LG OLED TVs - brightness
Discussion
I am looking to get an LG OLED TV, and have narrowed it down to two models. They are identical except that the one that is £200 more has 'better brightness', although the cheaper one's brightness is still, apparently, excellent.
Question is, under what circumstances or TV placement/enjoyment scenarios would I appreciate the better brightness? Or should I just save myself £200?
I only buy a new TV every 10 years or so, and it feels like a minefield for someone like me!
Question is, under what circumstances or TV placement/enjoyment scenarios would I appreciate the better brightness? Or should I just save myself £200?
I only buy a new TV every 10 years or so, and it feels like a minefield for someone like me!
thismonkeyhere said:
I am looking to get an LG OLED TV, and have narrowed it down to two models. They are identical except that the one that is £200 more has 'better brightness', although the cheaper one's brightness is still, apparently, excellent.
Question is, under what circumstances or TV placement/enjoyment scenarios would I appreciate the better brightness? Or should I just save myself £200?
I only buy a new TV every 10 years or so, and it feels like a minefield for someone like me!
Whats the difference between the two TVs?Question is, under what circumstances or TV placement/enjoyment scenarios would I appreciate the better brightness? Or should I just save myself £200?
I only buy a new TV every 10 years or so, and it feels like a minefield for someone like me!
Motorman74 said:
thismonkeyhere said:
I am looking to get an LG OLED TV, and have narrowed it down to two models. They are identical except that the one that is £200 more has 'better brightness', although the cheaper one's brightness is still, apparently, excellent.
Question is, under what circumstances or TV placement/enjoyment scenarios would I appreciate the better brightness? Or should I just save myself £200?
I only buy a new TV every 10 years or so, and it feels like a minefield for someone like me!
Whats the difference between the two TVs?Question is, under what circumstances or TV placement/enjoyment scenarios would I appreciate the better brightness? Or should I just save myself £200?
I only buy a new TV every 10 years or so, and it feels like a minefield for someone like me!
Aside from the resolution change to UHD 4K, the major development compared to your old TV is HDR. That stands for High Dynamic Range. This is where TV brightness comes into play.
Ordinary TV channels don't use HDR, so if you're watching SD or HD channels from Freeview, Freesat, Sky or Virgin then you'll never see the TV shift into high gear for HDR. However, there's an increasing amount of UHD content accessible via iPlayer and subscription streaming services such as Netflix (premium) and regular Amazon Prime, Disney+ as well as premium options from Sky and Virgin for sport and movie streaming.
So what's HDR?
SDR - Standard Dynamic Range - is limited in the number of individual steps in brightness shades from video black to video white. It has roughly 220. That’s a tiny fraction compared to the eye's ability which is measured in billions. You see, our vision can cope with a huge contrast range. We can see shadow detail at the same time as something brightly illuminated. SDR can't do that. The video cameraman / director has to choose one or the other to expose correctly. They can't have both. The brightness pallet is just too limited.
Cinema film doesn't have this SDR limit. 35mm and 70mm film captures a much larger brightness range. It still doesn't match human vision, but with film its possible to catch over 4000 shades of brightness. You may not have noticed it when you last saw a film at a cinema, but there's a lot more visible in the average film scene because the exposure range is so much larger. When films get transferred to DVD or Blu-ray or for some broadcast system then part of the process is truncating that dynamic range down to something an SDR system can cope with. With HDR they don't have to do this, or at least not as much. The HDR system has over 4000 brightness shades.
How does this relate to TV brightness?
What we're talking about here is contrast range. That's the difference between black and white.
Compared to LED TVs, even very good ones, OLED produces a deeper black level. That's hugely important because it helps colour saturation (colour intensity) so that colour look rich.
The white point is the maximum light the panel can put out. This is where your extra brightness comes into play.
With HDR on a TV with lower peak brightness then the wow factor is missing. This is the case with LG's cheapest OLED TVs. You get the black level benefits, but the peak white just isn't there.
In fact, HDR content looks very similar to SDR peak white but just with more shadow detail. That can actually end up looking less impressive than good SDR because subconsciously we're expecting something closer to what we see in real life. The shadow detail without the extra brightness makes things look washed out.
You can try this yourself at home. Go to your TV. Put on a film with a dark scene shot under electric light. The sort of scene like inside the submarine in U571. Now increase the brightness control. You might see a bit more shadow detail but all the contrast - the wow factor of the scene - disappears. It looks dull and washed out. Now turn the brightness back down and the wow factor comes back.
Now imagine your new TV does something similar all for the sake of spending the extra £200.
