The LG NANO81 is a decent overall TV with an IPS panel. It's a very simple TV that's limited on extra features as it doesn't support any variable refresh rate (VRR) technology or Dolby Vision. It has wide viewing angles, so it's a good choice for watching the big game with a lot of friends. Sadly, people who enjoy watching movies in the dark may be disappointed with its low contrast ratio, bad local dimming feature, and uniformity issues. It's a good choice for console gamers because the response time is decent and the input lag is incredibly low. Overall, it's a fairly well-built TV with an excellent design and a premium-looking center-mounted stand.
Our Verdict
The LG NANO81 is a decent TV for most uses. With its IPS panel, it's a good choice for watching sports with a group of friends or using it as a PC monitor. It has a low contrast ratio, poor black uniformity, and its local dimming feature is bad, so watching movies in the dark isn't a good choice. It doesn't have any VRR support and it has a 60Hz refresh rate, but casual gamers should appreciate the incredibly low input lag and decent response time.
- Wide viewing angles.
- Excellent reflection handling.
- Incredibly low input lag.
- Poor dark room performance.
- Doesn't get very bright.
- No VRR support.
The LG NANO81 is mediocre for watching movies. It has an IPS panel that has a low contrast ratio, and its local dimming feature is bad. It also has poor black uniformity, so dark scenes don't look good. Luckily, it upscales lower-resolution content well and removes judder from 24p sources like native apps.
- Removes judder from native 24p sources.
- Poor dark room performance.
Very good for TV shows. The LG NANO81 has excellent reflection handling, but it doesn't get very bright, so you should avoid placing it in really bright rooms. It has wide viewing angles and it upscales 720p content, like from cable boxes, without any issues. LG's WebOS platform also has a great selection of apps available to download.
- Wide viewing angles.
- Excellent reflection handling.
- Upscales lower-resolution content well.
- Doesn't get very bright.
- Disappointing built-in speakers.
The LG NANO81 is good for sports. It has wide viewing angles if you watch games with a big group of friends. It has a decent response time, so fast-moving content doesn't have a lot of motion blur, and there's also almost no dirty screen effect. You should avoid watching sports in really bright rooms as it doesn't get very bright, but it has excellent reflection handling.
- Wide viewing angles.
- Excellent reflection handling.
- Decent response time.
- Doesn't get very bright.
- Disappointing built-in speakers.
The LG NANO81 is good for video games. It doesn't have any gaming features like VRR support and it's limited to a 60Hz refresh rate. Regardless, it has a decent response time and an incredibly low input lag. It also upscales 1080p content very well, so it's a good TV for console gaming.
- Excellent reflection handling.
- Incredibly low input lag.
- Decent response time.
- Poor dark room performance.
- No VRR support.
Disappointing for HDR movies. The LG NANO81 doesn't support Dolby Vision, its color gamut is only decent, and it doesn't get bright enough to make highlights pop in HDR, so it doesn't look different from SDR content. It also has a low contrast ratio, a bad local dimming feature, and poor black uniformity. On the upside, it removes judder from native 24p sources.
- Removes judder from native 24p sources.
- Poor dark room performance.
- Doesn't get very bright.
- Somewhat limited color gamut.
The LG NANO81 is okay for HDR gaming, mainly due to its good gaming performance. It has an incredibly low input lag and a decent response time, but HDR content doesn't look good. Its color gamut is a bit limited and it doesn't get bright enough to bring out highlights. Also, it's limited to a 60Hz refresh rate and it doesn't have VRR support.
- Incredibly low input lag.
- Decent response time.
- Poor dark room performance.
- Doesn't get very bright.
- Somewhat limited color gamut.
The LG NANO81 is a great choice to use as a PC monitor. It displays proper chroma 4:4:4, which is important for reading text. It has wide viewing angles, so it's a good choice to place in a meeting room. It's not the best TV to place in bright rooms, as even though it has excellent reflection handling, it doesn't get bright enough to combat glare.
