I have seen the future...

[PerryGunn]

Our plasma TV has been on it's way out and starting to die - lasted 6 years so I shouldn't grumble....

So, at the weekend, we picked up an OLED set...

A little bit of tweaking and the picture is absolutely bloody incredible...

All I can say to anyone who's thinking of buying one and ummm-ing and aaah-ing over the price... get one, it's worth it... 8)

 

[Chris_D]

It's probably 4k then?
If you havent watched any 4k content on it yet be prepared to be even more astonished...

 

[PerryGunn]

It's probably 4k then?
If you havent watched any 4k content on it yet be prepared to be even more astonished...

I have... 4k & UHD - unfortunately only streamed but still very impressive

I'm grabbing a couple of 'proper' demo files at the moment

 

[DPG]

PS4 pro en route too?

 

[pvr]

Interesting - as I have not seen anything come close to the plasma quality though.

Can it deal with fast moving images that don't lag?

 

[PerryGunn]

Interesting - as I have not seen anything come close to the plasma quality though.

Can it deal with fast moving images that don't lag?

I've got 3 plasma TVs in the house - 2 Panasonics (37" & 42") and a 63" Samsung (the one that's dying), and the OLED knocks the socks off all of them. I should be fair here and say that the smaller Panasonics actually look better with standard def TV broadcasts but that's because the larger sets show all the flaws in SD broadcasts

It copes perfectly with fast moving images, I watched the footie and F1 yesterday via Sky/Virgin HD and it was superb

One of the reasons I'd been putting off getting a replacement was because no-one is making plasma any more and I don't like the compromises with LED

 

[pvr]

Interesting review, I was scared stiff that if my Pana Prof series was to die, I would have to go backwards.

 

[MrPT]

Still have a Panasonic plasma here for exactly the same reasons, but could be tempted. What model did you get, PG?

Also, can you take a picture so we can see the quality? :|

 

[buzyg]

My eye's obviously aren't that good. Is there really a difference between a plama tv and a boggo flat screen? I've heard all this bumf about the delay and the blacks not being black enough, but I can't say I can tell the difference when watching. :?

 

[Mr Tidy]

Thanks OP! It's good to know there is an alternative now plasma seems to be a thing of the past.

The Mrs and I moved to separate addresses 5 years ago - she was amazed I let her have the Samsung LCD TV without even a token fight.

That's because I bought a Samsung plasma! :lol:

Oops, just noticed your plasma was dying at 6 years old - hope mine does better. :roll: (OH's LCD is now 9 years old and still working fine, so I'll cross my fingers)!

 

[PerryGunn]

Still have a Panasonic plasma here for exactly the same reasons, but could be tempted. What model did you get, PG?

Also, can you take a picture so we can see the quality? :|

We got the 65" LG 65EF950V

I'll see if I can grab a photo but the only issues, and it's the same with all photos of 4k UHD TVs, are that the image has to be resized for display so you can't see the true detail, JPGs are compressed which further compromises the image, the camera won't capture the range of UHD and the display settings on your monitor/laptop will affect the colour balance/brightness/contrast - other than that, it's fine... :wink:

There's really no substitute for going into a shop and having a play - download a sample from somewhere like demo-uhd3.com onto a USB stick so that you can see the same file on a number of sets

 

[PerryGunn]

My eye's obviously aren't that good. Is there really a difference between a plama tv and a boggo flat screen? I've heard all this bumf about the delay and the blacks not being black enough, but I can't say I can tell the difference when watching. :?

An easy way to see the difference in very low black levels is watch something in a room with little or no ambient lighting and wait for a scene where there's a cut to black (or a very dark nighttime scene), when displaying the black 'cut' in a pitch-black room
- You'll still be able to see the LCD screen as a grey rectangle
- Plasma screens tend to show as a faint greeny-grey rectangle (this is because the charge in the cells takes a little time to decay)
- OLED screens just disappear completely, blacker than a black thing down a coal mine at midnight....

When you cant't control low level blacks, there's also a 'crush' effect on blacks in that anything below a certain level tends to merge into a single black area - this means that you lose detail in shadow areas. It's the sort of detail that you don't realise is missing until you see the same scenes on several different sets and you suddenly realise that some sets are showing more detail in the image than you've been used to and, as a result, look more realistic...

