Curved OLED TV - I was actually impressed!

[bigboss]

I didn't think I would like the idea of a curved TV. I was in Manchester today, so strolled over to John Lewis in Trafford Centre. I was impressed with Samsung's 55-inch OLED TV. I dare say that the picture looked better than a plasma to my eyes. The curved nature increased the depth of field, causing images to pop out to almost 3D like effect! I can see the point manufacturers are trying to make. A 65-inch version will look lovely!

Of course, you cannot wall mount them, as far as I'm aware. So it won't suit a proportion of people.

i didn't check extreme axis viewing, but it looked fine to me on slight off axis viewing.

Also checked out Panasonic's and Sony's 4K TVs. Both looked very nice, although Sony was displaying colours more accurately.

I think a Sony 4K will be my next TV, until OLED technology matures.

 

[Deleted member 2457]

I didn't think I would like the idea of a curved TV. I was in Manchester today, so strolled over to John Lewis in Trafford Centre. I was impressed with Samsung's 55-inch OLED TV. I dare say that the picture looked better than a plasma to my eyes. The curved nature increased the depth of field, causing images to pop out to almost 3D like effect! I can see the point manufacturers are trying to make. A 65-inch version will look lovely!

Of course, you cannot wall mount them, as far as I'm aware. So it won't suit a proportion of people.

i didn't check extreme axis viewing, but it looked fine to me on slight off axis viewing.

Also checked out Panasonic's and Sony's 4K TVs. Both looked very nice, although Sony was displaying colours more accurately.

I think a Sony 4K will be my next TV, until OLED technology matures.

Sony 4K! :O I think mine would be Panasonic 4K. The LG OLED is pretty nice too.

 

[Legacy260]

I was over in Richer Sounds in Watford recently and was underwhelmed by their 4K OLED curved screen. Not for me at £5 K or even £3K. I just don't see the benfit until lots more things are broadcast in 4K and it does not allow a wide viewing angle if the whole family is wanting to watch something together across a room.....

 

[Paul.]

I was over in Richer Sounds in Watford recently and was underwhelmed by their 4K OLED curved screen. Not for me at £5 K or even £3K. I just don't see the benfit until lots more things are broadcast in 4K and it does not allow a wide viewing angle if the whole family is wanting to watch something together across a room.....

Its not 4k, its 1080p.

 

[bigboss]

I was over in Richer Sounds in Watford recently and was underwhelmed by their 4K OLED curved screen. Not for me at £5 K or even £3K. I just don't see the benfit until lots more things are broadcast in 4K and it does not allow a wide viewing angle if the whole family is wanting to watch something together across a room.....

As Paul mentioned, none of the current OLED screens on sale are 4K. They're all 1080p.

It's because of the viewing distance that I'm interested in looking at a 65-inch screen. Larger screens will allow wider angle of viewing, and with 4K, you can have twice the size screens at half the viewing distance as compared to 1080p.

 

[bigboss]

I didn't think I would like the idea of a curved TV. I was in Manchester today, so strolled over to John Lewis in Trafford Centre. I was impressed with Samsung's 55-inch OLED TV. I dare say that the picture looked better than a plasma to my eyes. The curved nature increased the depth of field, causing images to pop out to almost 3D like effect! I can see the point manufacturers are trying to make. A 65-inch version will look lovely!

Of course, you cannot wall mount them, as far as I'm aware. So it won't suit a proportion of people.

i didn't check extreme axis viewing, but it looked fine to me on slight off axis viewing.

Also checked out Panasonic's and Sony's 4K TVs. Both looked very nice, although Sony was displaying colours more accurately.

I think a Sony 4K will be my next TV, until OLED technology matures.

Sony 4K! :O I think mine would be Panasonic 4K. The LG OLED is pretty nice too.

After all the debacle of Panasonic's after sales support, I will be reluctant to go for a Panasonic ever.

