Samsung - 77” Class S89C OLED 4K $1799.99 @ Best Buy

Ohhhhh wow. This is a great deal guys I'm loving the TV. It has totally changed the living room and has the family watching movies together every night. YMMV but i'm actually considering connecting my main PC up to it for some HDR goodness...
 
arestavo said:
As I stated above, I've played a bunch of DV content from my PC that comes through just fine on the S90C that looked greenish on my old LG CX (which IS dolby vision capable). It must convert it to standard HDR/HDR10. I'd be pretty shocked if the S89C was different.
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doox00 said:
Hmm, well my main tv now supports DV and works fine, my TV in my bedroom does not support DV and any DV titles I play through my nvidia shield there via Plex comes out green.. don't want to drop 2k on this TV if there is a chance of having that issue.
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Couldn't avoid this deal. But the DV thing is a problem. My LG Oled streaming from plex has no issues (of course, it supports DV), the new samsung pops up an error message that says "Playback Error" - "File is unplayable. Color space is not supported."
 
KevinG said:
Couldn't avoid this deal. But the DV thing is a problem. My LG Oled streaming from plex has no issues (of course, it supports DV), the new samsung pops up an error message that says "Playback Error" - "File is unplayable. Color space is not supported."
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Interesting. I've played quite a few DV files on my PC using VLC (on my S90C), and they worked fine. I have run across one DV file that didn't play back properly. It was a Dolby Vision Profile 5 file. Older ones didn't have an issue. I looked it up, and apparently Profile 5 doesn't have cross compatibility.
 
Had this beast for a week now:
1. Wall mounting was a PIA some bend or sag no deal breaker though.
2. Remote is meh but all are going to the simplified Amazon firestick button layout. Solar panel charging system is neat.
3. Panel is plenty bright and blacks/grayscales are amazing.
4. YT HDR is stunning must select input plus to display HDR.
5. Emby/Plex works good but OLED is green biased due to sensitivity of green relative to the other organic dyes, but observed on my iPhone and PC VA monitor too.
For example the new True Detective outside snow/town scenes are bluish on all devices. Filmmakers today love the tinted look.
6. OLED is ruthlessly revealing, when watching the local news the anchors look perfect but the video displayed on the monitors behind the desks look horrible.
 
arestavo said:
Interesting. I've played quite a few DV files on my PC using VLC (on my S90C), and they worked fine. I have run across one DV file that didn't play back properly. It was a Dolby Vision Profile 5 file. Older ones didn't have an issue. I looked it up, and apparently Profile 5 doesn't have cross compatibility.
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Yes, it's exactly this. There's plenty of DV profile 5 stuff, and it plays fine on my LG and doesn't play at all on this one. It's a shame, really. DV has won the HDR battle and there's a chance that this problem is going to get worse instead of better. As you say "older ones didn't have an issue"
 
Has Samsung changed their stance on Dolby Vision? Or do they still not support it, and everything else is a work around?
 
sfsuphysics said:
Has Samsung changed their stance on Dolby Vision? Or do they still not support it, and everything else is a work around?
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Samsung continues to, stubbornly, refuse to support Dolby Vision. They still claim that HDR10+ is better. As KevinG said, Dolby Vision has clearly won the HDR war. Samsung is only going to end up hurting themselves if they don’t pull their heads out of their asses and actually support the standard that everyone is starting to use now.
 
KevinG said:
Yes, it's exactly this. There's plenty of DV profile 5 stuff, and it plays fine on my LG and doesn't play at all on this one. It's a shame, really. DV has won the HDR battle and there's a chance that this problem is going to get worse instead of better. As you say "older ones didn't have an issue"
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It may have more adoption for movies, but on PC it's all HDR. There might be a game out there that does Dolby Vision, but I've only seen a bunch with HDR.
 
FYI wiki derived note: The OLED material used to produce blue light degrades much more rapidly than the materials used to produce other colors; in other words, blue light output will decrease relative to the other colors of light. This variation in the differential color output will change the color balance of the display, and is much more noticeable than a uniform decrease in overall luminance. This can be avoided partially by adjusting the color balance, but this may require advanced control circuits and input from a knowledgeable user. More commonly, though, manufacturers optimize the size of the R, G and B subpixels to reduce the current density through the subpixel in order to equalize lifetime at full luminance. For example, a blue subpixel may be 75% larger than the green subpixel. The red subpixel may be 10% larger than the green.
 
