother some demanding sports fans. In darker scenes, it's harder to notice.

The viewing angles of this TV are poor, as expected from a VA panel. Blacks rise quickly and gamma and colors shift at relatively small angles off-center, making the image look inaccurate and washed out.

The 86UM8070PUA has an IPS panel, and we expect it to have better viewing angles at the expense of worse dark room performance. Although IPS panel TVs usually have better viewing angles than VA panel TVs, they still can't reach the viewing angle performance of OLEDs like the LG C9. If viewing angles are a concern and you can afford the extra cost, make sure you check out our Best OLED TV recommendations.

This TV has impressive black uniformity. We expect that the IPS 86UM8070PUA won't be as good.

The UM8070 has very good reflection handling, so you can place it in a room with a few light sources without issue. Its performance, however, doesn't match the performance of other lower-end LG models like the UM7300 or the UK6300.

Good pre-calibration color accuracy for the UM8070. Some inaccuracies are visible in the grays and colors, but nothing major. The color temperature is slightly warm and the gamma doesn't follow the target very well. This results in some bright scenes appearing slightly over-brightened, whereas some really dark scenes appear even darker.

After calibration, the UM8070 has excellent accuracy as most of the inaccuracies disappear and those remaining are hard to spot. The gamma follows the target well, and the color temperature is spot on the 6500K target.

You can see our recommended settings here.

Older 480p content, like DVDs, looks very good, with no obvious issues or upscaling artifacts. However, the size of the TV is not optimal for watching 480p content up close. It will look fine if you sit at the right distance.

720p content, like many cable TV stations, looks great, with no obvious issues.

1080p content, like Blu-rays or older consoles, looks just as good as native 4k content.

4k content is displayed perfectly with no issues.

The LG UM8070PUA has a decent color gamut, but lacks a wide color gamut. The 'Expert (Dark Room)' EOTF (above) follows the target PQ curve well (although some dark scenes do appear slightly crushed) until it rolls off near the TV's peak brightness. The Game mode EOTF is almost identical.

If you find HDR too dim, setting Dynamic Tone Mapping to 'On' and Dynamic Contrast to 'High' increases the brightness of bright scenes, and helps reduce the crush in the very dark scenes. See our full recommendations here.

Mediocre color volume on this TV. Unfortunately, it can't produce very bright colors. These results are better than UK6300 and the UM7300, but these TVs have IPS panels and can't deliver saturated dark colors due to their low contrast ratio. This might also be the case with the 86UM8070PUA, which has an IPS panel, but we can't be sure as we haven't tested it.

Excellent gradient performance overall, but on our test pattern, there is some noticeable banding in almost all areas. In normal content, this is not as obvious. If banding bothers you, the Smooth Gradation feature can remove banding in normal content, but can also cause a loss of some fine details in some scenes.

There is a very faint temporary image retention that you can see in our test image. However, this is not noticeable in normal content and just like the LG C9, our software doesn't detect it.

We don't expect VA panels to experience permanent image retention, as the VA panel in our long-term test appears immune.

The UM8070 has a remarkable response time. The transition from one image to the next is almost instantaneous and without overshoot. This leads to very crisp motion with minimal blur. This measurement is among the best of the LED TVs we've tested and is at par with the Vizio P Series Quantum X 2019.

The UM8070 uses PWM flicker to dim the backlight. The flicker frequency is 120Hz and the flicker is always on, even at maximum Backlight. This causes noticeable duplications, as seen in our Motion Blur photo.

The LG UM8070PUA doesn't have a Black Frame Insertion feature. The backlight flicker at 120Hz helps clear up motion, but causes some noticeable duplications in motion, as seen in our Motion Blur photo.

The UM8070 has excellent motion interpolation features. It can interpolate content up to 120 fps if you set both the 'De-Judder' and the 'De-Blur' sliders to max. However, just like many TVs, when you interpolate fast action or low fps content to 120 fps you'll notice some distracting artifacts, so use caution.

To find out more about motion interpolation, and how to enable it on this TV, see here.

The UM8070 has a very fast response time. Since the transition from one movie frame to the next is extremely fast, each frame is held on the screen for a longer time and thus motion appears to stutter. This is more noticeable in wide-panning shots, and you can minimize it by enabling motion interpolation.

The UM8070 can remove judder from any source as long as Real Cinema is set to 'On'. However, at 60i signals (like some cable boxes), you have to take the extra step of enabling Trumotion and setting both sliders to '0', as also explained here

The LG UM8070 has a 120Hz refresh rate, but it doesn't support any of the variable refresh rate technologies, like FreeSync or HDMI-Forum's VRR.

The LG UM8070 has a remarkably low input lag. Even though it's not as low as the UK7700 or the UK6300, it's very low and makes the TV a great choice for gaming. The input lag will remain low at almost any supported input signal, as long as 'Game' mode is enabled. Just like this year's UM7300, this TV supports auto low latency mode, as long as Instant Game Response is enabled for the HDMI port in use.

See our recommended gaming settings here.

The LG UM8070 supports all of the common 60Hz input resolutions and most of the 120Hz resolutions except for 4k @ 120Hz, which requires higher bandwidth than the available HDMI ports can provide. It can display most of them (except 1080p @ 120Hz) with proper 4:4:4 chroma, so that text looks clear, as long as the input icon is changed to 'PC' from the Home Dashboard, and the HDMI ULTRA HD Deep Color setting is enabled for the port in use. The HDMI ULTRA HD Deep Color must be enabled if you wish to use the full HDMI bandwidth, which is necessary for some resolutions like 4k @ 60Hz + HDR.

It doesn't have HDMI 2.1 support, but the predecessor to it, the LG UN8500, does.

The UM8070 can pass through both DTS and Dolby Digital, which is great, but there is no support for eARC for higher quality audio formats.

The LG UM8070 has a disappointing frequency response. The low frequency extension (LFE) is at about 150Hz, which is among the worst we've measured so far. This results in a bass that can't produce any thump or rumble and almost has no body or punch. Above the LFE the frequency response is well-balanced, which results in clear dialog with a little less airiness. The TV is loud enough, provided that you're in a quiet environment, but it's not loud enough for places with a lot of ambient noise.

The distortion performance of the LG UM8070 is decent and quite close to the performance of the UM7300. The total amount of harmonic distortion is okay, but it increases at max volume.

The interface is very easy to use once you get familiar with it. It has many options, works smoothly, and will certainly please you.

LG TVs are known to have ads and the UM8070 is no exception. Ads are found almost everywhere and so is suggested content. Unfortunately, you don't have the option to opt-out of either.

LG's content store is one of the richest regarding the number of available apps. The most common ones are already pre-installed on the TV, but you can always add more and you can also cast from your smartphone or tablet.

The remote that comes along with the LG UM8070 is the same excellent one that is found on all LG high-end TVs. It allows some voice control of the TV and allows searching within some apps like YouTube and Netflix. It can be programmed to work with almost any external device regardless if it supports HDMI-CEC or not. Finally, it features the same pointer control system that many people find handy.

Just like the UM7300, there is only a single button on the UM8070. It's located in the center of the TV under the LG logo and allows changing the inputs, the channels, or the volume, and controls the power.

• Owner's manual
• Remote control
• Batteries
• Cable management tie
• User's guide for the remote control
• Composite adapter
• Power cable permanently attached to the TV (Not shown)