Is OLED worth it?

[Mondas42]

Toying with upgrading our TV as it’s a few years old and only HD. However there is a massive price difference between regular 4K sets and OLED’s. I’ve read a few reports of OLEDs been susceptible to image burn but are better with black and thinner, but other than that are they worth the massive price uplift from a LED 4K set? Not looking for anything much bigger than 55inch as our room isn’t that big and we have nowhere on the wall to hang it.

 

 

[Eigenvektor]

They have better black levels and contrast. Burn in can be a problem if you show the same image for a long time (e.g. a TV station's logo) but newer models have some protection against it (e.g. by periodically shifting the image slightly by a few pixels).

 

This should give a more in depth comparison. Whether you're willing to spend more is up to you.

 

Edit: one more:

 

[JZStudios]

OLED TVs look incredible. It's up to you whether or not it's worth the money or if you can afford it. If I could afford it, I'd 100% get an OLED.

[JZStudios]

On 7/11/2020 at 8:03 AM, Eigenvektor said:

Edit: one more:

 

I don't know about that. The guy talks about the OLED like it's a projector and it only "works" in a completely black room. I've not owned one, but walking around Best Buy and with their super bright lighting I can tell a distinct and immediate difference between OLED and QLED.

[Intergalacticbits]

I've looked at them in Best Buy in my country too and they do look great.

Last time I looked at Sony OLED's in there they were like around $3000.00 US compared to the $800.00 US 4K 55" TV I bought in Walmart.

The big price difference is the only reason I don't have one now.

 

The Best Buy has been shut down for a while because of the pandemic here.

So I'm not sure what they go for now locally here.

 

If money was no thing though, I'd buy one because I love to watch movies in my free time and they look real good to me. 

 

 

[artuc]

Yes.

 

Have a 65" LG B7.

 

Amazing picture quality, really good viewing angle.

 

They are expensive but I got ours on clearance and it's not often we buy a TV.

 

Had no burn in issues but we mainly watch streaming services so no constant logo and it very quickly goes to a screensaver mode when paused.

[tikker]

In my opinion yes. I recently upgraded to an LG C9 and it's amazing. There are two questions that play a role really: 1) can you afford it and 2) do you consume content that takes advantage of it (i.e. 4k HDR content) enough for your tastes to justify it.

 

As a third point room lighting is something to consider. My room is fairly bright and causes reflections where it is set up, making watching stuff during the day a little bit less pleasing. This is easily fixed with curtains, blinds or similar things however.

 

Burn in on the newer models isn't that much of a problem from what I've gathered. Just don't put it on Vivid mode with max brightness beaming content with lots of static elements (e.g. newschannels and stuff with logos) into the room non-stop all day and you'll be fine.

 

On 7/12/2020 at 6:56 PM, JZStudios said:

I don't know about that. The guy talks about the OLED like it's a projector and it only "works" in a completely black room. I've not owned one, but walking around Best Buy and with their super bright lighting I can tell a distinct and immediate difference between OLED and QLED.

The thing in stores is also that they use the demo mode and vivid setting which pretty much cranks everything to the max it can go, which is not healthy for the panel. Also fully agree with you about still seeing the difference in brightly lit environments. There's still a difference between being able to reach high peak brightness (the QLED's strong point) and being able to "show" true blacks (the OLED's strong point).

 

Indeed it truly comes alive in a dark room because then the panel becomes indistinguishable from darkness itself except where the pixels light up, but it's still great during the day.

[JZStudios]

On 7/14/2020 at 12:51 PM, tikker said:

The thing in stores is also that they use the demo mode and vivid setting which pretty much cranks everything to the max it can go, which is not healthy for the panel. Also fully agree with you about still seeing the difference in brightly lit environments. There's still a difference between being able to reach high peak brightness (the QLED's strong point) and being able to "show" true blacks (the OLED's strong point).

 

Indeed it truly comes alive in a dark room because then the panel becomes indistinguishable from darkness itself except where the pixels light up, but it's still great during the day.

That may be, but we have some Samsung tv in our living room that is 100% not OLED (Probably not even QLED either) and it still gets reflections same as any other TV. So... I don't think I see it as a con when it affects both types. For a period of time we did actually use a projector as a TV, and it FREAKING SUCKED. We don't have blackout curtains and it wasn't a high end super bright projector, so even having the light on would completely wash it out. Having a 80" screen was the only bonus. I think the bulbs burnt out a lot too.

