LG NANO90 2020 TV Review

The LG NANO90 2020 is an upper-mid range 4k LED TV in LG's 2020 NanoCell series. It replaces the LG SM9000, and it sits above the LG NANO85/NANO86 and below LG's 8k Series. The LG NANO91 in Europe appears to be the same TV but with a center-mounted stand. Its main competitors are the Sony X800H, Samsung Q70/Q70T QLED, and the Hisense H8G.

The LG 75NANO90UNA has an excellent design that's different from 2019's LG SM9000. It looks a lot like the LG NANO85 and it has thin bezels on three sides. It has two wide-set feet as its stand, somewhat of a downgrade from the stylish center-mounted stand on the SM9000. Overall, it's a simple-looking TV that doesn't stand out much.

The stand is different from its predecessor, the LG SM9000. Instead of a center-mounted stand, it has two feet that sit at the edge of the TV, so you're going to need a wide table to place it on. There's enough space to put a soundbar in front of it too.

Footprint of the 75" TV: 56.9" x 14".

Update 08/17/2020: We confirmed the back panel is made out of metal, and not plastic, as we previously stated. The review has been updated.

The back is made out of smooth metal and it has a simple design. There are downward and side-facing inputs, and there are hooks on the feet that serve as cable management.

This TV has thin borders that aren't distracting.

The LG 75NANO90UNA is fairly thin and if you wall-mount it, it won't stick out much, if at all.

Update 08/17/2020: We confirmed the back panel is made out of metal, and not plastic, as we previously stated. The review has been updated.

This TV has a decent build quality. It's made out of metal and plastic that feels cheap and there's nothing premium about it. Still, the overall build is solid and the TV is held together well. There's not a lot of wobble, especially for a TV of this size. Lastly, the inputs flex a bit, but this shouldn't be an issue for most people.

The contrast ratio isn't bad for an IPS panel TV, but this may vary between units. It's similar to other LG TVs we've seen in the past, but it's not as good as the LG NANO85. Still, blacks appear closer to gray, which is noticeable in a dark room. It has a full-array local dimming feature that improves the contrast ratio. If you want a TV with an exceptional contrast ratio, see the Samsung Q70/Q70A QLED.

The LG 75NANO90UNA has just okay peak brightness in SDR, very similar to the LG NANO85. It quickly loses brightness when large, bright areas cover the screen, which is likely caused by its Automatic Brightness Limiter (ABL). If you want a similar-performing TV that gets much brighter, then check out the Samsung Q80/Q80A QLED.

We measured the peak brightness after calibration on the 'Expert (Dark Mode) Picture Mode, with Brightness and Contrast set to 'Max', and Local Dimming on 'Medium'. The brightest the TV got was with these settings, as seen in the 10% peak window test.

The LG 75NANO90UNA has a full-array local dimming feature, but it's quite disappointing. When there are small, bright objects moving across the scene, the dimming zones don't transition quickly and you see the transitions happening, which could be distracting. Also, since it's an IPS TV with a low contrast ratio, blacks still look gray. On the upside, it handles subtitles well as there isn't noticeable blooming. We recommend setting Local Dimming to 'Medium', but even with this setting, there are still issues as small light sources don't pop at all, and it crushes dark scenes.

This TV has unremarkable peak brightness in HDR. Once again, the LG 75NANO90UNA loses brightness with large areas, as seen in the difference in brightness in the 10% and 100% peak window tests. This TV doesn't get bright enough to truly bring out highlights in HDR.

We measured the peak brightness before calibration on the 'Cinema' Picture Mode, with Brightness and Contrast set to 'Max', and Local Dimming on 'Medium'.

If you want the brightest image possible, use the 'Vivid' Picture Mode with Local Dimming set to 'Medium'. We were able to get 692 nits on the 10% peak window test, but even this peak brightness only lasted a few seconds before it dropped to about 320 nits.

The gray uniformity is just okay, but this may vary between units. The edges of the screen are visibly darker and there's some noticeable dirty screen effect in the center, which could be distracting while watching sports. The uniformity is much better in dark scenes.

The black uniformity is mediocre, but this may vary between units. Without local dimming, there's clouding throughout and visible backlight bleed in the corners, especially at the bottom left, which is a bit hard to see in the picture. With local dimming on, the entire screen is more black but there's more blooming around the center cross.

