NEWS: LG 48-inch OLED TV now available in UK

Is there anything inherently different from the 48” compared to the 55” models other than size? I ask as the 48” is clearly being marketed as a gaming TV. Knowing Oled technology and premature pixel wear on precious models then if the tech is the same as the bigger screens C9 or CX won’t there be a lot of unhappy people in 1-2 years of gaming bliss?

The TVs are identical apart from screen size you lose nothing apart from smaller size. But what you say about OLED technology is why i'm waiting for John Lewis to stock so i can buy the burn in protection.
 
The difference in screen size also brings with it a change in pixels per inch. As per my previous post: the 48CX has a pixel density off 92ppi compared to the 55CX at 80ppi.
 
You're very brave ordering it from Currys, have you read all the horror stories about there after-sales support, and people having to threaten them with court actions to get any type of response out of them. There Trust Pilot rating is incredibly bad, compared to richer Sounds/Crampton and Moore, John Lewis ain't much better either. Personally, unless you're minted, I think you insane buying it from Currys.

Also, LG told me that the 48" version is coming to John Lewis next. However, it's a slightly different version, the OLED48CX5LC, which has a light silver stand, whereas the one currently available in Currys has a slightly darker silver stand.
 
You're very brave ordering it from Currys, have you read all the horror stories about there after-sales support, and people having to threaten them with court actions to get any type of response out of them. There Trust Pilot rating is incredibly bad, compared to richer Sounds/Crampton and Moore, John Lewis ain't much better either. Personally, unless you're minted, I think you insane buying it from Currys.

Also, LG told me that the 48" version is coming to John Lewis next. However, it's a slightly different version, the OLED48CX5LC, which has a light silver stand, whereas the one currently available in Currys has a slightly darker silver stand.

As you know, I’m trying to avoid curry’s too. Out of interest who are you waiting for to get stock in now? I presume there was no estimation for JL getting stock. I believe curry’s had the 5LC listed a while back and it was £200 or so cheaper, wonder if that will happen again :rolleyes:
 
You're very brave ordering it from Currys, have you read all the horror stories about there after-sales support, and people having to threaten them with court actions to get any type of response out of them. There Trust Pilot rating is incredibly bad, compared to richer Sounds/Crampton and Moore, John Lewis ain't much better either. Personally, unless you're minted, I think you insane buying it from Currys.

Also, LG told me that the 48" version is coming to John Lewis next. However, it's a slightly different version, the OLED48CX5LC, which has a light silver stand, whereas the one currently available in Currys has a slightly darker silver stand.

I'd say insane is a strong word to use! I can't remember the last time I bought anything costing more than £200 where it wasn't either faulty out of the box and was sorted straight away by the manufacturer, or worked faultlessly until long after any warranty had expired.

Nespresso machine - on my 4th one of those under warranty in 2 years, but sorted with no fuss and each one is warrantied for another 2 years.

£10k of ovens from Miele - one was faulty from installation and needed 2 or 3 visits to sort, but no quibble and couldn't be more apologetic. It didn't stop it working, you just couldn't communicate with it over wifi. Damaged accessory also replaced without quibble.

At the time I bought my 55" plasma it was a similar story in terms of image retention potential, dodgy repairs etc. It's now about 7 years old and still works perfectly (touch wood) and apart from being calibrated, hasn't been touched from day 1.

Currys major problem is scale - they're simply the largest retailer with a physical presence, so the vast majority of people who won't buy online will gravitate there.

I've ordered a Sanus stand for mine, as need to get a soundbar in front of it, so won't be using the supplied bracket. I'm not buying this to game with - it's just a 2nd screen for a small family room, but I'm sure the Switch will get some use through it in time.
 
I'd say insane is a strong word to use! I can't remember the last time I bought anything costing more than £200 where it wasn't either faulty out of the box and was sorted straight away by the manufacturer, or worked faultlessly until long after any warranty had expired.

Nespresso machine - on my 4th one of those under warranty in 2 years, but sorted with no fuss and each one is warrantied for another 2 years.

£10k of ovens from Miele - one was faulty from installation and needed 2 or 3 visits to sort, but no quibble and couldn't be more apologetic. It didn't stop it working, you just couldn't communicate with it over wifi. Damaged accessory also replaced without quibble.

