Will I kick myself if I don't buy an OLED TV?

[jimjiber]

Like many others, I have been driving myself mad in the quest to buy 'the right telly'.

I currently have a 43" Sony that I bought refurb 3 or 4 years ago. It is absolutely fine but I am looking to get a PS5 and would like to get the full 4K experience.

I started my quest by reading all the forums and buyer's guides, then I popped into Currys (bleurgh!) and Richer Sounds to have a look for myself. So far my research has resulted in my budget going from about £600 to more like £1000 for the right model. I had decided that QLED was the right technology for me, because LED is rubbish (I am sure there are MANY exceptions) and OLED is too expensive.

But then I noticed that there are LEDS and there are LEDS! For instance, the LG Nanocell models seem to be rated highly. However, they get a lot of kudos for the viewing angle stuff, which is not important to me at all. So then I thought I had found the perfect set in the Samsung 50" Q60 for £699.

And then I found out that I can get a Philips OLED for under a grand!

Which I then dismissed for some reason or other (gaming input lag maybe?).

So now I am thinking about the Samsung 55" Q80T for £1099 (notice the inevitable budget creep?).

And then I read about a nice Sony for about the same price.

Every time I make a "decision", I read something else and start all over again.

Not expecting any advice or replies here; I just needed to vent.

PS - my missus will kill me if I get a 55"

PPS - oh yeah, this was about OLED originally - I worry that if I settle for anything less then I will see an OLED and feel like I have invested in a vintage set - are they really THAT MUCH better?

PPPS - scrap all of the above - I will *try* to wait until Black Friday...

 

[Sloppy Bob]

QLED was the right technology for me, because LED is rubbish

A QLED is still an LED (LCD) TV, it's the same technology, it just has a filter sandwiched between layers and there are many TVs without that filter that are better than the budget QLED's

OLED is a completely different technology.

You need to decide between LCD (QLED or LED) or OLED first.

I wouldn't be in a hurry though, everyone is going nuts for the next-gen gaming consoles and looking for new TVs for them.

1/First off, how many games are actually going to do 4K120?

I bet it won't be (m)any at launch.

2/ 4K on a small screen, note that anything under 65" is really too small to see the benefit of 4K resolution unless you sit on top of your TV. The main benefit of 4K at smaller screen sizes is HDR, but that's not really in your lower budget, you'd need to spend ~£1000 for a 55" with good HDR and that's pretty much the very last of the 2019 models that are left such as the Sony 55XG9505.

3/ HDMI 2.1 looks great, if you need it, if it works properly with your console, if...

Too many ifs, for now, better leaving the frustrating beta testing to others.
You also won't get a TV with HDMI 2.1 anywhere near your budget for now.

4/ TV's are at near their highest price now as they've just been launched in the last couple of months. The 2019 models bargains have pretty much all sold through. Todays £1800 TV is next Springs £995 TV when the 2021 models arrive. You'd be better waiting until at least Black Friday when the discounting starts.

 

[pastrybloke19]

All very good advice from @Sloppy Bob .

Even if you will get slightly murdered for buying a 55”, I would: way better value at that size and you will get a better TV all round. My missus is still not convinced we needed a 55”, but she doesn’t grumble as much about it now..... 😊

If you can wait till Black Friday, that’s best for getting a 2020 tv at reasonable price: could have several TVs in your budget by then. If you can’t, I would personally go for a TV that is good at HDR and not worry too much about HDMI 2.1 stuff: my view is let the HDMI 2.1 spec get beta tested by other people and I “might” buy into it once it just works.

the 55XG9505 would be tempting for me.

cheers

 

[jimjiber]

Thanks for the very detailed and sensible replies chaps. The Sony KD-55XG9505 does look like a lot of telly for £999. Very tempted to go for it but thinking I should be strong and hold out until Black Friday... it is already heavily discounted though!

 

[jimjiber]

I just found that Sony do really well-priced refurbs... I can get an A grade KD-55XG950 for £749 or be a bit crazy and get OLED KD-55AG8 for £999.

Should I be tempted? I think I know the answer...

They only come with 12 month warranty but can extend to 5 years for £120 or £140 respectively...

 

[Sloppy Bob]

55XF9005 for £549.99 as well is a cracking buy.

You can add a 5-year warranty onto them as well for ~£80

I called my local Sony Centre and they told me they'd do the XG9505 with the warranty for £780.

The refurb store seems to get new stock on a Friday, you have to be quick. I've had 2 Refurbished TVs from them, both of the the TV's were perfect and unmarked, one had a very tatty box.

 

[jimjiber]

Thanks Bob. Sorry if I am getting a bit confused but just want to clarify - if I can stretch to the price of the OLED refurb, am I right in thinking it will be noticeably better than the LED? Or will I only notice if I am always using a 4K source?

And am I right in thinking the input lag on the OLED model will be annoying when gaming? It's not something I have ever considered or noticed in the past.

 

[Sloppy Bob]

OLED is great, it definitely has the best picture quality, especially with 4K content as the HDR will be stunning.

However, OLED isn't the best choice for everyone. If you watch TV in a bright room it's not ideal, if you watch a lot of sports or news channels with static logos/tickers you may want to reconsider.
You've mentioned gaming, again, like the above, a lot of gaming with HUD's could not be the best idea and the input lag is a consideration.

