We are OLED Converts.... Are You!

[eytonxav]

Many of these sets will provide an even better picture if you calibrate it. AVS Forum has calibration threads for various sets that might be worth trying.

 

[Chuckanut]

Many of these sets will provide an even better picture if you calibrate it. AVS Forum has calibration threads for various sets that might be worth trying.

An excellent point.

 

[statsman]

Many of these sets will provide an even better picture if you calibrate it. AVS Forum has calibration threads for various sets that might be worth trying.

Very good advice indeed. In fact, I wouldn't base my purchase decision primarily on how the TVs looked with a cooked feed in the stores.

The last TV we purchased was researched online for feedback. Once narrowed down to a small number of models to consider, I got a hold of the TVs' remotes in the stores and tweaked the settings to provide a better representation of what we would see. The staff could reset the TVs to get back the out-of-box settings.

Most times, this is not easy to do, and it's getting harder to do as we start limiting ourselves to big box stores, warehouses, or online. The death of retail electronics stores is not a blessing in this regard. We paid a touch more for our last purchased TV at Best Buy than online because they allowed us to tweak the TVs at the time. That was worth the slight extra cost.

 

[6miths]

Many of these sets will provide an even better picture if you calibrate it. AVS Forum has calibration threads for various sets that might be worth trying.

Consumer Reports also gives settings for picture optimization for TVs they review.

 

[mistermike40]

Last year we looked at OLED and QLED, but eventually purchased a 75" LG NanoCell (with Dolby Atmos sound)... couldn't be happier!

 

[albireo13]

Looking to invest in a TV upgrade myself. We have a 55" Sony LED TV about 3+ yrs old. No problems but, am getting the itch to upgrade ... before I retire.

Am thinking 65"+ and OLED perhaps.

I've been using TV sound so far but am thinking of adding a sound bar. We have a Sonos system so that is an option but, I have heard that piping your TV audio through Sonos can be problematic due to latency delays.
What do other do for sound upgrade?

This is for our living room so, don't want/need a surround sound system.

 

[HawkeyeNFO]

Yeah, I'm sure those are great, but I happily paid $699 for my 75" Samsung that looks great and ought to last until the OLEDs are less expensive than plane tickets to Europe for my family.

 

[Dawg52]

Looking to invest in a TV upgrade myself. We have a 55" Sony LED TV about 3+ yrs old. No problems but, am getting the itch to upgrade ... before I retire.

Am thinking 65"+ and OLED perhaps.

I've been using TV sound so far but am thinking of adding a sound bar. We have a Sonos system so that is an option but, I have heard that piping your TV audio through Sonos can be problematic due to latency delays.
What do other do for sound upgrade?

This is for our living room so, don't want/need a surround sound system.

A sound bar will certainly help but I have a 3.1 system that I really enjoy. A Sony receiver with Polk bookshelf and center channel speakers. I wouldn't mind having a couple of speakers on the other side of the room but wiring would be a problem. But I'm completely satisfied with the sound that I have.

 

[Ready]

My LG 65 inch C9 OLED TV arrived yesterday. I purchased it after going back and forth between the LG and the Samsung QLED models. The picture quality is beyond amazing. I had no idea that picture quality had advanced so much since my last TV purchase. Watching shows on Netflix in 4K HDR is breathtaking. I was reluctant to spend so much more on OLED but now I’m really happy I did.

I’m also researching soundbars for the TV. LG has a new technology incorporated into their sets as of 2019 called “E-ARC”, or Enhanced Audio Return Channel. If you connect an E-ARC enabled soundbar you get very high definition sound by connecting the soundbar to the TV through an HDMI cable.

There are only a few soundbars currently available with this technology. LG and Sony both make them. There may be others, but I’m just beginning to research this. And the starting price seems to be around $600, so they are not cheap.

But for future proofing your equipment I think it makes sense to go with one of these if your budget allows.

 

[oldphd]

I've been looking at upgrading to OLED as well. Like many here, I've seen them and think the pic is great, but the price is high. Still, I have a 10+ year old Samsung (early 120 Hz 1080p capable). And when I think about what I spent 10+ years ago and spread it over time, it's not that bad. Besides which, with less travel I need to blow some dough on something, right?

