Help me decide on my first OLED!

[WailingJennings]

I’m looking to purchase my first OLED soon (Black Friday-ish?) and I’m looking for advice. It seems from a lot of posts I have read some of the more popular options that may be what I am looking for include the LG G2, or the Sony A90J/K or A80J/K.

So am I looking for any and all advice, experience, and recommendations!

About me:

General Viewing

-Rough viewing percentage breaks down to about:
70% 4K Disks
20% Streaming Services/Youtube TV
10% Gaming (Xbox/PS5)

-I tend to watch stuff at night, in a totally dark room. The household will easily watch 8-12 hours a day.

-Ive been upgrading my video library to 4K for the last couple of years so I’m definitely UHD prioritized for my viewing preferences. I am looking for the ultimate picture quality experience out of my 4Ks.

-I generally sit centered, roughly 6 feet from the screen.

Personal Preferences

-I’m looking for a decent size. I don’t think I want anything under 77 inches but budget is a factor. 2,500-3,000 is comfortable but I could stretch it somewhat above that if the value is just too good to pass up for slightly more. (Also, I am a Costco member and I have heard the deals are pretty good + they have great warranties apparently)?

-I would like less blur, also will not use motion smoothing though.

-Definitely looking for brightness, HDR minded, and that infinite contrast. I have had Samsung TVs for several generations and once I leave my current LCD behind I don’t think I will be back. I definitely want to take advantage of the best Dolby Vision has to offer since my library is packed to the gills with it and it currently it is all going to waste.

So what should I do? Look at one of the above models? Wait for Black Friday? Wait for next year’s models with the newer tech? (Or this next’s models with next years discounts?)

Thank you for your help!

[punisher]

you're in the right ball park with the Sony and the LG OLEDs. The new Samsung does not support Dolby Vision and is a first generation OLED so I would avoid it. To me Dolby Vision looks great on 4K discs and of course Disney saves the DV versions of their movies to streaming only.

[oddbox83]

The G2 is the current pinnacle of "old skool" OLED IMO.

Sony 80/90 might edge it though for other reasons though if you do little gaming, due to slightly better motion handling and more accurate tone mapping.

Honestly though, whichever you go for on your shortlist, they're all superb TVs. I'd happily own any of them.

[batman2000]

Originally Posted by oddbox83

The G2 is the current pinnacle of "old skool" OLED IMO.

Sony 80/90 might edge it though for other reasons though if you do little gaming, due to slightly better motion handling and more accurate tone mapping.

Honestly though, whichever you go for on your shortlist, they're all superb TVs. I'd happily own any of them.

I wish the positives of s95b were on the a95k or the positives of the a95k were on s95b.

[Panson]

Originally Posted by WailingJennings

I’m looking to purchase my first OLED soon (Black Friday-ish?) and I’m looking for advice. It seems from a lot of posts I have read some of the more popular options that may be what I am looking for include the LG G2, or the Sony A90J/K or A80J/K.

So am I looking for any and all advice, experience, and recommendations!

About me:

General Viewing

-Rough viewing percentage breaks down to about:
70% 4K Disks
20% Streaming Services/Youtube TV
10% Gaming (Xbox/PS5)

-I tend to watch stuff at night, in a totally dark room. The household will easily watch 8-12 hours a day.

-Ive been upgrading my video library to 4K for the last couple of years so I’m definitely UHD prioritized for my viewing preferences. I am looking for the ultimate picture quality experience out of my 4Ks.

-I generally sit centered, roughly 6 feet from the screen.

Personal Preferences

-I’m looking for a decent size. I don’t think I want anything under 77 inches but budget is a factor. 2,500-3,000 is comfortable but I could stretch it somewhat above that if the value is just too good to pass up for slightly more. (Also, I am a Costco member and I have heard the deals are pretty good + they have great warranties apparently)?

-I would like less blur, also will not use motion smoothing though.

-Definitely looking for brightness, HDR minded, and that infinite contrast. I have had Samsung TVs for several generations and once I leave my current LCD behind I don’t think I will be back. I definitely want to take advantage of the best Dolby Vision has to offer since my library is packed to the gills with it and it currently it is all going to waste.

So what should I do? Look at one of the above models? Wait for Black Friday? Wait for next year’s models with the newer tech? (Or this next’s models with next years discounts?)

