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The Case Against OLED

bloodshoteyed

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I'm not sure where in your examples the buyer falls who's primarily looking to get the OLED as a computer monitor. At that point even the 42" is irritatingly large.

well, yes and no
i admit, last gen 48" was a bit much, but the newer 42" is ok if you're not actually glued to the screen (been using a LG C2 for a few months now, distanced some 60-80cm from it)

regarding plasmas, i still have my old panasonic 42" and there's simply no comparison, at least not after a decade of the plasmas use which got a lot dimmer and washed out in that time, not to mention it was unuseable for use with a pc (besides watching movies)

my main tv is still a 55" '18 or was '19 Sony model with a VA screen, got it for half the price 3 years back and it's enough for my watching habits
 

MRC01

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... I feel like a lot of people are in this position where they buy 55" or 65" OLED where they could have afforded a 75" or 85" QLED instead. They get lured in by the panel quality and forget about size. They let perceived sophistication obstruct their better judgement. ...
Some of these people aren't "lured in", but they value picture quality over size. Chacun a son gout!

Your argument reminds me of someone saying, why would someone buy speaker A? It doesn't get nearly loud enough. They must have been lured in by the sound quality and forgot about loudness. They could get much louder speakers for less money!
 

Willem

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My main TV is still my almost 10 year old Samsung F8500, the pinnacle of plasma 1080p technology.
I am similarly hoping our even older Panasonic survives for a few more years. We don't watch Netflix etc, and public television is mostly not yet 4K.
 

MRC01

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I bought my Panasonic plasma in 2004. It died prematurely in 2006. I used the service manual to diagnose the failure to the board level. That board cost $1000 from Panasonic (the monitor was at least 2x that price back then). Instead I found a company that buys plasmas that were damaged in shipping and parted out the internal boards. Got the board for $150. Then I sent the old board to Panasonic and they paid me a $100 core fee. So I fixed it for $50. It's been flawless ever since and it seems like it's turning into a plasma longevity experiment. Coming up on 20 years now, I'm hoping it dies soon so I can justify getting a nice OLED for the improved picture quality. I don't care about screen size much, and I don't have much room for a big screen anyway.
 

Mnyb

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Cool , living in Northern Europe I would love to have the means to have a house where I can fit 85” tv’s :)
But then I would not have fun together with you guys , I had my minions spam the forum instead :)

Meanwhile I’m slumming with my 2013 65” Panasonic plasma TV and thought that was a big tv .
 

Bwmr

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Me too, still holding on to my 10+ years old Panasonic 46' Plasma. The intention is to replace it with an OLED. Besides the level of black, the viewing angle is also better than LCD.
There is a new "Quantum OLED" from Samsung. Not to be confused with their "QLED". Apparently it's the first OLED from Samsung. Reviews seem quite good, will be checking it out.
 

Jim Shaw

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All this verbage...

You might give a modicum of thought to how the video signal is processed before it's sent to the [whatever panel type and size]. Preparing the video for presentation tends to be equal to or more of a factor than display acronyms. (It's the factor that has made stars of certain brands and models, and starlets of others.)
 

Multicore

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The Case Against OLED

First of all, let's just get out of the way that OLED is better quality than LED or QLED. The problem with OLED isn't with quality, but with price. I would like to look at some examples of potential TV buyers and see where OLED makes sense and where does consumer logic break down.

Example Buyer #1: The Super Rich Guy/Gal

In this example the buyer could afford any TV they want, but most of the buyers in this category would probably have a dedicated theater room. As far as I can tell the largest OLED TV you can possibly buy is 97" and it's $25,000. At that price you'd be much better off getting a projection system for your home theater room and using an acoustically transparent screen etc. I could see where a super rich person might buy an OLED TV for a bedroom or for their super expensive condo or apartment, but that's it.

Example Buyer #2: The Upper-Middle Class Person

In this example the buyer probably has a large enough living room to accommodate up to a 100" TV, but does not have a dedicated theater room. Unfortunately, an OLED above 77" would be out of the question for this buyer due to the $25,000 price tag. Going down to 77" they can get an OLED for about $2,000. However, if you go to QLED you can get an 85" TV for under 1K and a very highly rated QLED for about $2,000.

Example Buyer #3: A Strapped-For-Cash Enthusiast

This buyer would want the best quality TV they can afford and it's hard to believe that OLED could fit that bill unless they really don't care about screed size or they have a small living room, which, admittedly, could be the case for some. Going from OLED to QLED is going to give them a significantly larger screen and more and better features (such as gaming features, connections, Smart functionality, etc.) for the price.

***Tertiary Considerations: Non-enthusiasts, such as friends, girlfriends/wives, in-laws, neighbors, etc. are much more likely to be impressed by a larger TV than a smaller one regardless of panel quality. People tend to want to hang out and watch the game or the movie at the person's house with the largest living room and the largest TV, so potential for more interactions and usage.

The Buyer's Dilemma/Potential Mistake

I feel like a lot of people are in this position where they buy 55" or 65" OLED where they could have afforded a 75" or 85" QLED instead. They get lured in by the panel quality and forget about size. They let perceived sophistication obstruct their better judgement. One of my good friends has a 65" OLED in a living room that is smaller and attached to the kitchen/dining room area. It looks great and is about the correct size for that area, but if he had a larger living room there is no way I would want to watch a 65" OLED over an 85" LED TV.

IMHO it makes sense to get the biggest and best TV your room size can handle. Size being more important than panel quality, at least within reasonable quality standards.

Thoughts?

