Discussion
So, old (7yrs old?) Samsung LCD telly is on the fritz, time for a new one.
I use a Firestick to stream all the usual stuff and watch dino telly off the air a bit too. Screen is 44inches and I don't want much/any bigger than that.
As far as I can see I have two broad options:
1) Basic 4k LCD telly from LG/Samsung that will be about the same as the old one in terms of picture and sound quality and cost ca £400.
2) Splash out on Posh OLED or similar TV for ca £1,000 for better picture/sound.
A possible third way would be basic TV plus sound bar.
The built in smart TV apps I am not bothered by as I use the Firestick, so my question to all you experts out there is, will a £1000 telly be that much better in terms of picture/sound than a £400 one, for me the Mr Average user? What do you get for the extra 150% on the price?
Although I like hi fi for music, I'm not into home cinema as you can prob tell, watch a couple of hours TV in the evenings and the odd movie. I like a decent picture and reasonable sound, but I'm looking for the value sweet spot rather than pursuing diminishing returns up the price ladder for the absolute best quality.
Tks in advance!
I use a Firestick to stream all the usual stuff and watch dino telly off the air a bit too. Screen is 44inches and I don't want much/any bigger than that.
As far as I can see I have two broad options:
1) Basic 4k LCD telly from LG/Samsung that will be about the same as the old one in terms of picture and sound quality and cost ca £400.
2) Splash out on Posh OLED or similar TV for ca £1,000 for better picture/sound.
A possible third way would be basic TV plus sound bar.
The built in smart TV apps I am not bothered by as I use the Firestick, so my question to all you experts out there is, will a £1000 telly be that much better in terms of picture/sound than a £400 one, for me the Mr Average user? What do you get for the extra 150% on the price?
Although I like hi fi for music, I'm not into home cinema as you can prob tell, watch a couple of hours TV in the evenings and the odd movie. I like a decent picture and reasonable sound, but I'm looking for the value sweet spot rather than pursuing diminishing returns up the price ladder for the absolute best quality.
Tks in advance!
Edited by dontlookdown on Wednesday 22 November 08:14
If you’re really bothered about picture quality there’s only one choice… OLED.
A mate of mine just got one to replace a mid range Samsung and he moved the old tv to his bedroom… he said he’s struggling to watch the Samsung now as it just looks washed out.
You'd probably need to spend more than basic OLED money on a top of the range LCD to get anywhere near the same levels of effective contrast. The difference between OlED and a £400 LCD will be night and day.
A mate of mine just got one to replace a mid range Samsung and he moved the old tv to his bedroom… he said he’s struggling to watch the Samsung now as it just looks washed out.
You'd probably need to spend more than basic OLED money on a top of the range LCD to get anywhere near the same levels of effective contrast. The difference between OlED and a £400 LCD will be night and day.
If you are an "average user" then no, OLED won't be worth the considerable premium over backlit LED (LCD)
If you want the best and want true blacks and perfect contrast then OLED is the only choice.
Laughable flow chart.....
Have you gone through all the settings on your TV to calibrate the picture, Inc turning off sharpness, motion smoothing, image enhancement to get the most natural picture and have you reduced brightness and contrast to obtain the best black levels?
NO? - buy an LCD
YES? Buy an OLED
it's that simple. If you care, and you have the money, OLED is in its own league. If you don't care that much buy an LCD.
DOnt choose a telly onits sound performance,buy a surround system or a sound bar. OLEDs don't have sound any better than LEDs
If you want the best and want true blacks and perfect contrast then OLED is the only choice.
Laughable flow chart.....
Have you gone through all the settings on your TV to calibrate the picture, Inc turning off sharpness, motion smoothing, image enhancement to get the most natural picture and have you reduced brightness and contrast to obtain the best black levels?
NO? - buy an LCD
YES? Buy an OLED
it's that simple. If you care, and you have the money, OLED is in its own league. If you don't care that much buy an LCD.
DOnt choose a telly onits sound performance,buy a surround system or a sound bar. OLEDs don't have sound any better than LEDs
If you've never had an OLED TV, then you wouldn't notice the difference to an LCD. But then we would all still have CRT TVs!
OLED is always the answer if you can afford it. 55" is the most popular size and therefore best VFM. The greater the difference in size, the greater the premium.
Eg:
42" £1000
https://www.richersounds.com/philips-42oled808.htm...
48" £1100
https://www.richersounds.com/philips-48oled808.htm...
The quality will be appreciated long after the price is forgotten...
OLED is always the answer if you can afford it. 55" is the most popular size and therefore best VFM. The greater the difference in size, the greater the premium.
Eg:
42" £1000
https://www.richersounds.com/philips-42oled808.htm...
48" £1100
https://www.richersounds.com/philips-48oled808.htm...
The quality will be appreciated long after the price is forgotten...
Regarding ‘average users’… multiple ‘average users’ have sat in my living room and said ‘that’s an amazing picture!’… when I’m just streaming HD footy on IPTV… my screens only an LG C spec, and isn’t professionally calibrated.
