4K Televisions: Are they worth it?

chicagoskycam

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QLED is supposed to be a better LED tech, I think only Samsung has models out right now as they refuse to go to OlED's. Here is a good article on comparisons.

https://www.digitaltrends.com/home-theater/qled-vs-oled-tv/

Black levels are huge and it seems OLED's win in every category that matters. They suffer a bit in brightness to QLED's and LED's. I'd like to see a couple more years for OLED's to improve and prices to come down.
 
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aleshemsky83

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Apr 8, 2008
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I've seen QLED, they're nothing special, and certainly not in the same league as LG OLEDs. I guess if you squint you can see some difference between it and LEDs but it's a small difference imo
 

Commander Clueless

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Sep 10, 2008
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OLED blows QLED out of the water in terms of picture quality IMO.


QLED is a nice upgrade over normal, but once you factor in the price of either technology, I still lean towards traditional LED. As nice as they are, the hefty price tag they tend to carry just isn't worth it unless you find a great deal. My two cents.
 

V13

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Sep 21, 2005
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OLED is better. QLED is pretty decent but if i have to spend 2500$ + on an HDTV i'd go all in and get a 55" 4k OLED. It's a better investment than spending close to 3k on a Samsung QLED.
 

Lonewolfe2015

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The only two choices in TVs right now (IMO) are Sony and LG. I grabbed a 900E on sale, didn't want to wait any longer for a new TV. But my next one will be an OLED, probably from LG unless Panasonic steps their game up.

Once you factor in sourcing, Sony has no chance to make a more competitive in performance and price OLED to LG. They get their panels from LG. So I expect LG will probably be the OLED leader for awhile simply by virtue of owning the supply chain.
 

Bjorn Le

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May 17, 2010
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QLED is supposed to be a better LED tech, I think only Samsung has models out right now as they refuse to go to OlED's. Here is a good article on comparisons.

https://www.digitaltrends.com/home-theater/qled-vs-oled-tv/

Black levels are huge and it seems OLED's win in every category that matters. They suffer a bit in brightness to QLED's and LED's. I'd like to see a couple more years for OLED's to improve and prices to come down.

It's not because they refuse, it's because they haven't figured out how to produce them profitably yet. Samsung has sunk a very substantial amount into OLED that hasn't really paid off. It's very much a trade secret right now only LG has figured out (Sony is buying their OLED screens from LG because they couldn't figure it out either).

We had this discussion earlier in the thread, so I'll revisit some of those themes. Right now, the QLED Samsung puts out isn't even close to the potential of QLED, and it's more or less a glorified LCD with more of these quantum dots. This is a good article that explains it. QLED will be better one day, because it can match the black levels of OLED at far more cost effective propositions. But we're not there yet, and it'll probably be close to 2025 before we are. OLED took probably 10-12 years to become viable in anything bigger than a smartphone screen, and we still only see it in very high end laptops, TVs, and monitors.
 

chicagoskycam

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Refuse.... can't produce... keep pushing LCD's... It's all the same thing. Sony is buying panels and were in the same boat a year ago. At this point Samsung can't produce them and refuses to buy the panels to put one on the market.

I have Sony's LCD from last year and it's pretty good. I'm hoping a good OLED is out from them at a reasonable price in a couple years. Right now a 65 inch is almost 4k where a good LCD from them is a little more than half that.
 

Bjorn Le

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Refuse.... can't produce... keep pushing LCD's... It's all the same thing. Sony is buying panels and were in the same boat a year ago. At this point Samsung can't produce them and refuses to buy the panels to put one on the market.

I have Sony's LCD from last year and it's pretty good. I'm hoping a good OLED is out from them at a reasonable price in a couple years. Right now a 65 inch is almost 4k where a good LCD from them is a little more than half that.

It might be semantics but to me refuse insinuates they don't want to. We know they do want to, they've invested so much into it, and they were the first to champion the technology in something more than smartphones (which they were a pioneer in as well). Pretty ironic they've fallen so far behind, it's actually shocking they haven't been able to mass produce the panels yet.

To be honest, if LG was a Chinese/Taiwanese conglomerate instead of a Korea one, they'd likely be buying panels from them as well. I'm not sure the refusal is one Samsung's end either; its possible that LG won't sell to Samsung. Sony and Panasonic are not the giants they used to be, and neither may not be able to produce OLEDs efficiently until after they're mainstream. All the other companies buying panels from LG are small fish and irrelevant from a competition standpoint. LG can eat away at Samsung's market share and loyalty base by not selling them panels.
 

chicagoskycam

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^ Pioneer. Still have an Elite Plasma and I tell you for movies it's on par with my Sony from last year. I know you were not referencing them but this situation is similar. They were high end but their products were also very good.

I wish they didn't get out of the business. What sucks is you have very few panel makers at an affordable cost. They are all essentially coming from the same place and it screws consumers in terms of competition.

Hopefully Sony or Samsung figures it out on their own and LG has a little less power here. Referencing other posts, we have not see the max of what QLED can do. Samsung seems to be hanging their hopes on this but they have to be cheaper at the same time.
 

Stories

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Sep 10, 2006
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OLED is basically like plasma. It's a superior technology that has real benefits in PQ but will cost more than any LED-backlight based tech. I think fundamentally the cost of OLED will never be competitive with any LCD-based tech and like the LCD vs. Plasma war of 10 years ago, OLED will be niche for the high-end only.
 
