TV setup and recommendations

pixelburp

Need to shop for a new TV; so thought might as well ask the braintrust here, get a sense what they enjoy their films on - and if they would recommend them. So basically, TVs that flatter films/TV; 4K not a necessity, as so long as the picture's good, crisp with a solid viewing angle. Already have a decent soundbar so not worried if the TV's audio is crap.

Oh and also needs to have good App support (netflix etc), along with support for USB connections so it can play media off of external drives. I've done a little window shopping but there are so many options out there, while reviews rarely come with photos (and it's always difficult to know how petty or hardcore the reviewers are)

johnny_ultimate

I got an LG OLED around 18 months ago and have never looked back. Incredible picture quality with perfect black levels. Has all the Dolby Vision / Atmos bells and whistles for new releases, but a robust 'filmmaker mode' that automatically removes all the horrid motion smoothing etc... whenever watching film content. I've seen a few of the other decent TV tech in the flesh - like 'quantum dot' sets from Samsung - and to my eyes OLED is definitely the way to go for the best film experience.

I have a CX, which has since gone through two revisions so the C2 is the latest model. You can probably get the C1 at a good price now as that's being phased out but is still a superb TV. The 'B' LG OLED models are a bit cheaper and feature much the same feature set - I think the main difference is you don't get all the HDMI 2.1 features, which are mainly beneficial for the next-gen gaming consoles (120 hz displays etc).

SuperBowserWorld

What previous poster said.

Have an LG C1.

Absolutely gorgeous picture. Everything looks incredibly natural on it. I think HDR makes things too clinical, but there is that filmmaker mode to sort out all the technical stuff. Blown away to be honest.

It's like broadband after dial up. Game changer.

Also, great sound, which I was not expecting for such a thin TV. It's incredible thin.

Bees knees for games.

C1s should be on discount now as the C2s come in.

Low Res stuff looks awful on it. So any TV broadcasts below HD ... Yuck.

Also, the interface is a bit slow, and full of content ads for stuff on various streaming services.

Also, burn in could be a problem eventually. Fingers crossed.

I've tried Netflix, Prime, YouTube apps, all fine. 4k HDR can look incredible with the right movie and/or game, so don't rule out 4k, anyway, it's the default these days.

But I wonder how long LG will support the TV/apps ... But then you can get a streaming stick, but still ...

pixelburp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119041561#Comment_119041561

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119041627#Comment_119041627

Oh wow. That's some price tag for the LG but I guess for top of the range it shouldn't be surprising either. Would explain why the €500 TVs I had been looking were regarded as middle of the road ones lol.

I'm torn cos I don't have the 4k Netflix package - and don't really care about HDR - and most of my physical media is DVD or 1080p digital copies; so mostly worried the upscaling will look like àss. I presume the LG is pretty good on that front?

johnny_ultimate

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119045595#Comment_119045595

The upscaling is excellent - I mean, it won't magically fix a low-res YouTube video from 2007 or a terrible early DVD conversion, but standard SD and HD content look fantastic on it IMO.

It's worth looking into the A1 model as it's quite a bit cheaper than the C1 (around €800 for the 48"). You get the same OLED screen, and the main compromise is you don't get HDMI 2.1 and 120hz refresh rate. Those are mainly high-end gaming features so a lot of people won't miss them. There's a slightly slower chip as well but nothing major.

I had initially planned to buy a 4K TV for around €500-600, but when I started looking the CX was definitely the most future-proofed and the only option that best suited both film and gaming. However, if you're only focused on film and TV you can definitely go down the price range and get a great TV in the mid-range. OLED is definitely the best screen tech I've seen though - at least until it's supplanted by QD-OLED (currently prohibitively expensive) in the next few years :)

I've noticed traveling a lot and staying in different hotels a variety of TV qualities - there is one where the picture is so clear and so real, it feels like it is almost too clear and too 'normal'. Theres no texture, you feel like you are standing in the room when they are filming it. Is this what HDR is?

pixelburp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119045690#Comment_119045690

Oh that's interesting about the A series. Cos yeah, I have zero need for gaming specific extras (with 2 kids now I've become 100% Switch on handheld mode cos it's just the easiest), so no need to pay for shiny tech I don't need.

Good to know OLED is the way to go as well; how are viewing angles with those screens, as that was often a curse with flat TVs. If you weren't centre you got washed out colours and brightness.

timetogo1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119045710#Comment_119045710

That sounds like soap opera effect

https://www.techtarget.com/whatis/definition/soap-opera-effect-motion-interpolation

I hate it. Most TVs have an option to turn it off or scale it down. It looks great in a shop when they're showing the scenery type videos but makes normal programs look unreal (to me anyway)

I think it's called TrueMotion in the LG settings.

johnny_ultimate

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119045784#Comment_119045784

Viewing angles are great on OLED, much better than LCD - you get a perfect picture at nearly every angle. The main thing to watch out for though is they have a lot of glare in very bright, sunlit rooms. Other TV tech (eg QLED) is brighter so can 'brute force' their way through sun glare in a way OLED can't. I'd also tend to turn off overhead lighting when watching my OLED at night.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119045710#Comment_119045710

As @timetogo1 says, that's likely motion smoothing in effect - IMO motion smoothing should just be turned off everywhere as soon as you set up a new TV. Bad, careless contrast and other settings will likely add to the effect.

HDR is high dynamic range, which allows for more detail or additional colour in high brightness areas of the screen. It's hard to describe without seeing it, but in essence, it makes colours and lights 'pop' more on screen. In general, content has to be specifically mastered for it - so you see it most often in blockbuster films and streaming TV releases. Some people don't like the look of it. I personally think it works best in video games, but IMO it suits some shows or films where there are lots of bright lights and colour .

frosty123

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119045809#Comment_119045809

Unreal?? It makes look too 'real' IMO it takes the veneer away from a movie and makes it look raw.

Best to keep those motion blur setting and similar - off

fryup

whenever i watch 4k content on my samsung TV the picture settings are automatically changed - is this normal??😶

pixelburp

You'll be no doubt on tenterhooks to know what I did in the end ... 😜 Treated myself to the LG C2 (42 inch) in the end, thought might as well have as many features as possible. With 2 babies we won't be going on holidays any time soon so a fancy TV it is!

Thanks for the suggestions folks.

And of course, first thing I did? Disabled the motion smoothing. Left it on briefly to see how bad it really was and wow wow. It's awful. Why it's enabled by default I don't know. So many people probably watching film the "wrong" way without knowing.

johnny_ultimate

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119123544#Comment_119123544

A good choice, hope it lives up to the hype for you!

Just remember to turn on filmmaker mode :)

pixelburp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119124244#Comment_119124244

Is that not the same as turning off the TruMotion motion smoothing? 🤔

johnny_ultimate

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119125059#Comment_119125059

It changes a few other settings as well. Just optimised for showing film content, whereas, whereas some of the other options are decent for games, tv, sports etc…

SuperBowserWorld

Yep, filmmaker mode is the one to use for movies.

One really nice thing you notice about OLED is that in a dark room, when the screen goes black the whole room is black. There is no backlight from the TV. It's unreal, especially with something like Aliens 😆

Black is so beautiful on these screens.

ixoy

It's a bit late but I also have an LG (C9) and the picture quality is fantastic. Next thing is for me to update my ten year old speakers to take proper advantage of Atmos (currently only supports Dolby surround sound).

pixelburp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119125740#Comment_119125740

Yeah been watching one or two things on this and as you say the Blacks are astonishing. Really rich picture overall but even something as middleground like Amazon's Outer Range has looked so much better on the C2.