TV Upgrade?

[dkinric]

I recently bought the TCL QM8 65". This is positioned below the high end Sony/OLED sets and represent a great value at the price point. Extremely bright, vivid colors unlike anything you've had before outside of high end tvs. Requires some picture adjustments to look its best, but can produce a picture competitive with the best.

Here's where I would start:

The 8 Best 65-Inch TVs of 2025

The best 65-inch TV overall is the Samsung QN65S90DAFXZA, commonly known as the S90D. It's an impressive TV that delivers fantastic picture quality and looks amazing with any content.

www.rtings.com

 

[Kachda]

I recently bought the TCL QM8 65". This is positioned below the high end Sony/OLED sets and represent a great value at the price point. Extremely bright, vivid colors unlike anything you've had before outside of high end tvs. Requires some picture adjustments to look its best, but can produce a picture competitive with the best.

Here's where I would start:

The 8 Best 65-Inch TVs of 2025

The best 65-inch TV overall is the Samsung QN65S90DAFXZA, commonly known as the S90D. It's an impressive TV that delivers fantastic picture quality and looks amazing with any content.

www.rtings.com

I’m not sure if they have tested the sony A95L. It uses the gen 2 qd-oled panel from Samsung, and seems to be the best TV (price no concern) as per hdtvtest and digital trends

 

[sweetchaos]

I’m not sure if they have tested the sony A95L. It uses the gen 2 qd-oled panel from Samsung, and seems to be the best TV (price no concern) as per hdtvtest and digital trends

Not yet. Testing has started though. I suspect a review in about a week.

 

[sweetchaos]

Funny, I just posted a similar question over at AH:

Autumn 2023 TV Advice

I'm thinking of upgrading my display pending the presumed discounts around Black Friday / Cyber Monday are worthwhile; and since they usually are the best prices of the year... ;) ...I likely am going to do just that. Upgraded budget is around $1500. 65" is the max I can do, which will be...

forums.audioholics.com

If anybody here has any thoughts to share with me and our OP here, I d really appreciate any advice!

My recommendation is the same as before. Buy the biggest size OLED TV you can afford, models 2022 and 2023.

There are 14 models that rtings reviewed, with another upcoming Sony A95L review should be out in the next week or so.

 

[pseudoid]

Panny Plasma

[Note @Timcognito; the following could also be considered OCD!]
Speaking of Panasonic; They introduced their new 'flagship' MLA-OLED beginning of 2023.
Originally Panasonic had no plans to sell the MZ2000 In the States (as w/Philips)...
Reviews thus far seem very positive but this new line also comes w/a 'fla[g]ship' price.

 

[GXAlan]

I love my Sony OLED TV and my LG OLED Pro Display which is a true RGB OLED matte wide gamut display. That said, I also have a full array LED Sony X940E that is still running well and continues to deliver reference HDR experiences with 1200 nits in real world content which beats even the QD-OLED’s, and the X940E is 6 years old. The Z9 line breaches 3000 nits..

The strengths of OLED are well described. Anyone with an iPhone knows that OLED burn in is real, although it is much less than the early generations.

Where LED technology is still good is

1) You can get reasonably priced matte displays (Samsung Frame) which can make a difference in room. In a perfectly dark room, the light of an OLED display can bounce off the rear of the room and add a reflection to the screen. Matte OLED displays aren’t common for televisions — just cinema displays. I haven’t looked at the latest Samsung OLEDs, but their QLEDs had better AR coating than Sony’s LCDs when I last compared them critically about 3 years ago.

2) HDR content is getting more and more popular, and the extra brightness does give a different kind of wow factor from the pitch blacks of OLED.

 

[pseudoid]

It appears that we don't have that "SMSL" audio-moment with video/display panels... yet!

Not that we are anywhere near that "SMSL" almost-perfect measurement moment with speaker panels either.

Display panels are making great improvements in performance - by leaps and bounds - and such advancements have been going strong since the purge of CRTs.
HDMI2.0 is already in our rear-view mirrors, which can be considered - like the moment in early 1980s - when the RedBook CD spec put smiles in all audiophiles.
HDMI2.1 has already entrenched itself in the display-panel industry.
Thus, "8K" should be included in the decision making process, if one is currently contemplating a purchase soon.

Yes, we can bicker [or go full 'OCD'] about the fact that we are nearing the threshold-of-visibility w/8K display panels (as with "SMSL" and threshold-of-hearing).
Yet, when one is willing to spend couple of thousand dollars for a replacement display panel; future obsolescence should be part of that purchase consideration and decision.

 

[Kachda]

It appears that we don't have that "SMSL" audio-moment with video/display panels... yet!

Not that we are anywhere near that "SMSL" almost-perfect measurement moment with speaker panels either.