Ordinary TV channels don't use HDR, so if you're watching SD or HD channels from Freeview, Freesat, Sky or Virgin then you'll never see the TV shift into high gear for HDR. However, there's an increasing amount of UHD content accessible via iPlayer and subscription streaming services such as Netflix (premium) and regular Amazon Prime, Disney+ as well as premium options from Sky and Virgin for sport and movie streaming.
So what's HDR?
SDR - Standard Dynamic Range - is limited in the number of individual steps in brightness shades from video black to video white. It has roughly 220. That’s a tiny fraction compared to the eye's ability which is measured in billions. You see, our vision can cope with a huge contrast range. We can see shadow detail at the same time as something brightly illuminated. SDR can't do that. The video cameraman / director has to choose one or the other to expose correctly. They can't have both. The brightness pallet is just too limited.
Cinema film doesn't have this SDR limit. 35mm and 70mm film captures a much larger brightness range. It still doesn't match human vision, but with film its possible to catch over 4000 shades of brightness. You may not have noticed it when you last saw a film at a cinema, but there's a lot more visible in the average film scene because the exposure range is so much larger. When films get transferred to DVD or Blu-ray or for some broadcast system then part of the process is truncating that dynamic range down to something an SDR system can cope with. With HDR they don't have to do this, or at least not as much. The HDR system has over 4000 brightness shades.
How does this relate to TV brightness?
What we're talking about here is contrast range. That's the difference between black and white.
Compared to LED TVs, even very good ones, OLED produces a deeper black level. That's hugely important because it helps colour saturation (colour intensity) so that colour look rich.
The white point is the maximum light the panel can put out. This is where your extra brightness comes into play.
With HDR on a TV with lower peak brightness then the wow factor is missing. This is the case with LG's cheapest OLED TVs. You get the black level benefits, but the peak white just isn't there.
In fact, HDR content looks very similar to SDR peak white but just with more shadow detail. That can actually end up looking less impressive than good SDR because subconsciously we're expecting something closer to what we see in real life. The shadow detail without the extra brightness makes things look washed out.
You can try this yourself at home. Go to your TV. Put on a film with a dark scene shot under electric light. The sort of scene like inside the submarine in U571. Now increase the brightness control. You might see a bit more shadow detail but all the contrast - the wow factor of the scene - disappears. It looks dull and washed out. Now turn the brightness back down and the wow factor comes back.
Now imagine your new TV does something similar all for the sake of spending the extra £200.
Lucid_AV said:
Aside from the resolution change to UHD 4K, the major development compared to your old TV is HDR. That stands for High Dynamic Range. This is where TV brightness comes into play.
Ordinary TV channels don't use HDR, so if you're watching SD or HD channels from Freeview, Freesat, Sky or Virgin then you'll never see the TV shift into high gear for HDR. However, there's an increasing amount of UHD content accessible via iPlayer and subscription streaming services such as Netflix (premium) and regular Amazon Prime, Disney+ as well as premium options from Sky and Virgin for sport and movie streaming.
So what's HDR?
SDR - Standard Dynamic Range - is limited in the number of individual steps in brightness shades from video black to video white. It has roughly 220. That’s a tiny fraction compared to the eye's ability which is measured in billions. You see, our vision can cope with a huge contrast range. We can see shadow detail at the same time as something brightly illuminated. SDR can't do that. The video cameraman / director has to choose one or the other to expose correctly. They can't have both. The brightness pallet is just too limited.
Cinema film doesn't have this SDR limit. 35mm and 70mm film captures a much larger brightness range. It still doesn't match human vision, but with film its possible to catch over 4000 shades of brightness. You may not have noticed it when you last saw a film at a cinema, but there's a lot more visible in the average film scene because the exposure range is so much larger. When films get transferred to DVD or Blu-ray or for some broadcast system then part of the process is truncating that dynamic range down to something an SDR system can cope with. With HDR they don't have to do this, or at least not as much. The HDR system has over 4000 brightness shades.
How does this relate to TV brightness?
What we're talking about here is contrast range. That's the difference between black and white.
Compared to LED TVs, even very good ones, OLED produces a deeper black level. That's hugely important because it helps colour saturation (colour intensity) so that colour look rich.
The white point is the maximum light the panel can put out. This is where your extra brightness comes into play.
With HDR on a TV with lower peak brightness then the wow factor is missing. This is the case with LG's cheapest OLED TVs. You get the black level benefits, but the peak white just isn't there.
In fact, HDR content looks very similar to SDR peak white but just with more shadow detail. That can actually end up looking less impressive than good SDR because subconsciously we're expecting something closer to what we see in real life. The shadow detail without the extra brightness makes things look washed out.
