Question Would you buy a OLED TV for a monitor? Which there of these would you prefer?

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MtSeldon

Senior member
Jan 13, 2014
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I have an Asus MG278Q monitor right now. It’s ok. Very fast panel, Free sync is supported but color reproduction is poor. So, I’m looking for a new monitor. I did a little research, some are advising to look TV’s, specially OLED TV’s for this generation.
Min 120 hz and Freesync/Gsync support is must for me. So, I found these three candidates.
  1. LG OLED48CXPUB
This one has a OLED panel and said to have the best color productions, specially blacks. But I never used a 48” TV as a monitor. Does anyone has a personal experience with these big panels? Isn’t it too big to put on a desk and use it at a desktop monitor distance (about 70cm)?
OLED’s are great for movies, games but how good are they for text related work? Like for Excel or Visual Studio?
I can see Ultrawide monitors being useful if you put two apps side by side but is 21:9 ratio at this size good for multitasking Office related work?

2. SAMSUNG 43-inch Class QLED Q60T Series
This one was advised as a cheaper alternative. Reviews seems ok but nothing very positive. 43” is more suitable for computer monitor, I think. But as far as I can see, It supports Freesync.

3. LG 38GL950G-B 38-inch Ultragear Nano IPS 1ms Curved Gaming Monitor with 144HZ Refresh Rate and NVIDIA G-SYNC
This is the monitor I’m thinking of buying If I don’t find other usable. But at 1800usd it’s more expensive than an OLED TV, makes me think it’s a reasonable price.

Do you have any experience with any of these? Which one would you go for?
 
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CP5670

Diamond Member
Jun 24, 2004
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40" here and cant think of reverting to anything smaller for PC usage. But should be noted that anything larger than 36-38" should not really be 'placed on desktop', but rather wall mounted just above the desktop. This allows for flexibility in moving your desk a few inches back to accommodate the larger size if needed.

I got a TV cart (this one) and put my 55" E8 on it, sitting right behind my desk, so the screen is flush with the desk surface. It's actually a substantial improvement over having the TV on the desk itself (with its stock stand) as I had before, since it allows the TV to sit about 4" lower. I always felt the TV was a bit too high up before, but now it's perfect. Wall mounting would also achieve this, but is harder if you're renting like I am.
 
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mnewsham

Lifer
Oct 2, 2010
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I hope they fix that issue with 422 downsampling. I was thinking of upgrading to a larger CX and make it more of a home theater setup, but I want proper 4K at 120hz. It will need at least a firmware update. You are right about the white balance shifting across the screen, although it depends on how far you're sitting from it. I tend to game only in evenings in a darkened room, where the black levels and colors stand out best. I occasionally do image/video editing or software development on it (in a smaller window than the whole screen) but mostly use a laptop for that.
 
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CP5670

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Jun 24, 2004
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I'm impressed by how quickly they did that, usually they don't fix these problems for months. I guess the press coverage helped. I'm tempted to go for a 77" CX now.
 

Dranoche

Senior member
Jul 6, 2009
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It sounded almost like a managerial oversight where somebody forgot to put the new firmware in to fully implement HDMI 2.1 features before they started shipping, at least for the subsampling issue. The Gsync issue sounded like a standard launch issue related more to the GPU, since the issue was also present on the C9, even if it was ultimately on LG's end. Sucks that things didn't work as expected right away but not really surprising that it happened and not too surprising it got fixed quickly.
 

Zstream

Diamond Member
Oct 24, 2005
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I've owned the LG OLED55B7A B7A since release and haven't had any burn in issues. Just have a screensaver, or lock your computer so it randomly shows an image.
 

repoman0

Diamond Member
Jun 17, 2010
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Glad that’s fixed, maybe I’ll buy another when I finally get my hands on an HDMI 2.1 GPU and make the effort to wall mount it this time. It’s hard to go back to my 3000:1 VA panel at my PC after using the 65 CX with my PS4. It’s decent compared to IPS but still peasant level compared to the CX.
 

CP5670

Diamond Member
Jun 24, 2004
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I picked up a 77" CX ($3400). It's on a TV cart with the mouse/KB on a mobile table, like a cross between a home theater and desktop PC setup. I change my sitting distance between 5 and 8 feet away depending on what I am doing. It really dwarfs my earlier 55" E8 and makes it look tiny in comparison. The extra size is amazing for games and movies and very immersive. It also works well for occasional desktop use and web browsing. I use 0/60 OLED Light/Contrast settings and turn them both up in games. It would be better if you could set custom profiles for this, but I have gotten used to setting them manually when I load a game.

The E8 was great and better as a standard desktop monitor, but it could only do 4K/60hz (image persistence in games causing motion blur) or 1080p/120hz (much smoother and clearer motion but too low-res for most games). I always had this tradeoff with it and was never quite satisfied with either choice, which was my main impetus for upgrading, and I figured I would step up the size at the same time. Right now I can only use 4K/120hz with 4:2:0 color, which actually looks fine to me in most games (but not in Windows) and is a big improvement over 4K/60hz. BFI at 120hz (called TruMotion in the settings) further improves the motion in some games. I'll pick up a 3080 at some point and can then use 4K 120hz 4:4:4/HDR with Gsync, although the Gsync reportedly still has a few bugs. It really has every feature and is an endgame PC gaming monitor in my view.

The speakers are not as good as the E8 (especially if you mount it, since they point downward and sound muffled without the stand) but I usually game with headphones and plan to just get a separate floor speaker setup for movies. They are fine for light Youtube use. The weight without the stand is not that different from the E8 despite the huge size increase, only 10 lbs more. The E8 is going on ebay.
 

