I was able to negotiate with my wife into getting an OLED TV (specifically an LG C2 version) - I had to let her take over our sunroom as a sewing room, and I get the new TV in a different room.
Anyway, what’s something spectacular that I can show her (and others) that demonstrates what makes OLED screens special? I’ll have the usual streaming services in 4K, but I don’t have any gaming systems or DVD players attached. Is there a good series on Netflix or HBO-Max or elsewhere that looks really really good? I see the displays at BestBuy for example - what can I see that looks that good?
We just picked up the same set this summer in the 77” version. Most impressive thing I’ve seen on it so far was streaming the Pixar movie Lightyear in 4K from Disney+. Vivid bold colors and textures. Not the greatest movie but definitely the best looking.
Most lists I see to test 4k include the following:
Blade Runner 2049
Dunkirk
Logan
Dune (2021 version)
There are other movies on the lists but those seem to be the ones agreed upon. (Like audiophiles tend to all agree you should listen to Steely Dan to test your audio system).
I’d also recommend a good Blu-Ray player with a 4k copy of those films. If you are streaming you are likely losing some fidelity in the video from compression.
The reality is most people probably will not notice.
I have a fantastic 4k Blu-Ray player (no longer sold sadly; not just that model but the whole company stopped making them…I will be very bummed if my player breaks). I love the picture it delivers but pretty much no one I have over to watch movies notices at all. They are all used to their shitty TVs and have become accustomed to them.
In addition to those mentioned, Interstellar would be a good choice. Like Dunkirk, most of it was filmed in IMAX. Among more recent movies, the Baz Luhrmann film Elvis is pretty spectacular.
Interstellar is a good call. I’d add Gravity to the list as well.
I realize that these all tend to be sci-fi but the reality is no one filming a rom-com or drama works really hard on the visuals (by which I mean expensive cameras and film and so on). Sci-fi tends towards the spectacle of it all so the filmmakers worker harder at it.
Thanks for the recommendations so far. Are there any recommendations for non-movies, such as nature programming that’s really spectacular, such as Planet Earth - is it any good on OLED?
It’s been a while since I’ve seen it and I wasn’t particularly paying attention to video quality, but I think it would be pretty good, and at least some of the TV shows and probably the feature films are available in 4K. You might want to check out some reviews.
When my son got his Sony 4K OLED TV, in addition to many of the movies mentioned above in 4K Blu-Ray, one non-movie I got him was Rocky Mountain Express, a beautifully filmed IMAX production following a steam locomotive through the Rockies.
Seconding Dunkirk, which was the movie I used to test out my LG C1 last year. Lots of bright scenes and dark scenes so you can really see the difference.
I’m going to provide a counter (not that beowulff is wrong) with something bright, and which was the first show I watched on our new 4K TV: The Durrells in Corfu (possible misspellings).
I was blown away by the outdoor scenes. But I was coming from plain ol’ 1080p.
I got a 55" LG C2 earlier this year- The Sandman looked fantastic on it. So have a number of other TV shows and movies, but that’s the one that stands out that has all the spiffy Dolby Atmos sound, Dolby Vision HDR, etc… all turned on.
How fast times change! It wasn’t that long ago that DVD was impressive as hell because it was (gasp!) 480p, and not broadcast quality which was, at best, 480i, or VHS quality which was about half that. And now we’re dismissive of 1080p! Kids these days!