You can try this yourself at home. Go to your TV. Put on a film with a dark scene shot under electric light. The sort of scene like inside the submarine in U571. Now increase the brightness control. You might see a bit more shadow detail but all the contrast - the wow factor of the scene - disappears. It looks dull and washed out. Now turn the brightness back down and the wow factor comes back.
Now imagine your new TV does something similar all for the sake of spending the extra £200.
So not worth the extra £200?Ordinary TV channels don't use HDR, so if you're watching SD or HD channels from Freeview, Freesat, Sky or Virgin then you'll never see the TV shift into high gear for HDR. However, there's an increasing amount of UHD content accessible via iPlayer and subscription streaming services such as Netflix (premium) and regular Amazon Prime, Disney+ as well as premium options from Sky and Virgin for sport and movie streaming.
So what's HDR?
SDR - Standard Dynamic Range - is limited in the number of individual steps in brightness shades from video black to video white. It has roughly 220. That’s a tiny fraction compared to the eye's ability which is measured in billions. You see, our vision can cope with a huge contrast range. We can see shadow detail at the same time as something brightly illuminated. SDR can't do that. The video cameraman / director has to choose one or the other to expose correctly. They can't have both. The brightness pallet is just too limited.
Cinema film doesn't have this SDR limit. 35mm and 70mm film captures a much larger brightness range. It still doesn't match human vision, but with film its possible to catch over 4000 shades of brightness. You may not have noticed it when you last saw a film at a cinema, but there's a lot more visible in the average film scene because the exposure range is so much larger. When films get transferred to DVD or Blu-ray or for some broadcast system then part of the process is truncating that dynamic range down to something an SDR system can cope with. With HDR they don't have to do this, or at least not as much. The HDR system has over 4000 brightness shades.
How does this relate to TV brightness?
What we're talking about here is contrast range. That's the difference between black and white.
Compared to LED TVs, even very good ones, OLED produces a deeper black level. That's hugely important because it helps colour saturation (colour intensity) so that colour look rich.
The white point is the maximum light the panel can put out. This is where your extra brightness comes into play.
With HDR on a TV with lower peak brightness then the wow factor is missing. This is the case with LG's cheapest OLED TVs. You get the black level benefits, but the peak white just isn't there.
In fact, HDR content looks very similar to SDR peak white but just with more shadow detail. That can actually end up looking less impressive than good SDR because subconsciously we're expecting something closer to what we see in real life. The shadow detail without the extra brightness makes things look washed out.
You can try this yourself at home. Go to your TV. Put on a film with a dark scene shot under electric light. The sort of scene like inside the submarine in U571. Now increase the brightness control. You might see a bit more shadow detail but all the contrast - the wow factor of the scene - disappears. It looks dull and washed out. Now turn the brightness back down and the wow factor comes back.
Now imagine your new TV does something similar all for the sake of spending the extra £200.
thismonkeyhere said:
Lucid_AV said:
Aside from the resolution change to UHD 4K, the major development compared to your old TV is HDR. That stands for High Dynamic Range. This is where TV brightness comes into play.
Ordinary TV channels don't use HDR, so if you're watching SD or HD channels from Freeview, Freesat, Sky or Virgin then you'll never see the TV shift into high gear for HDR. However, there's an increasing amount of UHD content accessible via iPlayer and subscription streaming services such as Netflix (premium) and regular Amazon Prime, Disney+ as well as premium options from Sky and Virgin for sport and movie streaming.
So what's HDR?
SDR - Standard Dynamic Range - is limited in the number of individual steps in brightness shades from video black to video white. It has roughly 220. That’s a tiny fraction compared to the eye's ability which is measured in billions. You see, our vision can cope with a huge contrast range. We can see shadow detail at the same time as something brightly illuminated. SDR can't do that. The video cameraman / director has to choose one or the other to expose correctly. They can't have both. The brightness pallet is just too limited.
Cinema film doesn't have this SDR limit. 35mm and 70mm film captures a much larger brightness range. It still doesn't match human vision, but with film its possible to catch over 4000 shades of brightness. You may not have noticed it when you last saw a film at a cinema, but there's a lot more visible in the average film scene because the exposure range is so much larger. When films get transferred to DVD or Blu-ray or for some broadcast system then part of the process is truncating that dynamic range down to something an SDR system can cope with. With HDR they don't have to do this, or at least not as much. The HDR system has over 4000 brightness shades.
How does this relate to TV brightness?
What we're talking about here is contrast range. That's the difference between black and white.