I waited to purchase the current set until the 120 Hz at 1080p came out. I could see the judder in video that was originally filmed at 24 fps, particularly during panning sequences (on the 60 Hz sets). Once you see it, it's hard to unsee it.

As I look at the current sets, both Sony and LG, one thing I see is that they only refresh at 60 Hz at 2160p (4K). Obviously the frame insertion for motion has come a long way since the late 2000s, but I haven't actually had an opportunity to see one in person.

Anyone have any observation or comments? Can you see it? Is the newer functionality so good that it's not an issue? I have searched but haven't found any indication that the 120 Hz refresh at 2160p is on the horizon, anyone have any idea where on the horizon that might be?

I suppose I should spend more time on an AV forum, but find most of those folks to be so heavily into it that I have trouble wading through all the details. Don't consider myself to be that much of an audio/videophile, but a little picker than the typical layman.

I'm leaning towards the Sony because the motion compensation on their sets is one of their strong points.

On the subject of sound, have any of you considered getting a receiver and surround sound? I find it to be so much better than anyone's sound bar set up I've seen (OK, just a couple of examples). These setups were done by someone with limited knowledge and incentive to install a receiver themselves, so perhaps they weren't even done very well.

Thanks for any insight anyone might be able to provide...

 

[statsman]

I waited to purchase the current set until the 120 Hz at 1080p came out. I could see the judder in video that was originally filmed at 24 fps, particularly during panning sequences. Once you see it, it's hard to unsee it.

As I look at the current sets, both Sony and LG, one thing I see is that they only refresh at 60 Hz at 2160p (4K). Obviously the frame insertion for motion has come a long way since the late 2000s, but I haven't actually had an opportunity to see one in person.

I'm also looking forward to feedback from others related to this. We chose a Samsung 1080p TV six years ago that is native 120 Hz. Like you, I have a tendency to see motion artifacts, whether in the source material or as a result of poor scaling.

Sometimes, what you get from the cable/Internet TV companies sucks from compression artifacts, and no TV can correct this (*cough* Comcast, AT&T Uverse *cough*).

On a related note, we purchased a Sony LCD widescreen rear projection TV back in late 2004. At the time, we were considering a DLP rear projection TV because the brightness and blacks seemed to be a big better (although we were able to tweak the Sony to look very good). The problem for me was I could pick up the DLP rainbow effect from its internal spinning disk. Once I saw it, I couldn't un-see it. My parent's LG DLP TV drove me nuts when we visited them.

 

[Ready]

On the subject of sound, have any of you considered getting a receiver and surround sound? I find it to be so much better than anyone's sound bar set up I've seen (OK, just a couple of examples). These setups were done by someone with limited knowledge and incentive to install a receiver themselves, so perhaps they weren't even done very well.

Thanks for any insight anyone might be able to provide...

If you are setting the TV up in a family room and you want all of the equipment associated with a receiver and speakers, you have a lot of options. My set is in the bedroom and I just don’t want all that extra equipment in there. The 2020 soundbars just coming out from Samsung, Sonos and LG are very advanced technology as long as you have the latest version of TVs with E-ARC technology built in.

 

[Qs Laptop]

The 2020 soundbars just coming out from Samsung, Sonos and LG are very advanced technology as long as you have the latest version of TVs with E-ARC technology built in.

TV's have had ARC technology for several years. TV's have had E-ARC technology for a couple of years. The advantage the E-ARC offers over ARC is with multichannel audio signals, like 5.1 surround sound and Atmos sounds systems (typically 7 or 9 channels plus ceiling speakers.)

Unless your "soundbar" has a couple of extra satellite speakers there is no advantage of having E-ARC. In other words if you have a soundbar system that is one piece, you don't need E-ARC.

 

[Ready]

TV's have had ARC technology for several years. TV's have had E-ARC technology for a couple of years. The advantage the E-ARC offers over ARC is with multichannel audio signals, like 5.1 surround sound and Atmos sounds systems (typically 7 or 9 channels plus ceiling speakers.)

Unless your "soundbar" has a couple of extra satellite speakers there is no advantage of having E-ARC. In other words if you have a soundbar system that is one piece, you don't need E-ARC.

For now the E-ARC enabled sound bars are higher end models which typically include the bar, a subwoofer, and optional satellite speakers that you can add later if you don’t want to buy them right away. So unless you can get a good deal on an older non E-ARC enabled model I don’t see any point in not buying the latest technology.