Edit: The price for an 83" OLED is only $4,000. I didn't see that as I had a radio button selected for 85" and since OLED TVs generally come in 77" and 83" instead of 75 and 85 I didn't see the 83" TV option. That being said, a top-tier 85" QLED TV with the latest features and connections is still $1,300 than the cheapest 83" OLED TV. That makes is 33% more expensive, 2" smaller, and with potentially fewer features.

My opinion in summary: OLED TVs are better picture quality than the competition, but at a higher price. If price is no option or the room is small enough I think OLED makes sense. For my tastes (and my large living room) QLED is a better balance of cost to performance allowing me to get the biggest TV possible.

OLED: Better Contrast
QLED: Lager Screen and Better Features For The Cost, Brighter Screen For Brighter Rooms And Fewer Reflections
I have literally no idea what any of this means.
 

Martin

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I watch movies in low-light/darkness so any LCD looks liked absolute ass.

I watch my 85" LED in a dark room but I put an LED strip around the back of the TV which throws light on the wall behind the TV. Makes it acceptable.

Best TV I ever owned was a 36" 4:3 1080i Sony Wega that had a collapsible raster for 16:9 content. After it I had a 50" Pioneer Kuro plasma then a 65" Panasonic Z-series plasma. I love my 85" LED but hope to replace it with an OLED in the future.

Martin
 

LTig

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None of all those super big TV panels you all talk about beats my 117" screen projection in size and WAF ... :p
 

Martin

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None of all those super big TV panels you all talk about beats my 117" screen projection in size and WAF ... :p

I had a 135” 21:9 ALR constant height setup for a while. I loved the picture size and complete immersion watching movies at night. Unfortunately, it was in a great room (family, dining, kitchen combined). It did not make for a good every day TV.

Martin
 

Axo1989

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Some of these people aren't "lured in", but they value picture quality over size. Chacun a son gout!

Your argument reminds me of someone saying, why would someone buy speaker A? It doesn't get nearly loud enough. They must have been lured in by the sound quality and forgot about loudness. They could get much louder speakers for less money!

Five years back when I bought my last TV (Sony A1 55" OLED) that size looked pretty big. Now it looks less so—we adjust our expectations/standards I guess—so I sometimes wish past me had bought the 65" version that was also available at the time. That model was an extra couple of thousand iirc so I did a bit of that size/cost trade-off at the time. Definitely prefer a slightly smaller OLED to a larger LED variant. Once you go black you can't go back.

We also have an LG 4K projector: watching films jumbo-sized is great, but as @Martin said, less good during the day. Need to add a hi-tech screen at some stage.
 

woofersus

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Five years back when I bought my last TV (Sony A1 55" OLED) that size looked pretty big. Now it looks less so—we adjust our expectations/standards I guess—so I sometimes wish past me had bought the 65" version that was also available at the time.
Ha, I went through this as well. Three stages of buying a new TV

Week 1: "Oh man, that's really big. I wonder if I went too big"
Week 2: "You know what, I think it's just right. This is a good size for the room and plenty big enough for me"
Week 3: "I wonder if I can still exchange it for the next size up...."
 

woofersus

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In seriousness, though, I think it's actually not a huge number of people who have a space where a 77-85" screen is appropriate AND want a TV that big in the room. In many cases it's spousal restrictions, but the idea that you don't want your living room to be completely dominated by a huge TV certainly isn't limited to women. My living room isn't all that big and I sit about 10 feet from a 55" screen. Sure when the lights are down and I'm watching a movie I'd probably like to have the 65" model, but at all other times the 55" size looks appropriate for the room, and going bigger would not. For everyone who is size-limited by something other than money, you're just buying the nicest display you can afford.
 

Kachda

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I still miss my 42” panasonic plasma. Best colors I ever had on a TV.

I recently purchased a 75” mini led TCL and returned it. It used a VA panel and the picture was lousy as soon as you moved a bit off center. And it didn’t look much better than my previous cheap led TV.

When my current TV dies, I’m getting a 65” or 77” oled. LED TVs just don’t compare
 

jhaider

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the buyer probably has a large enough living room to accommodate up to a 100" TV…going down to 77" they can get an OLED for about $2,000. However, if you go to QLED you can get an 85" TV for under 1K and a very highly rated QLED for about $2,000.

You know, many people don’t necessarily want to be known as “big TV people.” I mean, really, how big does Stephen Colbert’s head need to appear in your room?

IMO 77” is too big for a family room enjoyed by non-sedentary people.
 

Philbo King

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I bought my Panasonic plasma in 2004. It died prematurely in 2006. I used the service manual to diagnose the failure to the board level. That board cost $1000 from Panasonic (the monitor was at least 2x that price back then). Instead I found a company that buys plasmas that were damaged in shipping and parted out the internal boards. Got the board for $150. Then I sent the old board to Panasonic and they paid me a $100 core fee. So I fixed it for $50. It's been flawless ever since and it seems like it's turning into a plasma longevity experiment. Coming up on 20 years now, I'm hoping it dies soon so I can justify getting a nice OLED for the improved picture quality. I don't care about screen size much, and I don't have much room for a big screen anyway.
Why we always buy the extended warranty. We're on our 3rd or 4th flatscreen TV, but we only paid for the first one. Each time we got a better one...
 

MRC01

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Why we always buy the extended warranty. We're on our 3rd or 4th flatscreen TV, but we only paid for the first one. Each time we got a better one...
It only cost me $50 to fix it and it's been going for almost 20 years now. If I bought the extended warranty it would have been a net loss.
 
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