Compared to LED TVs, even very good ones, OLED produces a deeper black level. That's hugely important because it helps colour saturation (colour intensity) so that colour look rich.
The white point is the maximum light the panel can put out. This is where your extra brightness comes into play.
With HDR on a TV with lower peak brightness then the wow factor is missing. This is the case with LG's cheapest OLED TVs. You get the black level benefits, but the peak white just isn't there.
In fact, HDR content looks very similar to SDR peak white but just with more shadow detail. That can actually end up looking less impressive than good SDR because subconsciously we're expecting something closer to what we see in real life. The shadow detail without the extra brightness makes things look washed out.
You can try this yourself at home. Go to your TV. Put on a film with a dark scene shot under electric light. The sort of scene like inside the submarine in U571. Now increase the brightness control. You might see a bit more shadow detail but all the contrast - the wow factor of the scene - disappears. It looks dull and washed out. Now turn the brightness back down and the wow factor comes back.
Now imagine your new TV does something similar all for the sake of spending the extra £200.
So not worth the extra £200?Ordinary TV channels don't use HDR, so if you're watching SD or HD channels from Freeview, Freesat, Sky or Virgin then you'll never see the TV shift into high gear for HDR. However, there's an increasing amount of UHD content accessible via iPlayer and subscription streaming services such as Netflix (premium) and regular Amazon Prime, Disney+ as well as premium options from Sky and Virgin for sport and movie streaming.
So what's HDR?
SDR - Standard Dynamic Range - is limited in the number of individual steps in brightness shades from video black to video white. It has roughly 220. That’s a tiny fraction compared to the eye's ability which is measured in billions. You see, our vision can cope with a huge contrast range. We can see shadow detail at the same time as something brightly illuminated. SDR can't do that. The video cameraman / director has to choose one or the other to expose correctly. They can't have both. The brightness pallet is just too limited.
Cinema film doesn't have this SDR limit. 35mm and 70mm film captures a much larger brightness range. It still doesn't match human vision, but with film its possible to catch over 4000 shades of brightness. You may not have noticed it when you last saw a film at a cinema, but there's a lot more visible in the average film scene because the exposure range is so much larger. When films get transferred to DVD or Blu-ray or for some broadcast system then part of the process is truncating that dynamic range down to something an SDR system can cope with. With HDR they don't have to do this, or at least not as much. The HDR system has over 4000 brightness shades.
How does this relate to TV brightness?
What we're talking about here is contrast range. That's the difference between black and white.
Compared to LED TVs, even very good ones, OLED produces a deeper black level. That's hugely important because it helps colour saturation (colour intensity) so that colour look rich.
The white point is the maximum light the panel can put out. This is where your extra brightness comes into play.
With HDR on a TV with lower peak brightness then the wow factor is missing. This is the case with LG's cheapest OLED TVs. You get the black level benefits, but the peak white just isn't there.
In fact, HDR content looks very similar to SDR peak white but just with more shadow detail. That can actually end up looking less impressive than good SDR because subconsciously we're expecting something closer to what we see in real life. The shadow detail without the extra brightness makes things look washed out.
You can try this yourself at home. Go to your TV. Put on a film with a dark scene shot under electric light. The sort of scene like inside the submarine in U571. Now increase the brightness control. You might see a bit more shadow detail but all the contrast - the wow factor of the scene - disappears. It looks dull and washed out. Now turn the brightness back down and the wow factor comes back.
Now imagine your new TV does something similar all for the sake of spending the extra £200.
Lucid_AV said:
Aside from the resolution change to UHD 4K, the major development compared to your old TV is HDR. That stands for High Dynamic Range. This is where TV brightness comes into play.
Ordinary TV channels don't use HDR, so if you're watching SD or HD channels from Freeview, Freesat, Sky or Virgin then you'll never see the TV shift into high gear for HDR. However, there's an increasing amount of UHD content accessible via iPlayer and subscription streaming services such as Netflix (premium) and regular Amazon Prime, Disney+ as well as premium options from Sky and Virgin for sport and movie streaming.
So what's HDR?
SDR - Standard Dynamic Range - is limited in the number of individual steps in brightness shades from video black to video white. It has roughly 220. That’s a tiny fraction compared to the eye's ability which is measured in billions. You see, our vision can cope with a huge contrast range. We can see shadow detail at the same time as something brightly illuminated. SDR can't do that. The video cameraman / director has to choose one or the other to expose correctly. They can't have both. The brightness pallet is just too limited.
