OLED vs. Mini LED in 2023

[dcx4610]

I plan on upgrading my Samsung QLED this year and looking for advice. I'm mostly just wanting to go bigger (55 to 75) and want something that supports Dolby Vision.

That pretty much narrows it down to LG and Sony. The question now though is - OLED or Mini LED?

I'm actually quite happy with my Samsung as far as QLED tech is concerned. The full array local dimming works work and I get impressive inky blacks and good contrast ratio.

OLED has always been a little scary to me. It clearly has the best contrast and blacks but I've also heard that it has things like ABL and contast limiters. Basically if you are watching something and it gives too bright, you'll see the brightness or contrast dim. This would annoy the absolute crap out of me and would be a deal breaker. Is this still a thing with OLEDs?

With Mini LED, I feel like it's the next step up from QLED and give me a similar picture to what I have now without any weird quirks.

I'm leaning towards Mini LED but if the the weird quirks with OLED haven ironed out, I'm certainly interested.

Lastly, why are Sony's Mini LED TVs roughly $1000 more than LGs? Do they still think they are king Sony and can overprice or is their tech that much better than LGs?

[Robert Zohn]

Depending on the OLD brand and model the ABL, Auto Brightness Limiter can be very minimal and only very minimally seen when a very bright full field image stays on the screen for a minute or longer. I also expect we'll see upgrades to further reduce the ABL further for the 2023 model year.

If you like the blacks on Samsung's QLED you would LOVE any OLED TV and they are the only digital video display that can go to pure black.

Sony's Quantum Dot MiniLED TVs employ their very well respected XR processor that delivers the very best motion resolution and up-scaling of low resolution content like cable. Sony's XR processor also has the best contrast control for FHD/SDR and 4K HDR content.

Also LG canceled their QNED90UQA and QNED99UQA MiniLED TVs so LG does not have any MiniLED series that match the high-end models that Samsung and Sony offers.

I'll be posting on Blu-ray.com from CES next week on the announcements from the Press Conferences and also when the CES convention opens. Here's the Blu-ray threat that you can see my posts: https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread...=357882&page=3

Finally I am very optimistic for Sharp's new line-up of premium Quantium Dot MiniLED TVs and we'll have all of the details on Friday, Jan. 6th.

[dobyblue]

Originally Posted by Robert Zohn

I'll be posting on Blu-ray.com from CES next week on the announcements from the Press Conferences and also when the CES convention opens. Here's the Blu-ray thread that you can see my posts: https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread...=357882&page=3

Looking forward to it, wish I was there!

[lgans316]

Every year its the same old OLED Vs LED-LCD debate. Yes, the gap has shrunk but then we now have QD-OLED closing other WOLED gaps. Ultimately pixel level light control still wins for movie watching despite few shortcomings of WOLED. This is based on my personal experience of having both techs under one roof.

Sony can actually deliver on the MINI-LED front provided they don't skimp on zones and abolishes this X-Wide Angle tech.

[oddbox83]

I'd recommend Sony's top FALD LED or QD-OLED, whatever they will called be for 2023. Whichever you feel comfortable with. If you're worried about OLED's remaining issues, Sony have cracked it with QD-OLED - using a Samsung made panel but their own processing and heatsink making more of it than even Samsung themselves (you pay more for Sony for a reason).

Sony's 2022 A95K is a beast of a TV. It's got a slightly buggy OS (I'm sure a firmware update will iron out any remaining issues) but the picture is incredible. It has a heatsink so it doesn't dim sustained images as much as other brands. ABL is still a thing, but you can no longer see it working. This is in contrast to LG (B8) where if I was watching something like an interview or even actual movies where a dark scene lasted a while, the screen would noticeably dim, and then when the image changed you could see it edging back up in brightness. You can see videos online where this happens even with Samsung's 2022 QD-OLED, but the Sony A95K? Nah. Sony's heatsink is doing the job. I've also seen videos where hardcore Samsung fanboys, staunchly defend the Samsung, even going so far as to say you can just bring up a menu to bring the screen brightness back up as if that's fine to be doing during watching content.

[Robert Zohn]

@lgans316, the quantity of local dimming zones is important, but more important is how the processor controls the local dimming zones and overall contrast control.

Sony does an exceptional job at controlling the local dimming zones of FHD/SDR and HDR tone mapping so end results are actually better than most TVs with more local dimming zones.

[dcx4610]

I'm glad I posted. I didn't realize the new Sony had pretty much combined QLED with OLED tech. Looking at Rtings review, the A95K is now at the top of my list. It looks like it caps out at 65" but I'm fine with that based on the other specs.

I guess it's just a matter of waiting for it to drop down in a price a little bit and going for it unless we get some other interesting things from CES.

[oddbox83]

Samsung did it - Sony just license the panels from them (and Sony have far better processing behind it). Looks like 2023 will bring a 77" QD-OLED from Samsung and Sony.

Might be worth waiting either for that (it won't be cheap though), or clearance deals on the A95K.

[dcx4610]

Originally Posted by oddbox83

Samsung did it - Sony just license the panels from them (and Sony have far better processing behind it). Looks like 2023 will bring a 77" QD-OLED from Samsung and Sony.

Might be worth waiting either for that (it won't be cheap though), or clearance deals on the A95K.

It's odd to me that Samsung did the panel but still won't support Dolby Vision. I like my current Samsung but not having DV is a deal breaker and is forcing me to go to Sony.

[avs commenter]

I have both. Oled is better. But both are great

[Robert Zohn]

Just built a few dedicated webpages on three of my favorite TVs from CES.

- Samsung 2023 Flagship 77″ 65″ and 55″ S95C 4K QD OLED TVs

- Sharp 2023 AQOUS QD MiniLED XLED Series 4K HDR TV with over 2,000 dimming zones & deep blacks & high peak luminance

- LG 2023 55″- 83″ G3 OLED TV