If I put some proper 4kHDR content on they drool like kids in a sweet shop.
If you keep a TV 5 years and it costs a grand, its well under £1 a day.
If I put some proper 4kHDR content on they drool like kids in a sweet shop.
If you keep a TV 5 years and it costs a grand, its well under £1 a day.
Chris Stott said:
Regarding ‘average users’… multiple ‘average users’ have sat in my living room and said ‘that’s an amazing picture!’… when I’m just streaming HD footy on IPTV… my screens only an LG C spec, and isn’t professionally calibrated.
If I put some proper 4kHDR content on they drool like kids in a sweet shop.
If you keep a TV 5 years and it costs a grand, its well under £1 a day.
That's true, I have an LC C series 65" OLED (which is still a sublime screen, I turn off most of the "new features" that the newer chips offer). However, the truth of the matter is the only really amazing 4K HDR content is the tech demos. If I put some proper 4kHDR content on they drool like kids in a sweet shop.
If you keep a TV 5 years and it costs a grand, its well under £1 a day.
DTV is s
t in almost every sense. BBC fairs fairly well with its nature programs via iPlayer. The only stuff that really looks great, for me, is downloaded 10bit HDR ripped stuff that usually has to be around 25+Gb to be of high enough bandwidth / quality. Even then, I've never seen anything at all in terms of actual real content that comes anywhere close to the demo clips of coloured paint drops on speaker cones or jazz bands playing in a studio, or water sloshing in a glass. The content just isnt there in our global race to the bottom,stuffing as many low bandwidth SD channels as possible on each Freeview frequency.Make no mistake, the true blacks of OLED are a film nerds (I'm one) wet dream, but your average Joe just buys a telly and leaves it running on the shop demo "Vivid" setting and is happy at that, and all for £399. :-)
Therefore I've never bothered trying to talk your average Joe into OLED as it's mostly wasted on them.
Chris Stott said:
If you keep a TV 5 years and it costs a grand, its well under £1 a day.
This is very true. Also, I do fiddle with screen settings so maybe I am more of a TV snob than I thought;)I am quite happy to pay more if I get better value that way, so it sounds like OLED might be the answer.
I think I'll pop into Richer Sounds tomorrow and check some out, tks all.
They all look good in the shop… super bright environment and special factory settings that turn everything up to maximum!
I was in MediaMarkt yesterday morning (the Spanish equivalent of curry’s) getting some smart bulbs… wondered round the tv section (like you do
)… even the massive mid range LCDs looked amazing… but get them home, stick a film on at night, in a dark room… the blacks will be grey and anything bright will have a halo round it.
The recent higher end LCDs I’ve seen aren’t as good as the 7 year old Samsung 9 series I still have back in the UK, never mind an OLED.
I was in MediaMarkt yesterday morning (the Spanish equivalent of curry’s) getting some smart bulbs… wondered round the tv section (like you do
)… even the massive mid range LCDs looked amazing… but get them home, stick a film on at night, in a dark room… the blacks will be grey and anything bright will have a halo round it. The recent higher end LCDs I’ve seen aren’t as good as the 7 year old Samsung 9 series I still have back in the UK, never mind an OLED.
dontlookdown said:
This is very true. Also, I do fiddle with screen settings so maybe I am more of a TV snob than I thought;)
I am quite happy to pay more if I get better value that way, so it sounds like OLED might be the answer.
I think I'll pop into Richer Sounds tomorrow and check some out, tks all.
in which case youll be blown away with OLED. I am quite happy to pay more if I get better value that way, so it sounds like OLED might be the answer.
I think I'll pop into Richer Sounds tomorrow and check some out, tks all.
I have had an inexpensive 55in OLED for the last 5 years (LG B8), after the demise of my Pamasonic VT20 and was looking for a bigger TV. When I looked at the options at around £2000 I was quite disappointed with the Non OLED screens I checked out in shops. I was figuring something like a LG QNED Mini LED would be a good option, but I was really disappointed.
My old OLED is a great TV but struggles a bit in bright rooms, newer ones are better in this regard.
I ended up going for a 65in LG C3 as I could not really justify the significant extra outlay to go to 77in.
TL:DR, Oleds Rock.
My old OLED is a great TV but struggles a bit in bright rooms, newer ones are better in this regard.
I ended up going for a 65in LG C3 as I could not really justify the significant extra outlay to go to 77in.
TL:DR, Oleds Rock.
Griffith4ever said:
That's true, I have an LC C series 65" OLED (which is still a sublime screen, I turn off most of the "new features" that the newer chips offer). However, the truth of the matter is the only really amazing 4K HDR content is the tech demos.
DTV is st in almost every sense. BBC fairs fairly well with its nature programs via iPlayer. The only stuff that really looks great, for me, is downloaded 10bit HDR ripped stuff that usually has to be around 25+Gb to be of high enough bandwidth / quality. Even then, I've never seen anything at all in terms of actual real content that comes anywhere close to the demo clips of coloured paint drops on speaker cones or jazz bands playing in a studio, or water sloshing in a glass. The content just isnt there in our global race to the bottom,stuffing as many low bandwidth SD channels as possible on each Freeview frequency.