Thank you for your help!

LG C2 77", around $2800. Rtings reports it's brighter than Sony A80K 77" (around $2700) in SDR Peak Brightness and HDR Peak Brightness at 10% and 100%.

Re Sony A90K and A95K, nothing above 65".

LG G2 77" (around $3800) . No stand, wall mount only. Note: Rtings reports aggressive dimming and uniformity issues. See their review.

[SlaughterX]

Go for whichever one has the best price. I have a C1 and A80J and they are both nice, though I prefer the C1 because I am a gamer. All things equal, if you're mostly going to be watching movies than the Sony might be better for you, but unless you have them both side by side I doubt you'll notice much of a difference at all.

[JohnAV]

Originally Posted by SlaughterX

Go for whichever one has the best price. I have a C1 and A80J and they are both nice, though I prefer the C1 because I am a gamer. All things equal, if you're mostly going to be watching movies than the Sony might be better for you, but unless you have them both side by side I doubt you'll notice much of a difference at all.

I recently put a 55" C2 in another room, it's really out of the box ready, plus it weighs less than the C1. (32.2 pounds compared to 50 pounds using carbon fiber now.)

see c1 vs c2

[WailingJennings]

Well, that $1,999 Amazon Flash Deal from today on the 77' A80J with a 4 month return window basically forced my hand.... lol

I look forward to seeing it in all it's glory Sunday Morning.

Thank you for everyone who gave me some input on this as it was helpful narrowing down my options!

[jvonl]

Originally Posted by WailingJennings

Well, that $1,999 Amazon Flash Deal from today on the 77' A80J with a 4 month return window basically forced my hand.... lol

I look forward to seeing it in all it's glory Sunday Morning.

Thank you for everyone who gave me some input on this as it was helpful narrowing down my options!

Great deal, you'll be thrilled! Have fun...

[MrCorky]

I'm in a similar situation as the original poster. Only I watch a lot more SD dvd content(movies not available in upscaled formats, like night of the demons 3 for example) My primary gaming is done on switch but I do some PS5 gaming as well. Only size that would for me is 55 inch and I also watch primarily in a dark room. Trying to determine if the A95K's higher cost would offer the picture improvement in SD content to justify the higher cost. I have been saving for a new set for awhile so I could swing the higher cost of the A95K if it's worth it for my use-case. Having only two 2.1 inputs is disappointing but not a total deal breaker for me.

[Kinsella5]

I am still on the fence, I pretty much know I will go the LG C2 route, but with the C3 announcement a few months away I will wait it out (home remodel isn't finished anyways) and see what changes they are making, worse case I can always get the C2 which currently is at it's lowest price point on the 65" model (and other sizes) and I suspect that price will probably be around by the time I am ready to buy. I will probably spend 50% of the time gaming (Series X) and 40% of the time watching 4K physical discs and 10% of the time watching standard television.

[oddbox83]

Originally Posted by MrCorky

Trying to determine if the A95K's higher cost would offer the picture improvement in SD content to justify the higher cost.

It's not working miracles, but I've been rather pleased with how the A95k handles anything.

(Apart from it's frustrating HDMI setup for 2.1, but that's not insurmountable.)

[MrCorky]

Originally Posted by Kinsella5

I am still on the fence, I pretty much know I will go the LG C2 route, but with the C3 announcement a few months away I will wait it out (home remodel isn't finished anyways) and see what changes they are making, worse case I can always get the C2 which currently is at it's lowest price point on the 65" model (and other sizes) and I suspect that price will probably be around by the time I am ready to buy. I will probably spend 50% of the time gaming (Series X) and 40% of the time watching 4K physical discs and 10% of the time watching standard television.

So it's probably safe to say a G3 will be around the corner alongside the C3?

[MrCorky]

Originally Posted by oddbox83

It's not working miracles, but I've been rather pleased with how the A95k handles anything.

(Apart from it's frustrating HDMI setup for 2.1, but that's not insurmountable.)

That's certainly positive! I'm sure this TV will have a good degree of longevity if anything else like other high end Sony TV's. The limitations with HDMI 2.1 aren't great but I don't believe Nintendo Switch would benefit from HDMI 2.1. anyways? I would just use the (2) 2.1 ports for my Xbox and PS5.