- Wide viewing angles.
- Displays proper chroma 4:4:4.
- Excellent reflection handling.
- Incredibly low input lag.
- Doesn't get very bright.
Changelog
- Updated Jul 28, 2021: Added the real content local dimming videos.
- Updated Mar 01, 2021: Converted to Test Bench 1.6.
- Updated Jul 28, 2020: Review published.
- Updated Jul 23, 2020: Early access published.
Check Price
Differences Between Sizes And Variants
We tested the 65 inch LG NANO81 (65NANO81ANA) and we expect our results to be valid for the 55 inch (55NANO81ANA) and 75 inch (75NANO80UNA) models too. The 75 inch model in the U.S. and the Canadian models have a different stand, similar to the one on the LG NANO85 2020.
| Size | US | Canada | EU |
| 49" | - | 49NANO80UNA |
49NANO816NA |
| 55" | 55NANO81ANA | 55NANO80UNA |
55NANO816NA |
|
65" |
65NANO81ANA | 65NANO80UNA |
65NANO816NA |
| 75" | 75NANO80UNA | 75NANO80UNA | - |
If someone comes across a different type of panel or if their NANO81 doesn't correspond to our review, let us know and we'll update the review. Note that some tests such as the gray uniformity may vary between individual units.
The unit we reviewed was manufactured in April 2020 and you can see the label here.
Popular TV Comparisons
The LG NANO81 is a decent overall TV with an IPS panel, and if you tend to watch movies in the dark, there are better choices with a VA panel, like the Samsung TU8000. It performs worse than the LG NANO85 2020 and the LG NANO90, but this is expected since it's lower in the LG lineup. Also see our recommendations for the best 4k TVs, the best TVs for PC monitors, and the best LG TVs.
The Samsung TU8000 and the LG NANO81 are two very similar-performing TVs with different panel types. The Samsung has a VA panel that displays deeper blacks and has much better black uniformity. The Samsung also supports HDR10+ and has better built-in speakers. On the other hand, the LG has wider viewing angles, handles reflections better, and because of its IPS panel, has wider viewing angles.
The LG NANO81 is better than the LG NANO80 2020. The NANO81 gets brighter, has much better reflection handling, and it has a local dimming feature, but it doesn't perform well. However, the NANO80 has a quicker response time and much better out-of-the-box color accuracy, but this may vary between units.
The Samsung Q60T is a bit better overall than the LG NANO81, but they have different panels. The Samsung has a VA panel, displaying much deeper blacks, and it has much better black uniformity. It also has more accurate colors, it gets brighter, and it has a wider color gamut. However, the LG has an IPS panel with wider viewing angles, it handles reflections much better, and it has a quicker response time.
The LG NANO85 2020 is a bit better than the LG NANO81. The NANO85 2020 has a 120Hz refresh rate and it currently supports HDMI Forum's VRR. It also has a quicker response time, a black frame insertion feature, better out-of-the-box color accuracy, and it gets brighter. However, the NANO81 has a lower input lag, better reflection handling, and it has a more premium-looking center-mounted stand.
We buy and test dozens of TVs yearly, taking an objective, data-driven approach to deliver results you can trust. Our testing process is complex, with hundreds of individual tests that take over a week to complete. Most of our tests use specially designed test patterns that mimic real content, but we also use the same sources you have at home to ensure our results match the real-world experience. We use two main tools for our testing: a Colorimetry Research CR-100 colorimeter and a CR-250 spectroradiometer.
Test Results
Older Test Bench: This product has been tested using an older TV test methodology, before a major update. Some of the test results below aren't directly comparable with other TVs. Learn more
for pictures & test results
for pictures & test results
for pictures & test results
for pictures & test results
for pictures & test results
for pictures & test results
for pictures & test results
for pictures & test results
for pictures & test results
for pictures & test results
for pictures & test results
for pictures & test results