Cinema film doesn't have this SDR limit. 35mm and 70mm film captures a much larger brightness range. It still doesn't match human vision, but with film its possible to catch over 4000 shades of brightness. You may not have noticed it when you last saw a film at a cinema, but there's a lot more visible in the average film scene because the exposure range is so much larger. When films get transferred to DVD or Blu-ray or for some broadcast system then part of the process is truncating that dynamic range down to something an SDR system can cope with. With HDR they don't have to do this, or at least not as much. The HDR system has over 4000 brightness shades.
How does this relate to TV brightness?
What we're talking about here is contrast range. That's the difference between black and white.
Compared to LED TVs, even very good ones, OLED produces a deeper black level. That's hugely important because it helps colour saturation (colour intensity) so that colour look rich.
The white point is the maximum light the panel can put out. This is where your extra brightness comes into play.
With HDR on a TV with lower peak brightness then the wow factor is missing. This is the case with LG's cheapest OLED TVs. You get the black level benefits, but the peak white just isn't there.
In fact, HDR content looks very similar to SDR peak white but just with more shadow detail. That can actually end up looking less impressive than good SDR because subconsciously we're expecting something closer to what we see in real life. The shadow detail without the extra brightness makes things look washed out.
You can try this yourself at home. Go to your TV. Put on a film with a dark scene shot under electric light. The sort of scene like inside the submarine in U571. Now increase the brightness control. You might see a bit more shadow detail but all the contrast - the wow factor of the scene - disappears. It looks dull and washed out. Now turn the brightness back down and the wow factor comes back.
Now imagine your new TV does something similar all for the sake of spending the extra £200.
Well, Thank You from me even if the OP didn’t Thank you for taking the time to explain that is such detail and in layman’s terms. Ordinary TV channels don't use HDR, so if you're watching SD or HD channels from Freeview, Freesat, Sky or Virgin then you'll never see the TV shift into high gear for HDR. However, there's an increasing amount of UHD content accessible via iPlayer and subscription streaming services such as Netflix (premium) and regular Amazon Prime, Disney+ as well as premium options from Sky and Virgin for sport and movie streaming.
So what's HDR?
SDR - Standard Dynamic Range - is limited in the number of individual steps in brightness shades from video black to video white. It has roughly 220. That’s a tiny fraction compared to the eye's ability which is measured in billions. You see, our vision can cope with a huge contrast range. We can see shadow detail at the same time as something brightly illuminated. SDR can't do that. The video cameraman / director has to choose one or the other to expose correctly. They can't have both. The brightness pallet is just too limited.
Cinema film doesn't have this SDR limit. 35mm and 70mm film captures a much larger brightness range. It still doesn't match human vision, but with film its possible to catch over 4000 shades of brightness. You may not have noticed it when you last saw a film at a cinema, but there's a lot more visible in the average film scene because the exposure range is so much larger. When films get transferred to DVD or Blu-ray or for some broadcast system then part of the process is truncating that dynamic range down to something an SDR system can cope with. With HDR they don't have to do this, or at least not as much. The HDR system has over 4000 brightness shades.
How does this relate to TV brightness?
What we're talking about here is contrast range. That's the difference between black and white.
Compared to LED TVs, even very good ones, OLED produces a deeper black level. That's hugely important because it helps colour saturation (colour intensity) so that colour look rich.
The white point is the maximum light the panel can put out. This is where your extra brightness comes into play.
With HDR on a TV with lower peak brightness then the wow factor is missing. This is the case with LG's cheapest OLED TVs. You get the black level benefits, but the peak white just isn't there.
In fact, HDR content looks very similar to SDR peak white but just with more shadow detail. That can actually end up looking less impressive than good SDR because subconsciously we're expecting something closer to what we see in real life. The shadow detail without the extra brightness makes things look washed out.
You can try this yourself at home. Go to your TV. Put on a film with a dark scene shot under electric light. The sort of scene like inside the submarine in U571. Now increase the brightness control. You might see a bit more shadow detail but all the contrast - the wow factor of the scene - disappears. It looks dull and washed out. Now turn the brightness back down and the wow factor comes back.
Now imagine your new TV does something similar all for the sake of spending the extra £200.
Imo - spend the extra £200 as all you lose is £200 but if you buy the cheaper one you could waste the whole amount. Buy the best you can afford with TVs but know they go out of date quickly.
Lucid_AV said:
Aside from the resolution change to UHD 4K, the major development compared to your old TV is HDR. That stands for High Dynamic Range. This is where TV brightness comes into play.
