The way these consoles are powered, I’d say TV makers probably have some time before it’s commonplace enough to worry about.
I feel like this is a bit disingenuous; I have a late 2020 OLED and the KS8000 (a TV from 2016). I definitely don’t feel like OLED has put the older set to shame, especially in a mid- bright room considering how limited the 550 nits my OLED provides for HDR content. Do the blacks look great, and does the contrast look wider than the KS8000? Sure, but we’re taking a 4+ year difference and different technology. The loss in quality of HDR highlights however with the OLED, regardless of the setting, doesn’t make up for the few benefits I’ve received. Vicent Teoh’s latest video on HDR content mastering and why OLEDs still lag behind HDR capabilities due to their minimal peak brightness does a great job to further highlight the point I’ve been making.
OLEDs are great in certain situation but I feel like there’s a lot of bandwagoning that’s occurring because it’s a newer technology, and there’s a lot of proselytizing from tech corners that often overlook the drawbacks. I’m not saying current QLEDs (the best overall competition to OLED) are the be all either, but having seen a CX and Q80 in a home setting with Series X content, at the moment if I were still in my return window, I’d return the OLED in a heartbeat. The HDR highlights and actual capability of producing the nit values that content is mastered at (HDR on Forza 7 for example can’t calibrate on OLEDs properly) outweigh the slight black level differences for the content I use.
Of course, MiniLEDs are being released from Samsung next month, so we’ll see what that holds (MicroLED is the best of both worlds but won’t be a viable alternative for the next couple of years). OLEDs are also going to get brighter with 2021 models but I’m skeptical just how much, especially given the legitimate fear of burn-in that already exists; more light on those panels are just going to create more heat, which in turn increases the burn-in chances and decreases the life of the panels as heat is a catalyst to organic degradation (which is what the “O” in OLED stands for).
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I should probably preface this by saying I am definitely not a television expert and don’t mean to come across as disingenuous so I apologize if I did! I’m fairly new to TV technology and began trying to wrap my head around it when I was researching the KS8000.
What I will say is that with my particular set up I felt a significant difference between my LG B9 and Samsung KS8000. Most of my viewing and gaming is in my basement where it’s darker for the better part of the day and night.
I’m really impressed with how my OLED handles dark scenes, contrast and blacks. By comparison, the dark scenes on my KS8000 appeared gray or washed out and blotchy / pixelated. I also noticed the lighting around the edges that were sometimes distracting when watching TV at night.
I used a number of different recommended calibrations from a few online resources. I still have both televisions, with my KS8000 now in my living room. I use both regularly; the difference is just there for me.
When my basement is brighter in the morning, the OLED does give off a bad glare and reflections so I’m not sure how well suited they are for a well lit room.
To be fair, if it wasn’t for the $800 price drop there was no way I was going to buy the OLED. I still think you should really keep an eye on sales; they happen enough throughout the year that you’ll likely never have to pay full price if you can wait.
My other option before the OLED price drop was the new Sony X900H which will support HDMI 2.1 through future firmware updates. It’s reviewed well. For all I know, the updates may have been released or are on the horizon (I stopped following the TV once I bought the LG).
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Okay, so I wanted to reply because I’m about to eat a mountain of crow, but I think it’s important to call yourself on your own bullshit and admit when you’re wrong. So it’s been several months and three firmware updates with my OLED, another few hundred hours on the KS8000 (hitting five years’ of heavy use), and a number of adjustments in the usage space (blackout curtains, etc). In that time, I definitely have begun to notice the artefacting/pixelation in dark scenes on the KS8000, and aside from the fact that it was an edge-lit to begin with, it’s getting to the point of being nearly unusable in games like Sea of Thieves (the night phase is killer).
As reviews have been coming out for the new MiniLED lineup from Samsung, I’ve been very disappointed with one thing or another: the poor panel used on the QN85A series, the fact that only one port is HDMI 2.1 on QN95A and below, etc. So aside from owing @DasKoop an apology, I want to amend my overall recommendations in that, until MicroLED is affordable, I’m recommending only OLEDs at this point (unless you have two very specific use cases).
@Superman2x7, here are my recommendations:
- If you have money to burn and need the best experience for gaming/movies alike, I’d recommend the LG G1 (2021’s new model). The new EVO panel provides some significant increase in peak HDR brightness while decreasing overall heat output, thus reducing the burn in risk and increasing the lifespan.
- If you don’t necessarily need some of those elements and aren’t putting the set in a bright room, I’d recommend the LG CX while you can still get them. There haven’t been any reviews for the C1 from the reliable sources, but it’s a much smaller step over the CX (as opposed to the leap seen with the G1), and I’m not sure that the new Game Bar settings justify the cost delta; they’re basically just quick access to functions like VRR.
- If you need to save money and still want an OLED, I’m hesitant but will still recommend the VIZIO OLED (if you live in the states). I had a hell of a number of issues over the past six months, but the latest firmware has resolved all of them except for the VRR support. It actually was able to output brighter HDR highlights than the Sony OLED that I returned in exchange for this; I refuse to recommend that Sony sets if gaming is your primary usage since they promised VRR and other features for last year’s sets that have failed to materialize, and still won’t be in at launch for this year’s lineup.
