OLED or QLED - Convince me

[Benjiman46]

I've just been medically discharged from the armed forces here in the UK, and with my payout, I'm in the market for a new TV. I'm confused about what to pick, OLED or QLED.

 

I watch movies maybe a couple of times a month, and watch Sky Sports F1 (Formula One channel for those outside the UK) 

 

I've been to my local tech store and looked at both OLED and QLED, and while I love the contrast of an OLED, I'm worried about burn-in/image retention. On the other hand, I quite like how the QLED handles colours... Although they're very striking, I know they're not really accurate, and they're just kind of blown out... But I'm very open to suggestions.

 

Whichever the community says is best, I'll buy :)

[SenKa]

I would do QLED, especially if you intend on watching sports (which are a large offender of having static HUD's on the screen).

 

OLED is nice, and objectively better, but until MicroLED (OLED but without image retention issues and use of organic matter), the tech just isn't there.

[Streetguru]

24 minutes ago, Benjiman46 said:

 

Just buy one of the cheap TCL 4k TVs if they're available there

 

put the rest into stocks on robinhood.

[TheFlyingTraut]

I watch plenty of TV on my OLED and have zero issues with static images. Coming from an OLED owner, not just someone who reads reviews on them. It's a non issue. Turn your tv off once per day, you're good. Watching ESPN for 6-10 hours straight, even with their bright red ticker, is still a non issue. Source- I own an OLED and have put it through that. It's fine, going 2+ years. OLED gives you the superior image quality. OLED is more natural colors and significantly better blacks. QLED always oversaturates (just a samsung thing), so it "pops" more but doesn't look as natural. If it's going to be used for a mix of gaming, movies and tv, OLED, mostly gaming, QLED, movies, OLED.

[jasonvp]

Imagine this as your living room, and there's basically nothing you can do about that annoying, big ass window on the right side.  And yes, I watch TV during the day (on the weekends).  I suspect QLED is really my only choice given the massive amounts of ambient?

 

[Mira Yurizaki]

OLED's do have an issue with brightness. So if you plan on watching TV in a room with high ambient light, a QLED TV would be better.

[TheFlyingTraut]

I have a bay window and setup almost exactly like yours where I have my oled. No issues. It is plenty bright enough. They do not have an issue with brightness. Qled vs oled in actual usable brightness they are comparable. Idk about you but when do you enjoy looking at your phone or tablet in full brightness at night? 

 

Again. Coming from an oled owner. Just throwing that out there. Not just from reading articles. I've owned a lot of TVs. I'm not knocking qled but just going off of experience and what has sold well and been more popular. 

[jasonvp]

4 hours ago, TheFlyingTraut said:

I have a bay window and setup almost exactly like yours where I have my oled. No issues. It is plenty bright enough

Which direction is your bay window facing?  Mine's to the East, meaning the entire morning and early part of the day, the living room is getting blasted by sun.

 

Quote

Idk about you but when do you enjoy looking at your phone or tablet in full brightness at night? 

Well, I don't watch things with all of the lights off anyway.  It's very bad for your eyes to do that (yes, that includes watching movies in the dark).  There are always lights on when I'm watching TV.

 

[TheFlyingTraut]

I believe mine is the same way. With the OLED, you can watch tv with the lights off, I watch almost all of my movies in the "Cinema Home" preset, and it works extremely well. The point of the OLEDs is to be able to do that. That's why people that build theater rooms go LG or Sony OLED, or like the Sony 900 series and above. Rarely do we build home theaters with samsung tv's. Way too bright, and they don't get the better blacks to give you the best contrast. OLED's get plenty of bright for daytime watching and are wonderfully amazing at night/evening.

[RasmusDC]

OLED´s have better picture quality, but as you can se in rtings.com burnin test, burnin is a larger issue.

 

I bought i QLED (Or just LED) simply because of the extreme amount of light in my livingroom. it is just a Q7 so nothing special, and i do like samsungs speed of the menu systems..

 

where all google based systems are slow as.. f*** 

 

but if it is only for movies, no gaming, in a non lit enviroment, there is just no substitute for OLED, have a C8 55" in my office, it is just incredible, and it was quite cheap when i bought it.

[TheFlyingTraut]

Rtings also has it on a static image and full panel brightness with red logos. Literally no one does that to their TV for months non stop without ever changing the channel. 

[FmPhenom]

I have both and I must say OLED is the clear winner. Unless you have the static image on for eternity I say don't worry about burn in. I have been watching the last 3 superbowls over the weekend and no burn in. The qled is nice and has a great picture but the OLED is jaw dropping.

[TheFlyingTraut]

Finally another actual owner, not just a review reader. There is a reason people want OLED over QLED in high end setups, theater room or not. OLED has the superior black levels, and NO ONE needs to watch a tv anywhere near the nits that samsung "claims" I've been around them for a few years, they are bright, but it hurts the eyes most times. OLED is plenty bright and have a far superior panel.

[dDave64]

I bought a Samsung QLED TV.