[oddbox83]

Originally Posted by MrCorky

That's certainly positive! I'm sure this TV will have a good degree of longevity if anything else like other high end Sony TV's. The limitations with HDMI 2.1 aren't great but I don't believe Nintendo Switch would benefit from HDMI 2.1. anyways? I would just use the (2) 2.1 ports for my Xbox and PS5.

Though one of the ports also doubles as the ARC/eARC port, so if you have a soundbar/receiver using that, that's potentially a port down.

[MathTeacher]

I just bought the LG C2 77 inch a few weeks ago. My first OLED. Really liking it so far, no issue or complaints, and the black levels are really something!

[RevolverOcelScott]

Originally Posted by MathTeacher

I just bought the LG C2 77 inch a few weeks ago. My first OLED. Really liking it so far, no issue or complaints, and the black levels are really something!

Same as me, got mine wall mounted this weekend. I'm still in the process of fine tuning and calibrating the settings, but I love it so far. Only watched To Kill and Mockingbird and Kingsmen: The Golden Circle, but so far it's blowing me away. The colors and sheer size of the screen up on the wall is awesome!

Originally Posted by oddbox83

Though one of the ports also doubles as the ARC/eARC port, so if you have a soundbar/receiver using that, that's potentially a port down.

Most soundbars have ARC/eARC out and an HDMI input, so I don't really see it being down a port. With mine for example, my 4K player is plugged into the Soundbar and eARC out to the TV from the Soundbar, so no lost port. Unless I'm misunderstanding you.

[Kinsella5]

Originally Posted by MrCorky

So it's probably safe to say a G3 will be around the corner alongside the C3?

LG should announce the model line-up at CES in January, they don't get released that month, just the announcement about them. More than likely they will be released in April/May.

[oddbox83]

Originally Posted by RevolverOcelScott

Most soundbars have ARC/eARC out and an HDMI input, so I don't really see it being down a port. With mine for example, my 4K player is plugged into the Soundbar and eARC out to the TV from the Soundbar, so no lost port. Unless I'm misunderstanding you.

This be true, and I'd assumed I could have just plugged the lot into my AV receiver and just left it at that.

Sony has added an extra layer of awkwardness though. You can't have both Dolby Vision and 4k120/VRR on at the same time on the same input. So you have to make the choice of Dolby Vision, which caps that input to 60hz, or the gaming features. So, unless you want to go into the settings menu and mess around with the HDMI signal format settings each time you switch between a Dolby Vision disc and a game, you gotta hive that console off to another HDMI, which is what I did and just eARC the gaming audio. That's sacrificing DV from the console as well.

For legacy consoles it doesn't matter that much, but if you've got both a Xbox Series S/X and a PS5, you need to make some compromises, or invest in a 2.1 splitter.

Now Sony would argue their chipset is limiting them to 2 HDMI 2.1 inputs, but I don't understand why they've forced this choice between DV and HDMI 2.1 gaming features when their competitors just do it automatically, which it should be doing here for the TV's two 2.1 ports.

https://www.rtings.com/tv/reviews/so...-oled/settings

Standard Format: Limits the bandwidth to HDMI 1.4. Use this for older devices that don't need the extra bandwidth, like DVD players, cable boxes, or the PS3 and Xbox 360, as using a higher setting may result in compatibility issues.
Enhanced Format: Uses the full bandwidth of the selected port. HDMI 1 and 2 have HDMI 2.0 bandwidth, which is good for older gaming consoles like the PS4 or Xbox One, or Blu-rays. HDMI 3 and 4 have HDMI 2.1 bandwidth, which is ideal for current-gen gaming consoles, PCs, and other HDMI 2.1 devices.
Enhanced Format (Dolby Vision): Meant for Dolby Vision content, like from streaming devices like a Roku stick or Apple TV, or Blu-ray players. It limits the refresh rate with 4k signals to 60Hz, so if you want to use the TV for high-frame-rate gaming and the game doesn't support Dolby Vision, make sure you don't have this setting selected.
Enhanced Format (VRR): Enable this when gaming and you want the VRR support.

[Cardboard_killer]

Here's my first question/post:

I can get a 77" LG A1 or a 65" LG C1 for about the same price. I do not game, watch mostly sports and movies from a distance of about three meters. Which would be the better choice? I tend to believe size is what not to skimp on, but I hear the HDR difference is large.