Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

OLED technology is beautiful - that is a given. However, I purchased this TV and noticed severe vertical banding during darker scenes (Marco Polo is a great example). I tried to refresh the screen with "Pixel Refresh" and even let the TV run through some shows and discs to see if the issue would diminish after having some runtime, but it never did. After going back and forth with LG technical support and having Huppin's come out and perform troubleshooting, LG denies there is any thing wrong with the TV and says, "It is within spec". LG has a fault in the way they check for TV issues regarding banding: First of all, they require a tech (Huppin's in this case) to come out and perform a video teleconference. While the teleconference is going, the tech is talking with LG support. However, in the case of vertical banding, it doesn't show up with any reasonable definition on a teleconference; however, still photo shots display it greatly. LG refuses to acknowledge still photo shots and is vehement about, "It has to be a video teleconference". Even the tech from Huppin's told LG, "It's not showing up on the video" - and THEY acknowledged the bad vertical banding. I also sent numerous still photo shots of the issue, including actual TV screen shots of Marco Polo, in order to show the issue (the photos shown are NOT exaggerated), but LG refuses to acknowledge anything other than a teleconference. Even Huppin's sent an email to them stating that the issue is NOT visible on a teleconference and that the banding is there. I'm not complaining about minor banding - this one is terrible on the G77. I can live with minimal banding as I have done with LG's other OLED TVs of the past. But this kind of banding on a $15k TV? Unacceptable. The picture probably is at least 80% of why people buy a TV and, when an obvious fault is found with the picture, it's grounds to contact the manufacturer and start asking questions for a fix or replacement. The banding shown in the photos is what LG says in within spec, after working with their support department. I ran my battery of tests using my calibration disc (the one with "5%" shows the banding on my AVS HD calibration disc) and LG's required test .mpg file (photo with bright oval box in upper left corner) when troubleshooting issues. I calibrate TVs and know this is very poor quality control. I love OLED technology, but LG will not do anything about this. I cannot return the TV without an RMA from LG, because it was a special order item. LG refuses to acknowledge any issues and won't give me an RMA. LG is sticking a consumer with a $15k item and has left them out-of-pocket with that much investment only to get a TV that is CLEARLY not performing. In all of their OLEDs I have owned (I have owned every generation) this TV shows the worst banding I have ever encountered). The TV picture is the most important aspect of the television, and LG has failed here. It's weight is probably, at least, 80% of why people want to buy a TV, regardless of gorgeous colors or black levels. When you can see the banding while watching movies and shows, it is NOT a quality picture, regardless of what their definition of "spec" is. This "Signature" line of TV is no different than any of their other OLED models. They didn't do anything different in quality control; they just made a big TV, put a high price tag on it, and called it "Signature". They even have a document that is included with the TV saying a representative will call and welcome you, etc., but this never happened. So far, the only "Signature" quality about this TV is the high price tag. I would not recommend this to another buyer, IF you cannot first bring your own thumb drive with some patterns on it to test the TV prior to purchase, because LG will say it's "within spec" if you have this horrible banding issue. Folks, I can live with some banding, but this is absolutely horrible and is very visible with normal viewing content. If I couldn't see it during normal viewing content, I wouldn't complain. When the Huppin's service representative was performing a video teleconference with LG, it's very difficult to see the issue on a phone camera and, also, LG's brightness patterns were not dim enough. Even though they were sent actual photos of the issue during normal viewing content and using my calibration disc and their test pattern, they won't acknowledge them, as if people are trying to doctor up pictures to gain an advantage or something. Why LG does this is very suspect. I made the jump to make my home theater the best it could be, but didn't expect to receive a bad TV with banding issues like this. I know there are always some minimal banding issues, but this is the worst I've seen to date. I went to Video Only and hooked up my 4k player to the Sony OLED to see if it exhibited the same issue, since they buy their panels from LG and I saw virtually NO banding so, yes, LG can perform more quality control to make these issues less visible, just like Sony probably does. I wasn't trying to get my money back because I overspent and had second thoughts, I have been trying to get LG to acknowledge a real issue and fix it (either fix it, replace the panel, or give me an exchange), but they