The LG 75NANO90UNA has okay viewing angles. This isn't as good as most IPS TVs, as the image quickly loses brightness when moving off-center. However, you still get a fairly accurate image when viewing from the side so it's a decent choice for a moderately-sized room.

This TV has impressive reflection handling. It performs well in moderately-lit rooms, and even with direct light on it, the reflections don't get too distracting. You shouldn't have any problems placing the LG 75NANO90UNA in a bright room.

The out-of-the-box color accuracy is decent, but this may vary between units. Most colors are a bit inaccurate and the color temperature is a bit warmer than the 6500K target, giving the image a red/yellow tint. Sadly, white balance is off and gamma also doesn't follow the curve very well, so most scenes are too dark.

After calibration, the LG 75NANO90UNA has outstanding color accuracy. Any remaining inaccuracies aren't visible without the aid of a colorimeter. The gamma also follows the curve almost perfectly. Sadly, the color temperature is a bit too cold, giving the image a blueish tint.

See our recommended settings here.

480p content, such as from DVDs or old video game consoles, is upscaled without any issues.

This TV upscales 720p content, like from cable boxes, well without any artifacts.

1080p content looks almost as good as native 4k content.

The LG 75NANO90UNA displays 4k content perfectly, without any issues.

This is a 4k TV that doesn't display an 8k signal.

The LG 75NANO90UNA uses a BGR sub-pixel layout, different from the LG SM9000. This doesn't affect the overall picture but may have an effect on the way text is displayed. Read about it here.

The LG 75NANO90UNA has a very good wide color gamut, similar to the LG SM9000 and a bit better than the LG NANO85. It has excellent coverage of the commonly-used DCI P3 color space but it has limited coverage of the wider Rec. 2020 color space. The EOTF follows the curve well until it rolls off at its peak brightness, but most scenes are still a bit over-brightened. The EOTF in 'Game' mode is very similar.

If you find HDR too dim, set the Picture Mode to 'Vivid', Local Dimming to 'High', and both Brightness and Contrast to 'Max'. This results in a noticeably brighter image, as seen in this EOTF.

The LG 75NANO90UNA has alright color volume. Due to the low contrast ratio, it can't display dark colors well and like most LED TVs, it can't display bright blues.

The gradient handling is decent, but sadly, not as good as the LG SM9000. There's noticeable banding in red and even more so in gray. Enabling the Smooth Gradiation doesn't affect the test pattern but it makes real content look better.

There's some very minor temporary image retention immediately after display our high-contrast static image for 10 minutes. This could vary between units and it has nothing to do with the permanent burn-in associated with long-term exposure to static images.

While some IPS panels like this have some temporary image retention, this doesn't seem to be permanent as the IPS panel in our long-term test appears to be immune.

The LG 75NANO90UNA has a great response time. There's some overshoot in the darker transitions, but overall, motion looks smooth. This is a significant improvement over the LG SM9000.

The LG 75NANO90UNA is flicker-free only when the backlight is at 100% brightness. Otherwise, it flickers at 960Hz, which is so high that it shouldn't be noticeable for most people. The backlight flickers at 120Hz when TruMotion is enabled and at 60Hz with the Black Frame Insertion feature enabled.

The LG 75NANO90UNA has a Black Frame Insertion feature to help improve the appearance of motion. It flickers at 120Hz with TruMotion enabled in 'Game' mode, and it flickers at 60Hz, with the Motion Pro setting enabled. The BFI feature doesn't actually doesn't clear up motion blur as much as other TVs.

Find out more about the NANO90's Black Frame Insertion feature here.

The LG 75NANO90UNA can interpolate motion up to 120fps, known as the 'Soap Opera Effect'. To turn it on, set De-Judder and De-Blur to 'Max' in the TruMotion settings. It does an okay overall job with motion but in action-packed scenes, there are some artifacts. However, it's not very distracting and shouldn't be noticeable with most content.

Since the LG 75NANO90UNA has such a fast response time, there's some stutter as each frame is held on longer. You can reduce the amount of stutter by enabling the motion interpolation feature.

The TV can remove judder from any source, such as Blu-ray players or native apps. To remove judder, turn on Real Cinema.