At the time I bought my 55" plasma it was a similar story in terms of image retention potential, dodgy repairs etc. It's now about 7 years old and still works perfectly (touch wood) and apart from being calibrated, hasn't been touched from day 1.

Currys major problem is scale - they're simply the largest retailer with a physical presence, so the vast majority of people who won't buy online will gravitate there.

I've ordered a Sanus stand for mine, as need to get a soundbar in front of it, so won't be using the supplied bracket. I'm not buying this to game with - it's just a 2nd screen for a small family room, but I'm sure the Switch will get some use through it in time.
Nahh, sorry i don't believe it's to do with scale, a 1.5 rating out of nearly 23,000 reviews is just plain bad customer service, no two ways about it lol.
 
Well. Currys delivered my LG48CX yesterday (Sunday) morning at 8am. Can't fault them. They delivered when they said they would.

Installed it in the man cave... err, I mean office.... Hooked up my PC (with RTX 2080 Ti) and the picture is simply gorgeous. The size is a bit overwhelming - it's about 90cm away from me. No pixelation at all. Got it running in full 4k at 60hz. It desperately wants to run Desktop mode in HDR. But I only really wanted that for gaming but can't figure out how to stop it doing that.

Having some issues with hooking up my Macbook Pro and my Macbook Air. Can only get the display running at 30hz in 4k. I've used SwitchResX to force the laptop to drive the display at 4k/60hz but the colour seems off. I suspect it must have reduced the colour depth to 4:0;2 ? I've tried three different cables. All of them USB-C to HDMI. All of them claim to be Thunderbolt compatible but they must only be pushing out USB-C at 10gbps rather than TB3 bandwidth. Anyway, I've ordered the - stupidly expensive - Apple Thunderbolt-HDMI adapter to see if that makes any difference. It arrives tomorrow.
I was originally going to have the 48 on a swing arm that I used for my 3440x1440 ultrawide. However, I quite like the way it looks on the stand so I'll stick with that for now.

Too early to say whether the LG48 as a monitor makes any sense. But, later this week, I'll be doing some very long work days involving videoconf, powerpoint/word editing. So, we'll see how that goes.

Compared to PC monitors, the LG48 is simply out of this world.
 
Could you explain why it isn’t a valid point anymore?

Because, from my point of view, understanding that my OLED will likely experience pixel wear, due to the nature of the organic technology employed and because I spent a lot of the time playing video games on it, and hence not last as long as my Samsung F8000 which is already 7 years old with no issues, was an important part of my purchasing decision. Even so, for me, the positives of the technology outweighed the negatives.

OLEDs will experience burn in at some point - it’s an inherent part of the technology.

Picture issues aside, some may not mind that you get slight artefacts on the display in certain situations, and instead are more concerned about the fact that they’re buying into a technology that has a shorter finite lifespan than competing technologies, and is disposed of quicker.

To say it’s not a valid point is critically incorrect - people have different reasons for buying different products.

There are people who have experienced burn in with 2017 and older OLED models.

There are many people who have used there 2017 and older OLED TVs in the same manner and haven't experienced burn in.

The reports of burn in on 2018 models, which have been around for 2 years, is practically zero.

I know that there have been engineering improvements but I don't believe this is the main factor that has all but eliminated the risk of burn in. The fact that loads of OLED owners used their 2017 and older TVs in the same manner and only a few of them experienced burn in suggests that the problem was the quality of the manufacturing process rather than OLED technology. I believe LG has improved the quality of their manufacturing process and this is why you never hear of 2018 and newer OLED TV models with burn in problems.

Sony OLED TVs use 2018 and newer panels. Have you ever heard of a Sony OLED experiencing burn in.

If it was me I would quit listening to these "OLED Burn In Activists", use some common sense, buy the OLED and live my life worry free.

Arguments For How Prevalent is OLED Burn In

The professional TV reviewers, Consumer Reports, and any other member with views that OLED is a rare occurance are incompetent with respect to OLED Burn In.

Consumer Reports Scientific Statistical Data is invalid when it comes to OLED Burn In.

Some of what rtings.com says about burn in is good, but their overall stance on burn in is incorrect. "Although we don't expect most people who watch varied content to have any issues, OLED TVs, such as the LG OLED C9 do have the possibility of experiencing burn in. "

Because I have experienced OLED Burn In it can't be a rare occurrence.

