Advice: Just go for the oled if you can swing it

[slackerinabox]

Long winded but I hope it helps someone making this decision. I see this debate all the time so thought I'd chime in.. So we recently moved and the living room doesn't have a wall big enough for our 2 year old sony x900 (a *great* led for it's day). Debated for months between highly regarded leds (including sony and some well reviewed bang for buck chinese brands like the hisense h9g and tcls) and a used oled. found a really nice guy on craigslist that delivered a used (1000 panel hours, with proof, 99,000 to go!) oled tv last night and man oh man am i floored. keeping in mind the other led candidate tv new was about $100 cheaper than the used oled I finagled (new vs used of course), the benefits include:

(compared to my mid-range and well regarded sony):
1. Light bloom / "hot corners" in black transitions/etc - NONE on oled, something I had to get used to on the sony

2. the viewing angles are just stupid better. just slightly off center (say you're stage left in a living room) and everything's washed out on my sony with blacks turning gray and detail loss. oled = perfect contrast and brightness from every angle. i thought it would just be better, it's not better - the oled's perfect, even from 180 degrees

3. pin sharp razor details. i thought sony's acclaimed image processing on leds was impressive (and what I've seen of the high end hisense/tcl). but watching 4k streaming and i'm discovering new details in every scene - I had no idea the inside out creatures had fuzz! i didn't know there were sled tracks carved in the ice in frozen's opening (ok, my kids helped with testing). thor was immersive more so than in the theater with an amazing sense of depth . nature documentaries are almost overwhelming - seeing scale details on whales for the first time, flowers looking touchable (the kids reached out, dumb asses).. i bought my dad's 6 series tcl which is very highly regarded was a bright and sharp tv, so I thought. looks veiled and lacking punch now

4. streaming 4k looks better than ever. i always thought compression blocks, minute tears between quick transitions (the fast flipping marvel logo also had macroblocks as an example), etc. dithers fade to blacks, etc. were just a limitation of streaming 4k. Not so.. Using the same apple tv things on the oled and video looks high bitrate bluray solid. That's the weirdest and most noticeable change and was unexpected

5. brightness, etc set to 50% and everythings stunningly defined . i feared oled's lack of brightness compared to the brightest led meant I'd have to pump up brightness increasing burn in chance. not a concern even facing a window. MUCH less reflections than the samsung we had in the same spot (again something I didn't expect because reviews constantly complain of oled's bright room performance and reflection handling)

6. minor thing but while brands like hisense and tcl have gotten very good for the average consumer, there's still quality control issues you read about with some digging (from red ghosting, sets dying unexpectly in months, to sound sync issues that other brands addressed decades ago). Panel lottery too worried me, sending a big screen tv back's not fun. Used has it's own issues of course, but it's nice that everything seems to just work. Not have to endlessly tweak tv settings is great too

I could go on and on but, really, I'm very pleased with the choice I made. This $800 oled has spoiled me so much that tvs like my dad's surprisingly competant TCL 6 series and my sony that were once in the "Great" category of sharpness and vividness are now (to me) dull and with a "veil" of softness I never noticed before. If you're in the same boat try to hunt down an open box or craigslist oled deal, they're out there and worth the hunting.

 

[MrSquished]

Which tv did you get

 

[slackerinabox]

Which tv did you get

A bit of an odd duck - an LG C7 with a 2019 model panel replacement and only 1000 hours on it.

 

[slackerinabox]

video shows my very experience with LED tvs and my very weird layout (couches are far right and far left) - everything looks gray instead of black just 20-30 degrees off center, with purple bloches.

this alone justifies the $100 extra spent on the used oled. tv's longterm reliability worries me being used and with no warranty (and burn in), but we'll baby it for a year and flip it for a newer model. bought a smart plug to monitor the on/off status because burn in and kiddos worries me. even set up schedules for their 2 hours of tv time - it'll turn off every hour, a bit extreme but the schedule kicks off during adult tv time.

 

[MtnMan]

it'll turn off every hour, a bit extreme but the schedule kicks off during adult tv time.

A "bit" extreem?

 

[slackerinabox]

A "bit" extreem?