[SeraphicWings]

OLED is incredible compare to traditional LED TV

 

1. It has true infinite contrast ratio, so everything looks POP especially if you have a good video source

2. OLED TVs have really, really wide color gamut (most of them have over 90% of DCI-P3) and support all types of HDR 

3. Instaneous response time, so OLEDs in general are suitable for gaming (LG OLED TV are even G-Sync certified)

4. Almost all OLED TV have their panel sourced from LG Display, so image quality is about 90 to 95 percent on par with each other. So you can pick up a cheaper model from last year without sacrificing too much (e.g: My LG B9 costs $1000 and it is 4K OLED with HDR10, Dolby Vision and HLG supported, native 120Hz refresh rate, HDMI 2.1, G-Sync Certified, ALLM, Variable Refresh Rate. I dare you find ANY monitor that support all above that cost $1000)

 

However, as you said, they can be vulnerable to burn-in, but manufacturers have employed many different settings to avoid that (pixel refreshers, logo dimming...). Plus, if you take good care of it, it shouldn't be too much of an issue to be honest

[tikker]

15 hours ago, JZStudios said:

That may be, but we have some Samsung tv in our living room that is 100% not OLED (Probably not even QLED either) and it still gets reflections same as any other TV. So... I don't think I see it as a con when it affects both types. For a period of time we did actually use a projector as a TV, and it FREAKING SUCKED. We don't have blackout curtains and it wasn't a high end super bright projector, so even having the light on would completely wash it out. Having a 80" screen was the only bonus. I think the bulbs burnt out a lot too.

Oh yeah didn't mean to say reflections only affected OLEDs. Just meant to point it out as a general consideration for (bright) rooms near windows.

[fred82]

Before i move to Canada i got OLED 

And yes this is incredible  only burn can be a problem especially for gaming

black, colors, i enjoyed a lot wtching 4k movies

but well that's reall still expensive 

[Legeis]

I have a C6 I love it. 

 

I would say its worth it if you like to watch movies at home but not a huge deal if your are just watching normal TV. The image quality is frickiing amazing compared to a normal LED blacks are blacker whites are whiter reds are redder ect.... in a dark room the blacks are so black it basically fades into the background! 

 

Watching Aquaman or Planet Earth will blow your mind.... however the 6 O'Clock news will still be boring not much your TV can do about that. 

 

On the issue of burn in it's not so much an issue these days with things like pixel shift however if you plan on leaving CNN on all day or something you will probably end up with a red bar across the bottom of your screen at some point. Same with Fox and blue bar or any program that has a bright primary color plastered across the same spot on your screen for an extended period of time. 

 

However if you are not just leaving your TV on all day tuned to some news program and really enjoy movies I would 100% recommend it!

 

Also content content that brings out its potential is more common these days then it was when I bought mine. It basically used to not be worth it if you weren't buying movies on 4K HDR Bluerays (UHD Disk) but now services like apple TV are offering much more 4K HDR content for streaming and are actually doing a good job with it. Netflix is also expanding their options but unless you get the premium Plan they will only let you stream in HD. 

 

But content is king in deciding if its worth it for you. For me it is because I like movies and most if not all new releases are now available in HDR, but if you just want to watch the news I'd advise against it.

[soaringsobe24]

I am looking at getting an OLED as well but I'm worried that they're not gonna be as future proof as the newer 8k TVs which are very similar in price. Just wanna make sure I'm getting the most for my money cuz I don't have the money to upgrade my TVs every year lol.

[dogwitch]

On 7/12/2020 at 2:21 PM, Intergalacticbits said:

I've looked at them in Best Buy in my country too and they do look great.

Last time I looked at Sony OLED's in there they were like around $3000.00 US compared to the $800.00 US 4K 55" TV I bought in Walmart.

The big price difference is the only reason I don't have one now.

 

The Best Buy has been shut down for a while because of the pandemic here.

So I'm not sure what they go for now locally here.

 

If money was no thing though, I'd buy one because I love to watch movies in my free time and they look real good to me. 

 

just fyi its lg oled that sony using

 

 

[Donut417]

8 hours ago, soaringsobe24 said:

8k TVs which are very similar in price

It comes down to content my main man. 4K still is a hard sell. OTA TV and Cable TV still dont offer it. So you have to rely on Blu-ray's or Streaming. Can you imagine streaming 8K? Id fly over my 1.2TB data cap so fast Comcast's head would spin. I dont see 8k being relevant for years and years and maybe even a decade. 4K TV's are not necessarily in everyones house yet. 