Watched Season 3 of "all for Mankind" yesterday.
In, I think Episode 2 this display really shines. Space Scenes and stars and everything make it look awesome. Space stuff + OLED = Match in Heaven
 
Two quick questions:

  1. How does this TV compare to Sony 85 Inch Mini LED 4K Ultra HD TV X93L Series? Everything I read over at AVS says that it's a better TV.
  2. Not really a question, but more of a tip: When buying a large TV save some money to buy a larger (longer) TV console. Nothing looks more out of place than a TV that is longer than your TV console. My console is 120 inches and I'm still deciding on which 85" to get.

From my understanding Samsung colors are oversaturated and look cartoony while Sony's look more natural. Any truth in that?
 
1. Diff tech different pros and cons, plus I would not compare unless both sets are pro calibrated in your living space.
2. This is what the married man calls the WAF or wife acceptance factor. Had same issue when I brought home the SVS subwoofer(18 Hz @110 dB) and other items ( 77 inch OLED included).
 
Derangel said:
Samsung continues to, stubbornly, refuse to support Dolby Vision. They still claim that HDR10+ is better. As KevinG said, Dolby Vision has clearly won the HDR war. Samsung is only going to end up hurting themselves if they don’t pull their heads out of their asses and actually support the standard that everyone is starting to use now.
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Yeah it is a shame. I like Samsung for the sets that I get which is the midrange sets. I feel they are a good value in price for the features/cleanliness that you get, not as cheap as a Hisense or TCL set but then not as expensive as a Sony. That said if I was going high end set I probably would steer away from Samsung specifically because of this stubbornness
 
Hulk said:
Two quick questions:

  1. How does this TV compare to Sony 85 Inch Mini LED 4K Ultra HD TV X93L Series? Everything I read over at AVS says that it's a better TV.
  2. Not really a question, but more of a tip: When buying a large TV save some money to buy a larger (longer) TV console. Nothing looks more out of place than a TV that is longer than your TV console. My console is 120 inches and I'm still deciding on which 85" to get.

From my understanding Samsung colors are oversaturated and look cartoony while Sony's look more natural. Any truth in that?
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I'd say the only thing that bugs me more than #2 is someone wall mounting a nice TV and then not paying $50-100 for a cord concealment kit and a jab saw. Nothing worse imo than a wall-mounted TV with cables hanging all over the place.

The console thing is negotiable imo, I'd rather have a console that is too small than settle on a TV that fits whatever console you already have. Plus, you can always replace the console later, or not, and have it just grow on you. I actually looked over some of the customer pictures with smaller consoles and that's becoming the norm. Mine was exactly 70" and the TV was just shy of 68" and I don't plan on replacing the console unless i swap walls and bump out my family room, on this TV it has about 2" on either side but from an angle the TV looks as large or even larger than the console, it doesn't bother me and I'm definitely glad I got the 77" over a 65".

sfsuphysics said:
Yeah it is a shame. I like Samsung for the sets that I get which is the midrange sets. I feel they are a good value in price for the features/cleanliness that you get, not as cheap as a Hisense or TCL set but then not as expensive as a Sony. That said if I was going high end set I probably would steer away from Samsung specifically because of this stubbornness
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Yeah the DV thing initially had me holding off on Samsung as well, but at this price point I just don't think DV makes enough of a difference to persuade me to

1) Settle for an inferior LG WOLED for similar size and money
2) Spend 2-3x or more for a similar sized Sony QD-OLED

There are plenty of reviews comparing the LG 77" C3 ($2170-2300) to the Samsung 77" S90C ($2300) and not a single one I watched came back with the LG C3 as the superior panel even with the lack of DV support on the Samsung. Most reviews even declared the S90C as the best overall OLED of 2023, now toss in the $500 discount compared to other similar class 77" or just minor $200 premium over the 65" versions and you can see why the S89C got so much buzz.

