Corrected, thanks. Hopefully OLED won't be old just yet!Thanks Steve. At the end of the second to last paragraph you've put 'OLD' instead of old. Cheers.
The trouble is, that "buying", "new", and "lottery" are words that really shouldn't exist in the same sentence. Every other household item doesn't have the same stipulation when buying new.Great article Steve as always, although it just goes to show that buying any new tv is a bit of a lottery as to whether you will get one with "faults" or just that it is what it is and be happy with what you have.
It's true that demoing TVs isn't easy these days, not only due to the staff in the store receiving limited training but also because the conditions are never ideal (unless they a dedicated demo room) and some issues are hard to identify without dedicated test patterns.In your second-last sentence you say "This is especially important if you're spending a lot of money so, if you think a certain issue might annoy you, go and look at the TV yourself to make sure.". The only problem with that is for potential purchases of OLEDs and the dark edges (vignetting) which is visible on some screens, with certain material. It can be difficult, or impossible to see dark material, in a dark environment (which might show the fault) in a typical John Lewis or Currys shop. Some shops don't even allow customers to plug in their own USB sticks which might have the revealing material. The last time I was in such a shop was a week ago, at Currys / PC World in Braehead, outside Glasgow. This store has the largest collection of televisions in Scotland. Among the televisions on display was the LG 4K flat OLED 65EF950V, and I have to say that with the (4K) material that it was showing, it's possibly the most captivating picture that I've ever seen in a shop, it looked even better than the very large Samsung UE78JS9500 about 20 metres away which was also showing very striking material. But, there was little chance of seeing dark material on the LG, and even less chance of getting the Currys staff to dim the lights in the huge shop just to see if the LG showed vignetting .......
It's true that demoing TVs isn't easy these days, not only due to the staff in the store receiving limited training but also because the conditions are never ideal (unless they a dedicated demo room) and some issues are hard to identify without dedicated test patterns.
Er, you probably are the only ones to offer that service, whoever you are ..... What a shame that more people can't know who you are!I know that the electrical retailer that I work for are more than happy for customers to have a demo set at home for a period of time to test them in their own surroundings, it's called " Being On Approval". I'm sure we can't be the only ones to offer this service??
I don't think we would see much technical advancement if TV manufacturers charging over £3000 for a TV had to make sure every TV they produce is near perfect quality. As an example, the makers of oled wouldn't at this stage make a decision to halt production for a few years until they perfect it. I dont think we would want them to either?When you spend three thousand pounds or more on a television it shouldn't be a lottery. It's that simple.
I know what you are saying and that's why I responded to your comment in the way I did.I'm not saying that every TV should be perfect, I'm saying that if two people by the same TV they should be pretty much the same and not have the massive differences in light bleed, uniformity etc.
Er, you probably are the only ones to offer that service, whoever you are ..... What a shame that more people can't know who you are!