Because I have experienced OLED Burn In it is pandemic and everybody will get OLED Burn In sooner or later.

There are to many cases on you tube and social media for OLED Burn In to not be a pandemic problem.

I know a lot about pixels and TV technology and I say OLED Burn In is a problem.

If OLED Burn In wasn't a problem then LG would provide a 10 year warranty like Samsung does for their LCDs.

The professional TV Reviewers opinions can't be trusted. They are in on a big conspiracy with LG to minimize the OLED Burn In issue. Professional TV reviewers have to suck up to LG in order to get special recognition at CES.

Gadgetobsessed AVForums poll shows burn in is at 35 percent for certain years.

Curry's and all of the other stores that sell TVs are in on a big conspiracy. They know that a huge number of their TVs are returned for OLED Burn In and they don't report it to the general public.

LG knows that their OLED panels are prone to burn in and they are conning all the other TV manufacturers to use their panels and manufacturer OLED TVs.

Sure would help if LG was more upfront about OLED Burn In.

The most reliable source of information on OLED Burn In is obtained from people on social media that have actually experienced OLED Burn In.

Warranty Arguments

If LG won't provide an unlimited warranty for OLED Burn In then they know it is a problem otherwise they would provide an unlimited warranty.

Dodgexander says,
It is what it is whether you like or not, it has been this way since the Plasma era and LGs take on it now won't be any different to how it was with their Plasma TVs in the past...suck it up or let it go. Don't constantly make a fight in your head guys.

Live with the terms or move on and by an LCD, if you want to go on a crusade in the name of law, or take LG to court, by all means do so, but its discussion for somewhere else and not a thread to discuss warranty terms.

A 5 year warranty for all TVs regardless of the problem (not just burn in) seems fair to me. We need to start pressing for a 5 year warranty for every TV manufactured whether it is an LED or an OLED. If the LED and OLED manufactures won’t give a 5 year warranty for their TVs we need to sue them. If a TV doesn’t last for 5 trouble free years then it is not fit for purpose.
The good thing about a warranty like this is that it would get rid of the poor quality TV manufacturers. We could bankrupt Vizio, Hisense, RCA, Westinghouse, and Element as they would have to repair or replace over 20 percent of their TVs. Even Sony, Samsung, and LG would have a hard time as their failure rate is around 10 percent in the first 5 years. It is time TV Manufacturers start paying attention.

Useful facts from dodgexander:

  • The risk of burn in with OLEDs is actually less than it was in the Plasma days. It's no more likely to happen now than then.
  • Its not only OLEDs that can suffer from burn in, abuse any type of display (even LCD) and you can get burn in. Just take a look at some of the old LCDs in pubs.
  • Youtube is full of people claiming to be experts and misleading people, do not believe everything you watch on Youtube. I don't want to name and shame but there are some really laughable content creators out there who literally will say anything to make a few extra views. Do not believe their rubbish! I am sure if you read this, you know the kind of channels I am talking about.
OLED Burn In Tests Arguments

Vincent Teoh's test is pathetic.

rtings.com tests prove OLED Burn In is a serious issue.

Vincent Teohs tests show OLED Burn In is is overblown.

Rtings.com real life OLED Burn In test won't be worth much value for current Oled TV buyers. The six outdated LG C7 TVs they are using for their test don't have the logo luminance adjuster that exists on the C8 and C9 TVs.

Logo Luminance Adjustment - detects static logos on the screen and reduces brightness to prevent permanent image retention.

Vincent Teoh used an E8 TV for his test. This is a more accurate test for 2018 and newer models.
https://www.*/n/Extensive-Testing-Shows-OLED-Burn-In-Risk-Is-Overblown

Unopinionated's Views

If you fear burn in do not buy an OLED TV. Life is to short to be anxious and have to babysit your TV.

Finally I would point out to anyone that if cost is a concern go with a LED; IPS if you need wide angle or VA if you don't need a wide viewing angle. Most people will be fully satisfied with a mid range LED TV. Especially if you don't study the differences between LED TVs and OLED TVs.

Next I would say to stay away from certain brands (Hisense, Vizio, Westinghouse, RCA, etc.) as well because of reliability issues.