Well, I've scheduled all my acs on these $5 smart plugs, took me like 2 minutes to set up a routine in google home. sitting on a netflix menu for 2 hours has done damage based on reddit. i've noticed the screensavers are spotty, sometimes they kick in sometimes they dont

 

[MtnMan]

Well, I've scheduled all my acs on these $5 smart plugs, took me like 2 minutes to set up a routine in google home. sitting on a netflix menu for 2 hours has done damage based on reddit. i've noticed the screensavers are spotty, sometimes they kick in sometimes they dont

The most common time when electrical/electronic devices fail is at power on time when the initial inrush of power cause components to fail. Everything from old vacuum tube technology to the latest high end devices, even light bulbs from incandescent to LED.

 

[slackerinabox]

The most common time when electrical/electronic devices fail is at power on time when the initial inrush of power cause components to fail. Everything from old vacuum tube technology to the latest high end devices, even light bulbs from incandescent to LED.

Hahahah - 10 seconds of googling and you're right, it's a bad idea so I'm retiring the plug now. Thanks!

 

[ponyo]

I just ordered 55" TCL R635 for my bedroom. I struggled with this decision. I can easily afford LG CX OLED but I couldn't justify paying almost $1k premium for bedroom TV I might watch couple hours a week at most. HiSense H9G was also on my list but that TV is sold out on Amazon and at Bestbuy near me.

 

[repoman0]

I just had an LG CX 65 delivered as well from Costco. I tried out the 48” as a PC monitor and found it had too many disadvantages for that application, but wanted that image quality somewhere in my house. I’ve wanted one of these since I first saw one years ago and right before a winter in quarantine seems like decent timing.

I was also surprised at the performance of the Samsung QLED sets that I saw side by side at Microcenter, but I know they depend a lot on fairly slow video processing and local dimming algorithms that don’t work well or at all in game mode, so that pushed me over the edge to the OLED sets. This will partly be used for PS4/PS5 when it comes out. Plus the price difference is pretty minor, only $600-700 discount for a Q80 in 65” size and $100 for a Q90.

 

[zinfamous]

I *might* be replacing my current 55" 4K turd Samsung TV around this time next year, but I'm seriously considering going UST 4k laser projection. ....It depends on how all of that shakes out a year from now. Just under $3k sounds like a pretty attractive price for what you get in some of those devices that are currently out. ...I might also replace my dependable ~12 year-old sound system with a fancy sound bar system, because those have improved tremendously, apparently? and I like the idea of getting rid of most of my cabling...assuming no real loss in human-capable fidelity.

This, however, might also require a new dedicated line run to my display/audio outlets. It's probably OK, but I don't trust a lot going on behind these walls, and certainly not when spending that kind of money on such devices.

All that, or hopefully this year's LG OLEDs if they can still be had for a great price

 

[PlanetJosh]

Eventually I will just to see Oled for myself. And maybe get a Sony Oled and a LG Oled to compare them. Mostly for pc games, movies are a close 2nd. Don't have them now because don't feel like bothering with it. It's not the money. I don't know, it's fairly simple, order one of each on Prime, get them within a week and unplug the two Samsung TVs and plug in the two Oleds. One to the pc, the other to cable TV.

Guess I need some kind of nudge to do it. Maybe in the back of my mind I'm afraid the setup for color and other IQ will be a hassle. edit - wait, hold your horses, that's not any kind of dig at Oled quality, it's just a silly fear of the setup to get the best output.

 

[slackerinabox]

I just ordered 55" TCL R635 for my bedroom. I struggled with this decision. I can easily afford LG CX OLED but I couldn't justify paying almost $1k premium for bedroom TV I might watch couple hours a week at most. HiSense H9G was also on my list but that TV is sold out on Amazon and at Bestbuy near me.

For the bedroom our sony works just fine, i would think oled's a bit over kill. TO be honest the viewing angles issue is the biggest one to me - for a living room with couches scattered oled makes sense to me. for a bedroom i doubt you'd be watching the tv off center

 

[slackerinabox]

Just wanted to add my admittedly stupid move to prevent burn in when the kids are watching tv using a smart plug evolved into something less destructive than random shut offs - my nvidia shield allows me to set a schedule using google home to safely put the tv into sleep mode. It's overkill, yes, but I feel better about burn in and preventing the possibility of it stuck on some netflix menu screen overnight if we fall asleep and forget to check on the tv.