Ordinary TV channels don't use HDR, so if you're watching SD or HD channels from Freeview, Freesat, Sky or Virgin then you'll never see the TV shift into high gear for HDR. However, there's an increasing amount of UHD content accessible via iPlayer and subscription streaming services such as Netflix (premium) and regular Amazon Prime, Disney+ as well as premium options from Sky and Virgin for sport and movie streaming.
So what's HDR?
SDR - Standard Dynamic Range - is limited in the number of individual steps in brightness shades from video black to video white. It has roughly 220. That’s a tiny fraction compared to the eye's ability which is measured in billions. You see, our vision can cope with a huge contrast range. We can see shadow detail at the same time as something brightly illuminated. SDR can't do that. The video cameraman / director has to choose one or the other to expose correctly. They can't have both. The brightness pallet is just too limited.
Cinema film doesn't have this SDR limit. 35mm and 70mm film captures a much larger brightness range. It still doesn't match human vision, but with film its possible to catch over 4000 shades of brightness. You may not have noticed it when you last saw a film at a cinema, but there's a lot more visible in the average film scene because the exposure range is so much larger. When films get transferred to DVD or Blu-ray or for some broadcast system then part of the process is truncating that dynamic range down to something an SDR system can cope with. With HDR they don't have to do this, or at least not as much. The HDR system has over 4000 brightness shades.
How does this relate to TV brightness?
What we're talking about here is contrast range. That's the difference between black and white.
Compared to LED TVs, even very good ones, OLED produces a deeper black level. That's hugely important because it helps colour saturation (colour intensity) so that colour look rich.
The white point is the maximum light the panel can put out. This is where your extra brightness comes into play.
With HDR on a TV with lower peak brightness then the wow factor is missing. This is the case with LG's cheapest OLED TVs. You get the black level benefits, but the peak white just isn't there.
In fact, HDR content looks very similar to SDR peak white but just with more shadow detail. That can actually end up looking less impressive than good SDR because subconsciously we're expecting something closer to what we see in real life. The shadow detail without the extra brightness makes things look washed out.
You can try this yourself at home. Go to your TV. Put on a film with a dark scene shot under electric light. The sort of scene like inside the submarine in U571. Now increase the brightness control. You might see a bit more shadow detail but all the contrast - the wow factor of the scene - disappears. It looks dull and washed out. Now turn the brightness back down and the wow factor comes back.
Now imagine your new TV does something similar all for the sake of spending the extra £200.
That’s a good explanation of HDR, but LG OLED’s already have HDR and it doesn’t answer the op’s question.Ordinary TV channels don't use HDR, so if you're watching SD or HD channels from Freeview, Freesat, Sky or Virgin then you'll never see the TV shift into high gear for HDR. However, there's an increasing amount of UHD content accessible via iPlayer and subscription streaming services such as Netflix (premium) and regular Amazon Prime, Disney+ as well as premium options from Sky and Virgin for sport and movie streaming.
So what's HDR?
SDR - Standard Dynamic Range - is limited in the number of individual steps in brightness shades from video black to video white. It has roughly 220. That’s a tiny fraction compared to the eye's ability which is measured in billions. You see, our vision can cope with a huge contrast range. We can see shadow detail at the same time as something brightly illuminated. SDR can't do that. The video cameraman / director has to choose one or the other to expose correctly. They can't have both. The brightness pallet is just too limited.
Cinema film doesn't have this SDR limit. 35mm and 70mm film captures a much larger brightness range. It still doesn't match human vision, but with film its possible to catch over 4000 shades of brightness. You may not have noticed it when you last saw a film at a cinema, but there's a lot more visible in the average film scene because the exposure range is so much larger. When films get transferred to DVD or Blu-ray or for some broadcast system then part of the process is truncating that dynamic range down to something an SDR system can cope with. With HDR they don't have to do this, or at least not as much. The HDR system has over 4000 brightness shades.
How does this relate to TV brightness?
What we're talking about here is contrast range. That's the difference between black and white.
Compared to LED TVs, even very good ones, OLED produces a deeper black level. That's hugely important because it helps colour saturation (colour intensity) so that colour look rich.
The white point is the maximum light the panel can put out. This is where your extra brightness comes into play.
With HDR on a TV with lower peak brightness then the wow factor is missing. This is the case with LG's cheapest OLED TVs. You get the black level benefits, but the peak white just isn't there.
In fact, HDR content looks very similar to SDR peak white but just with more shadow detail. That can actually end up looking less impressive than good SDR because subconsciously we're expecting something closer to what we see in real life. The shadow detail without the extra brightness makes things look washed out.
