@JimbobLink you are talking about the weakest of Samsungs Q series - more on a par with the NU series and built to budget so you lose things like the anti-reflective screen filter and skimped on the image processing too - just to add the Quantum Dot layer in. Its better for gaming than the Q7 and the benefits that being a year newer offers but the actual panel itself isn't as good. At that price though, you are entering the realm of OLEDs and for £1500, the Q6FN is a LOT of money for that TV - that will be a £6/700 TV in a year (if not sooner)
The Sony Bravia XF9005 blows the Q6FN away in PQ for £400 less - although not as good for gamers and limited to just 2 full bandwidth HDMI's but considering you can buy a 55" B7 for £1300 https://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/tv-and-home-entertainment/telev... - that is the BEST TV for the money and would be the BEST TV that you can buy for under £1500. It will give you the wide viewing angles as well as 4 HDMI ports. Its UHD Premium certified too and was the BEST TV of 2017. If you want my opinion, you are better off going that 'little' bigger (its 6" on the diagonal so only a few inches wider than a 49") will be better for 4k, has Dolby Vision as well as its own 'software' version of HDR10+ for movies so it adjusts the tone mapping to be optimal for the screen (like DV and HDR10+ do), has excellent gaming performance (not quite the Q6FN level) but still one of the best. To get the full benefit of 4k, the bigger the better and 49" is not great in a 'family' setting where you sit 8'+ away so 55" will be better. As its self emitting tech, you get perfect blacks and perfect PQ because there is no backlight to bleed into other colours. OLEDs are not as bright as LEDs in general but the LG B7 is still as bright as a Q6 (around 770nits in a 10% window vs 800nits with the Q6). OLEDs have instant response too meaning you don't get 'smears' as images move across the screen and you get 'blurring'.
As I said, if you can stretch your budget up, the B7 is by FAR the best that money can buy. It has the same electronics, panel etc as their Wallpaper OLED that sold for £8k and the 55" B7 was a £3k TV at launch. So you would be buying a £3k TV for less than half price. This years OLEDs don't offer a 'better' image - mostly just a few new features - its more an iterative update than an 'upgrade' so you are getting a TV that is still very much a high-end TV.
I would seriously have a look at the dimensions of the B7 and see if you can accommodate those extra few inches - you may well be surprised and find that it will fit. It will be by far the best TV you can buy and fits all the criteria you were looking for in your original query. Honestly, the B7 will blow everything, and I mean EVERYTHING else away at that price point. The only thing that a Q6FN will beat it on is input lag but that's such a 'small' difference (0.006s - yes 6 thousandths of a second) that you couldn't tell anyway. It maybe slightly bigger but you'll get so much more out of it - inc a better, more noticeable 4k experience and you will get the viewing angles too. There is no better all rounder, no better PQ, no better TV at this price point and my advice would be to buy this - move stuff around if you have to to accommodate it but this is 'high-end' quality - the same quality panel that Sony bought for their OLEDs and the same Quality that the most expensive LG Models had behind that panel too.
@BAMozzy Well, all the stars aligned yesterday and I was able to increase my budget to £1200. I had a look at Richer Sounds' site, and guess what went in my basket really quickly?
@JimbobLink Well if I had to guess, based on what I know to be the best TV that amount can buy, I would have to say the 55" LG B7 OLED...
What ever TV you have bought, I just hope that you get maximum enjoyment from it. Any TV will be a step up from a 43" 6yr old TV - especially if you are going up in size too but there are steps-up, and there are massive leaps up...
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@BAMozzy You guessed correctly, sir. I couldn't turn down the LG OLED55B7V for £1199 from Richer Sounds (£100 off, with a 6 year guarantee) even though I knew I wouldn't be able to fit it in without some serious reorganisation of my entertainment area (it needed doing anyway!)
So, does this TV fit all my criteria?
No larger than 49" - it has to fit in the space I have. Wall mounting is not really a good option for me.
FAILED. I chose a 55" instead! It does still fit on my stand though, seeing as it's the same stand I've had since I had a 28" widescreen CRT - that was a beast!
Built in Freeview HD (I note that Samsung don't seem to do Freeview any more - it's either FreeSat or TVPLUS)
PASSED. In fact it has both Freeview HD and FreeSat HD. I think the Samsungs have both also.