 

[slackerinabox]

Eventually I will just to see Oled for myself. And maybe get a Sony Oled and a LG Oled to compare them. Mostly for pc games, movies are a close 2nd. Don't have them now because don't feel like bothering with it. It's not the money. I don't know, it's fairly simple, order one of each on Prime, get them within a week and unplug the two Samsung TVs and plug in the two Oleds. One to the pc, the other to cable TV.

Guess I need some kind of nudge to do it. Maybe in the back of my mind I'm afraid the setup for color and other IQ will be a hassle. edit - wait, hold your horses, that's not any kind of dig at Oled quality, it's just a silly fear of the setup to get the best output.

Again, being very empathetic re: the economic situation, if you can afford it you won't regret OLED. It's honestly LESS of a hassle to set up than my LED tvs. I'd routinely fidget with settings because of inconsistencies -if I adjust for great blacks for movies sports and 1080p would be too dark, etc. Too bright? Notice a lot more artifacts etc and dark movies are muddy/gray instead of black. I don't find I have that problem with OLED. 99% of the time set it and forget it works. I fidget a lot less, for sure (and i'm a pretentious film school drop out, I'm pickier than most).

 

[CP5670]

I'll put in another vote for OLED, for both PC and TV use. They are not flawless but have come a long way, and the image quality is so far beyond any LCD that their issues are worth dealing with. They have come down in price a lot these days too, especially if you get a lightly used one or look out for deals and coupons.

 

[slackerinabox]

I'll put in another vote for OLED, for both PC and TV use. They are not flawless but have come a long way, and the image quality is so far beyond any LCD that their issues are worth dealing with. They have come down in price a lot these days too, especially if you get a lightly used one or look out for deals and coupons.

Great advice to look for a used set. My experience is that you can easily tell responsible owners from crackheads within a few messages. the guy I bought mine from volunteered viewing logs, receipts, etc. and even had the original stand screws in a ziplock - made me feel confident he wasn't a leave the tv on the NETFLIX logo for hours type guy. I just ignored the "i don't know" clueless guys, be sure to ask questions if only to test them. And the savings were huge - keeping in mind that oled has changed very little generation to generation so I'd feel confident with a 2 year old set (in fact, my panel's supposed to be a little brighter than the newest ones for whatever reason)

Another buyer tip - look for sets that had panel replacements done. There are a some 2017s on the used market with 2019 panels at 1/2 the price (LG was pretty generous with panel swaps due to a known defect according to reddit)

 

[CP5670]

I think the people on forums like this or avsforum are much more knowledgeable about burn-in and other issues than the typical TV buyer, so those are good places to buy them. I'm actually looking to sell my previous 55" E8, in case anyone here is interested.

Another thing is there are lots of obscure online shops that sell these TVs for well below the standard prices (that look too good to be true). I'm not sure if those shops have worked out for anyone, and LG will deny the warranty unless it's from an "authorized" retailer. You can usually get a few hundred dollars off Best Buy and the big stores, but not 50% off. Beach Camera/BuyDig has some good deals if you wait for them, and I got both my 77" CX and 55" E8 from there.

 

[BarkingGhostar]

Keep in mind that OLED is currently the only imaging technology that doesn't produce light when it isn't called for, and it does this on the individual pixel level. Everything else tries to block light that is on all of the time. Me being someone with history in CRT projection and a love for it, has suffered even with plasma technology not able to do what OLED does. I just can't justify the price of OLED over cheap LED TV's for non-critical viewing and I still have two working plasma TVs that at 11 and 12 years old. But if I was in a position, I would buy a 65: OLED in a heartbeat. BTW, my CRT projection setup migrated to digital, with a noticeable drop in in black level performance, but that is a ten foot wide HT setup that amazes in so many other ways.

 

[CP5670]

I was a CRT holdout until 2012 and OLED is the first time I've seen the same level of image and motion quality, and it comes in big screen sizes too (which was always a limitation of CRT). They are certainly expensive, but if you're a PC gamer and considering a top end video card or CPU then that money is much better spent on one of these TVs instead. Both TVs I got transformed my gaming experience more than any PC hardware I got in the last 10 years.