Help me pick my first 4K TV out of these TVs for PC, gaming, sports, TV, movies (coming from a budget/enter level LG LED from 2016)

JurgenHanz

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TL;DR
Current decent TVs that are available here:
OLED:
  • LG C1 55 inch – priced at $1250 (1 year warranty, might not cover burn ins)
  • Sony A80J 55 inch – priced at $1550 (1 year warranty, might not cover burn ins)
LED:
  • Sony X90J 55 inch – priced at $1166 (X95J seems unavailable here and seems to start at $2000 which is too much)
  • TCL C825 2021 version mini LED 65 inch – priced at $1370

Main usage:
  • PC monitor
  • PC gaming (Worth mentioning is that my PC is unable to take advantage of HDMI 2.1 or its features due to being powered by a GTX 1080)
  • Sports
  • TV shows
  • Movies

Average spent time daily on TV = anything from 6 hours to 12 hours tops

Sitting distance:

When using as monitor = ~70cm which is around ~2.2ft
When using as TV (For anything ranging from gaming to sports, TV, shows etc) = 2 meters to 3 meters which is 6.5ft to 9.8ft respectively

Room status:
My room’s brightness is fairly under control and, I can make it as dark as possible or as bright as possible with ease.

Shorter version of the story:
I’d choose OLED in a heartbeat if it wasn’t for my PC usage which is apparently risker and the fact that the warranties here only last for 1 year and probably doesn’t cover burn-in. What’s holding me back from going LED is the fact that OLED not only has the best PQ but it’s also closely priced or better priced in comparison to the LEDs we have here and the fact that a decent amount of people have told me that OLED burn-ins have become uncommon nowadays with newer TVs and technology and some told me that using one as PC monitor is doable if you take some precautionary step by hiding specific static elements.

Also I wouldn’t know whether to choose between the A80J or the C1 if I go OLED. The C1 is cheaper and is better for gaming however people say the A80J has better PQ and upscaling due to its superior processor but lacks certain gaming features. I wouldn’t be able to take advantage of any HDMI 2.1 features or C1 gaming features due to the fact that my PC has GTX 1080 and none of my system devices have HDMI 2.1. The A90J is out of my budget and not even available here yet.

As for LED, I’d go for the X95J if it was available here and fairly priced but it’s not and is very expensive (more so than OLED TVs here as pointed out above) and the X90J seems like a mid-range TV at the end of the day and I don’t know whether I should trust TCL and their products although it seems like the C825 is featured backed.

Longer version of the story:
Hello, everyone. I’ve decided to invest in a proper TV after using this very outdated TV (46LH590V) for years now and while it has its flaws, I’m not really an expert at TVs so many of its flaws aren’t really noticeable to me like terrible blacks, blooming, light bleeding, halo effects, and so on and I had nothing better to compare it with so I didn’t know what was even better. I have never used a TV that was more than 1080p and I’ve used nothing aside from the usual Plasma, LCD/LED and so on. The only 4K TVs I have seen was at demo places at shops.

After doing extensive research the past few weeks and asking around, I came to the conclusion that OLED TVs are the best TVs out there at the moment while I’d love to buy one, what’s holding me back is the fact that it has eventual burn-in and that I need to use it as my PC monitor first and foremost which is apparently going to even increase the odds of burn-in and the only warranties available here is one year warranties that cannot be extended and possibly doesn’t even cover up burn-ins so I started looking at LEDs/QLED which apparently has worse PQ and colors etc. compared to OLED but it doesn’t have burn-ins (at least it’s far rarer on it) and I still cannot decide as not only I want to have the best picture on a TV but also the LED/QLED TVs available here are around the same price as some of LG OLEDs like the C1 which left me even further confused and unable to decide as to what to go with.

I’d choose OLED in a heartbeat if it wasn’t for my PC usage which is apparently risker and the fact that the warranties here only last for 1 year and probably doesn’t cover burn-in. What’s holding me back from going LED is the fact that OLED not only has the best PQ but it’s also closely priced or better priced in comparison to the LEDs we have here and the fact that a decent amount of people have told me that OLED burn-ins have become uncommon nowadays with newer TVs and technology and some told me that using one as PC monitor is doable if you take some precautionary step by hiding specific static elements.