The main reason for Sony, apart from a better screen to my eyes (and 2014 is much better according to early impressions on many tech sites), is deeper integration of Netflix, which already has a catalogue of 140 films in 4K.

http://mobile.extremetech.com/electronics/34967-ces-2014-sony-8217-s-superb-new-4k-uhd-tvs-prove-there-8217-s-more-to-image-quality-than-just-resolution

 

[bigboss]

Also, the Sony 4K flagship will be one of the rare (or maybe the only) TV with full-array local dimming backlight. All other screens are edge-lit, resulting in uneven brightness and cloudiness.

http://reviews.cnet.com/flat-panel-tvs/sony-xbr-65x950b/4505-6482_7-35833834.html

http://hdguru.com/sony-2014-tv-lineup-ultra-hd-4k-triluminos-and-more/

 

[bigboss]

More details on various types of backlighting:

http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-33199_7-57572740-221/led-lcd-backlights-explained/

 

[strapped for cash]

Also, the Sony 4K flagship will be one of the rare (or maybe the only) TV with full-array local dimming backlight. All other screens are edge-lit, resulting in uneven brightness and cloudiness.

I'll be interested to read reviews. Of course it remains LED technology. 1080p LED panels can't resolve more than 300 lines of picture information in motion without unwelcome processing and a "soap opera effect."

I'm not sure how this will scale up (i.e. precisely how many lines an LED 4k display will render during panning shots without added processing), but you can't get around the technology's inherent limitations.

The other difficulty with Sony TVs to date (for me at least) is that they offer limited calibration controls, even on high end models. So, while the 900 performed very well in terms of greyscale tracking and delta errors out of the box (at least review samples did), it wasn't possible to attain a reference performance. Hopefully Sony will address this issue this year, at the very least on their flagship TV.

Since Samsung have placed OLED production on hold, arguing that the technology isn't ready yet, it might be a good while before OLED TVs are affordable and available in significant numbers. Current OLEDs resolve the same number of lines in motion as LED TVs. To improve on this, you have to sacrifice image brightness by engaging black frame insertion.

Again, in my view, you should stick with the 5090, even if you're experiencing wanderlust.

 

[bigboss]

Every technology has its limitations, be it plasma or LCD or OLED. It depends on what you're willing to accept. Nobody's investing in R&D on plasma technology now. Early impressions on various sites suggest these 4K screens are excellent scalers.

My house is up for sale, & if the buyer wants my Kuro, I'll sell it.

 

[bigboss]

I usually keep a TV for minimum 5 years & don't get tempted by new models easily. With 4K blu ray standard being announced & Netflix revealing its 4K plans, investing in a 4K screen makes sense to me.

 

[bigboss]

Despite limited calibration controls, last year's Sony 4K was rated very well. Looking forward to 2014 model's reviews. With superior LED technology, I'm sure it'll be better.

http://www.avforums.com/review/sony-x9-kd-65x9005a-4k-ultra-hd-led-lcd-tv-review.573#sectionAnchor23034

 

[Tarxman]

The only tv I've seen since the last generation Kuro that actually delivers a better image is the LG OLED. It really is very impressive, and OLED is definitely where I'll be outplaying my money when it comes time to upgrade.

 

[Tarxman]

The only tv I've seen since the last generation Kuro that actually delivers a better image is the LG OLED. It really is very impressive, and OLED is definitely where I'll be outlaying my money when it comes time to upgrade.

 

[strapped for cash]

Every technology has its limitations, be it plasma or LCD or OLED. It depends on what you're willing to accept. Nobody's investing in R&D on plasma technology now. Early impressions on various sites suggest these 4K screens are excellent scalers. My house is up for sale, & if the buyer wants my Kuro, I'll sell it.

All of which is entirely up to you.

And while you're of course right that every display technology has its limitations, I'd argue strongly that some have more limitations than others.

In my view, the grass remains very green for Kuro owners. Taking everything I've seen and experienced over the last few years into account (and you're pretty familiar with my story), if I owned a 5090 I'd keep it until it gave up. I'd then have a look around to see what was available.

