•   Overview
•   Advantage of LG 49SM8500PLA
•   Advantage of LG 49SK8500PLA
•   Common Strengths and Weaknesses
•   Selected Features
•   Specifications

Here we are comparing LG 49SM8500PLA to LG 49SK8500PLA to reveal their common strengths and weaknesses as well as the differences between them which will help you in making a correct decision before the purchase. Both models have the same 4K UHD (3840 x 2160) resolution and they both support HDR.

We have evaluated the TVs from available features and specifications. LG 49SM8500PLA gets higher overall score in our ranking system which is based on the display specifications, video, audio and other features, connectivity and format support.

This section shows the features and specifications which are the reason to choose LG 49SM8500PLA over LG 49SK8500PLA.

	LG 49SM8500PLA	vs	LG 49SK8500PLA
4K HFR	4K HFR via HDMI will be updated	vs
2K HFR		vs
Noise Reduction	Quad Step NR	vs	NR
Deep Learning AI Picture		vs
AI Brightness		vs
Sharpness	Frequency based Sharpness Enhancer	vs
AI Sound		vs
WiSA Ready		vs
Smart Speaker Compatible		vs
LG Smart Speaker		vs
Newer Bluetooth Version	5.0	vs	4.2
Apple Airplay	Airplay 2	vs
LG TV Plus App		vs
Smart ThinQ App		vs
HDMI Version	2.1	vs	2.0b
More Storage	8 GB	vs	4 GB
Amazon Echo Compatible		vs
AI UX		vs
AI Home		vs
AI Recommendation	Default: off	vs
Intelligent Edit		vs
Home Dashboard		vs
Apple HomePod		vs
Magic Link	Default: off	vs
360 VR		vs
Mobile TV On		vs
Wi-Fi TV On		vs
Bluetooth Low Energy On		vs
Instant Game Response	ALLM	vs
Live Plus (ACR-based Bilateral Service)	with Samba TV App	vs
Hotel Mode		vs
Time Machine (DVR)		vs
Analog DVR		vs

This section shows the features and specifications which are the reason to choose LG 49SK8500PLA over LG 49SM8500PLA.

	LG 49SM8500PLA	vs	LG 49SK8500PLA
LED Type	Edge LED	vs	Slim Direct LED
Backlight Dimming	Local Dimming	vs	Full Array Local Dimming
Color	NanoCell Color	vs	NanoCell Color Pro
Higher Panel Bit Depth	8 bits + FRC	vs	10 bits
Technicolor Expert Mode		vs
Ultra Luminance		vs	Pro
More Speaker Channels	2.0 Channel	vs	2.2 Channel
Higher Speaker Power Rating	20W	vs	40W (WF:20W)
Higher Energy Efficiency Class	A	vs	A+

Nano Cell Technology

Both LG models use nanocell technology on their LCD displays. This technology uses particles to absorb unwanted light wavelengths and enhance the purity of the red and green colors displayed on the screen. In addition, they create subtler, more accurate colors that stay true, even at wide viewing angles. So, even if the whole family is gathered around the TV, everyone has the best seat in the house, whether they’re front and center, or across the room and off to the side.

IPS Panels

Both TVs have in-plane switching (IPS) panels. Such panels are not commonly used in LCD TVs as they suffer from light leakage which lead to the lower contrast and poor HDR experience. However, this type of panels can provide better viewing angles and color accuracy compared to the VA panels.

Full-Array Local Dimming on LG 49SK8500PLA

LG 49SK8500PLA has Full-Array Local Dimming technology with multiple zones throughout the display. Individual zones of LEDs can light up independently which enhances black levels, shadow details and decreases level of light bleed in dark parts of the image. This gives higher contrast with increased picture quality which is very important for HDR reproduction. Higher number of zones gives better control over local dimming and less blooming around the bright objects and subtitles. LG 49SK8500PLA has 36 zones.

HDR10

LG 49SM8500PLA and LG 49SK8500PLA support HDR10 which was announced on August 27, 2015, by the Consumer Technology Association and uses the wide-gamut Rec. 2020 color space. It is not backward compatible with SDR. It sends static metadata via video stream to the TV which calibrates its screen brightness and color according to that. HDR10 is technically limited to a maximum of 10,000 nits of brightness and uses 10-bit color which corresponds to 1024 shades of the primary RGB colors.

