General / Off-Topic RIP OLED

[SpaceMachine]

A sad day indeed.

My LG panel recently developed a fault - a very minor one that would only manifest under certain conditions, but once I had noticed it was there, I just kept looking for it.

Turns out the John Lewis 5yr guarantee doesn't count for much - they deemed my tv to be BER and could only offer a replacement, not repair. Their 'alternative replacement' was a curved Samsung LED - and an edgelit one at that. I argued my point that the only replacement for OLED should be OLED, but as the current retail is higher than what I paid (in their sale), they flatly refused.

But I did eventually get a full refund.

Now I have a dilemma - I have £1100 for a new set. The cheapest OLED currently retails at around £1400. Do I wait for a few months and the inevitable price-drop to my budget range, or should I take a look at the current deals on regular LED? Having lived with a perfect OLED image for over 18 months now, I'm not sure if my peepers will tolerate the downgrade...

Do any of you play on high-end 4K LED or QLED? Opinions appreciated

 

[Finn638]

I assume your OLED was HDR-capable? I don't know if all OLED are HDR-capable but all the ones I've seen (especially at that price) have been. By "regular LED" you mean 4k and non-HDR? If so I'd definitely not downgrade. At that price you should be able to find something sooner rather than later. I'd keep hunting for bargains and keep an eye on store sales. If you need one right now, perhaps it's more desirable to downgrade the size of the tv rather than picture quality.

 

[Renown]

Had a good look. As you mention, I can't find anything below £1400 yet either.

 

[SpaceMachine]

My OLED doesn't have 'HDR' physically branded on it anywhere, but surely an OLED with infinite contrast is by default HDR?

At this point I'm actually considering holding on to my tv. The fault is irritating - an almost invisible vertical bar around an inch wide that appears only with certain solid pastel colours (the upper horizon in driving games will often reproduce it) - but it is so very minor that I've had to specifically point it out to friends.

The thought of not being able to play Elite on the best display tech for the medium makes me a little sad.

Collection is booked for Monday, but I think I might hold on to it for just a little longer...

 

[stormyuk]

Nah it needs to support decoding of HDR signals like anything else, it's not for free just because it's OLED.

As to new TV either the LG B7 (supports HDR) if you must have OLED or one of the Sony HDR FALD (full array backlighting with local dimming) HDR TVs if you can live without OLED, or if you are mega rich a Sony OLED.

 

[SpaceMachine]

Nah it needs to support decoding of HDR signals like anything else, it's not for free just because it's OLED.

I know HDR required the additional hardware to process - my point was that with a display with infinite contrast, what difference can it make? I suppose the only way to tell would be a side-by-side comparison - but I don't think my jaw would drop. As I see things currently, HDR is a gimmick because the panel technology isn't up to the task at hand.

I've gotten my old plasma out of storage for the interim. In some respects (particularly motion) I prefer the plasma over the OLED.

There's an interesting option for a FHD OLED on Amazon just now - I'm quite tempted by this, mostly because these displays are pretty much the pinnacle of 1080 viewing. Seeing that I'm sat around 10ft away from my screen, I doubt I would see any benefit from a UHD panel anyway, even with the increased pixel count from my PS4 PRO.

Decisions, decisions...

 

[stormyuk]

I know HDR required the additional hardware to process - my point was that with a display with infinite contrast, what difference can it make? I suppose the only way to tell would be a side-by-side comparison - but I don't think my jaw would drop. As I see things currently, HDR is a gimmick because the panel technology isn't up to the task at hand.

Don't really believe that, my brothers B7 OLED looks way better with HDR content than SDR content, as does my XE90 LED. Its not a gimmick to my eyes. HDR content once you have seen it (on a decent set) you won't want SDR any longer, trust me. Sure I am convinced there will be cheap HDR claiming sets out there were they really don't have the contrast to make it work but on decent sets. Nope its a definite advantage.

Good luck with whichever set you choose!