New TV ?

Posted by: Karl on 24 May 2016

I am looking to replace my Samsung UE46D8000 that is now 5 years old, I can't decide which TV to choose, I have narrowed it down to the LG55EG960V OLED that is now discounted to £2000, or the new models from Sony KD55XD9035 and Samsung UE55KS8000 that are a similar price. The sound of the TV is not important as my Allaes are either side of the screen and will use them, I mainly watch terrestrial channels and the odd Blu Ray.

The new models have the new HDR tech but the LG does not,but the LG has the OLED screen so I'm not sure where the money is best spent.I really can not go any larger the a 55 inch screen as i do not have the space.

Does anyone have any ideas on this?

Regards 

Karl

Posted on: 24 May 2016 by Bananahead

Strongly the LG. The OLED screen is superb.

Posted on: 26 May 2016 by Eloise

Unless you need to buy something ... I'd wait another 6-12 months ... See how 4K and HDR technology develops.

Posted on: 26 May 2016 by Adam Zielinski

Get a plasma if you can find it. Nothing beats it for a picture quality....

Posted on: 30 May 2016 by fernar

If you want 4K - then plasma is a no-go - best alternative - the new 4K OLED screens from LG are way ahead of the old plasma screens... very sharp clear pictures from native 4K sources and HD - and acceptable picture quality from SD sources... 

Posted on: 30 May 2016 by Karl

Thanks for your replies, the LG arrives on Saturday ??

Regards

Karl

Posted on: 30 May 2016 by Mike-B

I'm a bit wary over getting locked into LED, Plasma & OLED,  however plasma is past its sell-by date from what I have seen.  The rest are all LCD even tho' the mnfts call them LED, SUHD or Quantum Dot  ...........  OLED is new & from what I read up about it is that each pixel provides its own illumination compared to pixels in an LCD set are illuminated by backlight.

I judged each of the sets only within our pre-selected screen size (avoid looking at huge screens as the benchmark unless your're going to buy one)   & picked what looked best in the showroom,  we judged visual impact, accuracy of colour & contrast & kept in mind possible fatigue effect with hours of viewing.   -  also double checked on the digi-audio output so as not cause problems with the Naim  

We both came to the same conclusions - Light/brightness, Colour, Clarity, (fast moving sport was better)  we picked LCD (backlit LED) as the best.   Contrast (impressive black) was OLED,      Overall we both decided we could live with LCD better than OLED & bought a Sony X83.  

Posted on: 30 May 2016 by Bert Schurink

Oled LG - but it's already on it's way :-)

Posted on: 30 May 2016 by Adam Zielinski

For now I'm content with my 60" Panasonic reference plasma. Ok - it's 2 years old - there was no real alternative for an absolute picture quality at the time. By the time it breaks,  4K will probably be widely available and will turn into 10k or something else...

Posted on: 30 May 2016 by tonym
Mike-B posted:

I'm a bit wary over getting locked into LED, Plasma & OLED,  however plasma is past its sell-by date from what I have seen.  The rest are all LCD even tho' the mnfts call them LED, SUHD or Quantum Dot  ...........  OLED is new & from what I read up about it is that each pixel provides its own illumination compared to pixels in an LCD set are illuminated by backlight.

I judged each of the sets only within our pre-selected screen size (avoid looking at huge screens as the benchmark unless your're going to buy one)   & picked what looked best in the showroom,  we judged visual impact, accuracy of colour & contrast & kept in mind possible fatigue effect with hours of viewing.   -  also double checked on the digi-audio output so as not cause problems with the Naim  

We both came to the same conclusions - Light/brightness, Colour, Clarity, (fast moving sport was better)  we picked LCD (backlit LED) as the best.   Contrast (impressive black) was OLED,      Overall we both decided we could live with LCD better than OLED & bought a Sony X83.  

We came to the same conclusion. Moving on from our 65" Panasonic plasma took something special, but having reviewed LG OLED we both preferred the Samsung 4K LED HDR set. The black levels are excellent & the colour rendition's superb.

Posted on: 30 May 2016 by Simon-in-Suffolk
Adam Zielinski posted:

For now I'm content with my 60" Panasonic reference plasma. Ok - it's 2 years old - there was no real alternative for an absolute picture quality at the time. By the time it breaks,  4K will probably be widely available and will turn into 10k or something else...