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_Rick_

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Apr 20, 2012
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Regarding the dangers of image retention - I was also considering an OLED screen - but I am worried about usage habits of mine, leaving chat clients/contact lists/mail clients open permanently.
This isn't so bad on a machine I game on mostly - but on my desktop, those images can be displayed for hours on end, and some elements will be completely static.
If I can't use the space afforded by the screen, because window frames will burn in, I don't think it will work as an office monitor.
Which is a shame :(
 

Rayman30

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Mar 7, 2019
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I use a B9 55 Inch OLED, running "Engineering Firmware" I am able to get full 4K 120Hz, with HDR and G-Sync compatible, its epic! so much so that I am not using my Acer X34P that often. I have a long HDMI cable going to the TV, maybe I should get a 32:9 49 inch to replace my Acer lol
 
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aigomorla

CPU, Cases&Cooling Mod PC Gaming Mod Elite Member
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Sep 28, 2005
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42” coming this year.


The thing that scares me is LG's CES display says

UltraFine.. OLED... and PRO... each of word usually mean +$1000 to LG, which scares the hell out of me.
lg-ultrafine-oled.jpeg
 
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mnewsham

Lifer
Oct 2, 2010
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They only announced a 32", the 42" panel was announced by LG Display (not LG electronics, the company that sells TVs and monitors). Just because LG Display has announced a 42" OLED panel doesn't mean LG is going to sell it directly, it could be for another OEM like dell, asus, sony, etc.
 

_Rick_

Diamond Member
Apr 20, 2012
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I absolutely agree with you, there is no comparison between a TV and a monitor. a TV can never fulfill the needs of a monitor.

A screen that is further away usually slightly reduces eye strain a little bit. So that's a perfectly valid reason.
Another is, if you can make use of the space on the screen, then a TV is probably your best bet to get to properly large displays. Decent monitors stop at 32" 4k (the 43"ers mostly give off a garbage vibe, and are essentially repurposed TVs anyway), so if you were running three 30" screens and want to get rid of the bezels, as well as save on money, a TV is a decent alternative - if you can live with the handling issues.

Stands at that size are pretty irrelevant anyway, but a KVM switch should be built into a monitor these days,
 

mnewsham

Lifer
Oct 2, 2010
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but a KVM switch should be built into a monitor these days
It's built into my LG 43" monitor.

It's built-in USB hub supports KVM functionality.

Users can plug a mouse and keyboard into the two downstream USB 3.0, install the Dual Controller software on two systems, and control both of them from that single mouse/keyboard combo.
 

MtSeldon

Senior member
Jan 13, 2014
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this is a good example. A 43" VA panel at the price of an OLED TV.

I haven't seen any reviews yet but this year's microled-miniled line up from Samsung may make sense as a monitor,
 

CP5670

Diamond Member
Jun 24, 2004
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I have been using this TV for a while now and it's great for both games and productivity. It does actually have adjustable profiles (unlike what I thought earlier) and I use a high-brightness one for games and a low-brightness one for the desktop. There are a few glitches with VRR that may never be fixed (all current TVs have them), but overall VRR is a big improvement over having it off. The smaller 42" one should make a great desktop monitor.
 

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Shmee

Memory & Storage, Graphics Cards Mod Elite Member
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We recently got an LG 65" CX TV, and I was wondering, If I hooked up a computer with a 5700XT to the TV, would it work at 4k 120Hz? My understanding is that the TV supports it, due to having HDMI 2.1, and though the 5700XT supports HDMI 2.0 (b I think?) the HDMI 2 spec should have enough bandwidth to do 4k120Hz. Obviously I would need to use an HDMI 2 or later cable.
 

Muadib

Lifer
May 30, 2000
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We recently got an LG 65" CX TV, and I was wondering, If I hooked up a computer with a 5700XT to the TV, would it work at 4k 120Hz? My understanding is that the TV supports it, due to having HDMI 2.1, and though the 5700XT supports HDMI 2.0 (b I think?) the HDMI 2 spec should have enough bandwidth to do 4k120Hz. Obviously I would need to use an HDMI 2 or later cable.

I’m pretty sure that the 5700xt only supports 4K 120Hz using display port.
 

Shmee

Memory & Storage, Graphics Cards Mod Elite Member
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Hmm, I was reading that HDMI 2 supports up to 4k120Hz, but at lower color spec or something. I suppose there are other variables though, such as drivers/Windows, and the cable and display used. I will just have to try it. :p
 

CP5670

Diamond Member
Jun 24, 2004
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It works at 4:2:0, which is fine in games but not the desktop. I was using it on a 1080ti and had bound some macro keys on my Logitech keyboard to switch it before loading a game.
 

aigomorla

CPU, Cases&Cooling Mod PC Gaming Mod Elite Member
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The 4K Ultrafine OLED PRO... i nailed it saying each word = +1000 extra.

it really makes me wonder if it is a viable option over a HDTV.

I have been using this TV for a while now and it's great for both games and productivity. It does actually have adjustable profiles (unlike what I thought earlier) and I use a high-brightness one for games and a low-brightness one for the desktop. There are a few glitches with VRR that may never be fixed (all current TVs have them), but overall VRR is a big improvement over having it off. The smaller 42" one should make a great desktop monitor.

Gah... its too big to sit up close.
This is why i didn't go this route.
I guess no OLED or me again, as i am not in hell willing to dish out $4k for 4K@60hz.
I guess i go back looking at the odyssey g9 again.

BTW RIP G13.. i have one, and im trying to milk it as long as i can as logitech will not make a updated one, even tho people have been begging for it in a mechanical version. Instead logitech thinks gamers are all Esports, and only come out with really stupid gear aimed at Esports, even neutering GHub to a very buggy and simplistic version of Logitech Gaming Software.
 
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