4K LED LCD or 1080P OLED?

[Aniallation]

Assuming that the situation was, you could get a 4K LED-backlit LCD TV or a 1080P OLED TV, which would you choose? 

 

This is assuming that they were from the same brand, cost the same, were the same size, etc. Just the panels and the resolution. And that you were using it as an actual TV. Not having it as a monitor in front of your face.

 

I feel as though if this was a real-life situation, people would still push so much towards a 4K LCD. Why though? From across the living room you wouldn't be able to tell that much of a resolution improvement from 1080p to 4K. From 20ft away, your eyes can not see pixels on a 52" 1080p display. However you would much more easily be able to tell the color improvements (especially black levels) coming from LCD to OLED. 

[Tmh85]

if 4k was the same price as a 1080p Oled (There must be a pricing issue) then I'm not sure why anyone would not go 4k plus screw the rules I'm gonna hook my PC into it!

[FloRolf]

4k all teh way! 

[Oshino Shinobu]

I would go for the 4K TV. I have enough 1080p IPS panels and would rather have a very high resolution one than OLED.

[dizmo]

This is a textbook example of why manufacturers are pushing higher resolutions, especially in phones. See how many people just assume the higher number is better, regardless of panel technology?
You'd most likely get a far nicer picture from the OLED panel. It's similar to a TN vs IPS comparison.

[MajorChipHazard]

You would be absolutely bonkers to not go with the 4K display.

[wng_kingsley7]

I'd prefer the 1080p OLED TV more than the 4K LED TV. Both are bottlenecked since they're televisions they will only be maybe 30Hz

[squirrl]

I'd prefer the 1080p OLED TV more than the 4K LED TV. Both are bottlenecked since they're televisions they will only be maybe 30Hz

how would they be the thing that is "bottlenecked"?

 

Given that you said that it's used as a TV, and that it's the same size. If it was at a point far enough away that it looked crisp no matter what resoltuion (1080p or 4k), the OLED would probably look much nicer. (even as a piece of hardware it would no doubt be really thin too)

if you were quite a bit closer, or using it as a monitor, the 4k would look sharper and the oled would have better contrast and higher possible refresh rate. 

[wng_kingsley7]

how would they be the thing that is "bottlenecked"?

I think you should either re-read my post or google search into tv's that are Full HD OLED or 4k LED the mainstream market for tv's have half the refresh rate of most monitors running at 60hz even those of some laptops

[squirrl]

I think you should either re-read my post or google search into tv's that are Full HD OLED or 4k LED the mainstream market for tv's have half the refresh rate of most monitors running at 60hz even those of some laptops

That wasn't really what i meant, but the displays would not be bottlenecked. Usually it's said that the bottleneck is the slowest part of the system, that doesn't really apply as much here as the system would still be running at the same speed, but for all intents and purposes we'll say it is. In this case, they would be the bottleneck. Something is bottlenecked when it can't run to it's full potential: the displays are always going to run at their full potential, if anything it's the number of possible frames output that would be "bottlenecked".

[Aniallation]

I think you should either re-read my post or google search into tv's that are Full HD OLED or 4k LED the mainstream market for tv's have half the refresh rate of most monitors running at 60hz even those of some laptops

 

Samsung's KN55S9C infamous OLED TV is 1080P 60Hz. 

 

And damn, it has a built in subwoofer

[Aniallation]

That wasn't really what i meant, but the displays would not be bottlenecked. Usually it's said that the bottleneck is the slowest part of the system, that doesn't really apply as much here as the system would still be running at the same speed, but for all intents and purposes we'll say it is. In this case, they would be the bottleneck. Something is bottlenecked when it can't run to it's full potential: the displays are always going to run at their full potential, if anything it's the number of possible frames output that would be "bottlenecked".

Agreed. A display doesn't bottleneck the device, but the device can hold back the display. 

 

For example, if you had a 1080p 120Hz monitor and you used it with a PC that only had VGA output, you would be stuck with 1080P 60Hz and wouldn't be able to use the 120Hz capabilities of the monitor. 

[BrightCandle]

I would definitely choose the 1080p OLED. I sit about 15ft away from a 32" TV screen so my eyes can't really resolve the difference between 720p and 1080p let alone 2160p. Yet the substantially better colour quality and accuracy and vibrancy of the OLED would be really obvious compared to a 4K panel, which are all basically TN based.

 

OLED also has dramatically reduced ghosting and motion blur, it would be much better for action scenes and gaming. There is almost zero content for 4k right now as well.

