What do you think about OLED televisions? My current set (the only HDTV I’ve ever owned) is a 46" Sony (1920x1080 resolution) LCD set that I bought in December 2008. Still works but I was thinking of replacing it. So a couple of weeks ago, I ordered a 65" Sony 4K OLED set from Amazon that was last year’s model, so it was cheaper than the 2020 model (and I have about a quarter of the cost in Amazon rewards points and gift cards). But then I got cold feet and cancelled the order. (Partly the cold feet was over imagining how I’d get the thing unboxed, mounted to the stand and on top of my TV table by myself, all without breaking it.) I’m still thinking of getting one, but may wait until Best Buy offers installation services again. The slightly older model I was looking at is no longer available, so I may have been stupid to cancel the order. But the nice thing about consumer electronics is that prices almost always get lower, so perhaps later this year, I can get a better price.
(BTW, one reason I want to buy a new TV is that dark scenes are hard to see on the current set, so my plan to test the replacement was to re-watch the Battle of Winterfell episode of Game of Thrones, as it was famously hard to see what was going on while watching it live.)
With respect to fellow dopers, you’re better off asking at AVSForum.com. They have a forum for OLED and there are lots of very knowledgeable (some professionals) there.
Also to get the best blacks on any set, especially OLED and UHD, you need to view in a properly darkened room, near pitch black. Any light, especially daylight will wash out the image.
My next tv will be an OLED once my plasma dies. OLED excels in displaying true black levels. Since the pixels (organic light emitting diodes) provide their own light there is no backlighting of the screen needed. Thus when displaying the color black the diodes simply turn off. Other screens are backlit so when displaying black are more a gray.
You can compare the two if you have a newer cell phone with an OLED screen (iphone XS) and one without. Take them into a pitch dark room and have them display a black screen (or find a youtube “oled black screen test” video). A black screen on the OLED device will disappear in the darkness while the other device will display it as a floating gray rectangle.
Thanks for that but the specialist forums tend to get very far in the weeds, much more than I care about. And any question I have has probably been asked a thousand times already, so they are probably just going to point me at existing threads.
My current set has almost no “smart” features but the new ones are entirely smart. The Sony I was considering runs Android TV and others basically have built-in Rokus.
I bought an LG 55" OLED several years ago. I still marvel at how good the picture is.
I don’t imagine it will be all that much heavier than a 46" LCD set but you’re probably right to want help getting a 65 incher up to wherever you want it. And you’re definitely right that the prices keep sinking at amazing rates.
Forget about making a built in player a factor as they’re never as good as a standalone box. Streaming is fine, but playback of local videos is severely limited and you’ll send a lot of time reencoding your videos to be compatible. Put aside the extra $50-100 hidden premium and buy a good standalone box.
I fail to see the humor or sarcasm in the question if there is any, but any ambient light hitting the screen from the front washes out the image and reduces the ability to properly see the blackest blacks and brightest whites.
Sometimes, some light is required, especially with HDR UHD sets because the transition between a extremely dark scene into a bright one (say walking from a cave into daylight) is too intense for some viewers. However, the bias light is set behind the screen, not in front or the side.
Is your LCD tv CCFL or LED backlit? If you’re going from CCFL to OLED, you’re going to notice some major upgrade. Even going from LED to OLED is a big jump.
If you were you looking at the A9G model, we have the same interest since that’s the one I got last year. Since I saw it unveiled at CES, I knew that was the tv I’ve been waiting for since they stopped making plasma displays. The reason why I chose OLED is because of their unmatched black levels that gives great contrast for best picture quality. The reason I chose Sony was because I liked how their image processor handled colour management. And if you like to watch sports, you definitely want an OLED because of its superfast refresh rate that eliminates motion blur.
The only thing that gave me pause before pulling the trigger on the Sony was that it wasn’t HDR10+ compatible, (but it does support Dolby Vision). In any case, there’s very little content that supports either of those formats so I thought I’d cross that bridge when I come to it in a few year’s time.
There is no downside to getting an OLED except maybe some fear of image burn-in. While that’s technically possible, you have to display a static image continuously for weeks on end before that even becomes a possibility. I have a Panasonic plasma tv from six years ago and the blacks are black as ever.
Actually, it was the A8G model, supposedly the 2019 model according to Amazon. Until a couple of weeks ago, it was available for $2000, while the A9G is sometimes available for $2800 (and on other days sells for $3200).
Not sure where you’re getting “humor or sarcasm” from.
People spend a lot of time and extra money to get the perfect blacks and whites out of the most current TV. If I’m understanding you correctly, you don’t reap those benefits unless you are watching the TV in movie theater like conditions with little to no ambient light. So the question I asked, and you answered - I think, was whether that matters in the average household with windows and ambient room lighting.
I have a plasma and no real need to replace it. However, even if I wanted to I think I’ll hold off until mini-LED is more mature and cheaper. OLED is nice but not really the most advanced.
Wow, I hadn’t even heard of mini-LED but reading about it, I’m not sure if it’s better than OLED. And as for OLED not being the most advanced, technologies change all the time. I doubt there will ever be one technology that’s the most advanced. (Kind of exciting to imagine what might be available in the future.)
I think those are great prices for either of those models. I live in Japan and you’d think they’d be cheaper here. They’re not:confused:
The difference in specs between the two models are so minor I don’t think anyone would mind or even notice the differences. The only thing I noticed that may be worth mentioning is that the A9G supports eARC whereas the A8G doesn’t. If you don’t care about lossless audio formats this shouldn’t matter too much.
Anyway, whatever you choose, I think you’ll see a big difference compared to your current LCD tv.
You’ll want to hold off until micro-LED then. Those are supposed to light pixels at the individual level just like OLED and plasma. Mini-LED is just a smaller version of QLED which is a smaller version of LED, which will never be able to give you true blacks just by virtue of their technology.
Well, I missed the window on the A8G. It’s no longer easily available from Amazon or Best Buy, except as a floor model or used (for not much of a discount).
I replaced my 50" Panasonic plasma with a 55" LG OLED 4 years ago and it takes up the same real estate on the wall, is at least 50 lbs lighter and the picture is better (native 4k, HDR10, and Dolby Vision). The only thing I would do different at this point is I would have waited a year and purchased the Panasonic OLED. Fantastic TVs and either will give you a serious upgrade over your current set.
BTW, one weirdness when I ordered the Sony OLED television a couple of weeks ago. I chose the slow free shipping as I normally do (and in fact if I hadn’t cancelled, the TV was scheduled to be delivered today). But then when I checked on the order obsessively, I looked at the various options to change delivery speed, which varied in cost up to about seventy bucks for next-day delivery, with one oddity; an option for same-day delivery for ten bucks. I was tempted to change to that option just to see if they’d fulfill it. Keep in mind this is a large box that weighs over fifty pounds, so getting it within the day for ten dollars is a steal.