I do hope Samsung puts the decision in the hands of the consumer, maybe at some point we can just buy the DV license and tack it on via firmware or something.
 
chizow said:
I do hope Samsung puts the decision in the hands of the consumer, maybe at some point we can just buy the DV license and tack it on via firmware or something.
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Ngl, I hate that idea because the ala carte features could go sideways real quick, but I like the idea because it seems as an easy fix to add in extra features.... that said not sure I'd even be possible, but even if it was Samsung wants to sell NEW tvs not sell upgrades so no way they would do it.
 
sfsuphysics said:
Ngl, I hate that idea because the ala carte features could go sideways real quick, but I like the idea because it seems as an easy fix to add in extra features.... that said not sure I'd even be possible, but even if it was Samsung wants to sell NEW tvs not sell upgrades so no way they would do it.
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Yeah it could be a slippery slope but I think overall major features are pretty silo'd in anyone's top 5 feature list. There's rumors of Amazon trying to limit 3rd party competitor apps on Fire TVs and sticks similar to their Fire tablets and Alexa devices, but if they do that they're going to really make them niche devices and force them to be sold at even steeper discounts than they are now (probably at a loss). I don't expect 3rd party TV makers to take a stance like that, if anything Samsung and Sony have gone out of their way to improve support for other devices beyond what the native OS or their own preferred device OS supports, like casting on Apple devices instead of just Android like their own phones. There's also rumors Samsung and Google/Youtube are trying to remove Dolby Atmos and replace it with their own positional audio IAMF.... I just know if Atmos gets removed there's going to be an even bigger consumer backlash, especially since Samsung sells so many soundbars. Crazy how these royalties create such odd bedfellows.

I did come across this old 2018 snippet from Tom's and they did mention how Sony was a later adopter of Dolby Vision, and when they did, they ended up backporting it to many of their older TVs. Not a huge surprise since these are just advanced codecs processed by an onboard CPU. I can't see the cost being prohibitive either, I've read its anywhere from a few dollars to pennies but I guess when you make and sell millions of TVs a year like Samsung it adds up. In Windows you can get Dolby Access for like $10 and Dolby Atmos for supported sound bars for free. Not holding my breath on this, since Samsung is stubborn and their support for older TVs isn't great. I will say the onboard CPU and Tizen OS responsiveness is actually really fast, even compared to my 2021 Frame TV, to the point I probably don't need an Apple TV 4K attached to it other than a better overall interface and some Apple app support features. So if an update could add DV, I'm sure this TV could handle it.

https://www.tomsguide.com/us/what-is-dolby-vision-hdr,review-5138.html
Sony was a holdout that recently joined the Dolby Vision fold, and many Sony TVs that sold without Dolby Vision support initially now can thanks to a recent software update.
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I also think there's some duopoly/collusion and artificial product segmentation going on with LG and Samsung, the Gov't of SK creates competition and differentiation between the two in order to give them both a chance to exist in a competitive market. You want Dolby Vision and OLED at this price point go with LG? You want QD-OLED and don't care that much about DV? Go with Samsung. Its happened before directly with their phones, OLED vs. QLED, washers/dryers, kitchen appliances, and in other industries, Kia vs. Hyundai, etc. They tend to find ways to make part of the market choose one over the other so they can both thrive.
 
chizow said:
if anything Samsung and Sony have gone out of their way to improve support for other devices beyond what the native OS or their own preferred device OS supports, like casting on Apple devices instead of just Android like their own phones.
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Unless they have financial incentive to not do. I used to love SteamLink on my Q70, it was great for streaming emulator games to the big TV to play. Then one day the app stopped loading, and go to find out Samsung cut support to it, but not just support they made sure it never worked anymore, why? I dunno... maybe it has something to do with that Xbox logo that now popped up on my set, and if I delete the app it reinstalls itself. So yeah no hope in Samsung ever doing something good unless they also get paid for it
 
I'm hoping this comes back down to $1799 again soon. Maybe with March Madness coming up the TV prices will drop like they do around the Super Bowl. If they do, I'm pulling the trigger on this immediately.
 