You can try this yourself at home. Go to your TV. Put on a film with a dark scene shot under electric light. The sort of scene like inside the submarine in U571. Now increase the brightness control. You might see a bit more shadow detail but all the contrast - the wow factor of the scene - disappears. It looks dull and washed out. Now turn the brightness back down and the wow factor comes back.
Now imagine your new TV does something similar all for the sake of spending the extra £200.
If the TV is going to be used in a bright room, then it might be worth the extra £200. See if there are any reviews that compare them both.
rewild said:
If brightness matters (e.g. sunny or south-facing room) OLED is probably not the choice for you anyway. They look great in the shop, but the panel tech is fundamentally less bright and you may struggle on sunny days.
This mistake, for me, was not a cheap one.
The black parts of a picture are the most negatively influenced by an abundance of natural light.This mistake, for me, was not a cheap one.
OLED tech is by far the least effected by ambient light, as the black / contrast element of the image isn’t ruined.
LCD is the only other TV option, which has a quoted higher peak brightness, but it totally washed out by natural light and viewing angles are limited.
If you are south facing, you are more than likely suffering reflections, rather than image issues.
If this is the case, I’d consider wall mounting on a cantilever bracket, so you can angle it away from the light source a little. As OLED doesn’t suffer viewing angle problems, this won’t cause an issue.
Caddyshack said:
Well, Thank You from me even if the OP didn’t Thank you for taking the time to explain that is such detail and in layman’s terms.
Imo - spend the extra £200 as all you lose is £200 but if you buy the cheaper one you could waste the whole amount. Buy the best you can afford with TVs but know they go out of date quickly.
You're more than welcome. Imo - spend the extra £200 as all you lose is £200 but if you buy the cheaper one you could waste the whole amount. Buy the best you can afford with TVs but know they go out of date quickly.
I have an LG 65B8s from 2019. Wall gets sunlight on it in the summer during the day.
Never had any issues with "brightness". I run mine at 50 brightness (out of 100) after calibration.
That hopefully puts "more brightness" into perspective.
Mind you - neither of us watch much TV on summer days, but when we do - its perfectly fine.
I was told when I bought my "B" that the "C" has "a much faster processor". I switch all image processing off.... and as much as the experts will try to tell you there are tangible benefits - in my mind (and eyes) they just desperately need to add "something" each couple of years to stimulate sales.
Never had any issues with "brightness". I run mine at 50 brightness (out of 100) after calibration.
That hopefully puts "more brightness" into perspective.
Mind you - neither of us watch much TV on summer days, but when we do - its perfectly fine.
I was told when I bought my "B" that the "C" has "a much faster processor". I switch all image processing off.... and as much as the experts will try to tell you there are tangible benefits - in my mind (and eyes) they just desperately need to add "something" each couple of years to stimulate sales.
thismonkeyhere said:
Nothing, except - to quote LG live chat operative - 'the C24 has better brightness than the CS6, though the CS brightness is still excellent'.
If C24 is the same as C2 then be aware that the brightness booster feature on that series is only on the 55” and up.We’ve got the same panel as the C2 uses but ours is in 42” Sony. In our south facing kitchen / diner it’s pretty hopeless if it’s sunny. But I knew it would be - I bought it for its acoustic surface sound as I didn’t want a sound bar in there and it works pretty well. I got it from Costco knowing that if I couldn’t live with it then it’d be no problem to return it.
I’d have liked to have tried a Samsung NeoLED and ordered one from John Lewis but multiple reports say they won’t take TVs back now after you’ve set them up so I cancelled it. For some reason Costco have never stocked that model so couldn’t get one from there to try.
14 said:
That’s a good explanation of HDR, but LG OLED’s already have HDR and it doesn’t answer the op’s question.
If the TV is going to be used in a bright room, then it might be worth the extra £200. See if there are any reviews that compare them both.
I explained HDR to provide some context as to why the extra brightness difference between two sets would be important. It was a lot to read though, so you may have just skimmed through and missed the main point. Let me try something simpler. If the TV is going to be used in a bright room, then it might be worth the extra £200. See if there are any reviews that compare them both.
Here's some important background information:
thismonkeyhere said:
I am looking to get an LG OLED TV, and have narrowed it down to two models. They are identical except that the one that is £200 more has 'better brightness', although the cheaper one's brightness is still, apparently, excellent.
Question is, under what circumstances or TV placement/enjoyment scenarios would I appreciate the better brightness? Or should I just save myself £200?
I only buy a new TV every 10 years or so, and it feels like a minefield for someone like me!
1) The OP hasn't said exactly which two models. All we know is that the brightness is the key difference and the cost difference between themQuestion is, under what circumstances or TV placement/enjoyment scenarios would I appreciate the better brightness? Or should I just save myself £200?