I am also sticking with my Panny Plasma albeit 38" - its getting on a bit now - but does 1080I which is my highest def source, but the colour gamut is superb - albeit I did get a specialist out to calibrate, and I have since adjusted myself as the phosphors have aged. People still comment on how natural the image looks - which feels funny in this day and age.  I have looked at newer technologies - but to match the same blacks and dynamic range is going to cost me a lot and lesser models just don't cut it for me... so we keep it - and yes it has had to be repaired, the PSU failed - thank goodness for the insurance - it cost a fortune to repair ..

Simon

Posted on: 30 May 2016 by GregW

Like others, I've looked in to this quite carefully. Ultimately I decided to wait at least until LGs 2016 OLED models were available and had been reviewed before replacing our main set.

LG had issues with banding, both black and yellow as well as vignetting in it's OLED panels last year. While they haven't claimed to have to have eliminated the issues it's apparently much improved this year. For what are expensive TVs it's important to me these issues at resolved. This year's panels support the UHD minimum of 540 nits peak brightness. We keep TVs for a while so full UHD certification is important to me.

I did replace a circa 10 year old guest room set which had just died. Went for a 2016 4K UHD Panasonic, which is surprisingly good. Astra/SES have a UHD test channel which looks superb. Netflix only has one UHD series; Marco Polo, but it looks great.

Posted on: 31 May 2016 by tonym

Simon's mentioned having displays calibrated. I've always had my displays set up by Gordon at Convergent AV (if I'm allowed to mention him?) & it's a really worthwhile thing to have done with a large display. He's not done the Samsung yet but I dare say I'll get him over again. 

Posted on: 31 May 2016 by Adam Zielinski

Definitely worth doing. I had my display profesionally calibrated. Took approximately 2 hours with: day, night and 3D viewing modes. 

Posted on: 31 May 2016 by GregW

If you don't have a good local calibrator to turn to THX have an app driven process that does a reasonable job. THX tune-up. http://www.thx.com/inside/mobile-apps/ You can run the setup multiple times for daytime/night viewing modes etc.

You'll need either an iOS and Android device and a HDMI cable for your device. You can also use an Apple TV if you are on iOS and skip the HDMI cable. 

Posted on: 31 May 2016 by Duncan Hills

I looked at the LG, but want to wait for the prices to drop a little, whilst the blacks are very impressive, they command quite a lot more for it, understandably so. I don't know that it did that well with high speed movement, perhaps you can let us know how it gets on Karl?  

Unfortunately with LG being (I think) the only OLED panel producer this may take some time.  Hopefully though, by the time things drop, the content will be more widely available.  BBC's plans are not to actually produce content in 4K until around 2018, so a bit longer to wait.  Japan interestingly is skipping it and going straight to 8k production (some of which will be broadcast for the olympics but not mainstream until 2020).  I had a chance to view an 8K projector showing along with a 30 odd channel surround sound setup in the auditorium (I work at a particularly british broadcasting company)... It was quite something!

Posted on: 31 May 2016 by Bananahead

When I bought my Pioneer plasma it was the worst looking in the show room by quite some margin. I don't think it has a "showroom mode". Fortunately I had seen the same display in a friends home so knew what it looked like in a domestic environment.

 

The only problem I have with my LG OLED is knowing whether it is switched on or off when it has no source.

Posted on: 31 May 2016 by joerand

My family has a $1500 Samsung LED for primary viewing and a less watched $300 JVC LED in the other room. I actually prefer the picture on the JVC. The cheaper model has a realism I appreciate, while the big buck screen has some pleasing "coloration" to its benefit, yet is less gritty or realistic. TV viewing is probably not unlike hi-fi listening and what works best in a room or to a particular viewer is wholly subjective. Point being that I wouldn't necessarily use cost or brand as an indicator of actual satisfaction in the home.

Additionally, there is much emphasis on refresh rates. Great to get high Hertz if you do a lot of DVD viewing; however, the refresh rates of cable providers (in the US) are far below the TV's capabilities.

Other thoughts - will you go with a dedicated circuit to get the best out of your TV? What power strip and socket are you considering to plug your TV into? These will certainly have an effect on the picture.