Also I wouldn’t know whether to choose between the A80J or the C1 if I go OLED. The C1 is cheaper and is better for gaming however people say the A80J has better PQ and upscaling due to its superior processor but lacks certain gaming features. I wouldn’t be able to take advantage of any HDMI 2.1 features or C1 gaming features due to the fact that my PC has GTX 1080 and none of my system devices have HDMI 2.1. The A90J is out of my budget and not even available here yet.

As for LED, I’d go for the X95J if it was available here and fairly priced but it’s not and is very expensive (more so than OLED TVs here as pointed out above) and the X90J seems like a mid-range TV at the end of the day and I don’t know whether I should trust TCL and their products although it seems like the C825 is featured backed.

So I thought I should come here (and other TV/4k forums) and post my dilemma in hopes you guys might be able to help me choose or even put my mind at ease about my purchase so I can finally get it done and enjoy some good PQ for a change.
Forgive me for writing a long essay, but I wanted you guys to have the full picture so you can help me pick, thank you very much in advance for reading and helping.
 
I guess I can only offer the same advice I offered someone else recently.

1. If this is going to be used for monitor use, productivity, web browsing, apps usage etc then I don't think an OLED is suited. The new ones with the EVO panel are more durable (A80J, LG G1, A90J) but they are still OLED, so will still burn in if you're leaving static elements up for long periods of time.

OLED burn in risk itself isn't really something that's either an issue or not, it depends entirely on your usage.

However, if you're planning to use the TV as a secondary display. For example to watch videos while you use your primary monitor, then an OLED is fine.

Measures can be taken to reduce burn in risk, a screen saver, conservative sleep timer, auto hiding task bar but at the end of the day its whether you'll have static elements up on the display for long periods of time which will be the decider.

It may be that with your usage the TV will last 5 years before seeing burn in, but I do think monitor usage is still definitely not something to be confident about with an OLED if its your primary monitor.

2. The time of year. New models are still expensive having not long been released, therefore I'd recommend holding off buying a 2021 model, or if you do buy now search for a 2020 model that's end of life on a discount instead.
 
I guess I can only offer the same advice I offered someone else recently.

1. If this is going to be used for monitor use, productivity, web browsing, apps usage etc then I don't think an OLED is suited. The new ones with the EVO panel are more durable (A80J, LG G1, A90J) but they are still OLED, so will still burn in if you're leaving static elements up for long periods of time.

OLED burn in risk itself isn't really something that's either an issue or not, it depends entirely on your usage.

However, if you're planning to use the TV as a secondary display. For example to watch videos while you use your primary monitor, then an OLED is fine.

Measures can be taken to reduce burn in risk, a screen saver, conservative sleep timer, auto hiding task bar but at the end of the day its whether you'll have static elements up on the display for long periods of time which will be the decider.

It may be that with your usage the TV will last 5 years before seeing burn in, but I do think monitor usage is still definitely not something to be confident about with an OLED if its your primary monitor.

2. The time of year. New models are still expensive having not long been released, therefore I'd recommend holding off buying a 2021 model, or if you do buy now search for a 2020 model that's end of life on a discount instead.
Thanks for the reply, regarding your 1st point, I don't plan on doing much if any productivity or web browsing aside from the occasional search here and there, mainly watching stuff and gaming. Also, does the A80J have the EVO panel? Thought only the A90J had it with improved heatsink which the A80J lacks.

If not OLED, then what LED/LCD TVs do you recommend for my usage?
 
OLEDs are perfect for dark environments. My personal enemy for OLEDs is direct sunlight. A permanent visible burn-in everybody talks about manifests after hundreds of hours of operation without any helper algorithms.

An exposure to direct sunlight even for short periods of time (no matter what daytime) leaves black bars that need to be fixed by pixel refresh. Repeated or long exposures might degrade or even damage the panel. We are talking here about hours and not hundreds of hours.
 
I guess I can only offer the same advice I offered someone else recently.

1. If this is going to be used for monitor use, productivity, web browsing, apps usage etc then I don't think an OLED is suited. The new ones with the EVO panel are more durable (A80J, LG G1, A90J) but they are still OLED, so will still burn in if you're leaving static elements up for long periods of time.