Make no mistake, the true blacks of OLED are a film nerds (I'm one) wet dream, but your average Joe just buys a telly and leaves it running on the shop demo "Vivid" setting and is happy at that, and all for £399. :-)
Therefore I've never bothered trying to talk your average Joe into OLED as it's mostly wasted on them.
Might not be your cup of tea but 4K football looks great, as does my PC that’s sat next to the TV unit. DTV is s
t in almost every sense. BBC fairs fairly well with its nature programs via iPlayer. The only stuff that really looks great, for me, is downloaded 10bit HDR ripped stuff that usually has to be around 25+Gb to be of high enough bandwidth / quality. Even then, I've never seen anything at all in terms of actual real content that comes anywhere close to the demo clips of coloured paint drops on speaker cones or jazz bands playing in a studio, or water sloshing in a glass. The content just isnt there in our global race to the bottom,stuffing as many low bandwidth SD channels as possible on each Freeview frequency.Make no mistake, the true blacks of OLED are a film nerds (I'm one) wet dream, but your average Joe just buys a telly and leaves it running on the shop demo "Vivid" setting and is happy at that, and all for £399. :-)
Therefore I've never bothered trying to talk your average Joe into OLED as it's mostly wasted on them.
Agree though, HD doesn’t look anywhere near as good and SD, well I just try to avoid watching any of that these days as it offends my eyes!
HRL said:
Might not be your cup of tea but 4K football looks great, as does my PC that’s sat next to the TV unit.
Agree though, HD doesn’t look anywhere near as good and SD, well I just try to avoid watching any of that these days as it offends my eyes!
My IPTV has some Prem games in UHD/HDR… it looks amazing… as does the F1. Agree though, HD doesn’t look anywhere near as good and SD, well I just try to avoid watching any of that these days as it offends my eyes!
In the name of closure, I got a 42 inch C series LG OLED with a bit off in the sales. Other half out last night so spent and enjoyable evening setting it up and fiddling about.
The picture, as you all promised, is a big step up in quality and even the sound is a fair bit better. Although I feel a soundbar may be coming on;)
Tks for persuading me to cough up. It even has a wizzy remote that acts like a pointer. Not sure how useful that feature will prove to be, but it is quite fun.
The picture, as you all promised, is a big step up in quality and even the sound is a fair bit better. Although I feel a soundbar may be coming on;)
Tks for persuading me to cough up. It even has a wizzy remote that acts like a pointer. Not sure how useful that feature will prove to be, but it is quite fun.
dontlookdown said:
In the name of closure, I got a 42 inch C series LG OLED with a bit off in the sales. Other half out last night so spent and enjoyable evening setting it up and fiddling about.
The picture, as you all promised, is a big step up in quality and even the sound is a fair bit better. Although I feel a soundbar may be coming on;)
Tks for persuading me to cough up. It even has a wizzy remote that acts like a pointer. Not sure how useful that feature will prove to be, but it is quite fun.
On my older LG OLED you can change the pointer icon into a little bird The picture, as you all promised, is a big step up in quality and even the sound is a fair bit better. Although I feel a soundbar may be coming on;)
Tks for persuading me to cough up. It even has a wizzy remote that acts like a pointer. Not sure how useful that feature will prove to be, but it is quite fun.
Chris Stott said:
Regarding ‘average users’… multiple ‘average users’ have sat in my living room and said ‘that’s an amazing picture!’… when I’m just streaming HD footy on IPTV… my screens only an LG C spec, and isn’t professionally calibrated.
If I put some proper 4kHDR content on they drool like kids in a sweet shop.
If you keep a TV 5 years and it costs a grand, its well under £1 a day.
Same. If I put some proper 4kHDR content on they drool like kids in a sweet shop.
If you keep a TV 5 years and it costs a grand, its well under £1 a day.
I have a 77" LG OLED and also use IPTV on it. I don't even have any "normal" tv connection to it. I also watch YouTube, Netflix and iPlayer. Sometimes Amazon Prime too.
The picture quality is superb. I consider myself "average" but it was worth the money for me. I don't know much about colours, sharpness etc but I do watch a lot of TV and just wanted something that I'd not regret buying.
So far really happy.
I have an old 55 first generation HD only LG OLED that I am guessing will need replacing soon as I also mentioned on the Black Friday thread.
To give a little more info my main watching habits are movies and sport, especially football.
I am guessing the 4K will enhance the football and the 4K and Dolby Vision should enhance movies so I am tempted. The logical choice would be a LG C series as a replacement I suspect?
To give a little more info my main watching habits are movies and sport, especially football.
I am guessing the 4K will enhance the football and the 4K and Dolby Vision should enhance movies so I am tempted. The logical choice would be a LG C series as a replacement I suspect?
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