Dolby Vision

LG 49SM8500PLA and LG 49SK8500PLA also support Dolby Vision which is an update to HDR10 by adding dynamic metadata that can be used to more accurately adjust brightness levels up to 10,000 nits on a scene-by-scene or frame-by-frame basis and supports up to 12-bit color depth (4096 shades of RGB) and 8K resolution.

And in the end we display all the specifications which are present for both models.

Note: The following table shows only those details which are applicable for both models and excludes the ones that are applicable for only one model. If you want to see a full list of specs for each model please visit their individual pages here - LG 49SM8500PLA and here - LG 49SK8500PLA.

BASICS	LG 49SM8500PLA	LG 49SK8500PLA
Brand	LG	LG
Series	SM85	SK85
Model	49SM8500PLA	49SK8500PLA
Size	49"	49"
Country	UK	UK
Release Year	2019	2018
Smart TV

DISPLAY	LG 49SM8500PLA	LG 49SK8500PLA
Display Type	NanoCell	NanoCell
Actual Size (Diagonal)	48.5"	48.5"
Resolution	4K UHD (3840 x 2160)	4K UHD (3840 x 2160)
Refresh Rate	100 Hz/120 Hz	100 Hz/120 Hz
Screen Design	Flat	Flat
Panel Type	IPS	IPS
LED Type	Edge LED	Slim Direct LED
Backlight Dimming	Local Dimming	Full Array Local Dimming
Color	NanoCell Color	NanoCell Color Pro
Viewing Angle	Wide Viewing Angle	Wide Viewing Angle
Panel Bit Depth	8 bits + FRC	10 bits
Color Depth	1.07 Billion	1.07 Billion

VIDEO	LG 49SM8500PLA	LG 49SK8500PLA
3D Capability
HDR10
HDR10+
Dolby Vision
Dolby Vision IQ
HLG
Advanced HDR by Technicolor®
IMAX Enhanced
HDR Effect
Technicolor Expert Mode
AMD Freesync™
NVidia G-Sync
4K HFR	4K HFR via HDMI will be updated
2K HFR
VRR
HGIG Compatibility
Picture Processor	α7 Gen2 Intelligent Processor	α7 Intelligent Processor
Upscaling	4K Upscaling	4K Upscaling
Frame Interploation Technique	TruMotion 200	TruMotion 200
Frame Interpolation Frequency	200 Hz	200 Hz
Filmmaker Mode
Auto Low Latency Mode
Depth Enhancement	Object Depth Enhancer	Active Depth Enhancer
AI Picture
Auto Genre Selection
Face Enhancing
Image Enhancing
Color Enhancer	Advanced Color Enhancer	Dynamic Color
Noise Reduction	Quad Step NR	NR
Deep Learning AI Picture
AI Brightness
True Color Accuracy
Ultra Luminance		Pro
Sharpness	Frequency based Sharpness Enhancer
Dynamic Tone Mapping	Dynamic Tone Mapping	Enhanced Dynamic Tone Mapping

AUDIO	LG 49SM8500PLA	LG 49SK8500PLA
Speaker Channels	2.0 Channel	2.2 Channel
Speaker Type	Down Firing	Down Firing
Speaker Power Rating	20W	40W (WF:20W)
Dolby Atmos
DTS Digital Surround	DTS-HD	DTS-HD
Simultaneous Audio Output
AI Sound
Surround Mode	Dolby Surround / ULTRA Surround	Dolby Surround / ULTRA Surround
Clear Voice	Clear Voice III	Clear Voice III
Sound Tuning	One Touch Sound Tuning	One Touch Sound Tuning
WiSA Ready
Bluetooth Audio Playback
LG Sound Sync
Smart Speaker Compatible
LG Smart Speaker

CONNECTIVITY	LG 49SM8500PLA	LG 49SK8500PLA
Ethernet Input
Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi Direct
Wi-Fi Frequency	2.4 GHz, 5 GHz	2.4 GHz, 5 GHz
Wi-Fi Protocol	802.11a/b/g/n/ac	802.11a/b/g/n/ac
Bluetooth
Bluetooth Version	5.0	4.2
Apple Airplay	Airplay 2
LG TV Plus App
Smart ThinQ App
Chromecast
Google Home		Google Home device sold separately (This feature is not available in Republic of Ireland)
Virtual Assistant	Google Assistant	Google Assistant Built-in Google Assistant features require software update (This feature is not available in Republic of Ireland)
Works with Alexa	19.5 MR	Amazon Alexa device sold separately (This feature is not available in Republic of Ireland)
HDMI Inputs	4	4
HDMI Version	2.1	2.0b
HDMI Audio Return Channel (ARC)	eARC (HDMI 2)	HDMI 2
HDCP Version	2.2	2.2
HDMI-CEC	SIMPLINK	SIMPLINK
USB Inputs	3	3
USB 3.0 Ports
RF (Terrestrial / Cable ) Inputs	2	2
Component Inputs
Composite Inputs	1 via A/V 3.5mm Jack	1 via A/V 3.5mm Jack
RCA Audio Outputs
3.5mm headphone Audio Output
Optical Audio Output
RS-232C Remote
DLNA

