Help me not regret my next TV purchase!

[Mayday793]

I'm trying to pick out a new TV , preferably one used from Facebook Marketplace cuz i liked to buy used, but i just cant decide what i really personally want. I've got it down to either a 55 inch mini led 55qned85 for around 900$ CAD or an OLED tv of varying vintages. Everything i read (and hear from Linus), OLED really dont have bad burn in anymore, but something about a used OLED still got me scared of buying one. The mini LED is a good alternative, but am i going to be wishing i got an OLED since i'm not happy with the performance of the mini  LED? 
Im sure im going to notice a huge performance upgrade from my current TV which is a rando "element" brand tv from 2013. But that should also tell you how long I like to keep my technology around. So if i buy a new TV i want to keep it around for a long time, which adds to my skepticism of OLEDs.

Am i crazy and should just get the OLED or should i play it safe and get the mini LED?

I'm mostly looking at LG c2 55inch for around ~1200$ CAD since that the only OLED i really know is good quality, all the others i havent reasearched a lot about.

[johnt]

Frankly I don't understand why anyone would sell a C2 model.

 

Also, if you purchase technology and use it until the "wheels fall off," why wouldn't you just purchase a new one? I'm not sure what the deals are like in Canada, but in the US, we had some pretty impressive deals on the LG C3 models in 2024. Even the B4 models are incredibly affordable on discount as we currently speak. I was able to get a B4 48" for $550, and the B4 55" is going for $800 USD at the moment. I would probably be considered ignorant about Canadian pricing, but are the new B4 models outside of your price range?

 

But to somewhat answer your question, I've been using LG OLEDs for the past year or so, but honestly burn in is just not there on these televisions. I have a C3 and B4 models. Of course I take some caution to avoid burn in since I use my B4 as a monitor. The worst burn in I've seen was on my iPhone 12 Pro Max after three years of ownership. I had unnoticeable burn in at the battery indicator and the home bar down at the bottom of the screen. The burn in was mostly in the green channel. The rest of the screen was flawless. I could only see the burn in after using solid colors (red, green, blue, yellow, white, etc.) It was not noticeable with images or video whatsoever. So it is real, it does happen, but it's not as severe as it used to be from what I've seen on YT.

[jaslion]

2 hours ago, Mayday793 said:

OLED really dont have bad burn in anymore

They do. They just hide it better. Turn it back to its original factory brightness and you'll quickly see.

 

2 hours ago, Mayday793 said:

m mostly looking at LG c2 55inch for around ~1200$ CAD since that the only OLED

Bit strange to sell that. Im wary of used oleds as a lot of people dont do best practices and well then the burn in happens

[Mark Kaine]

1 hour ago, johnt said:

B4 55"

is it 100hz or 120hz...? just looked it up and there's conflicting info about this.

 

i thought it might be a good pc monitor alternative,  but 120hz is absolute minimum to have imo. 

[aggie113]

OLED I bought in 2017  (LG B6) got burn in issues back in 2022.  Was able to ignore it for about a year, then replaced it with another.  It was only visible with certain colors (red/orange in my case) so ask for a review with a scene that has good color representation over a good portion of the screen.  Better yet, ask them to download a test pattern video or burn one to dvd/bluray if that's available.  Like others said, check the settings and if you're unclear what they should be just do a factory reset on it before testing it.

[johnt]

5 hours ago, Mark Kaine said:

is it 100hz or 120hz...? just looked it up and there's conflicting info about this.

 

i thought it might be a good pc monitor alternative,  but 120hz is absolute minimum to have imo. 

B4 models are 120 Hz on all four inputs. C4 got a bump to 144 Hz. 

[TheWutofWat]

from the prespective of someone who repairs TVs. OLED is very much a good TV as long as you get something that is a C2 or higher model as they tend to not have a burn in.

HOWEVER, models from C8 and above ( don't really recommend C8-CX) as they are prettry much the same but not much difference from a C16 model 

now how to check the burn in, u can download or use YT burn in check and see how bad it is, also ask what type of videos/channels they watch as it tends to give you an idea of how fuked the TV could be (news channel usually means burn in)

[Mayday793]

So many good responses thanks so much. 

You'd be surprised how many c2 or c1 s I find in Vancouver BC. From what I can tell, they're just really rich people that sell of their two year old 55inch TV to get a bigger size. 

I could probably buy new I just like to buy used when ever possible,makes me feel better about spending my money. 

 

I haven't seen crazy deals. Currently for a c4 and b4 from Costco they're 1800$ and 1600$ respectively. The weak cad dollar isn't helping me here I don't think which is another reason why I'm looking for used, could probably save like 900$ after tax.

However as I think msot people have mentioned, unless I'm getting a near brand new c2 it's probably not worth it. 

 

I think I'll end up sticking with the mini led for a few years and hope some of this supposed new oled tech brings down the price a bit.