4 x HDMI 2.0 (or higher) ports
PASSED
A good horizontal viewing angle - at least 150 degrees
PASSED. Vertical viewing angle seems very good also.
Good from all seating distances ranging from 1.5m to 3m
PASSED, although SD content does not look great from around 1m distance (I didn't expect it to)
720p/1080p SDR content from my Freeview set-top box (broadcast and streaming content) has to look at least as good as on my current 6 year old 1080p 43" SDR TV, if not better
PASSED. It now looks better after some trial and error tweaking of settings.
720p/1080p HDR content from my original PS4 has to look significantly better than the 720p/1080p SDR content currently being sent to my 6 year old 1080p 43" SDR TV.
PASSED. Assassin's Creed Origins in HDR looks significantly better, for example.
Decent response time for gaming. Doesn't have to be the absolute best, I don't do online FPS gaming.
PASSED. No noticeable lag when in Game Mode or HDR Game Mode.
A dedicated "Game mode", or the ability to turn off all unnecessary picture processing while retaining PS4 HDR and a good response time.
PASSED - See above. In fact the TV also automatically turned on the Ultra HDR Deep Colour setting for the HDMI port.
Decent sound output. Doesn't need to be really high end.
PASSED. In fact better than I was expecting. The speakers are housed in a "bulge" on the bottom third of the back of the TV, and are downward facing.
DVD and Blu-Ray (standard, not 4K blu) playback looks at least as good as on my current 6 year old 1080p 43" SDR TV, if not better
PASSED
If I upgrade to a PS4 Pro, I will be able to take advantage of all the extra display/performance options this offers.
UNKNOWN, but I assume this will definitely be the case
Original Xbox One, Wii U and Nintendo Switch will still look at least as good as on my current 6 year old 1080p 43" SDR TV, if not better
PASSED. They look better after some tweaking of settings.
Will support Netflix 4K and BBC iPlayer 4K content
PARTIAL PASS. Netflix 4K content looks great, not sure about BBC iPlayer 4K content as I don't know if there is anything at the moment.
So, what's not so good about it?
The manual. I love a good in depth manual, but the manual that comes with this TV is not.
I'm scared to increase the OLED light level above 50% on any picture mode, as I've read some horror stories about screen burn/image retention. I've adjusted other settings to compensate, so I don't think this will be a problem.
There are quite a lot of "crap" picture processing functions that just need to be switched off as far as I'm concerned.
@JimbobLink If a TV is to 'fail' on anything - being slightly larger is certainly not a 'fail' in my book - especially with 4k content as the extra size will certainly benefit the extra fine details. The one tip I can give you with regards to Image Retention is to never turn off the TV at the mains - always use Standby! Obviously if you are going on Holiday for a week or more, its OK but for everyday use, keep it on standby as the TV has a built in 'screen wash' programme that runs whilst its in Standby - this prevents image retention - let alone burn in.
As for iPlayer, it will work with 4k and HLG too so there is no need to worry there. Netflix also has Dolby Vision HDR content so you also get the benefits of that with the LG. Of course you will get all the benefits of the PS4 Pro should you choose to upgrade...
Anyway, as long as you are happy - you really can't buy a better quality TV for that price and, like I said, its the same quality that LG also had for their W7 top of the range model too. Its the same panel as in all the other OLEDs - like the Sony, Panasonic and even Loewe too...
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@BAMozzy The size is not a fail at all, it was my choice and I knew the implications.
Regarding Image Retention, I always leave TV's on standby anyway. The Pixel Refresher doesn't run automatically though - I'd have to set it to run when next on standby, but I haven't done that yet.
Now I just need somewhere to store the box - I'm thinking wrap it in Cling Film and stick it in the garage.
@WanderingBullet Check out RTINGs and AVForums on OLEDs and Burn-In. Burn in is a misnomer with what a LOT of people are suffering from. The issues aren't caused by burning into the screen but burning out or wearing out some of the sub-pixels much faster than others. If you were to watch a News channel for example that has a bright logo, breaking news box and/or a ticker tape on screen, the fact that the sub-pixels will be on permanently and brightly will cause these to wear much faster than the others with Red wearing out faster than green with blue lasting the longest.