From Rtings.com*
Although we don't expect most people who watch varied content to have any issues, OLED TVs, such as the LG OLED C9 do have the possibility of experiencing burn in.

Vincent Teoh
OLED Burn In Risk is Overblown

Consumer Reports
Their statistical data shows that OLED Burn In is such a rare occurence that they don't even mention it as anything to be concerned with except for some 2015 OLED TVs.
Data on 97,554 TVs owned by Consumer Reports members who purchased a new set between 2010 and 2018 has been collected. Many of these TVs are OLEDs. If Burn In was a common problem I am sure Consumer Reports would mention it.

Geoffrey Morrison and David Katzmaier of CNET
If you vary your TV viewing habits like most people, however, it won't be an issue. Even so, caveat emptor. Or as Caesar once said, "Conscientiam autem ardeat sed non anxius" (be aware of burn-in, but not concerned).

John Archer of Forbes
Occurrences of permanent screen burn in the real consumer world are now and will continue to be rare.

Atomicus of Chichester
One thing that seems abundantly apparent is that while by no means should it be suggested that burn-in doesn't exist, the problem is nowhere near as widespread or as much a certainty as some people fear and/or lead others to believe.

Reliability, viewing angle, and cost are the main differences between most TVs. Especially if you don’t game or watch your TV in a dark room. If you don’t study the differences between TVs you would have a hard time noticing the differences between the 55UK6500, low cost TV, and the high end TVs.

Rtings.com in their Best TV reviews says, “Be careful not to get to caught up in the details. While no TV is perfect, most TVs are great enough to please almost everyone, and the differences are often not noticeable unless you really look for them.”
 
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Having some issues with hooking up my Macbook Pro and my Macbook Air. Can only get the display running at 30hz in 4k. I've used SwitchResX to force the laptop to drive the display at 4k/60hz but the colour seems off. I suspect it must have reduced the colour depth to 4:0;2 ? I've tried three different cables. All of them USB-C to HDMI. All of them claim to be Thunderbolt compatible but they must only be pushing out USB-C at 10gbps rather than TB3 bandwidth. Anyway, I've ordered the - stupidly expensive - Apple Thunderbolt-HDMI adapter to see if that makes any difference. It arrives tomorrow.
Have you told the LG that it's connected to a computer?

LGs normally require you to manually inform it that it's being used as a computer display. You do this by going to your inputs and changing the icon on the HDMI port that's connected to your computer.
 
Thanks. I've just tried that but no difference really. The Macbook thinks the default resolution for the LG48 is 1080p. Admittedly, at that res, its super smooth so must be at 60hz and text looks normally (hence must be passing the correct colour depth). However, when I scale the image closer to a 4k resolution it gets dog slow again and the colour goes off. I should say that my Macbook Pro was driving a 3440x1440 display beautifully previously. So, I think this points to something amiss with the handshake between the MBP and the LG where the former thinks the latter can only do 10gbps tops. I suspect that the USB-C -> HDMI cable may have something to do with it. Until I get the Apple TB3->HDMI adapter, I won't be able to confirm that this is the case.
 
Thanks. I've just tried that but no difference really. The Macbook thinks the default resolution for the LG48 is 1080p. Admittedly, at that res, its super smooth so must be at 60hz and text looks normally (hence must be passing the correct colour depth). However, when I scale the image closer to a 4k resolution it gets dog slow again and the colour goes off. I should say that my Macbook Pro was driving a 3440x1440 display beautifully previously. So, I think this points to something amiss with the handshake between the MBP and the LG where the former thinks the latter can only do 10gbps tops. I suspect that the USB-C -> HDMI cable may have something to do with it. Until I get the Apple TB3->HDMI adapter, I won't be able to confirm that this is the case.
Have you tried setting it default for display on the MacBook Pro itself ?
 
Well. Currys delivered my LG48CX yesterday (Sunday) morning at 8am. Can't fault them. They delivered when they said they would.

Mine arrived from Currys at 11am today (bang in the middle of the narrowed 2 hour window I was given this morning), at precisely the same time as the Sanus stand mount rocked up from Hughes via DPD :)

Started assembling the stand (it weighs 16kg on its own!) but need to wait for the Mrs to finish home schooling before we entertain removing the screen from the box to the dining table for me to mount up the brackets.