 

[pvr]

Unfortunately, I was shown a section of the Titanic film where the rails / cables etc of the boat are shown moving by. On the cheaper plasmas and on LED TVs the cables all had jagged edges, whilst on the higher range that was not the case (due to the video processor). I "had" to get the better processor.

I will always use that as a benchmark to see how good a screen is.

 

[MrPT]

Still have a Panasonic plasma here for exactly the same reasons, but could be tempted. What model did you get, PG?

Also, can you take a picture so we can see the quality? :|

We got the 65" LG 65EF950V

I'll see if I can grab a photo but the only issues, and it's the same with all photos of 4k UHD TVs...

Thanks. Tempted to check a few of these out. I usually use a PC for video and audio processing so the cheaper TVs from panel manufacturers work well (Samsung, LG).

Don't worry about a photo. I probably didn't use the right emoji.

 

[buzyg]

My eye's obviously aren't that good. Is there really a difference between a plama tv and a boggo flat screen? I've heard all this bumf about the delay and the blacks not being black enough, but I can't say I can tell the difference when watching. :?

An easy way to see the difference in very low black levels is watch something in a room with little or no ambient lighting and wait for a scene where there's a cut to black (or a very dark nighttime scene), when displaying the black 'cut' in a pitch-black room
- You'll still be able to see the LCD screen as a grey rectangle
- Plasma screens tend to show as a faint greeny-grey rectangle (this is because the charge in the cells takes a little time to decay)
- OLED screens just disappear completely, blacker than a black thing down a coal mine at midnight....

When you cant't control low level blacks, there's also a 'crush' effect on blacks in that anything below a certain level tends to merge into a single black area - this means that you lose detail in shadow areas. It's the sort of detail that you don't realise is missing until you see the same scenes on several different sets and you suddenly realise that some sets are showing more detail in the image than you've been used to and, as a result, look more realistic...

The only difference I have notices, is when watching snooker on the Plasma Screen, there is the slightest trace following the ball. But as we usually only watch movies on that telle, it's nothing I've ever really thought about.

 

[pvr]

Tracing on a plasma? That is unusual - that is more a LED screen issue.

 

[buzyg]

Unfortunately, I was shown a section of the Titanic film where the rails / cables etc of the boat are shown moving by. On the cheaper plasmas and on LED TVs the cables all had jagged edges, whilst on the higher range that was not the case (due to the video processor). I "had" to get the better processor.

I will always use that as a benchmark to see how good a screen is.

This is why I must remember to avoid all electrical stores until after the new Kitchen is in. :lol:

 

[enzed4]

I'm in the same boat as some of you guys - I have a Panasonic Plasma (ST50) and love it - the LCD's just don't compare. However, I have seen the OLEDs and they are brilliant; would definitely consider one as a replacement for the plasma.
BUT, the price is still ridiculously high. There was a sale at a big retailers a couple of months ago, with 30% off, but that still put the price at $7000 and there's no way I could justify that, no matter how good the picture is. (yeah, that's right - normal retail here is 5,856GBP :x ).
Keep waiting for prices to come down, but with LG the only manufacturer making them, that could take a long time (or they'll just stop making them if not enough interest from the public. It's a bit 'chicken & egg' really - you need more people to buy them to drive the prices down, but most people won't buy them until the prices come down....)

 

[PerryGunn]

I'm in the same boat as some of you guys - I have a Panasonic Plasma (ST50) and love it - the LCD's just don't compare. However, I have seen the OLEDs and they are brilliant; would definitely consider one as a replacement for the plasma.
BUT, the price is still ridiculously high. There was a sale at a big retailers a couple of months ago, with 30% off, but that still put the price at $7000 and there's no way I could justify that, no matter how good the picture is. (yeah, that's right - normal retail here is 5,856GBP :x ).
Keep waiting for prices to come down, but with LG the only manufacturer making them, that could take a long time (or they'll just stop making them if not enough interest from the public. It's a bit 'chicken & egg' really - you need more people to buy them to drive the prices down, but most people won't buy them until the prices come down....)

Yeah, they're not cheap in the UK either but if you keep your eyes open and buy at the right point in the product cycle there are good savings to be had - there's also an argument that now is a good time to buy as the sets that'll be coming through the supply channel over the next few months will be hit by the fall in the £, manufacturers may absorb it for a while but they won't keep it up indefinitely...