In the market for a TV

SwingsitlikeHogan said:
Excuse my ignorance but by ‘…only have HD’ what more could I have? Are there subscriptions for Sky or others that give 4K or whatever quality higher than HD (I don’t even know that’s a valid question 🤔)
Click to expand...
Don't know about Sky (don't have it), but some iPlayer/Netflix/etc streaming stuff is in UHD or 4K.
If you've got a >55" TV and sit less than 3m from it, there is a perceivable difference. Otherwise, if you view from a sensible distance, I'd say for most programmes normal HD is good enough. The most impressive UHD content I've seen is stuff like the Attenborough nature documentaries, but makes no real difference for normal drama programmes. (Might be useful for sport? I don't watch much sport).
But it's a moot point, since I doubt it's possible to buy a large size TV these days that doesn't support 4K.

Re. the question about whether OLED is worth it. Lots of modern dramas seem determined to have lots of dark scenes, and OLED does give you a better contrast - black is genuinely black rather than dark grey.
 
cliveb said:
Don't know about Sky (don't have it), but some iPlayer/Netflix/etc streaming stuff is in UHD or 4K.
If you've got a >55" TV and sit less than 3m from it, there is a perceivable difference. Otherwise, if you view from a sensible distance, I'd say for most programmes normal HD is good enough. The most impressive UHD content I've seen is stuff like the Attenborough nature documentaries, but makes no real difference for normal drama programmes. (Might be useful for sport? I don't watch much sport).
But it's a moot point, since I doubt it's possible to buy a large size TV these days that doesn't support 4K.

Re. the question about whether OLED is worth it. Lots of modern dramas seem determined to have lots of dark scenes, and OLED does give you a better contrast - black is genuinely black rather than dark grey.
Click to expand...
We will be sitting maybe 2m from the screen and size-wise it will be in range 48” to 55”. My Mrs doesn’t want our new lounge area to be seen as a TV room, so is pushing back against 55” and telling me she doesn’t want bigger than 50”…not that there seem to be many 50”.🤔
 
Seen a good article explaning the difference between Led Qled and OLed

www.makeuseof.com

QLED vs. LED vs. OLED: What Is the Difference?

Buying a new TV? Learn the difference between TV display types, and you'll make a better decision.
www.makeuseof.com www.makeuseof.com

When I bought my last telly I looked up what size based upon distance

I used this and the sliders make it very easy and the chart towards the end a good idea of what sort of TV resolution fits the sitting distance

www.rtings.com

TV Size to Distance Calculator and Science

Our TV Sizes to Distance Calculator helps you choose the right size TV for your space. The optimal viewing distance is about 1.6 times the diagonal length of the television. For example, for a 55” TV, the best distance is 7 feet.
www.rtings.com www.rtings.com

Richer Sounds
(good place to buy anyway as you get a 6 year guarantee with most sets) has quite a few 50"

All TVs - TVs - TVs & Accessories - TV & Projectors

Screen Size 818
www.richersounds.com www.richersounds.com

I do not know if it is the same now but something once said about OLED TVs is you have to watch out for screen burn if you are like me and leave the TV in freeze frame modes for long periods
 
SwingsitlikeHogan said:
We will be sitting maybe 2m from the screen and size-wise it will be in range 48” to 55”. My Mrs doesn’t want our new lounge area to be seen as a TV room, so is pushing back against 55” and telling me she doesn’t want bigger than 50”…not that there seem to be many 50”.🤔
Click to expand...
My wife said that regarding my 40” TV a good few years ago. So I bought a 65” 😀. Absolutely no regrets, in fact it could go larger.

You’ll see more detail with bigger sizes, no squinting, so always follow the TV rule…measure the size you think you need, and get the next size up. 👍. She’ll thank you for it in later months. 🤣
 
Piece said:
My wife said that regarding my 40” TV a good few years ago. So I bought a 65” 😀. Absolutely no regrets, in fact it could go larger.

You’ll see more detail with bigger sizes, no squinting, so always follow the TV rule…measure the size you think you need, and get the next size up. 👍. She’ll thank you for it in later months. 🤣
Click to expand...
As she is saying 48/50 that means 55…we will see. This evening I think she is drawing a rectangle the size of the wall we will mount it on and will place rectangles of paper representing different tv sizes….
 
jim8flog said:
I do not know if it is the same now but something once said about OLED TVs is you have to watch out for screen burn if you are like me and leave the TV in freeze frame modes for long periods
Click to expand...
It can occur but there are so many benefits to OLED I don’t think it should be a concern. Also most of the quality OLED displays are built with various pixel refreshing features that pretty much all work without you knowing these days.

The only gotcha is not to turn the TV off at the socket as those pixel refreshing processes are run in standby.

I wouldn’t hesitate buying another LG OLED. All mine, both for home and work, are still going strong after many years.
 