[Intergalacticbits]

12 hours ago, dogwitch said:

just fyi its lg oled that sony using

Sorry was a typo.

I meant to say that sony does sell the oled tv's.

[Ankerson]

16 hours ago, Donut417 said:

It comes down to content my main man. 4K still is a hard sell. OTA TV and Cable TV still dont offer it. So you have to rely on Blu-ray's or Streaming. Can you imagine streaming 8K? Id fly over my 1.2TB data cap so fast Comcast's head would spin. I dont see 8k being relevant for years and years and maybe even a decade. 4K TV's are not necessarily in everyones house yet. 

 

With the 4K on good TV's they do upscale VERY well.

 

Also there is now the Ultra HD Blu-Ray players etc.

 

And the HDR content.

 

So even with the normal cable TV at 1080P it does look very good as they do upscale well, but you have to look at the reviews as some are better than others as you can imagine.

 

I wouldn't go out and actively look for a HD TV with good quality 4K TVs out there now.

 

I do agree about the 8K TV's in general however.

 

I own a QLED myself and I don't believe in the OLED hype, waiting for the next technology to come out.

 

 

[Donut417]

Just now, Ankerson said:

o even with the normal cable TV at 1080P it does look very good as they do upscale well, but you have to look at the reviews as some are better than others as you can imagine.

But what about us who use OTA TV? Most channels that are HD are 720p and not 1080p. 

 

Also my point is that 4K hasn't taken over the market. 8K TV's make NO sense at all. It will be decades before 8K make sense outside of commercial applications. 

[Ankerson]

4 minutes ago, Donut417 said:

But what about us who use OTA TV? Most channels that are HD are 720p and not 1080p. 

 

Also my point is that 4K hasn't taken over the market. 8K TV's make NO sense at all. It will be decades before 8K make sense outside of commercial applications. 

 

They still upscale it to 4K.

 

Mine does anyway, I have a Samsung Q90T....

 

Like DSR on a computer screen if you enable it.

[Donut417]

2 minutes ago, Ankerson said:

They still upscale it to 4K.

And the 480P channels? Because a majority of them are 480p. Thats why I haven't upgraded from a 720P TV, because its not likely it will look good with the crappy content. 

 

Because I can say without a doubt, we will NEVER go back to cable TV. Its too expensive and not worth it. 

[Ankerson]

4 minutes ago, Donut417 said:

And the 480P channels? Because a majority of them are 480p. Thats why I haven't upgraded from a 720P TV, because its not likely it will look good with the crappy content. 

 

Because I can say without a doubt, we will NEVER go back to cable TV. Its too expensive and not worth it. 

 

Same thing.

 

Looks MUCH better than the standard 480P believe me.

 

I do like the watch older shows and they aren't in HD, but with the Q90T they look VERY good...

[Ankerson]

39 minutes ago, Ankerson said:

 

Same thing.

 

Looks MUCH better than the standard 480P believe me.

 

I do like the watch older shows and they aren't in HD, but with the Q90T they look VERY good...

 

NOW.. I will say this..

 

Don't expect to go and get an entry level 4K TV and expect much out of it.

 

It will look better than an HD TV, but not that much better depending on the actual TV model.

 

You really do get what you PAY for here to a certain extent, I am not saying go out and spend $4,000 or more on a TV....

 

 

[dogwitch]

13 hours ago, Intergalacticbits said:

Sorry was a typo.

I meant to say that sony does sell the oled tv's.

i know. like a said sony does not manf the oled panel. lg does and then sell it to song. then they do their own stuff with  chips etc for it.

[soaringsobe24]

On 8/29/2020 at 12:18 AM, Donut417 said:

It comes down to content my main man. 4K still is a hard sell. OTA TV and Cable TV still dont offer it. So you have to rely on Blu-ray's or Streaming. Can you imagine streaming 8K? Id fly over my 1.2TB data cap so fast Comcast's head would spin. I dont see 8k being relevant for years and years and maybe even a decade. 4K TV's are not necessarily in everyones house yet. 

true...thanks!

[FmPhenom]

I have a LG oled and a sammy Qled.

 

F##k Qled.