We'll only have Freesat and Netflix etc until such time as I can get the Sky package changed to something more suitable at a sensible cost, and the audio side won't be sorted for a while since Sonus Arcs seem to be like gold dust in black, and I don't want to pay more than I have to for one!
 

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Well. Currys delivered my LG48CX yesterday (Sunday) morning at 8am. Can't fault them. They delivered when they said they would.

Installed it in the man cave... err, I mean office.... Hooked up my PC (with RTX 2080 Ti) and the picture is simply gorgeous. The size is a bit overwhelming - it's about 90cm away from me. No pixelation at all. Got it running in full 4k at 60hz. It desperately wants to run Desktop mode in HDR. But I only really wanted that for gaming but can't figure out how to stop it doing that.

Having some issues with hooking up my Macbook Pro and my Macbook Air. Can only get the display running at 30hz in 4k. I've used SwitchResX to force the laptop to drive the display at 4k/60hz but the colour seems off. I suspect it must have reduced the colour depth to 4:0;2 ? I've tried three different cables. All of them USB-C to HDMI. All of them claim to be Thunderbolt compatible but they must only be pushing out USB-C at 10gbps rather than TB3 bandwidth. Anyway, I've ordered the - stupidly expensive - Apple Thunderbolt-HDMI adapter to see if that makes any difference. It arrives tomorrow.
I was originally going to have the 48 on a swing arm that I used for my 3440x1440 ultrawide. However, I quite like the way it looks on the stand so I'll stick with that for now.

Too early to say whether the LG48 as a monitor makes any sense. But, later this week, I'll be doing some very long work days involving videoconf, powerpoint/word editing. So, we'll see how that goes.

Compared to PC monitors, the LG48 is simply out of this world.
I hope nothing ever goes wrong with it pal.
 
A quick update in case anyone else is having a problem with Macbooks and the LG48CX. No luck with the suggestions on here. However, I've downloaded an app 'EasyRes' that lets me choose 3840x2160x60hz for the display. Everything is now working perfectly. No over/underscan. Text is crystal clear. Colours are normal.

I can only assume its the way that Apple's OS is treating the EDID info?? It looks like the TV is sending the correct EDID (otherwise, EasyRes wouldn't let me choose the correct resolution). Weird.

Anyway, hope this helps anyone else having the same problem!

Thanks for all the suggestions btw :D
 
Another quick update on Macbooks hooking up to the LG. I hooked up my MBP to the Dell 27" monitor at work and it was god awful. Running the display at 30hz (WTF!?!). Anyway, I had to manually set the correct res+frequency on the work monitor too. So, in a nutshell, Apple need to sort out a more extensive suite of display drivers rather than just assuming everyone is going to buy one of their authorised ones. In other words, the problems I have appear to be everything to do with the Mac OS and nothing to do with the LG.
 
We received 48 LG from Currys (delivered on time and hope I don’t need customer support). It is brilliant set and much better that my LG 43” 4k from a few years ago. Audio isn’t great. We don’t have room for sound bar above or below so need to find a small basic audio solution via amp (sigh) or power speakers with HDMI support or minimal cables. Not a lot of choice unless I go for HK wisa set. 🙄
 
Had a disappointing email from John Lewis on this unfortunately. Almost tempted to wait for August 1st just in case customer service are wrong :(

Dear Lilywhite94,

Thanks for getting in touch regarding the LG OLED55CX5LB (2020). First let me apologise for the delay in our response. We have had a higher than expected volume of emails recently but thank you so much for bearing with us.

I understand you are looking to buy a 48" model of this TV. Regrettably, we do not stock this particular TV in that size and do not plan on stocking it in future.

I am sorry I cannot be of more help in this regard but should you require any further assistance please do not hesitate to contact us at Customer Services by email or on 03456 049 049. I hope you are staying safe and well,

Kind Regards,
Steve Johnson
John Lewis & Partners
servlet.ImageServer
 
Can’t remember - was spoken about on this thread I believe
 
how long do they have that deal for do we know

I am sure the exclusivity deal has ended now with Currys it should be available elsewhere soon.
 
Excellent news, richer sounds will no be stocking this TV, I received a call from them yesterday
 

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