Display panels are making great improvements in performance - by leaps and bounds - and such advancements have been going strong since the purge of CRTs.
HDMI2.0 is already in our rear-view mirrors, which can be considered - like the moment in early 1980s - when the RedBook CD spec put smiles in all audiophiles.
HDMI2.1 has already entrenched itself in the display-panel industry.
Thus, "8K" should be included in the decision making process, if one is currently contemplating a purchase soon.

Yes, we can bicker [or go full 'OCD'] about the fact that we are nearing the threshold-of-visibility w/8K display panels (as with "SMSL" and threshold-of-hearing).
Yet, when one is willing to spend couple of thousand dollars for a replacement display panel; future obsolescence should be part of that purchase consideration and decision.

And where are you going to get 8k content from?

 

[pseudoid]

I dunno: Same place "we" get 32bit@768KHz and DSD512?
Did we really know that 'we' will be needing (or really needed) 4K@120Hz or VRR or ALLM, or HDR10+ or HGiG...?
----------------------
A review of the new Sony model A95L TV states that the OLED panel is sourced from Samsung and is the same one that is used in Samsung model S95C..

 

[sweetchaos]

another upcoming Sony A95L review should be out in the next week or so.

The Sony A95L is not going to disappoint.
Currently in early access, but full review will come out next week.

SPOILER:
Basically, this is the best ranked TV that rtings has tested to date.

 

[formdissolve]

You did WHAT????

The C9 came with a few major enhancements over the C8, but used the same panel and mostly the same frame. All I had to do was buy a motherboard, wi-fi card, and remote for the C9 (which I got used for peanuts), screw them in, upgrade to latest firmware and voila - HDMI 2.1 with 4k 120hz, eARC, loads better brightness options, etc. No soldering or software hacks required. The T-Conn board isn't bolt-on and requires a different power cable, but you don't really need it unless you want VRR, so I just kept the C8 one in there.

 

[formdissolve]

And where are you going to get 8k content from?

The best use case for anything 8k will be for massive IMAX or other larger movie theatre screens, but even then I doubt it would ever be native. I'm comfortable saying that 4k UHD Blu-Ray is probably the last and best consumer physical format we'll see in our lifetimes.

 

[Blumlein 88]

The best use case for anything 8k will be for massive IMAX or other larger movie theatre screens, but even then I doubt it would ever be native. I'm comfortable saying that 4k UHD Blu-Ray is probably the last and best consumer physical format we'll see in our lifetimes.

I feel confident you are incorrect. Not because it makes sense, just because it is a way to sell TVs. 4K is pretty good, and hard to find use cases where more could possibly help, but 8k is twice 4k. So just like 44.1/48 khz sampling is fine we have 96 khz, 192 khz and even more. You could be right in the sense that very little is done at those higher rates, and while the gear may do it, very little may happen at 8k while 4k will become a standard of sorts.

 

[DavidMcRoy]

I speak from experience as a retired TV broadcaster: video processing for distribution systems have been used to intentionally dumb-down 1080i and 1080p for a few decades now to save bandwidth. I wouldn't expect that to change with 4K and 8K as they become more commonplace. It's a real shame.

 

[formdissolve]

I feel confident you are incorrect. Not because it makes sense, just because it is a way to sell TVs. 4K is pretty good, and hard to find use cases where more could possibly help, but 8k is twice 4k. So just like 44.1/48 khz sampling is fine we have 96 khz, 192 khz and even more. You could be right in the sense that very little is done at those higher rates, and while the gear may do it, very little may happen at 8k while 4k will become a standard of sorts.

You misread my post. I was saying 4K UHD physical discs. Physical sales have been tanking for years now, and I predict we'll still have physical but it will be niche/boutique labels that actually do sell well. There's definitely a chance they'll want to release 8k digital versions that they'll sell for $30 or whatever, but who knows.

 

[formdissolve]

I speak from experience as a retired TV broadcaster: video processing for distribution systems have been used to intentionally dumb-down 1080i and 1080p for a few decades now to save bandwidth. I wouldn't expect that to change with 4K and 8K as they become more commonplace. It's a real shame.

Yeah I've seen "4k" on cable before (not streaming) and it was pretty dismal. The funny part is that 8k tv's will need to be able to play 1080p a lot more than even 4k stuff, so you're looking at a pretty massive upscale to the TV's internal 8k resolution.. another blurry mess.

 

[Blumlein 88]

You misread my post. I was saying 4K UHD physical discs. Physical sales have been tanking for years now, and I predict we'll still have physical but it will be niche/boutique labels that actually do sell well. There's definitely a chance they'll want to release 8k digital versions that they'll sell for $30 or whatever, but who knows.

Sorry, guess I should have read more carefully.