Since I started our live blog of Black Friday TV deals, I’ve been inundated with requests from people who can’t decide between the LG C2 OLED, our best TV of the year, and the LG B2 OLED, an inferior model but one more affordable.
At the time this article goes public, the 55-inch LG B2 OLED is selling for $999 at Best Buy. (Opens in a new tab)while the The 55-inch LG C2 OLED is down to $1,296 at Amazon (Opens in a new tab). (However, you can purchase a 48-inch LG C2 OLED version for $1,049 at Amazon (Opens in a new tab)So keep that in mind.)
Choosing between two OLED TVs can be difficult, especially when money is tight and you haven’t seen the two side by side. Fortunately, we took both of these monitors to our test labs and can help point you to the best option.
The short answer is that from our testing we know the LG C2 OLED is a better performer when it comes to overall brightness – but only in small windows of brightness. In scenes where everything is bright, the two perform pretty much the same when it comes to peak brightness. Furthermore, there is no fundamental difference between color saturation (usually less than 1% of the DCI-P3 color space) and the input latency is essentially identical.
We’ll break down all the details below, but if you’re in the market for an OLED and don’t want to overspend, you’ll get 95-99% of the same performance out of the LG B2 OLED as the C2 OLED and only lose one or two advantages.
LG C2 OLED vs. B2 OLED: Features
“Now wait,” you might think, “Did I say missing features?” she did. And while there isn’t much difference in the feature sets between the two TVs, the LG C2 OLED has a few tricks up its sleeve that the LG B2 doesn’t have.
For starters, the LG C2 OLED has four total HDMI 2.1 ports that support 4K @ 120Hz. On the other hand, the LG B2 OLED only has two. This means that connecting both the PS5 and Xbox Series X will occupy both HDMI 2.1 ports, leaving you no room to connect speakers into the eARC port.
You can always get around this limitation by buying soundbars that have an extra HDMI 2.1 port and can pass a 4K/120Hz signal — but the more components you add between your console and TV, the more problems you’ll run into.
You’re also giving up on the processor by choosing the LG B2 OLED. It might not mean much right now since they’re both new models for 2022, but the LG B2 OLED will probably feel a little sluggish in a few years when the C2 OLED can still zip through the WebOS UI without any slowdowns. You might also notice a slight downscaling with the LG B2 OLED, but that’s unlikely to be the case.
Finally, the last missing feature from the LG B2 OLED is the ATSC 3.0 tuner that will eventually allow you to receive 4K broadcasts over the air. NextGen TV as it’s sometimes called is still going public now, it’ll likely take a few more years to get it fully operational again, not a huge deal in the short term but potentially an issue in the future.
Both have 120Hz OLED panels, built-in WebOS, Alexa and Google Assistant support and come with a Magic Remote. The differences are ultimately small.
Remember, of course, that although they have some differences, they have pretty much the same features. Both have 120Hz OLED panels, built-in WebOS, Alexa and Google Assistant support and come with a Magic Remote. The differences are ultimately small.
LG C2 OLED vs. B2 OLED: Lab Tests
So how did the two stack up against each other in the lab? Well, when tested with an X-Rite i1 Pro spectrophotometer, a SpectraCal VideoForge Pro pattern generator, and Calman calibration software for head-up displays, there wasn’t much difference.
What our testing found was that, in small areas, the LG C2 OLED could produce higher peak brightness—about 800 nits at a 10% screen window in HDR mode—while the LG B2 OLED topped out at around 600 nits. This is because the former uses LG OLED Evo panels while the latter does not. The 200 nits difference is relatively large, yes, but you’re only talking about a 10% window or roughly 6.5 inches from a 65 inch TV.
However, when we ran the tests in full-screen mode, the difference in brightness was ultimately slight. In calibrated mode, the LG C2 OLED maxed out at around 240 nits in a 75% window while the LG B2 OLED hit around 200 nits. A difference of 40 nits in a full screen image won’t change much for you.
In terms of color saturation, both devices can achieve between 98 and 99% of the DCI-P3 color space and over 100% of Rec. 709 color space. This isn’t to say that colors won’t look more vibrant on the LG C2 OLED — color perception is affected by brightness — but in terms of what’s actually possible, there isn’t much difference.
Finally, in terms of latency, our tests showed that the LG B2 OLED is actually slightly more responsive with a response time of 12.7ms compared to the C2’s 12.9ms response time. Anything under 20ms is great for gaming, and you won’t even notice a 2ms difference.
LG C2 OLED vs. B2 OLED: Conclusion
Unless you’re someone who needs all four HDMI 2.1 ports or wants to be on the cutting edge of NextGen TV broadcast software, there isn’t enough difference in performance between the LG B2 OLED and LG C2 OLED to break the bank with a single purchase. Honestly, you may not notice a difference between the two.
However, if you’re someone who really values having the best out of something, the LG C2 OLED has become something of a status symbol in the AV community. It’s currently the pinnacle of mainstream TVs — which is why it’s at the top of our best TVs of 2022 list. It may be incrementally better than the rest, but it’s better.
If you’d like to read more about the current state of OLED TVs, check out my guide to The best OLED TVs in 2022 And the Comparison of LG OLED and Samsung OLED TVsas well The best OLED TV Black Friday deals To find out the best prices.
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