[TheRetiredSlave]

I think I'd rather have the 4K if I had a really powerful PC and was going to use it for ultra high res gaming.. Otherwise, 1080p is good enough with the content that we have. (Edit: this is referring to TVs, not PC monitors)

 

Of course, I don't have or even need a TV anyway, and I'd really just stick with my 1440p monitor (and maybe a 4K monitor when they become more affordable)..

 

Agreed. A display doesn't bottleneck the device, but the device can hold back the display. 

 

For example, if you had a 1080p 120Hz monitor and you used it with a PC that only had VGA output, you would be stuck with 1080P 60Hz and wouldn't be able to use the 120Hz capabilities of the monitor. 

 I would say that a display can bottleneck a device, though it may not be the same definition of "bottlenecking" as usual.. For example, if you had a rig with an i7-4960X and quad 780TI, a single 1080p 60hz monitor would be the "bottleneck" preventing you from getting the most out of your rig..

It's all about balance, really. The system needs to be powerful enough for the screen, and the screen should be good enough to allow you to fully utilize your system..

[Eyal]

If we are talking suck 4K LCD like the sieki ones, than I'd get a 1080p OLED for sure. Also, you didn't say anything about which type of LCD technology are you talking about, if it's a TN than no chance (and since most modern TVs has 3D technology, I'd assume it's a TN)

Since I don't really care about 3D, I'd rather an IPS display.

Also, not every OLED display looks good, only the higher end ones look good.

Also, I don't watch TV at all so I wouldn't be obeying the rules and use put a steam machine and than I would probably prefer the 1080p one, because streaming in 4K is far ahead of us (although I would probably no be able to play with such high latency anyway)

[Aniallation]

I think I'd rather have the 4K if I had a really powerful PC and was going to use it for ultra high res gaming.. Otherwise, 1080p is good enough with the content that we have.

 

Of course, I don't have or even need a TV anyway, and I'd really just stick with my 1440p monitor (and maybe a 4K monitor when they become more affordable)..

 

 I would say that a display can bottleneck a device, though it may not be the same definition of "bottlenecking" as usual.. For example, if you had a rig with an i7-4960X and quad 780TI, a single 1080p 60hz monitor would be the "bottleneck" preventing you from getting the most out of your rig..

It's all about balance, really. The system needs to be powerful enough for the screen, and the screen should be good enough to allow you to fully utilize your system..

 

Well, if you can live with 1080p 60Hz, like me, then you wouldn't really mind. 

 

I'd be much more bothered knowing I have a 120Hz panel but my PC can only push 60Hz to it, as opposed to having a 60Hz panel when my PC has the capability of 120Hz (and possibly more)

[Stonep11]

As a TV only, 1080p OLED. There is almost no 4k content and as a TV the distance will look almost the same resolution wise, but quality is much better on an OLED

[tryphaa]

OLED will probably look better, so that.

 

Quick edit: resolution doesnt always matter.

[ijKs Snow]

1080p OLED. Saw a LG OLED TV and my jaws dropped.

 

I would probably get the 4k TN 60Hz panel that's coming out this year and just wait out for 4K OLED and skip 4K IPS.

 

Crossing my fingers for a 4K OLED monitor @ <$2,000 in 2016.

[LOST TALE]

This is a textbook example of why manufacturers are pushing higher resolutions, especially in phones. See how many people just assume the higher number is better, regardless of panel technology?

You'd most likely get a far nicer picture from the OLED panel. It's similar to a TN vs IPS comparison.

yeah especially when your brain is as blind as your 1080p panel.

[skywake]

Sorry for the necro but in light of the new video on Vessel I was going to create a topic for this. Searched and found this one!

 

This is actually a pretty legit question that fairly average consumers are going to have to ask themselves. I just looked up the prices of LG's OLEDs in Australia out of curiosity and found out that the 1080p 55" one? Surprisingly it's not that bad. $3000AU! But for that money you could buy a 65" 4K LCD... so it's a tough ask, same size and price I'd go for OLED. But as it is? I'm not sure. Not that I'm about to spend 3 grand on a TV, I'm waiting for the prices to drop even more  

[juretrn]

I say go for the OLED, they're really awesome, plus there is no 4K content. Especially if you don't have a 20 Mbit/s internet connection.

[Jahramika]

Well I had the LG OLED for a few days and its color are very nice. The OLED suffers from screen jittering at times so much so that I took it back and got a SONY X900C 4K LED and I like the 4k better. The 4k OLED was another $1500.

[Jahramika]

Also the OLED you see in the Best Buy or wherever next to the 4K LED non OLED is deceiving. The pictures on display are always pictures that show robust color content never programming like on a regular TV set so you never see the picture advantage of 4k because it's always solid colors that fill in nicely. So for the money I think watching 4k on netflix this past weekend I would say is better then 1080p OLED overall.