I only buy a new TV every 10 years or so, and it feels like a minefield for someone like me!
2) They only buy a TV every 10 years. They're looking to make the best purchase now. The budget isn't an issue. It's whether it's worth spending the extra
3) They've been told that both TVs have excellent brightness, but one is "more excellent" if I can phrase it like that
I'll address point 3 specifically. Does any manufacturer or any retailer tell you truthfully that, in a close A:B comparison, product A is a bit crap? If we're honest, it's incredibly rare. 99 times out of 100 they just want to make a sale, and so pitching both as 'excellent' they hope you at least buy product A so they can put some money in the till. If you buy product B then that's even better, but just so long as you buy something. For this reason, I tend to take manufacturer and retailer claims with a pinch of salt.
The way I start looking at stuff like this is by breaking down the cost difference over the anticipate period of ownership, and then factoring in the 'fun' element. If they're going to keep the TV for 10 years , then the £200 breaks down to a difference in cost of £1.60 per month. That's not a lot, is it? It's even less per day, but you don't need me to do the maths on that.
The point here is the simple question of regret. Will the OP sit back and think "I bought the best I could", or for each day over the next 10 years end up thinking "I wish I'd spent the extra"? User @caddyshack made the excellent point that this isn't about £200. It's whether the cost of the entire TV is wasted.
Lucid_AV said:
With HDR on a TV with lower peak brightness then the wow factor is missing. This is the case with LG's cheapest OLED TVs. You get the black level benefits, but the peak white just isn't there.
This is a car forum, so let's put it in terms of cars. Imagine you're in the market for a Ford Mustang as a weekend toy. That's a car with a certain public perception of performance, right? But instead of the 5.0 you go for the basic EcoBoost engine version. It still looks like a Mustang. It still goes goes. But this isn't your everyday transport. You bought it for weekend fun, so wouldn't you rather be sat behind the wheel of the big V8?
HDR without enough brightness to make it pop is like an underpowered sports car. The rest of the ingredients might be right, but it's missing that grin factor that makes it all worthwhile.
Now, there's a lot of "if you have a bright room" yadda yadda yadda. Yes, if you insist on watching your movies in the middle of the day next to huge glass windows then an LED set is going to be brighter. And maybe if your priority is daytime TV - and you need to see Holly and Phil regardless of Sahara-levels of sunshine flooding your room - then absolutely buy a QLED or similarly bright LED TV. But don't expect to see the best picture quality off axis because they don't do that. And don't expect great blacks when you do watch after the sun has gone down because they don't do that either.
People worry about "will it be bright enough?", but forget that that they're watching their current TV in the sort of lighting level that the new set will be used in, and new TVs including the OLEDs are all brighter than some 10 year old plasma or LCD telly.
On the OLEDs, more screen brightness = bigger grin factor.
I've just been looking at this and it seems the CS has the same panel as the C1X model of 2021 and the C2X is the new panel. My OH has the C1 and it is excellent and we have never found it wanting for brightness, even on very sunny days and in a well lit room. However the C2 is brighter if you are wanting something very bright. Re price, I have seen the C2 for less than the CS with some hunting. John Lewis had the C2 for £1540 but with £100 off if you have/get one of their accounts. Various employee benefits schemes allow you to get a percentage off that too if you or someone you know has access to one of those. Using that a friend just bought the C2 for £1383. But to get back to brightness, I don't think you'd be unhappy with the CS, but I've found the C2 a number of places for similar money, and there are some C1s still about for a chunk less which is what I'd probably go for if I didn't want to pay for the C2.
Just note my comment above that if you buy from JL and you don't get on it with it you're stuffed as they won't take TVs back once you've set them up.
If you've got access to employee schemes etc then you probably know someone who can get you into Costco even if you don't have a card yourself. You can return for any reason within 90 days. They stock a range of brands but don't have every model though. The 42" Sony OLED I got was £400 cheaper than anywhere else at the time and I still got Sony's £200 cashback as well - but check those kind of offers as purchases from Costco don't always qualify. They'll also refund the diffierence if they drop the price within 30 days.
If you've got access to employee schemes etc then you probably know someone who can get you into Costco even if you don't have a card yourself. You can return for any reason within 90 days. They stock a range of brands but don't have every model though. The 42" Sony OLED I got was £400 cheaper than anywhere else at the time and I still got Sony's £200 cashback as well - but check those kind of offers as purchases from Costco don't always qualify. They'll also refund the diffierence if they drop the price within 30 days.
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