 

The real key with HDR is nits.

 

Samsung can achieve higher nits which means they can achieve whites brighter than “paper white”. The way light and color bounce through a scene (the whole point of HDR) tend to perform better on brighter TVs. Deep darks obviously show better on OLED panels since the pixels can shut off.

 

I use my Samsung and I like it but I also liked the way the LG OLEDs looked. I chose QLED because of the likelier longevity and the better all around scaling in Samsung sets. I think it shows a wider dynamic range even though the blacks aren’t quite as black.

 

OLED is awesome but I believe QLED shows off HDR a bit better overall.

[jasonvp]

For what little it may be worth, my primary concern isn't burn-in or anything like that.  I don't watch static content and don't play games in the living room (that's what my PC is for, in my office).  So that isn't a worry.  The primary worry is the overwhelming amount of sunlight the room gets in the morning/mid-morning.

[TheFlyingTraut]

Either panel will handle light just fine. 

[FmPhenom]

On ‎5‎/‎1‎/‎2019 at 11:35 PM, dDave64 said:

I bought a Samsung QLED TV.

 

The real key with HDR is nits.

 

Samsung can achieve higher nits which means they can achieve whites brighter than “paper white”. The way light and color bounce through a scene (the whole point of HDR) tend to perform better on brighter TVs. Deep darks obviously show better on OLED panels since the pixels can shut off.

 

I use my Samsung and I like it but I also liked the way the LG OLEDs looked. I chose QLED because of the likelier longevity and the better all around scaling in Samsung sets. I think it shows a wider dynamic range even though the blacks aren’t quite as black.

 

OLED is awesome but I believe QLED shows off HDR a bit better overall.

I have both, and OLED is the clear winner. The nits is not a difference maker anymore. If you need higher nits than the OLED achieves you need your eyes checked. Hdr looks way better on OLED due to the black levels it can achieve.

 

Remember Qled is backlit/edgelit so white light glow (or any color ) is noticeable. I didn't really notice it until I got the OLED. Hell just viewing the glow on my direct tv menu bothers me now on the Samsungs I own.

[dDave64]

15 hours ago, FmPhenom said:

I have both, and OLED is the clear winner. The nits is not a difference maker anymore. If you need higher nits than the OLED achieves you need your eyes checked. Hdr looks way better on OLED due to the black levels it can achieve.

 

Remember Qled is backlit/edgelit so white light glow (or any color ) is noticeable. I didn't really notice it until I got the OLED. Hell just viewing the glow on my direct tv menu bothers me now on the Samsungs I own.

 

Don't hear me wrong, I like OLED technology and think it's great.

 

OLED handles darker blacks better and QLED handles brighter whites better. That's not my opinion, that is verifiable fact based on the technology.

 

You can't just dismiss QLED as worse outright. It absolutely depends on what you're doing, even down to the exact shot you're looking at. It depends on what you're watching, where you're watching, even the angle you're watching. All of these factors come into play.

 

Nits absolutely still matter and QLED can go far brighter than OLED. Nits will matter until TV manufacturers can accurately achieve the brightness levels a person may see out in the real world. They simply haven't gotten there yet.

 

I hear what you're saying about the glow. My TV does this and literally it's only noticeable or bothersome when it's a shade of white on a completely black backdrop. Otherwise, in movies or games it's not noticeable at all even if you're looking for it.

 

Yes, there is a bit of a bloom effect when looking at really bright shades on an otherwise totally black screen using QLED. Yes, the viewing angles aren't quite as strong for QLED. And yes, it's older technology; but better is such a relative term that it really does come down to exactly what you want and exactly how you're defining better.

[FmPhenom]

10 hours ago, dDave64 said:

 

Don't hear me wrong, I like OLED technology and think it's great.

 

OLED handles darker blacks better and QLED handles brighter whites better. That's not my opinion, that is verifiable fact based on the technology.

 

You can't just dismiss QLED as worse outright. It absolutely depends on what you're doing, even down to the exact shot you're looking at. It depends on what you're watching, where you're watching, even the angle you're watching. All of these factors come into play.

 

Nits absolutely still matter and QLED can go far brighter than OLED. Nits will matter until TV manufacturers can accurately achieve the brightness levels a person may see out in the real world. They simply haven't gotten there yet.

 

I hear what you're saying about the glow. My TV does this and literally it's only noticeable or bothersome when it's a shade of white on a completely black backdrop. Otherwise, in movies or games it's not noticeable at all even if you're looking for it.

 

Yes, there is a bit of a bloom effect when looking at really bright shades on an otherwise totally black screen using QLED. Yes, the viewing angles aren't quite as strong for QLED. And yes, it's older technology; but better is such a relative term that it really does come down to exactly what you want and exactly how you're defining better.

You know how they say a side by side eye test/comparison is the best way to tell for yourself.

 

I do that everyday as I have BOTH types of sets. OLED is better in everything but nits but I sure as hell don't need my tvs to get brighter than paper white for anything viewable.

