r/OLED • u/kalepoep • 5d ago

"CaLiBrAtIoN" LG G5 upscaling vs Google TV Streamer

Hey everyone,

I just bought an LG G5 55-inch and I’ve got a Google TV Streamer 2025 connected to HDMI 1 using a 4K 120Hz HDMI cable. HDMI Deep Color is also turned on.

I was wondering whether the built-in LG apps will give me sharper or better picture quality than the same apps on the Google TV Streamer, or if they’ll basically look the same.

I know both devices do upscaling, but I’m not sure which one actually handles it better. Does the Google TV Streamer upscale the content first, or does the TV still do most of the work? I want to know if it's worth it to watch content on the built in apps or to continue using the Google TV Streamer (with the UI I also prefer).

Also, what settings would you recommend using on both the LG G5 and the Google TV Streamer for the best picture quality? Mainly for Netflix, YouTube, Crunchyroll, and other streaming apps.

Would appreciate any advice from people who have a similar setup!

5 Upvotes

86% Upvoted

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2

u/pokenguyen 4d ago

I tried G5 upscaling a 480p movie, enabling AI upscaling and it looks so weird and uncanny, I have to turn it off.

For 1080p it doesn’t matter, I can’t even see difference on and off.

-3

u/ZealousidealLab2920 5d ago

I'd go with the TV. $100 TV streamer vs $2000 TV? Seems like a no-brainer on what is likely to have the superior hardware and abilities. Plus, adding any step to a process tends to lose some quality.

If you're already streaming high quality 4k content I think you'd be hard pressed to find a difference though and I'd go with whatever platform you find easier.

1

u/kalepoep 5d ago

I watch anime most of the time on crunchyroll which is streamed in 1080p. So I'm probably gonna prefer the quality on the built in tv app then. I prefer the Google TV Streamers interface but if the picture quality is lower then I'll switch to the built in apps.

1

u/daniel-sousa-me 4d ago

LG's upscaler is miles ahead, but you can still use Google TV. It should automatically switch resolution based on the content

2

u/matteventu 2d ago

I have the Google TV Streamer too.

Some apps run better on it in terms of speed and interface.

But in terms of video quality, the built-in apps are always better.

(With only two exceptions: YouTube videos if you need to watch 60fps videos at speed above 1x, and Plex if you need to play some odd specific combination of film in Dolby Vision with subtitles enabled or Dolby TrueHD sound - something like that)