Sony A90K or LG C4?

[Bishop_99]

Hi. I currently have a Sony X950H and I would like to make the transition to OLED. I'm deciding between the Sony A90K or the LG C4. My concern is that on rtings.com, the HDR peak brightness on the A90K is around 600, while the LG C4 is around 900 nits. Similar to my Sony X950H

I know the technology is different beween LCD and OLED, but will the Sony A90K have dimmer specular highlights than my current TV, or because it is OLED, it will look the same?

I like the Sony brand more. I watch all my films on a pitch black room. I appreciate any feedback before my purchase. Thank you.

[samlop10]

https://www.rtings.com/tv/tools/comp...ed/31218/49541

If you look at the HDR brightness section, the LG is considerably brighter in real world content (not patterns), the Hallway Lights, Yellow Skyscraper, and Landscape Pool tests; so you will likely notice the difference.

Sony also usually ‘under-powers’ their OLEDs, so the LG will likely still be brighter even at the same size (if they’re using a similar panel).

I will also say the Sony came out in 2022 and the LG in 2024, so you’re likely to get longer software/firmware support with the LG model.

The LG also seems cheaper, so unless you can find the Sony for cheaper than the LG, the LG seems like a no brainer. I honestly do not see the Sony doing anything better than the LG except in very few cases/tests, and even then, the difference is so small it’s practically insignificant. In the areas where the LG pulls ahead, it pulls ahead by a considerable amount, such as the HDR brightness and price.

[cgpublic]

Originally Posted by Bishop_99

I appreciate any feedback before my purchase.

The recently announced LG 5 OLED series, with 4-stack panel, brighter HDR, 165Hz and a new remote, appears to be the one to buy, or wait for a sale.

The other big benefit of LG as noted is the promise to update the FW for years with a well-defined road map.

My C2 has the latest FW, and consistent improvements to image quality and TV/OS navigation.

[Bishop_99]

Originally Posted by samlop10

[Show spoiler]https://www.rtings.com/tv/tools/comp...ed/31218/49541

If you look at the HDR brightness section, the LG is considerably brighter in real world content (not patterns), the Hallway Lights, Yellow Skyscraper, and Landscape Pool tests; so you will likely notice the difference.

Sony also usually ‘under-powers’ their OLEDs, so the LG will likely still be brighter even at the same size (if they’re using a similar panel).

I will also say the Sony came out in 2022 and the LG in 2024, so you’re likely to get longer software/firmware support with the LG model.

The LG also seems cheaper, so unless you can find the Sony for cheaper than the LG, the LG seems like a no brainer. I honestly do not see the Sony doing anything better than the LG except in very few cases/tests, and even then, the difference is so small it’s practically insignificant. In the areas where the LG pulls ahead, it pulls ahead by a considerable amount, such as the HDR brightness and price.

Originally Posted by cgpublic

[Show spoiler]The recently announced LG 5 OLED series, with 4-stack panel, brighter HDR, 165Hz and a new remote, appears to be the one to buy, or wait for a sale.

The other big benefit of LG as noted is the promise to update the FW for years with a well-defined road map.

My C2 has the latest FW, and consistent improvements to image quality and TV/OS navigation.

Than you both! I wanted to make sure the lower nits of the Sony, might have worked differenly for OLED. I truly appreciate that clear up!

As for the 165 refresh rate. I only have a PS4 Pro and I mainly watch 4K moves. Since I'm eager to watch all these 4K HDR films again in OLED, I'm going for the LG C4

Thank you for the information!

[balboarules70]

Go with the LG, I have had one since the 6 model, and loved every one, I have a 77 C3 and it got another firmware update today in fact. The 5 may be a little better, but I am sure the C4 models are on fantastic sales at this point.

[Bishop_99]

Thanks Balboarules70..... I also forgot to talk about the updates in my previous post. It's true, my Sony X950H might receive a stability once every other year, but I can't tell what it does.

I just ordered the LG C4 and it will arrive tomorrow. I will be looking into into rtings to see what do they recommend for settings, plus look through these forums and AVforum to see what calibration people have set. If anyone knows it by heart and you would like to share, I would appreciate it as well.

Im sure a lot of the setting might have different names on the LG than on the Sony.

[samlop10]

Originally Posted by Bishop_99

Thanks Balboarules70..... I also forgot to talk about the updates in my previous post. It's true, my Sony X950H might receive a stability once every other year, but I can't tell what it does.