OTHER	LG 49SM8500PLA	LG 49SK8500PLA
CPU Cores	4	4
GPU Cores	2	2
RAM	2 GB	2 GB
Storage	8 GB	4 GB
Operating System	webOS	webOS
Internet Browser
Electronic Program Guide (EPG)	8 days	8 days
Parental Control (V-Chip)
Application Store	LG Content Store	LG Content Store
PVR Function
On-Screen Display Languages	36	36
LG AI ThinQ®
Speech to Text
LG Voice Search
Amazon Echo Compatible
AI UX
AI Home
AI Recommendation	Default: off
Intelligent Edit
Home Dashboard
Apple HomePod
Voice Recognition	Intelligent Voice Recognition	Intelligent Voice Recognition
Magic Link	Default: off
Audio Guidance (Text To Speech)
Gallery Mode
Multi-view
DIAL
Music Player
360 VR
Mobile TV On
Wi-Fi TV On
Bluetooth Low Energy On
Instant Game Response	ALLM
Live Plus (ACR-based Bilateral Service)	with Samba TV App
Hotel Mode
Screen Share
Digital Recording
Time Shift
Watch & Record
Auto Calibration
Time Machine (DVR)
Analog DVR
HEVC

VIDEO FORMATS	LG 49SM8500PLA	LG 49SK8500PLA
3GPP
AV1
AVI
ASF
DivX
Flash Video
H.263
H.264
H.265
MKV
M2TS
MP4
MPEG-4
QuickTime
RealVideo
TS
VC-1
VP7
VP8
VP9
VOB
VRO
WebM
WMV
Xvid

AUDIO FORMATS	LG 49SM8500PLA	LG 49SK8500PLA
AAC
AC4
AIFF
ALAC
APE
aptX
eAAC+
EAC3
FLAC
HE-AAC
LPCM
M4A
MIDI
MP2
MP3
OGG
RealAudio
WMA
WAV

IMAGE FORMATS	LG 49SM8500PLA	LG 49SK8500PLA
BMP
GIF
JPEG
JPS
MPO
PNG

TUNER	LG 49SM8500PLA	LG 49SK8500PLA
Digital Tuner	1	1
SAT Tuner
Analog Tuner	PAL/SECAM, B/G, D/K, I, SECAM L	PAL/SECAM, B/G, D/K, I, SECAM L
Digital Terrestrial TV System	DVB-T/T2	DVB-T/T2
Digital Cable TV System	DVB-C	DVB-C
Digital SAT TV System	DVB-S/S2	DVB-S/S2
Color system	PAL / SECAM / NTSC	PAL / SECAM / NTSC
CI+	CI+ 1.4	CI+ 1.4

GENERAL	LG 49SM8500PLA	LG 49SK8500PLA
Energy Efficiency	A	A+
Power Supply	AC 100-240 V, 50/60 Hz	AC 100-240 V, 50/60 Hz
Power Consumption (In Standby)	0.5 W	0.5 W
Dimension Without Stand (W x H x D)	1096 mm x 640 mm x 63.6 mm	1096 mm x 638 mm x 63 mm
Dimension With Stand (W x H x D)	1096 mm x 700 mm x 231 mm	1096 mm x 707 mm x 248 mm
Dimension of Package (W x H x D)	1192 mm x 740 mm x 152 mm	1197 mm x 810 mm x 175 mm
One Connect Box
VESA Wall Mount
VESA Hole Pitch (W x H)	200 mm x 200 mm	200 mm x 200 mm
Weight Without Stand	14.2 kg	14.0 kg
Weight With Stand	14.4 kg	15.5 kg
Weight of Package (Gross)	17.1 kg	18.3 kg

ACCESSORIES	LG 49SM8500PLA	LG 49SK8500PLA
Remote	Magic Remote Control - AN-MR19	Magic Remote Control - AN-MR18
Universal Control Capability for remote
Magic Remote Control Compatible