They don't even have photos of the back of the TV. Is the stand even adjustable or do you have to spend another $150 on a stand so that when you're sitting on the couch your eyes go to the middle of the screen
 
jgreen said:
I'm hoping this comes back down to $1799 again soon. Maybe with March Madness coming up the TV prices will drop like they do around the Super Bowl. If they do, I'm pulling the trigger on this immediately.
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I imagine it'll keep dropping to $1799 periodically until they are sold out and the '24 panels start rolling in, pretty sure that has historically been in the May/June timeframe. They've already dropped the MSRP from $3499 to $2299 and current sale price is $2199, so just $100 off. But BestBuy frequently does weekend flash sales and March Madness lead up will definitely be another TV blow-out, so anyone who wants this TV or already bought it, I would recommend hit the Save for Later flag on the TV and signing up for at least the free tier of their membership program (to be able to see member pricing) but also for the chance to get a price match if they drop the price below the $1799 low that got most people to bite. I have the 60 day price match window so I still a bit more than a month to get a price match.

Also, something to keep an eye on for those on the fence because of Dolby Vision support, the LG 77" C3 has been on sale for short periods of time on Amazon for $1999, but that should be an indicator of what LG is willing to clear them out at, so if DV is a must-have, at $2000 the LG C3 becomes a viable option again imo.
 
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I'm still totally confused about this Samsung and the Sony X93L. Remember how back in the day you only had plasma and before that CRT? Now it seems like there's half a dozen different display tech options and every year they keep introducing new display tech. And from the research I've done at the AVS forums they recommend the Sony X93L because it has true colors while Samsung colors are "cartoony".
 
Hulk said:
I'm still totally confused about this Samsung and the Sony X93L. Remember how back in the day you only had plasma and before that CRT? Now it seems like there's half a dozen different display tech options and every year they keep introducing new display tech. And from the research I've done at the AVS forums they recommend the Sony X93L because it has true colors while Samsung colors are "cartoony".
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Samsung does look more saturated as a whole. I have a 65" LG C3 and a 77" S95C. The C3 looks amazing until I out then side by side. I prefer the Samsung look better, hands down. I've only seen a G3 in store so I can't do an apples to apples.

Overall, LGs look more accurate and natural and Samsung looks more colorful and the colors pop off the screen. You can always turn down the saturation on the Samsung but I prefer it.
 
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I went to Best Buy over the weekend and spent a lot of time looking at TVs, especially 75-77" TVs, and a lot of them seemed to be in the $1,800 price range. Not sure why Sony X93L justifies $1,000 + price difference.
 
One thing I noticed when looking at the various specs between the Samsung S89/90 and the LG C3, is that the Samsungs weigh about 25 pounds more with or without the stands. Why such a large difference. Costco has both the S90 and the C3, so maybe on my next visit I'll look them over physically to see if anything stands out.
 
Hulk said:
I'm still totally confused about this Samsung and the Sony X93L. Remember how back in the day you only had plasma and before that CRT? Now it seems like there's half a dozen different display tech options and every year they keep introducing new display tech. And from the research I've done at the AVS forums they recommend the Sony X93L because it has true colors while Samsung colors are "cartoony".
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Honestly I'm surprised anyone would compare the X93L to the S90c. The samsung definitely has a much wider color gambit in HDR. The LG lineup doesnt have nearly as wide color gambit as samsung. Even the LG C2 and C3 cant compare.
 
Back to $1799 for the weekend, also if you plan to mount it and you don't have 2 able bodied adults to lift roughly 45lbs each over their shoulders (varies based on height of person and mount), you may consider paying for the professional installation. This thing is a beast lol.
 
chizow said:
Back to $1799 for the weekend, also if you plan to mount it and you don't have 2 able bodied adults to lift roughly 45lbs each over their shoulders (varies based on height of person and mount), you may consider paying for the professional installation. This thing is a beast lol.
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Yes, I just saw this as well. We primarily stream standard high def content like YouTube TV, Netflix, etc., and almost no 4k content or DVD/Bluray playback. And zero gaming. Is this Samsung still the better choice over the LG C3?
 
First one came with two gnarly cracks on the screen. Replacement came and has been flawless. Man, what a TV! I own an older LG 65in c9 and a new 42in c3 (for pc), and man, I dont think ive turned on the 65in since the samsung arrived. Such an amazing package at an awesome price.
 
Rahatropa said:
First one came with two gnarly cracks on the screen. Replacement came and has been flawless. Man, what a TV! I own an older LG 65in c9 and a new 42in c3 (for pc), and man, I dont think ive turned on the 65in since the samsung arrived. Such an amazing package at an awesome price.
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I got a 65" c9 just sitting in the corner not being used now also... Have like over 10k hours on it.
 
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