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PoolGate

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I have been out of the TV game for quite some time. I have 2 TVs, both of them Samsung 1080p plasma. I am thinking of getting a new "family" TV for our main viewing area. I have no real clue the state of TVs anymore. I lament that I cannot get plasma anymore. What is the best image quality? OLED? Any advice appreciated!
 
PoolGate said:
I have been out of the TV game for quite some time. I have 2 TVs, both of them Samsung 1080p plasma. I am thinking of getting a new "family" TV for our main viewing area. I have no real clue the state of TVs anymore. I lament that I cannot get plasma anymore. What is the best image quality? OLED? Any advice appreciated!
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It somewhat depends on what your signal sources are. Nearly everything is 4K now and even 8K resolution is pretty easy to find. I’ve noticed there’s sometimes a phenomena where the higher resolution displays almost look like the old video tape home movies when the source is still lower resolution.

In any case, all of the technologies available today are pretty far improved compared to the plasma, I don’t know that you can go wrong with any. If you’re a budget minded person, any 4K display from a major brand would be good. If you’re the technology tinkerer in the neighborhood then the higher resolution stuff will look good with source material rated for that resolution, but won’t make a difference if you’re still playing content in FullHD (1080p).

Generally speaking, finding one with a higher refresh rate is more desirable than lower. Even the low end stuff will be better than what you have now.
 
I don’t have an OLED TV personally but it’s supposed to have the best contrast ratio and deeper black since the pixels can be individually turned off. The company I work for makes displays like that and the OLED is the most expensive option so there’s usually a reason for that. Downside is the brightness tends to not reach that of the other tech which could be an issue if you are using it outside in bright sunlight. Though I think that may be a non-issue because most people tend to dim the lights or put their TV somewhere not in the sun and they aren’t waterproof anyway.
 
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After years of buying electronics based on technical specs, I finally starting looking to balance quality with price. 4k, 8k, UHD, HDR, OLED, QLED - so many acronyms that, when actually viewed, are difficult to distinguish. And something new comes along every year. I’ve found that middle of the road TVs provide spectacular pictures - more than adequate. We have TCL Roku 4 Series TVs and love them. I really love that I only paid around $300 for 55” TVs. My last tube TV was a 36” Sony that I paid almost $2k for. Glad those days are over!
 
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We got a new “middle of the road” roku tv similar to @jark87 for our living room & it’s been great. A much better picture than our old vizio & it’s crazy how lightweight they are especially when compared to a plasma. I also love only needing 1 remote for volume, live (antenna)tv & streaming. We bought another smaller one for our playroom & if I want I can just unplug it & take it out to the shop if we have a get together for a race or a game. I swear it weighs less than a book.
We were already into the roku ecosystem because of their wide array of apps & long term compatibility so it was very seamless to get roku tvs - just sign in & everything’s already there.
 
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QD-OLED sets are the current state of the art at the moment. You don’t have many to choose from right now though (I think 2 maybe). They supposedly combine the benefits of OLED’s and QLED’s. I personally would be happy with the majority of QLEDs and OLED’s. I’m not sure if QD-OLED’s are even available in sizes above 55 inch. I could be wrong about that though. I currently have several 65 inch 4K regular LCD TVs that I paid less than $600 a piece for (a Samsung and an LG). I’m not in a rush to replace them at all. I use Apple TVs on most of my TVs as those are the best streaming devices followed by Roku. Apple TVs don’t have adds plastered everywhere like Amazon fire sticks and Roku’s and they are stupid easy to use. Also the 4K Apple TVs offer lossless audio with Apple Music, so if your hooking it into a nice sound system along with the Apple TVs are worth it for that alone IMOP.

www.consumerreports.org

QLED vs. OLED (and QD-OLED): Which TV Tech Is Right for You? - Consumer Reports

Acronyms like QLED, OLED, and QD-OLED can make buying a new TV confusing. Consumer Reports explains the major TV tech to help you get a TV you'll love at a great price.
www.consumerreports.org www.consumerreports.org
 
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PoolGate said:
How would you even watch over 4k? I haven't seen a display capable of higher although I'm sure they are quite expensive.
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Dell UltraSharp 32 8K Monitor - UP3218K | Dell USA

Experience realistic images like never before on the award-wining, world’s first 31.5" 8K monitor featuring Dell PremierColor.
www.dell.com
 
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Bperry said:
Head over to Costco sometime.
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There really isn’t much of a point in an 8k set for consumers (at least for right now). I think unless you’re editing movies or TV shows with unlimited budgets, they aren’t going to gain you much.
 
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OLED if coming from plasma.

We only use LG OLED's for our higher end installs. They calibrate awesome. Just just remember with contract ratio being so high that if the source sucks you get what you got. Like anything streamed. There is just so much compression.

For everyday viewing I feel samsung LED's calibrate up very very well or even grabbing settings off the internet and they are great.

I still run 2 pioneer elite plasmas in my home. a 60 inch in my basement and a 50 inch in my master. they still have a picture that is just amazing.

my living room is a 65 inch LG second generation OLED (their highest end model at the time). It's awesome. Great picture. This was professionally calibrated for light and dark viewing. ISF certified calibrator. Watching streamed services on it through apple tv is rough at times cause the calibration brings out everything in it. lol

other rooms in the house are all varied sized samsung LED's and the pictures on all of them are great.

Oh viewing angles. . . plasma viewing angles sucked as you know. OLED worse. lol but i'm talking like TV in middle of room and a couch on a 90 degree wall might be an issue if windows and light play into it.
 
I've done some more research and I think I will probably settle on QLED. OLED is just too pricey. Probably Samsung 65" QLED/120Hz. Maybe the "Neo QLED".

My plasmas every viewing angle is good. I can see the screen on mine almost to a 180 side view. I have 2 plasmas. A mid-range Samsung 60" for our main room and the master has a top of the line 58" Samsung 3D.
 
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Eliminating lots of tech mumbo jumbo, "QLED" is really just a conventional LCD panel with different backlight technology which generally delivers improved color reproduction and many, many localized dimming sectors, making it much better at representing "truly black" parts of the picture than a non-QLED LCD. It cuts way down on graying and backlight bleed.

OLED really is an entirely different display technology, with a tiny LED making up each individual pixel. It will always be objectively superior at representing black better (the pixel is simply off, there's no light to be had) and have better contrast ratios. Whether that means they're worth the additional cost to you is subjective.

When I researched TVs earlier in the year, and looked at many side by side, there was no chance I could justify the cost of a true OLED panel especially when most of the TV we watch is stuff from the 90s and early 00s. The small amount of modern 4K content we watch looks great to me. I'm big into vintage audio and hi-fi, so I'm a nutty stickler there, but when it comes to the picture, the Samsung HDR QLED TV we got is more than impressive enough for me. I'm very happy with the quality of the HDR and how well it renders black.

I'm very satisfied with the panel in our Q70A, and while it's been many years since we had our Samsung plasma, I can't recall anything on that particular TV being as good as this one.
 
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