For LG TVs, E-ARC was made available across all of their TVs in 2019. The C9, which was their 2019 set, is still currently selling, although it was recently replaced with the CX for 2020.

 

[oldphd]

I'm also looking forward to feedback from others related to this. We chose a Samsung 1080p TV six years ago that is native 120 Hz. Like you, I have a tendency to see motion artifacts, whether in the source material or as a result of poor scaling.

Sometimes, what you get from the cable/Internet TV companies sucks from compression artifacts, and no TV can correct this (*cough* Comcast, AT&T Uverse *cough*).

On a related note, we purchased a Sony LCD widescreen rear projection TV back in late 2004. At the time, we were considering a DLP rear projection TV because the brightness and blacks seemed to be a big better (although we were able to tweak the Sony to look very good). The problem for me was I could pick up the DLP rainbow effect from its internal spinning disk. Once I saw it, I couldn't un-see it. My parent's LG DLP TV drove me nuts when we visited them.

Just a followup in case you're interested... I ended up purchasing a Sony A9G 77" OLED in late July. This was done for a combination of reasons including no expectation of a newer 77" until next year (and I'm ready to buy now, or at least by this fall), we don't game but watch sports/movies (so chose Sony over LG for "better"?!?!? motion processing). Bottom line was I couldn't get my questions answered and decided to dive in. Only saw the A8H model in 65" at the store. Debated the 65" but we have room to go bigger, have extra cash at the moment due to lack of travel, and as the saying goes "I bought too big of a TV" - said no one ever. Had the last one for more than 10 years and expect the same with this one.

Very happy with the choice after the past month of viewing. It is paired with a 4K UHD Blu Ray player, DirecTV, ROKU, and 4K receiver. Purchased a number of movies on 4K Blu Ray. Even when watching in HD (1080i or 1080p typically) it looks great, I haven't picked up any issues. Haven't spotted motion artifacts or upscaling issues. Older HD Blu Rays look fine, don't see any reason to replace. Upgraded my Netflix account to 4K but have yet to see anything in that resolution (but don't watch it a lot). Have had full 7.1 surround for over 10 years (no sound bars here).

Our room is on the bright side during the day, but I have a partition to prevent direct reflection of the light on the screen. I'd say the brightness works fine, but if there is direct reflection I would have a problem viewing.

Settling in to watch a movie after the sun goes down and cranking up the sound is awesome. With no prospect for winter travel I anticipate some regular movie watching and going back and rewatching a couple of series (Breaking Bad is on the short list).

Perhaps this should go in BTD, but thought I'd put it here in case you're interested.

 

[Ready]

I purchased the LG C9 65” set a few months ago for our bedroom. It’s a fantastic set but I wish I had purchased the 77” model. We may move this set to another room and go with the 77” for the bedroom. But as OLDPHD mentioned you can never go too big with a TV screen. So if you think you should be getting the bigger set, you are correct.

 

[Sunset]

I would like the option of watching multiple channels at the same time, and with 4K the resolution would be good enough for news.

Any chance any of these large tv's do multiple channels at the same time ?

 

[RunningBum]

I would like the option of watching multiple channels at the same time, and with 4K the resolution would be good enough for news.

Any chance any of these large tv's do multiple channels at the same time ?

I don't know that answer. But a few years ago I got a couple extra 32" TVs and mounted them to wall above my larger TV, so I could keep an eye on 3 football games at once. This is in my lower level, not the main great room. The pic below is before I switched to streaming YTTV, so there are fewer cords.

I probably wouldn't do this today, but might instead have a couple of tablets for the other games.

Note: If you're streaming, make sure you do it with a provider that lets you have that many streams going at once.

 

[Ncc1701]

I have a 77" C8 and paid about $5,000. The 4K HDR PQ is incredible but I would NOT buy another OLED. Here are my reasons:

#1 - I'm always worried about Burn In. If LG offered a no burn in guarantee like Samsung does, this would put my mind at ease but they don't and no extended warranty provider covers burn in on an OLED. When my wife watches CNN for more than 30 minutes, I have her change the channel. Maybe I'm overly concerned but I don't want to risk burning a $5K hole in my wallet.

