TechTvs5 things you need to know before buying an OLED TVOLED TVs are brilliant, especially for HDR. But there are traps lying in wait for the unwaryWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
TechTvs5 things you need to know before buying an OLED TVOLED TVs are brilliant, especially for HDR. But there are traps lying in wait for the unwaryWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
OLED TVs are brilliant, especially for HDR. But there are traps lying in wait for the unwary
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
(Image credit: Canva)
(Image credit: Canva)
Thebest OLED TVsare among the verybest TVsyou can buy. That’s because unlike other TVs, they aren’t backlit: each individual pixel provides its own illumination, and turns itself off when not required. And it’s that off-state that matters, because it means black really is black: there’s no faint greyness from a backlight to slightly spoil your viewing pleasure. There’s no better way to watch HDR.
The downside is that not all OLED TVs are created equal. Sometimes there are even crucial differences between different sized models in the same range. Here’s what you need to know before buying yours.
1. Brightness really matters
Brightness, measured in nits, is crucial when it comes to HDR. OLEDs aren’t as bright as some rival display technologies and that means it’s really important to look carefully at the specifications. The brighter the room you watch TV in, the more important brightness becomes: while any OLED will be fine in a dark room, some really struggle in more brightly lit environments – so for example if you like to have friends round to watch the football some sets are less impressive than others.
Make sure you look at the specific size you’re considering. For example, LG’s brilliantLG C2 OLED TVis impressively bright for an OLED on the models55 inches and upwards, but the smallest two – the42-inchand the48-inch– don’t have the same panels and don’t reach the same brightness levels.
2. Don’t skimp on sound
3. Mini-LED comes really, really close
I was absolutely certain that my next TV would be an OLED, but I ended up buying a mini-LED one instead. It’s not quite up there with the black levels of an OLED, but it’s really, really close: mini-LEDs are packed much more tightly and can be controlled with much more precision than standard LEDs. They’re also considerably brighter: if I turn mySamsungup too high at night-time my neighbours think it’s morning and get up for work. There’s a much smaller choice of mini-LED out there so finding a good deal can be tricky, but it’s worth considering if you’re looking for good HDR performance that’s also very bright.
4. Look at where the cables connect
This sounds odd, I know, but I’m browsing the r/OLED subreddit just now and one recent OLED TV purchaser is really unhappy with the placement of the optical, Ethernet and one of the HDMI ports: they face out from the back of the TV rather than sideways, and that makes them problematic for wall mounting. This is another example of something you tend not to think about when you’re reading the spec sheets: of course the sockets are all going to be sensibly placed! But sometimes they’re not.
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5. Make sure the promised features are actually there
Just because a TV is capable of doing something doesn’t mean that feature is available. Many ofSony’s 2021 TVs were launched with the promise that they’d support VRR (Variable Refresh Rate) for gaming onPS5, but neither the TVs nor the console got VRR until well into 2022. It was a similar story with UK catch-up TV apps included in the marketing but not pre-installed or available in the App Store until the very end of that year. If a particular feature matters to you, make sure it’s not on the manufacturer’s to-do list.
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