OLED or QLED?
Spiritual_Chaos
Posts: 30,889
Should I save some money and buy a Samsung QLED, or "not be a fucking idiot" and buy a high end LG OLED like my brother says?
"Mostly I think that people react sensitively because they know you’ve got a point"
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just different South Korean Brand
So, making my life easier > OLED
Even though the LG Oled offer many advantages. And the price in the end won't be that much different.
Main things for TV’s:
OLED … each pixel is lit individually … organic lighting … so you will get the best contrast and darks because it isn’t backlit like a LCD TV. Each pixel can shut off lighting in dark scenes. LCD’s are lit from the sides of the TV so you will have bleed over in pixels and never have the darks of OLED. There is a risk of screen burn-in, but only if you have a static image left on for hours … like a 24 hr New channel that you watch 24 hours a day that has a static logo on the screen or if you use the TV as a computer monitor.
QLED … is backlit LCD screen … fancy marketing term by Samsung but is same as the SHUD term they marketed in past … TV will seem brighter because it is brighter … need to transmit light from the sides of TV to the pixels on the screen … may be good if you are using in a room with lots of natural lighting. Banding is a bigger issue, especially the bigger screen you have … “banding” is seeing lines across the screen from the backlit lighting for the LCD’s. Banding is noticeable in brighter scenes like watching Ice Hockey. It is probably the worst quality control issue present in new TV’s and is very hard to ignore once you notice it. The bigger the screen, the more likely banding is present. My 50” Samsung doesn’t have banding … my 65” Samsung has pretty bad banding. Both these TV’s are 5 years old. I really had to tweek the setting to dampen the effect of banding but watching hockey really highlights banding problems. The other issue with LCD screens are the dreaded “dead pixel”
HDMI 2.1 … If you are spending money, make sure it has at least three (3) HDMI 2.1 ports … usually you will have one of the HDMI ports that can also be used as ARC. ARC is used for soundbars so if you have three (3) 2.1 HDMI ports and one of those ports is also used for ARC, you essentially have to look at it as only having two (2) 2.1 HDMI ports if you use a soundbar.
120 Hz Frequency … very important for gaming … if you want to take advantage of PS5 or Xbox Series X, you need 120 Hz
I would recommend if you are looking to spend for a premium TV, OLED with four (4) 2.1 HDMI ports and 120 Hz are a must. I’m looking at LG C1 series specifically. If you want to save money, LCD backlit with the same specs on 2.1 HDMI and 120 Hz, but should be significantly cheaper then an OLED screen. Don’t pay same money for backlit LCD if an OLED TV is cost competitive. If a TV has those specs, it will most likely cover all the other bases on the fancy terms you hear for marketing TV’s such as HDR, VRR and such.
But I want it flush to the wall, and with Samsung having its One Connect box that is a big draw. Not having four HDMI-cables and a power chord hanging down thw wall etc.
The price for me seems to be LG Gallery 55 inch = 1850 dollars
The price for the Samsung Q95 55 inch = 1400 dollars.
But I will wait for Black friday I think. And maybe settle on a LG Gallery and live with having to put up a cable-channel (or whatever it's called in english) for all the cables.
My brother just upgraded his LG CX 65 inch for a LG CX 77 inch. And the image quality is great.
Just saw that the Q95 2021 is like 2200 dollars. Its the 2020 model that is 1400 dollars. Brother said something about Samsung removing "dimming zones" (whatever that is).
I'll see at Black friday what deals there are. Really need to get a TV up on the wall so I can fit my record player and my Wii-U.
ILL BE BACK IN OCTOBER
It's starting to have some color issues On a yellow screen, there is a faint green circle in the middle of the screen. The same with an orange background.
Turns out, it's a bit of a known issue that LG isn't doing much of anything about. Apparently, over the years, the heat produced from the back of the TV messes up the pixels so instead of the individual pixels turning a certain color, they display another. They are still "told" to produce a color, but I guess they are burnt out...to some degree due to the heat.