Sep 19, 2008
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I just realized this is the first football game I will be able to see on my brand new 4k 65 inch TV, which I purchased in late February after the season ended! Can I expect any mesmerizing graphics on NBC tonight for today's match?
 

Hammettf2b

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Jul 9, 2012
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I just realized this is the first football game I will be able to see on my brand new 4k 65 inch TV, which I purchased in late February after the season ended! Can I expect any mesmerizing graphics on NBC tonight for today's match?

Television in America doesn't even broadcast in 1080p let alone 4k.
 

aleshemsky83

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Apr 8, 2008
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why the **** not

To my understanding its because all the networks upgraded their equipment for 720p/1080i during the HD era and haven't upgraded them since. Same reason most movie theatres only support 2k. That was what was available when all the old projectors were getting replaced. The infrastructure is there for cable to support 4k, but networks aren't subsidized with tax dollars the way actual cable and copper is so it takes longer to make the transition.

Lots of sports packages do have 4k broadcasts though, but other than that the overwhelming majority of tv sticks to 720p. Streaming and bluray is where the overwhelming majority of the 4k content is. Streaming obviously having some compression issues but still very high quality
 
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Bjorn Le

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OLED is basically like plasma. It's a superior technology that has real benefits in PQ but will cost more than any LED-backlight based tech. I think fundamentally the cost of OLED will never be competitive with any LCD-based tech and like the LCD vs. Plasma war of 10 years ago, OLED will be niche for the high-end only.

Nah. Plasma had its advantages over LCD but also had some disadvantages. OLED is better than LCD in almost every single way and represents a step up in technology. OLEDs are already coming down in price, and LG is mass-producing them. Even if their competitors can't figure it out, industry analysts predict that OLED is going to become the dominant high-end TV technology very soon, and the dominant TV in general technology in the not to distant future.

OLED is already the dominant technology in high-end smartphone screens (the only smartphone market that matters), it's starting to proliferate in high-end laptops. The holdouts not using OLED are mostly converted as well. Sony was a holdout, now they source OLEDs from LG and are doubling their orders. Apple is rumoured to be trying to get an OLED supply from Samsung for IPhone 8 as well (I guess we'll find out if they did soon enough), and they've put at least $2 billion into LG so LG will expand their small-panel OLED production and sell it to Apple. OLED will replace LCD, 100%.
 

guinness

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Mar 11, 2002
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Picked up a Roku Ultra this morning on clearance at Walmart...$64.

So far, it seems like a faster Roku 3, with native 4K support, however, I don't have any HDR content to test, besides YT. (I do have Wonder Woman on the way, figured for $5 more, I'd get the UHD version, as someday I'll get a UHD blueray player, and in the meantime, I can still watch it in BR.

Finally figured out how to get HDR YT working, and the Roku was picky on the HDMI input, didn't like the gaming HDMI port, even though it said it was HDCP 2.2 compliant, but it works through a normal one.

HDR looks great when encoded properly, but I still find the 4k vs 1080p advantage to be ever so slight.
 

Hunter Gathers

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Feb 27, 2002
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Debating whether to purchase:

55" Vizio P-Series ($950)
55" LG OLED55C7P ($1850 on eBay)

Both new

Is the LG worth double the Vizio? If not, is the Vizio sufficiently future-proof'd that I won't be doing this again in four to five years?

The OLED is stunning in person. The Vizio is largely amazing as well.
 

guinness

Not Ingrid for now
Mar 11, 2002
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Missoula, Montana
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Debating whether to purchase:

55" Vizio P-Series ($950)
55" LG OLED55C7P ($1850 on eBay)

Both new

Is the LG worth double the Vizio? If not, is the Vizio sufficiently future-proof'd that I won't be doing this again in four to five years?

The OLED is stunning in person. The Vizio is largely amazing as well.

I have last year's Vizio P series (50").

That particular size uses a VA panel IIRC, so different from the bigger sizes, but I don't have a problem with it, unless at the extreme angles to the side.

It does support DV and HDR10, and what I've watched in Vudu or Amazon prime looks good, and the 5th HDMI port is a 'gaming' port that is supposed to have lower lag, but I don't use it, as otherwise, my PS4's HDR won't work.

The new 2017 models don't come with the tablet remote, they (and the 2016 models) were upgraded to a new casting screen. The tablet is nice, but the upgraded menu is better. Still prefer my Roku ultra though.

I've been happy with Vizio's support, their old CTO used to post on avsforums.
 

Hunter Gathers

The Crown
Feb 27, 2002
106,660
11,794
parts unknown
I’m just trying to really weigh this. It’s such a tough decision. I can spring for the OLED for sure, but if I can save $900 for a comparative screen . . .

I keep going to Best Buy and I just love how thin and light the LG is. It’s truly incredible.
 

guinness

Not Ingrid for now
Mar 11, 2002
14,521
301
Missoula, Montana
www.missoulian.com
OLED and LCD are no comparison, so it really depends on much you value the deeper blacks...you are going to be starting at it for a number of years.

Not too far away from Black Friday as well. I bought my TV when it went under my threshold of $1000 (bought on sale for $800 last memorial day).

Prices of tvs may drop post holidays too. There's rumors of HDR10+ and DV improvements, but something is always better around the corner.

I just can't justify the left nut premium of OLED.
 

Hunter Gathers

The Crown
Feb 27, 2002
106,660
11,794
parts unknown
Yeah, I'm likely going to buy on Black Friday if anything ends up being comparable in price. The 43" LeEco I have right now is nice picture-wise, but it's too small for the space and the HDMI inputs are flakey.
 

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