The AG8 is ~ 30-48ms
The XG9505 is ~ 20ms

I'm not a gamer so pay little attention to that.

 

[jimjiber]

Thank you. Thing is pretty much all TV stations these days have a static logo in the corner, so I don't see how you can avoid screen burn with an OLED TV, unless you only watch movies!

 

[Sloppy Bob]

The difference is will you have it tuned into that static logo for hours upon hours?

If you change channel the logo changes. If you tend to leave your TV on a news channel as background noise for 9 hours a day while you work from home or have massively long gaming sessions that could be an issue.

Reading the latest stuff on burn-in it's not really so much of an issue now, but it is something you should be aware of.

 

[jimjiber]

Ooh I so nearly bought the 55XF9005 but I hesitated and now it's gone! Maybe next Friday...

 

[Sloppy Bob]

They only get a couple of a few models in so you can't afford to hesitate.

I've seen the XG9505 most weeks but that's the first I've seen the XF9005 for a while.

 

[jimjiber]

Yeah they still have the XG9505 on there for £749 but seems like you don't really get much more for the extra £200

 

[Sloppy Bob]

Better input lag, much more recent version of Android, faster UI (IIRC the XF9005 was criticised a bit for being underpowered for the OS). The XG has a brighter backlight as well.

The XF is a 2018 TV that was carried through to 2019, the XG is a 2019 model.

I don't think you'd be disappointed with either though, coming from your older 43" model.

 

[Dodgexander]

You get a lot more with the XG9505 than the XF9005. But if you are buying a next gen console why not wait for TVs with all the features you want to come down? That way you'll feel the need to upgrade later.

HDMI 2.1 VRR with 120hz refresh rate. Think of TVs like the Samsung Q80T, Q85T, Q90T. They will all come down in price if you wait.

Btw HDMI 2.1 VRR and 120hz refresh rate isn't just about pushing 120 frames per second. You basically need the TV to support both HDMI 2.1 VRR and 120hz to properly enjoy VRR and VRR is one of the features of the new consoles. If you buy a TV without HDMI 2.1 VRR, then you will be playing outputting a static 60 or 120hz signal from the new consoles which will mean the TV won't adjust its refresh rate to match the game.

Variable refresh rate - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

It looks like you may have already decided between OLED and LCD TV, but I'm confused a little by your comment about channel logos. Its more about how long you use content with the same logos than it is if the channel logos are there to begin with: OLED Burn In Risk

In my own opinion OLED TVs are by far better overall TVs than LCD TVs, so you'd be missing out if you don't consider one. Have you read: LCD versus OLED ?

 

[jimjiber]

Thanks. Back to square one I guess!

^_^

I will wait and get one that gets the best from the next gen consoles.

 

[Dodgexander]

I will wait and get one that gets the best from the next gen consoles.

A wise decision, you don't want to be a beta tester for all the new tech and prices on TVs will be cheaper then too.

Lots of people are going to go out and buy a new TV for the consoles, and they will have problems that will fill this forum. If they buy there TV now, and it doesn't play with the new console how they expected it too, they can't return it and will be stuck waiting for updates that sometimes never even happen.
We saw it before with the last generation of consoles, so we will see it again.

In fact, this time around there's even more things that can go wrong, which I'm really not looking forward too!

 

[jimjiber]

I just went for a look in Richer Sounds and I must say I am still undecided.

I fully expected to see an OLED model and be totally blown away but tbh I thought the Sony XG9505 and the Samsung Q90 looked fantastic. Yeah, the blacks weren't quite as black but I think I preferred a slightly matt screen. The LG CX was really shiny!

However, when I talked to the chap about next gen gaming he mentioned the 4 HDMI 2.1 ports on the LG and 120Hz VRR stuff, which none of the other models offered (I think).

So in terms of future-proofing it may well be the LG CX for me. But probably not at £1399, so will see what happens at end of November...

 

[Dodgexander]

My best TVs for next gen gaming 2020-21

My best TVs for next gen gaming 2020-21 Hi, my names Dodgexander and I am a forum moderator here on AVForums. Since 2016 each year I have released guides to help people when searching for there perfect TV. Together with a lot of other helpful users here on the forum, I try to help people not...

www.avforums.com

 

[Koipin]

I went for QLED for a couple of reasons - Screen Burn not being a thing, full array makes the TV more robust (Seeing OLED TVs that are 7mm thick with a ripple along the length brought me out in hives).
Blacks aren't as deep, but I wouldn't swap.

 

[jimjiber]

A ripple???

 

[Sloppy Bob]

A ripple???

Could have been worse, could have been a Flake.

 

[Koipin]

A ripple???

Yeah, sounds unbelievable but looking across the top of the screen along the edge, there was a distinct fluctuation in the plastic. It may be because it was in Currys and had been ragged on. It didn't fill me with confidence.

 

[jimjiber]

So which model did you go for? Q90?

 

[Koipin]

So which model did you go for? Q90?

Q9FN65. The Q90 was about to come out so I got it at a decent price and got a load of Sanstrom HDMI leads (4 off) thrown in for nada.