I just ordered the LG C4 and it will arrive tomorrow. I will be looking into into rtings to see what do they recommend for settings, plus look through these forums and AVforum to see what calibration people have set. If anyone knows it by heart and you would like to share, I would appreciate it as well.

Im sure a lot of the setting might have different names on the LG than on the Sony.

I would start by changing each of picture modes (HDR10, SDR, Dolby Vision) to Filmmaker mode. That should do most of it with the more recent models including the C4.

[sherlockjr]

Originally Posted by samlop10

I would start by changing each of picture modes (HDR10, SDR, Dolby Vision) to Filmmaker mode. That should do most of it with the more recent models including the C4.

Absolutely! Put SDR, HDR, and Dolby Vision mode into Filmmaker Mode. That will give you the most accurate picture. That's the closest to the image quality they were using in the color grading and mastering suites.

Then also go into General -> Energy Saving and turn that off, because the energy savings can lower picture brightness.

That's pretty much all you have to do to get the picure that was intended.

[Bishop_99]

Thank you both, I didn’t know that. 1st thing I will do.

[Bishop_99]

Thank you all for the recommendation. Indeed, barely any other adjustments are needed once Filmmaker mode is selected and the removal of the energy savings mode. Aside from bringing clarity or sharpness down to 0 since it is set to 10. I will take more time during the days leading up to the weekend to make sure I don't miss something in the calibration.

I barely had time to really test it 4K Blu-ray discs. I spent most of the time putting the stand together, cleaning up the box and choosing the correct modes in Filmmaker mode on Youtube and the input of my Sony 4k Player.

One thing that stood out to me, aside from the obvious black levels on the UI and a screen saver. I played a few minutes of Twisters (new on) to test out the Dolby Vision. What stood out to me how much more visible the grain structure was, compared to the Sony X950H. Same screen size, same sitting distance, and I kept that LCD as close as possible to accurate as I could.

The grain structure was nicely much more noticeable, I was so happy about that. I wonder if it's due to OLED not needing backlight and each pixel has a better way of presenting fine detail in its purest form? Maybe with the backlight and dimming zones of the LCD, the fine grain is only 85% visible, but on OLED, fine grain looks as accurate as it was intended?

I can't wait to really sit down and start watching all my 4k Blu-ray films which I know how they look by heart, and see how it looks on this OLED. Thank you all so much for the recommendations.... I can tell this is going to be an amazing new way to watch movies..... So much time wasted on not buying an OLED because I had OLED burn in fears from the severe burn ins that developed on my Galaxy S4 way back then, which I always ran at 100% brightness for some odd reason.

I will be updating this thread in the coming weeks too as I had other quicks with regular Blu-ray upscailing on the Sony X950H and I want to see how this is handled here. The way the Sony had this odd image retention in extremely dark scenes really bothered me and I hope that in OLED, that issue is no more

One final question in this post. I really like the magic controller for the ease in which I can type words. The only thing is that it moves at a very fast speed. Is there a way I can make the pointer move slower, like a mouse on PC?

[sherlockjr]

Originally Posted by Bishop_99

Thank you all for the recommendation. Indeed, barely any other adjustments are needed once Filmmaker mode is selected and the removal of the energy savings mode. Aside from bringing clarity or sharpness down to 0 since it is set to 10.

My understanding is that a 10 for sharpness on an LG OLED is actually no sharpness enhancement at all. That's why that's the default in Filmmaker Mode. I'm not sure what lowering the sharpness level below 10 does to the image quality.

Might be a good experiment to try the same 4K disks on 10 and 0 and see if you can see a positive difference. I've stuck with 10 because it's the Filmmaker default.

[Bishop_99]

Originally Posted by sherlockjr

My understanding is that a 10 for sharpness on an LG OLED is actually no sharpness enhancement at all. That's why that's the default in Filmmaker Mode. I'm not sure what lowering the sharpness level below 10 does to the image quality.

Might be a good experiment to try the same 4K disks on 10 and 0 and see if you can see a positive difference. I've stuck with 10 because it's the Filmmaker default.

Thank you. During the weekend, I will start testing out 0 and 10. I brought it down to 0 because I saw them use that setting, although they didn't want to use Filmmaker mode for that test for some reason, maybe because the average user might not as much into pure accuracy. I'll play around with both, as the Sony set, Sharpness at 50 was really the actual base.