 

 

[dDave64]

12 hours ago, FmPhenom said:

You know how they say a side by side eye test/comparison is the best way to tell for yourself.

 

I do that everyday as I have BOTH types of sets. OLED is better in everything but nits but I sure as hell don't need my tvs to get brighter than paper white for anything viewable.

 

 

 

The content we see coming out these days was created for screens that would show brighter than paper white images as viewable content. It's not the whole screen that has to do it, just pieces of the picture that need to pop. It's one of the absolute key components of HDR. Color and light appear differently on a screen that can produce more nits and HDR takes full advantage of that. QLED can show brighter images which allows the colors to pop a lot more without losing saturation.

 

I've seen plenty of side by side comparisons and again, they're both really good but QLED is better in different ways than OLED. OLED has some advantages that QLED doesn't have. It's a two way street.

 

You look at OLED vs QLED every day and are convinced that you like OLED more, that's fine and I respect that. It really depends on what the individual consumer wants/needs, what the content is that's being viewed, the location at which it's being viewed, the amount of light in the room, how much it costs, gaming or movies, etc. Everything comes into play.

 

Even the best TVs around show only a few thousand nits these days, QLED being the best in that regard. We have a long way to go before we reach truly realistic bright light levels on digital screens.

 

Black levels are another thing entirely. No question, OLED wins in this category but recent developments with anti glare paneling additions to QLED have significantly closed the gap. There's an argument to be made that the significantly brighter images from QLED are more worth it than the better blacks from OLED. It really depends on what the consumer wants to prioritize. Remember that everyone's eyes see these screens just a little bit differently so it's not unrealistic that a person would prefer one over the other.

 

I'm not saying QLED is necessarily better than OLED, nor am I saying that OLED is necessarily better than QLED. They are competing technologies that each offer unique advantages. Both have grown by leaps and bounds in recent years.

[cluelessgenius]

On ‎4‎/‎29‎/‎2019 at 3:33 AM, SenpaiKaplan said:

I would do QLED, especially if you intend on watching sports (which are a large offender of having static HUD's on the screen).

mainly this .

 

sports and news are horrible with that stuff.

[FmPhenom]

I was reviewing tape shot in 1080p/60fps of the last peewee 7 on 7 game this morning (I coach 5/6/ year olds, yes its the equivalent of hearding cats at times) on my pc (lg ultrawide). and I got the idea to view them on my TVs.

 

On the oled it looked like I was viewing it from the sideline.  My kids had WHITE jerseys with black shorts. The other team wore gold jerseys with green shorts (fighting irish, go figure).

 

On the Qled it is oversaturated. The Green shorts and turf ( wish we played on a grass field) blended together. The sky was a unnatural shade of blue and the sun was a mess. Gonna get this set calibrated. Hopefully it helps. Putting it on sports mode made it washed out.

 

Bottom line is this.

 

If you want a realistic looking picture quality with dolby vision, dolby atmos over eARC, arc that actually works and hdr Get a LG OLED

 

 

If you want people to ask you "Why didn't you get the OLED" then by all means Get a Sammy QLED

 

But what do I know. I only have both types of sets.

 

 

 

 

[TheFlyingTraut]

21 hours ago, cluelessgenius said:

mainly this .

 

sports and news are horrible with that stuff.

Do you own an OLED?

[jasonvp]

Pardon the necro, but:

 

I finally made the decision and had a new 65" LG C9 delivered last week.  It is stunning, no question.  I'm driving it primarily via my Roku, and I'll explain why in a moment.  The 4K HDR and 4K Dolby Vision content is just stunning.  Krysten Ritter's ass in 4K/HDR?  Mmmmm MMM! (Jessica Jones on Netflix).

 

Now, why the Roku vs the on-board software?  A couple of reasons primarily.  Mind you I'm mainly consuming from Netflix and Amazon, which the TV has built-in.  But I don't want to be beholden to LG to keep that software up to date, and then at some point they decide to stop.  That would force me to buy a new TV.  If Roku does that, it's a relatively inexpensive purchase to get a new one.  My last TV went for 10 years; I generally like to keep them for a spell.

 

The second reason is my experience with Dolby Vision vs HDR.  Netflix content when played from the TV app (eg: Jessica Jones) comes in 4K/Dolby.  The Roku can't do Dolby Vision, so the same show comes across in 4K/HDR.  There is a brightness issue with my room, and with the default "black" settings, HDR makes it nearly impossible to see shadow details.  I can change the "Blacks" to "High" and that washes out the picture a teeny bit, but lightens up the shadows dramatically allowing me to see.  I don't have that same option with Dolby Vision on the TV; and while it looks stunning, I just can't see in the shadows.

[TheFlyingTraut]

Very solid TV. Glad you went with the C9. As far as the Dolby vision and shadows. I have the same issue on my C7. I do not watch things in DV. I know it's the way the producer blah blah blah. But I just don't care for the look personally. My room can get completely dark so it's not a huge issue, but I did tinker with the advanced settings to tweak it for my room.