The heat and processor is exactly where the color change is.
Apparently it's also worse if you have the TV mounted on a wall, as the heat has nowhere to go.
Maybe they have addressed it with the newer models, but something to consider if you're looking at a LG OLED.
The first 4.5 years were great and it's not something worth replacing....yet...but it's def an issue and LG isn't doing anything about it as it happens to older TVs that are out of warranty.
The only time I really notice the color change is on commercials with a solid yellow or orange background. Then the green blob is really noticeable (looking at you Liberty Mutual commercials!).
I hope it doesn't get worse, because I really don't want to buy a new TV...especially a new one every 5 damn years! Ugh.
Grr.
The picture quality is amazing but there are a few things that irk me about it. The TV has vertical banding that you can see on certain colour backgrounds, mostly greys and certain blues but I can see it in full white as well. From what I've learned this is very common on OLEDs and often goes away after 100-150 hours. I'm past that and it hasn't changed and while I don't see it 100% of the time, it annoys me when I do...
Dolby Vision is pretty much useless for video content as it adds a serious audio delay. This TV in general seems to have issues with audio delay and the Series X defaults HDR content to DV on the regular. Streaming Disney+ with the Xbox is unwatchable because of the audio lag (even if DV is off, it seems!) and there are only a handful of games actually created with DV - if they aren't created with DV then chances are they look better with HDR instead, so I've disabled DV on my Xbox.
Planet Earth 2/Blue Planet 2 were my big HDR tests and they don't disappoint, video-wise. The Attenborough introduction still had audio lag.
Horizon 5 and some other games that really utilize HDR (Ori) look stunning as well.
It was down to this tv and the Sony A80J, and with a 3 month return window at Costco Canada I decided just to try this. The Sony still hasn't added VRR and some other gaming features and although they've promised they're coming, never buy an electronic device based on future promises. They also botched the x900 update, which isn't really comparable but still not reassuring.
I might just return it and see what next year's tvs are like instead.
EDIT - I exchanged the TV for the same and the banding/panel discrepancies are cleaned up to the point it's hard to tell if I can actually see anything so that is much better.
Hurts buying such an "expensive" TV, and also with mine (2014 Plasma) working, and I have never had any problems with it.
Maybe I should have bought a cheaper Samsung The Frame (that also is made to hang)... or a QE95 that is also made to hang and has that nifty One Connect Box... (not as readily available though) eh... but whatever...
I bought a samsung fridge freezer recently, it looks like a monolith.
But didn't have many options.
Just hate the fact that cables will hang out of the TV. The Samsung QE95 (this years model for some reason much more expensive than the G1) has the one connect box with is greeeeeeaaaaat....
Do you have any nitpicks about the TV?
I do have some nitpicks but they are all regarding how the unit works with an Xbox and Dolby Vision. They don't talk to each other well and I stopped using streaming services (D+, Netflix, etc) and the media player on the Xbox Series X and just use the TV apps for streaming and TV's USB ports for media. There is significant audio lag when using the Xbox for streaming and video content, and for 4k discs you have to turn off one or two of the video features on the Xbox to avoid having no video during playback.
The TV has an audio lag management feature but that is only good if the audio is ahead of the video. My home theatre receiver is also older so it doesn't pass 4k video, nor does it have an eArc port, so my set up is everything running through the TV, and optical from the tv to the receiver for audio. I'll update this when HDMI 2.1 capable receivers are a lot cheaper and more plentiful, although the recent acquisition of Marantz/Denon/Polk Audio/etc by that medical tech company might not help that area.
The picture quality on the tv is fantastic and the features make it the best gaming TV if you're into that. Sony's OLEDs are also really good, better PQ on the competitive model but a little worse on the gaming features, not that you'd notice much difference with the naked eye.
If you ARE a gamer here, Vincent at HDTVTest has some good videos on the LG OLEDs -