OLED burn in risk itself isn't really something that's either an issue or not, it depends entirely on your usage.

However, if you're planning to use the TV as a secondary display. For example to watch videos while you use your primary monitor, then an OLED is fine.

Measures can be taken to reduce burn in risk, a screen saver, conservative sleep timer, auto hiding task bar but at the end of the day its whether you'll have static elements up on the display for long periods of time which will be the decider.

It may be that with your usage the TV will last 5 years before seeing burn in, but I do think monitor usage is still definitely not something to be confident about with an OLED if its your primary monitor.

2. The time of year. New models are still expensive having not long been released, therefore I'd recommend holding off buying a 2021 model, or if you do buy now search for a 2020 model that's end of life on a discount instead.

"Measures can be taken to reduce burn in risk, a screen saver, conservative sleep timer, auto hiding task bar but at the end of the day its whether you'll have static elements up on the display for long periods of time which will be the decider." Okay, except, I'm trying to watch the program, put in on pause to eliminate commercials, not watching to see if the logo changes; watching tennis matches that can go on for hours ... I love the idea of the OLED, but there just seem to be too many asterisks and footnotes when it comes to what I'm supposed to do in order to not get burn in ... and there seem to be more people whining about it than not ... even with 2021 C1 model. And I just attempted to get warranty info from LG prior to purchase: Hysterical! "Check the documentation that came with your tv for warranty." Then, jumped through five minutes of automotron triage to get to "chat" and gave up after ten minutes. Guess they want me to purchase the Samsung QLED.
 
"Measures can be taken to reduce burn in risk, a screen saver, conservative sleep timer, auto hiding task bar but at the end of the day its whether you'll have static elements up on the display for long periods of time which will be the decider." Okay, except, I'm trying to watch the program, put in on pause to eliminate commercials, not watching to see if the logo changes; watching tennis matches that can go on for hours ... I love the idea of the OLED, but there just seem to be too many asterisks and footnotes when it comes to what I'm supposed to do in order to not get burn in ... and there seem to be more people whining about it than not ... even with 2021 C1 model. And I just attempted to get warranty info from LG prior to purchase: Hysterical! "Check the documentation that came with your tv for warranty." Then, jumped through five minutes of automotron triage to get to "chat" and gave up after ten minutes. Guess they want me to purchase the Samsung QLED.
The chances are you'll never see burn in, most people don't. The only warning sign I've noticed in your posts is your talk of leaving tennis on for long periods. If this is a regular thing with the same tickers and score boards then OLED is perhaps not for you.

If you however don't watch tennis lots, or the tennis only has a score board with no tickers then you'll probably be fine. Especially with LGs with their auto logo adjustment feature.

No point contacting LG, they don't cover burn in in their warranty.
They sell a premium warranty with the G1 which uses a more modern OLED panel type (said to be more durable) but even that doesn't explicitly cover burn in, only 'panel issues'.
 
Based on below, why not go for an A1?
I got the 77" A1 during xmas for 2100€ (c1 50% more) and the 50" was also A LOT cheaper than c1.

Difference: no120Hz, no hdmi 2.1, slightly lower brightness (I can't say i suffer though even have to turn down pixel brightness when not HDR, but I'm in a bat cave. Film maker mode then recommend 25% pixel brightness for non HDR movies and that's also where i found it comfortable before switching to filmmaker mode)

To prevent burn in there is pixel shift and logo dimming. Keeping desktop "hidden" (task bar button or quick command) and auto hide task bar should aleviate burn in risk.
  • PC gaming (Worth mentioning is that my PC is unable to take advantage of HDMI 2.1 or its features due to being powered by a GTX 1080)
 
Based on below, why not go for an A1?
I got the 77" A1 during xmas for 2100€ (c1 50% more) and the 50" was also A LOT cheaper than c1.

Difference: no120Hz, no hdmi 2.1, slightly lower brightness (I can't say i suffer though even have to turn down pixel brightness when not HDR, but I'm in a bat cave. Film maker mode then recommend 25% pixel brightness for non HDR movies and that's also where i found it comfortable before switching to filmmaker mode)
I'm waiting for the 2022 models now before I get anything. I want to see how they turn out to be.
 

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