- If you have an overly bright room, don’t need more than one HDMI 2.1 port, and are worried about burn-in from watching/playing media that have overlong static elements, I’d recommend the Samsung QN95A; just know that you’ll be paying similar prices to the higher end LG G1.
I’ll happily go into more detail with my experiences on the two OLEDs I’ve had personally or any of the research that I’ve done to make the conclusions I did. As I said, I think the Vizio OLED that I’ve had for six months tainted my view with its poor firmware, but as most of it has been ironed out, the panel benefits outweigh the minor detriments I’ve had with the technology at this point. I would wager that the OLED itself won’t start to degrade until after 5 years of heavy use, and we live in an era where panel and HDMI technology is increasing at a clip not seen since the early LCD/Plasma days, so 5 years is likely the average lifespan of most sets before we’ll replace them anyway, from either dilapidation or functional necessity.
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The biggest upgrade coming from a C7 will be VRR and 120hz.
If that’s worth the upgrade it’s more personal
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Trying to decide between the 2021 LG G1 and the Samsung QN800A. Leaning towards the LG but I haven’t seen enough reviews of the Samsung.
If you’ve been looking at the G1 I’m wondering if you can help answer a question that the manufacturer can’t. I held off on CX purchase last year to wait for the Evo panel in the G1 but don’t want to wall mount, all the information from LG says they make 2 stands a tripod thing and table top stand (two over priced legs) but neither seems to be for sale anywhere.
LG support at first linked me to the legs for the GX but now say they can’t confirm if they will fit a G1.
Have you seen any info on official stands anywhere? (it’s 300x300 vesa mount but I’m not sold on 3rd party stuff).
That is a very good question. I had assumed that the GX series would fit but didn’t know that the manufacturer won’t confirm that. Also I haven’t decided on how to mount it so I haven’t gone that far into it yet.
You could always ask Vincent Teoh or Caleb and see I have have an answer. I’ll poke around some more and report back if I hear anything. It’s strange Lag’s sit doesn’t have an accessories link.
Yea, is strange, it feels like LG is coming in really hot on this launch, support said that they don’t get product details until after the product is released when yesterday their own web site was listing the G1 as available with retailer links that were all listing as in stock. Today all are now stating out of stock. The only (UK) release date I can find says it launches in April so not sure why the store links were live yesterday.
My guess is that the GX legs will fit but I’m not spending £100 on them to find out.
Samsung’s lack of Dolby Vision support is a non-starter for me.
Thank you for this update. We’re slowly moving into our new house and I’m probably going to finally bite the bulletin and get that new tv.
I was still leaning towards the LG CX OLED after reviews. But the fear of burn in it making me hesitate. My brother in law has the Samsung Q80 LED and while I’ll admit the picture on it is godly, watching certain movies are playing certain games the edge of the screens lighting looks weird and somewhat off. Beyond that the picture is really sharp.
I have about 1500-2000 to spend on a TV. How is the 2021 LG G1 you mentioned? I really want to make sure my next tv has HMDI 2.1 and VRR. Dolby vision I would like but it’s not a deal breaker.
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rtings.com is your best friend.
Generally, go with LG for OLED.
Samsung, Sony and TCL P Series for LED panels. Samsung QLED’s are good but a bit pricey. The X900 series from Sony is great (I have the 2017 model myself). TCL is the cheapest of the bunch but is designed for 4k120 HDR gaming.
I am dealing with burn-in on my older C6 OLED. Perhaps I need to look into this mini-LED technology.
There was large strides to combat burn in between the LG-6 series and LG-8 series. We’re now onto the 10 series (X), so it shouldn’t be an issue.
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That is great to know 
I will have to get some more mileage out of the C6 before I get a replacement.
I probably posted this in a different thread about the newer models have better life improvements. I’m not sure what they did for improvements specifically for the 2019, 2020, and 2021 panels regarding burn in or image retention.
Source post @ https://www.avsforum.com/threads/master-oled-image-retention-burn-in-thread-with-photos.2804065/post-59824710
As an FYI, I have a 55" B7 OLED and it does have permanent burn in from Rocket League. The weird part is that the burn in only shows up on red or orange screens, and it’s with the “ball cam” and the boost meter on the bottom right. It’s almost as if the pixels have gotten “tired” over the years.
Turns out my guess was right, managed to find the model number of the G1 stand (AP-G1DV65) and so was able to check on this with product support and it turns out that it is identical to the GX stand just with a new model number.
Okay another question, this is week I’m ordering the new tv. I’m leaning towards the LGCX but I’ve seen the 55" QN85A Samsung Neo QLED 4K Smart TV (2021) for a decent price. Now I’m debating, any word on how the Samsung Neo QLED compares?
I know Samsung doesn’t have Dolby Vision, but their talk about how bright the new screen gets, does it compete with LG’s Dolby Vision?
I also received my new PS5 today, already have my Series X, I want a tv with at least 2 HDMI 2.1 if possible.
I bit the bullet and just ordered the CX, I read reviews on the C1 and the Neo Samsung and nothing they were doing was that far from what the CX offers. Plus the CX was like $500 cheaper.
Any recommendations for settings when I get this bad boy next Monday?
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