[SlaughterX]

You made the right choice, Sony OLEDs are basically just LG OLEDs with added processing, which I never use because I am a gamer. I have 4 LG OLEDs and 1 Sony and I wish I had just stuck with LG (though I am fairly happy with my A80J, but it has stupid limitations like having to choice between DV and VRR on HDMI ports where my LG can do both, which is a huge deal if you are a gamer).

[Youreallyareagerbil]

Originally Posted by SlaughterX

You made the right choice, Sony OLEDs are basically just LG OLEDs with added processing, which I never use because I am a gamer. I have 4 LG OLEDs and 1 Sony and I wish I had just stuck with LG (though I am fairly happy with my A80J

In the OP’s case I’m inclined to agree. When it comes to LG OLED TV vs Sony OLED TVs in general I don’t agree with your comment though. I own multiple LG OLED TVs like you’ve mentioned you do, and I own a 77” Sony A95L QD-OLED as well, I would much rather all of my LG WOLED TVs be all Sony A95L QD-OLED TVs instead.

[Bishop_99]

This display has impressed me. Unfortunately, I have had too many things going on this week and I haven't been able to watch movies. I have local news on Dish mostly, and I am impressed with the black levels. I use to think things had a naturally greyish look on Dish, but no, this is showcasing real black levels. I'm getting happier with this purchase and I can't wait to start watching my movies.

A quick note, this happened before I finished installing an update. I haven't had all the free time to watch a lot of content, but when I was seeing the local news and it switched to a commercial that had an all white image, I noticed that it took a second for the brightness to lower. I likely wouldn't have noticed if it happened instantaneously, but it took a second.

Is this likely because the update had not been installed, or is this related to the video Vincent did on OLED burn in prevention and how it can be turn off? I won't be doing that until I have a lot of weeks or months of use to determine if I need to. But I was wondering what that might have been.

[oddbox83]

Well, my A95K is certainly not a LG panel.... Sony don't use LG panels in all their models.

Agree on the gaming side of things though. It's a great TV, but no VRR and DV at the same time on the gaming input it mad. The A95K also has the limitation of only 2 HDMI 2.2 sockets, one if which is taken up by eARC anyway IIRC. I've had to work around by using eARC for gaming audio. Thankfully it's working for me this way, so I can enjoy 4K discs and VRR gaming without manually turning DV or VRR on and off... Sadly means I still get no DV on games since I've had to make the choice between that and VRR.

Movies are my main thing, so I still love the Sonys, but LG is hands down the best gaming OLED because of basic things like 4 HDMI 2.2 sockets that don't need you to manually chose DV or VRR.

[Bishop_99]

A follow up question. The tv has been a nice upgrade, but I have one question in an area. Am I seeing black crush, or do I have to get use to accurate black levels? It doesn't happen in every movie, but for example, I noticed it in Inception. That was the first movie I saw, and in areas in which the film is darker, seeing detail in areas between black hair that mixes in with a black suit, the detail is almost non existent.

It wasn't an issue in Top Gun Maverick. Twister had that issue on my Sony X950H, for me, but I assume it's the darker grade during storms as the cause of lack of detail in in the shadows, as my LED was similar to the C4.... While watching local channels, It is very prevalent.

I only have 45 hours on my LG C4 and I read that OLED has a break in period of 200 hours I believe. Which might explain the oddity I saw during the black and white scenes on Oppenheimer. The area I looked at directly, had a slight purplish look, while the slightly off access corners had more of a black and white, slight green push? I also noticed this slight purplish color during the snow scenes in Inception, but it was harder to spot.

I would just like to get some feedback if I have to still get use to OLED black levels, the Sony LED may have created a pseudo effect because those dark shadow areas had a back light to them.

Thank you all

[BluGalaxy]

Now the real quesion

Go for the C5 or the G4?

[Robert Zohn]

Very good choice ^^ for either TV, but depending on the screen size and your room conditions I'd likely suggest LG's G4.

[BluGalaxy]

Originally Posted by Robert Zohn

Very good choice ^^ for either TV, but depending on the screen size and your room conditions I'd likely suggest LG's G4.

77" size, dim but not entirely blacked out room. Only watch daytime during the weekends but tend to have curtains drawn.

Which has a better anti-glare coating? Sometimes, we notice the uplighter lamp in the corner of the screen, even when it's at its dimmest.

Still G4?