Buying an OLED TV

[black.hat]

So i am looking to buy an OLED TV as an upgrade for my existing Panasonic VIERA 55" TC-P55ST50 Plasma which i hated due to it has slow motion, extremely slow processor when it come to browsing utube and other apps, and finally the chitty advertisements that they pop up each time you turn on the tv or play with the sound volume etc.

I was looking at Samsung OLED UN65HU9000 and LG OLED 55EA9800

My budget is up to $7K, i don't care about saving any money, just want to pick up the best between these two tvs, anybody here have any suggestion on which one to choose?

Note that i also do gaming on tv sometimes, but mainly i need it for movies.

Thanks

 

[Odellus]

the samsung is not oled. samsung's 55" oled screen is $8,999. http://www.samsung.com/us/video/tvs/KN55S9CAFXZA

the picture quality on the lg is better than anything else available. the only bad thing is that it's only 1080p, but that doesn't really matter as 4k media is nonexistent.

the newest lg oled television is the 55EB9600 and supports 4k, but it will most likely be far out of your budget.

i would say that the lg is most likely your best option.

 

[black.hat]

Yeah i didn't noticed the Samsung is not oled. What surprise me is the lg processor is dual core and the screen is 1920 x 1080, while Samsung is quad core, 3840 x 2160.

Does that still make the oled win?

 

[Odellus]

i would say so. oled screens have perfect blacks, extremely high contrast ratios, vivid colors, and nearly nonexistent response times which means no ghosting. lcd panels can't compare. i think it would be best if you saw them for yourself before making a decision, however.

 

[black.hat]

I just hope this review is not true:

http://www.digitaltrends.com/tv-reviews/lg-55ea9800-review/

LG 55EA9800 review

Highs:
Exceptional Blacks
Superior brightness
Highly accurate color out of box
Eye-catching curves, razor-thin profile
Loaded with features

Lows:
Can’t be wall-mounted
Disappointing motion resolution
Minor brightness uniformity issues
Lazy pixels may appear disconcerting

 

[Odellus]

in the actual review they say

"Motion resolution, however, didn’t do well without some motion-smoothing processing in place. Since motion smoothing introduces the dreaded “soap-opera” effect, we left it off. This was our singular source of disappointment. We’d hoped for a judder-free picture from such advanced technology. Ah well, there’s always next year."

sounds kind of dumb to me. they don't explain what they mean, and they used layman's terms which leads me to believe they don't actually know what they're talking about (the whole review gives off that vibe.) they mention nothing about the uniformity issues, and the 'lazy pixels' have no effect on what you actually see. so the only real problem is that it can't be wall mounted, and i don't know if that would actually be an issue for you or not.

 

[Sancus]

OLEDs have amazing pixel response time, but they're still 60hz and they still use basic sample and hold. It's not clear from your original post what sort of content you are concerned about relative to motion. Obviously if it's TV/movies, then high motion resolution is unattainable to begin with, but if this is for PC gaming/etc, you can do much better than any TV.

LG is the only game in town right now for OLEDs, Samsung has discontinued their single 55" model and no word on future OLEDs from them. You can still find stock in some random places, but many of those places will be at full price($9000).

The LG 55EA9800(curved model) can be found for $4600 (check out the avsforums thread for the model) and the 55EA8800(flat, gallery model) for $5000.

I've seen the curve in person and it's a very very subtle curve, but it does preclude the model from being wall mounted. It also introduces some minor additional reflections... but those are pretty much the only known (visual) differences between the two models. The flat one can be wall mounted, and in fact, must be mounted to a wall or one of the stands that acts as a wall mount since it does not have a regular stand.

OLED TVs are awesome, the perfect blacks defeat even plasmas in this area. It has to be seen in a dark room to be understood. That said, the price premium is really high even if you buy from the lowest priced vendors and some people have had problems with many dead blue subpixels, but LG seems to be willing to replace flawed panels as often as is necessary to make you happy.

I decided against buying an OLED to let the technology mature a little bit and hopefully get a 4K set in 3-5 years. I'm happy with plasma for now(PN60F8500).

 

[x3sphere]

I'm not sold on the longevity of OLEDs yet. With that LG there's a lot of talk about pixels going out. Also, owners of first-gen PS Vitas have reported degradation with the brightness levels.

I wouldn't say there's much risk if you plan on keeping the set for just a year or two before upgrading or having to replace it, but I don't know if any of these current OLED panels will last into the 3+ year range given the problems that are cropping up - so that is something to keep in mind...

Anyway, I have the flat 4K Samsung set (HU8550) and it is really nice. Gaming on a big screen at 4K is incredible, mainly because you can sit close and still enjoy a razor sharp image. I would be hard pressed to shell out $5k+ on a 1080p OLED at this point, as I think I prefer having the higher resolution. But, if I only used my TV for watching movies I'd be very tempted to go with that 1080p OLED, seeing as there's basically no 4k video content out.

 

[mi7chy]

Saw a curved LG OLED at Fry's. Wasn't wowed by it and the skin tone seem off.

 

[Michaelius]

If you want to play games on it watch out - both Samsung and LG oled tvs have around 100 ms of input lag.

 

[black.hat]

Ok thanks everyone, i think i will get the oled, not planning on doing a lot of gaming on it anyway so i think i will be fine.