Others may disagree with me (EllisDJ and Gel most likely), but I'd struggle to recommend any current retail model over the Kuro; and the next few years look set to be somewhat retrograde in terms of the image quality TVs offer.

In other words, I think this is a really bad time to buy a television, because we're in a state of limbo between technologies offering videophile levels of performance; and I don't believe new features, even higher resolution, compensate for deficiencies elsewhere.

Anyway, I'm just offering my opinion, and you'll of course make a decision based on personal requirements, no doubt after extensive research.

 

[rocketrazor]

As a gamer I wouldn't buy a 4k set yet until games are 4k. The extra processing required adds input lag. I don't think I've seen a review yet on one with good input lag. This for me will be more of a deal breaker than actual content in 4k

 

[bigboss]

This is a useful database to check input lag. 2013 Sony 4K TVs had a lag of 40ms:

http://www.displaylag.com/display-database/

Hopefully, the 2014 reviews will talk about gaming and input lag.

 

[rocketrazor]

This is a useful database to check input lag. 2013 Sony 4K TVs had a lag of 40ms: http://www.displaylag.com/display-database/ Hopefully, the 2014 reviews will talk about gaming and input lag.

thanks bigboss, that's a cracking link that is now saved to favourites

cheers

 

[Paul.]

This is a useful database to check input lag. 2013 Sony 4K TVs had a lag of 40ms: http://www.displaylag.com/display-database/ Hopefully, the 2014 reviews will talk about gaming and input lag.

thanks bigboss, that's a cracking link that is now saved to favourites

cheers

Sweet, my TV is "great" apparently, 41ms

 

[torque]

I quite like these curved screens but they aren't for me.

Next tv for me will be 8k Oled flat screen.

I actually heard of 8k before 4k.

Obviously in the future we will have tvs with higher resolution than 8k but for the purposes of moving on from HD1080p I feel 8k is a more justified jump than 4k.

As well as picture quality, response times / input lag should be addressed in tvs.

 

[simonlewis]

I quite like these curved screens but they aren't for me.

Next tv for me will be 8k Oled flat screen.

I actually heard of 8k before 4k.

Obviously in the future we will have tvs with higher resolution than 8k but for the purposes of moving on from HD1080p I feel 8k is a more justified jump than 4k.

Obviously you are not from the uk but either way you will have a while to wait for a flatscreen OLED tv.

 

[torque]

I know it won't be for 10 years before I'd consider upgrading

 

[theflyingwasp]

I just do not see the point in getting a display that is 4k wether it be led or if possible 4k oled.it is only going to be for movies and sporting events.

i find the whole thing very frustrating as all I watch is movies and tv box sets .i stopped watching tv last May/June I'm paying for a Virgin TiVo box I don't even use.

If I could wave a magic wand it would be for 85inch curved 4k oled with a vast selection of proper 4k movies and tv shows (game of thrones,breaking bad ,dexter,etc) but if these movies and tv shows weren't filmed with 4k cameras even in say 3-5 years time they will probably still only be available in 1080p.of course Ben hur ,Lawrence of Arabia ,gone with the wind etc all get lovingly restored but will your favourite cheesy film get a 4k disc release I doubt it very much.4k tv channels ,4k skyhd ,4k bbchd ,4k streaming in the uk - all many years away.

 

[bigboss]

My OH is keen on a curved TV for next purchase, although I'm keen on a Sony! Let's see the 2014 offerings and prices......

 

[PEAYEL]

I also sat in front of the curved oled screen in John Lewis, Cardiff. Although, I thought that it was not impressive enough to shell out for. I love Plasma but recently bought a Panny LED as I think that it offered the best PQ and VFM out there at the moment. It was a race between Samsung and Panasonic, and the deal was better on the Panny.

When viewing the set in jl I heard quite a few of my fellow shoppers say that it looked awful and that they'd never pay that and that their HD picture was fantastic and more than acceptable etc. Etc. For JL shoppers, I would say that these are significant comments.