#2 Picture Uniformity isn't that great. I know that no TV is perfect but for $5K, it should come close! During certain grey scenes I can see artifacts. Now granted I don't notice anything 95% of the time but still. The screen fix function does not alleviate this and from speaking with others, nothing can be done about it.

Everything considered, I would save the $2,000 premium of OLED and have peace of mind against burn in by going with a QLED. However, I did need a wide viewing angle and thats why I went with OLED in the first place.

 

[skipro33]

The 77" LG OLED TV's are coming down in price. I signed up iwth slickdeals and get head's up when sales take place. End of August the price was $3,499 with free shipping and no sales tax. I'm holding out for Black Friday sales before pulling the trigger on this TV.

COSTCO has it for $3,750 but of course there will be sales tax. However, they bundle it with square trade worth $100. Meaning; if you buy it from Costco with their credit card, first costco doubles the factory warranty to two years. Using the card doubles that time to 4 years. The Square trade offer bumps this up to 7 years. Costco is easy to manage any warranty issue; just return and load up the replacement.

https://www.costco.com/lg-77%22-class---cx-series---4k-uhd-oled-tv---%24100-squaretrade-protection-plan-bundle-included.product.100657275.html

 

[davebarnes]

I have read this thread.
I have read threads on BogleHeads.
I have read threads on AVSForums.

I think we will keep our plasma TV for a few more years.

 

[NoiseBoy]

I have read this thread.
I have read threads on BogleHeads.
I have read threads on AVSForums.

I think we will keep our plasma TV for a few more years.

@davebarnes can I get you to elaborate on this? Please.

I have a Pioneer PDP-4270HD which tops out at 720p. I've recently re-discovered my home theater and I am starting to shop for a larger display. I love my Pioneer plasma so I've done some searches for a used 60" Kuro. I can find them for around $1,000, but I struggle with investing in 10 year old technology that tops out at 1080p/60fps. On the other hand, there still really isn't that much 4k content out there, and much of what does exist are Netflix/Amazon/HBO series that I don't watch. My main viewing habits are DVDs from the library which are mostly SD or Blu-ray, and live NFL football (maybe not so much this year.) Perhaps 1080p/60 is good enough for me?

Edit to add:
Shortly after buying my 42" plasma panel, I regretted not paying more to get the 50" model. So yeah, I don't think you can buy too much TV.

 

[skipro33]

I have read this thread.
I have read threads on BogleHeads.
I have read threads on AVSForums.

I think we will keep our plasma TV for a few more years.

I have a plasma in the bedroom. I have a LG 70" LCD in the den. The 70" blows the plasma away. Besides, the plasma uses 750 watts to power it up, the LCD only 100 watts.

 

[Freedom56]

If you really want to see what the 4K LED TVs are capable of try playing 10 bit 4:2:2 4K HDR video recorded at 150 mbit/sec. It will astonish you. We have two 4K OLED TVs and three 4K QLED TVs and four 1080P LCD TVs. When we bought the 4K TVs we found that there was lack of 4K content. Netflix compresses their 4K video too much and YouTube 4K is better but not even close to the quality out of a good 4K camera. I have been recording videos in 4K and recently 4K HDR and color grading the video to optimize it for 4K OLED and QLED TVs. The results so far has been nothing short of stunning and far better that what is available from broadcaster today. One day when 1 GB internet becomes more common and broadcaster are able to reliably stream 150-200 mbit/sec video, it will amaze people.

 

[davebarnes]

Watchful Waiting

@davebarnes can I get you to elaborate on this?

1. We own 3 Panasonic plasma TVs.
2. The main TV is a 50-inch. Mounted in a niche above the fireplace. The largest replacement TV could only be 55-inch (bezels have become narrower) if we want it to fit in the niche.
3. We can afford the electricity costs. 4 hours/day.
4. We watch it mostly head on, but do watch at an angle (>45°) when cooking in the kitchen. We live in open concept house.
5. We watch news, house porn, food porn and some movies. We do not watch sports. HGTV and its cousins are not in 4K and won't be for a while.

a. I read about burn in on OLED TVs.
b. I read that the viewing angle is narrow.
c. I read about how OLED TVs perform better in a darker room. Our living room is not dark.

TV is on the left edge.

P.S. Bigger is not always better. We have no place in our house for an 82-inch TV.