absolutely will not. Every time I call technical support on this and ask them what I can do further, since they won't acknowledge the issue, they continue to play the same old song, "It must be present during a video teleconference". So, I asked to give me contact information to escalate the issue further and I have to mail them to get to somebody higher up who can look into this. Be forewarned about vertical banding on the LG TVs. It is always present to some extent, but sometimes it can be absolutely unacceptable, as I found out on the largest TV purchase of my life. October 12, 2018 Update: LG called me a week ago to ask how the TV was doing. I have to admit, this was quite a shock. It was actually the same person I had been working with last year. I called back because I missed the call and spoke with another customer service representative and explained the issue last year and that it was still an issue and elaborated on everything that happened, as explained above in my original post. She was very helpful and understood my situation and scheduled a tech to come out from Huppin's (same as last year). I explained to the customer service representative that I was afraid that this was going to be the same old routine and that LG would do nothing about it because of the telepresence requirement by the LG engineers. She did her best to notate everything. So, Huppin's came out and I showed them the banding issue (see pictures). They clearly saw it and even said that kind of banding was unacceptable for that caliber of TV. They took still photos of it and, during the telepresence with LG, showed the banding issue using a pattern generator supplied by Huppin's. Here is what I found incredible: The LG engineer said they could see the banding when Huppin's used their pattern generator. However, LG then said to use the LG IRE video (again, see my pictures). When the LG IRE video played you couldn't see the banding - you know why? As I have told LG many times before, YOUR IRE VIDEO IS TOO BRIGHT AND IS NOT A REALISTIC REPRESENTATION OF DARKER PICTURES. See that Marco Polo picture folks? That's a realistic darker picture scene. LG's lowest IRE pattern is around 25% IRE and you can't see obvious banding at that IRE level. The LG engineer said, "I don't seen anything wrong". Well, YES, OF COURSE YOU DON'T. That's because you don't drop the IRE level low enough to see it! Now, here is the kicker: The LG engineer said that banding will always present and that they can't do anything about it (they saw it with the Huppin's pattern generator). SERIOUSLY? YOU ARE FINALLY ADMITTING THIS? The kind of banding that I am seeing?? Absolutely incredible! So, they are confessing that banding will be present, but they use their IRE videos to "show" that there is nothing wrong with the TV. This is the only way you can interpret what LG said. So, why does LG keep consumers in the dark about this? How about including a statement on their website that says, "During darker scenes, obvious banding will be present on our OLED TVs". Or how about including that statement on the TV box? See how many people will buy your OLED TVs then! Everybody, this call from LG that I received was nothing more than a formality. Nothing different happened with their "process" for determining the performance of the OLED TV. The original representative who called me said that they had seen my review on Amazon and THAT is why I received a call from them. Everybody it is important that you post the truth about your experiences with manufacturers on public websites. It does have an effect but, in my case, the only effect it had was to raise my hopes slightly that LG would do something about this TV issue - but, again, they didn't. They won't admit the banding issue publicly, but they did admit it privately when the Huppin's tech was out. I don't have tens of thousands of dollars to sue LG. I am just a typical consumer who wanted to get the TV of his dreams, only to have it dashed to pieces with the banding issues present. What LG said about banding always being present is inaccurate because, as I stated above in my original comment, banding was NOT present on the Sony OLED that I tested out when I took my calibration disc and player to the Video Only store - and Sony gets their OLED panels from LG. LG just will not acknowledge the issue. They definitely know about it. Even the Huppin's tech that came out said he has replaced many OLED panels because of this issue (first time, though, he had ever seen the 77-inch OLED). This is a very real issue, for you consumers out there. I know for a fact that the severity of banding is not always present on all OLEDs BECAUSE I HAVE OWNED 5 OF THEM TO DATE AND THEY WORK FINE. Yes, there is some minimal banding, but not at the severity level of the 77-inch I own. Make sure to take a thumb drive or your disc player with you and get a calibration pattern that cycles through IRE levels (brightness levels) and test it on your TV at the store or test it at home. Make sure about the store's return policy and return it if you see OBVIOUS banding during darker scenes. I am a very disappointed 77-inch OLED owner and I will never buy another OLED TV from LG unless I can first test it with my pattern generator to determine banding issues.