SwingsitlikeHogan said:
Excuse my ignorance but by ‘…only have HD’ what more could I have? Are there subscriptions for Sky or others that give 4K or whatever quality higher than HD (I don’t even know that’s a valid question 🤔)
Click to expand...

yes, sky charge extra for HD, they charge extra for HD on sports and then they charge extra again for ultra HD
 
spongebob59 said:
For optimal 4k viewing with a 55 inch screen you need to be between 1.2 to 2 m from the screen or you won't see the detail.
Click to expand...
4 or 7 feet away from a 55” screen seems awfully close - you can almost lean forward and touch the screen from 4 foot away.
 
D-S said:
4 or 7 feet away from a 55” screen seems awfully close - you can almost lean forward and touch the screen from 4 foot away.
Click to expand...
It's not that close in the grand scheme of things for a 55". If you want to see detail and feel immersed, then go closer; films, sport and gaming are genres I'm thinking here. If you just want to "watch" then distance doesn't matter that much.
 
Hobbit said:
Not sure of the current market but not too long ago LG made screens for a number of companies. We’ve had an LG for a good while. I’d get another LG.
Click to expand...
That's not a good way of looking at it. Electronics just doesn't work like that. It would like saying A Fait and Ferrari are basically the same cause they come from the same company. or more like a Merc and a BMW are the same cause they both have Goodyear tyres and BP petrol.
The software used to enhance the image is far more important than the panel itself.
Edited to added - it's not just the software. The other important thing is the chipset used for processing the image.
 
Last edited:
WGCRider said:
The software used to enhance the image is far more important than the panel itself.
Click to expand...

That is completely incorrect. No software can overcome physical display constraints.

The hardware is the only thing that emits light, it is the only thing that sets the bar of picture quality.
 
Jimaroid said:
That is completely incorrect. No software can overcome physical display constraints.

The hardware is the only thing that emits light, it is the only thing that sets the bar of picture quality.
Click to expand...
No, the panel is just another component. You are correct that the panel is what emits light but the software controls this.
The panel is pretty much every single OLED TV on sales in the UK is produced by LG display. Samsung, LG, Sony, Panasonic buy these and add their own components and software. The picture you see on the TV's when you walk into Currys is different because of this.
 
Jimaroid said:
That is completely incorrect. No software can overcome physical display constraints.

The hardware is the only thing that emits light, it is the only thing that sets the bar of picture quality.
Click to expand...
Strange then that Panasonic take the LG panels, and on the high end tv'S they drive them with their own software. And the images it produces are amazing:)
 
WGCRider said:
The panel is pretty much every single OLED TV on sales in the UK is produced by LG display. Samsung, LG, Sony, Panasonic buy these and add their own components and software. The picture you see on the TV's when you walk into Currys is different because of this.
Click to expand...

You wrote "The software used to enhance the image" and this is incorrect in many ways. What you're seeing are differences in the creative, cost and design choices of components in the mainboard hardware for video and graphics rendering. All the signal demultiplexing, video transcode, picture profile transformations, scaling and picture presentation to display is done in hardware. There are many CPU/GPU systems-on-chip with various types of FPGA for signal processing to do this. The CPU and application software generally just manages the OS for user interface and sets up the data pipelines in memory for the graphics and video hardware to consume and display respectively. The software of a TV doesn't do video processing because it is too labour intensive to do in realtime, and would be daft when it's more efficient to use the custom hardware designed for exactly that purpose.

General code execution exists in the form of what can be programmed in GPUs and FPGAs, but these are generally just a pipeline of fixed function transforms, ranging from things like simply mapping colour profiles, to things like resolution scaling and, eurgh, motion smoothing.

Of course there are many quality differences in software between manufacturers, but what makes things look different in Currys is much more about creative and cost choices in the hardware and how they're marketed.
 
Jimaroid said:
You wrote "The software used to enhance the image" and this is incorrect in many ways. What you're seeing are differences in the creative, cost and design choices of components in the mainboard hardware for video and graphics rendering. All the signal demultiplexing, video transcode, picture profile transformations, scaling and picture presentation to display is done in hardware. There are many CPU/GPU systems-on-chip with various types of FPGA for signal processing to do this. The CPU and application software generally just manages the OS for user interface and sets up the data pipelines in memory for the graphics and video hardware to consume and display respectively. The software of a TV doesn't do video processing because it is too labour intensive to do in realtime, and would be daft when it's more efficient to use the custom hardware designed for exactly that purpose.

General code execution exists in the form of what can be programmed in GPUs and FPGAs, but these are generally just a pipeline of fixed function transforms, ranging from things like simply mapping colour profiles, to things like resolution scaling and, eurgh, motion smoothing.

Of course there are many quality differences in software between manufacturers, but what makes things look different in Currys is much more about creative and cost choices in the hardware and how they're marketed.
Click to expand...

I was thinking the very same thing… all those little pixies running around with cans of paint…
 
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