Depending on much content you play/watch with static elements - particularly bright Red and Yellow (magenta too but you don't tend to see much magenta), the more likely you are to damage your TV. Unlike Burn-In, its not a case of having a static image on screen for hours without changing, its a cumulative effect - whether its on screen for 30hrs non stop or 1hr a day for a month, the wear will be the same and accumulates. It may not show up in normal content for a long time either because its just a 'darkening/fading' of the red sub-pixel rather than an image burned into the screen and only really noticeable in red slides to begin with.
However, that can take many, many hours to wear unevenly enough to become noticeable and if you are aware of the risk, what causes these issues and how to minimise them, you can avoid the uneven wear.
https://www.rtings.com/tv/learn/real-life-oled-burn-in-test Real life test - including some games like CoD and Fifa - pay attention to the red slides as that is what will start to wear first. If you play a lot of Fifa for example, see how many 'weeks' it took to start affecting the red slide and then work out how many hours that took (based on 20hrs a day), that will give you an indication of how long your OLED can play fifa for before damage starts - again its cumulative so it doesn't matter if you only play 5hrs a day and not 20hrs like the this test and watch other things, it will still happen - just after 4x as many weeks as it took an OLED playing Fifa for 20hrs a day or 5x as long if you only play 4hrs a day - assuming you play at the same brightness but if you play at max brightness/HDR, then the uneven wear will be much quicker.
@BAMozzy Thanks, man. I've decided to go for Samsung's Q7F instead since it was $300 cheaper than the C8 and apparently won't suffer from burn-in issues. Also not if it's true but the sales guy said QLED TVs have a longer lifespan compared to OLED TVs.
@WanderingBullet The Q7F won't suffer from burn in or out and is an excellent gaming TV but obviously not in the same league as far as PQ and HDR goes. Its decent and should last a long time too. If you look after an OLED - and by that I also mean adapting your viewing to ensure you don't have bright static elements - particularly Red and Yellow (white isn't so bad) on screen often and for long periods, they are absolutely awesome and cannot be beat on PQ.
OLEDs, if you run them at low brightness (120nits which is the SDR standard) and with content that doesn't have static elements like logo's, news boxes or ticker tapes, can last a long time but they are comprised of organic (hence the name) compounds which will break down over time and with use too. If you use your TV every day for 10hrs a day, it will last half as long as someone watching 5hrs a day watching the same content. HDR will burn out the life more than SDR will too as the sub-pixels have to be on much brighter. You wouldn't expect a light bulb that's on full for 10hrs a night to last as long as a 30% dimmed lightbulb that's on for just 5hrs - in terms of days before you have to replace - and the same principal applies with OLEDs. The red sub-pixel wears faster as well. It really depends on 'hours' of use rather than years - by that I mean it will last a certain number of hours and depending on how many hours you watch a year will depend on when you need to replace. Under 'perfect' viewing conditions for OLEDs, you may get 30000hours out of one but HDR will reduce that and certain content will cause uneven wear leading to uniformity and colour accuracy issues.
I don't want to put you (or anyone else) off of OLEDs because you can get a decent life out of one with no issues - but you will have to change your viewing habits and compromise (in some cases) to get the longest life from one.
Anyway, hope you enjoy your Q7F. LEDs are not perfect either but at least don't suffer burn-in and will last longer too...
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@BAMozzy Yeah, I read someone saying that you should vary your content when watching OLED TVs but I'll mainly be using it for gaming. Sometimes I'll play games like MHW for four hours straight so I thought QLED was a better option for me.
@WanderingBullet Its not just viewing your content. If you watch a news channel for an hour a day and spend 4hrs watching movies, dramas etc, that 1 hour of news adds up to 7hrs a week, 28-31hrs a month etc and causes uneven wear because of the static elements. You can watch the same programme if it doesn't have static elements over and over and over again with no uneven wear so its not so much about varying the content, more about being aware of the content you watch and whether it has bright static elements - like the breaking news boxes, latest news ticker tapes, bright logos etc - especially if Red or Yellow as these will cause the Red sub-pixel to be on continuously and at a 'bright' level and thus wear quicker than the rest of the red sub-pixels around the screen. If a chain of channels had a bright red/yellow logo and varied your watching between the range of channels, that Logo will wear out the red much quicker despite watching varied content. It doesn't matter if you limit your news viewing to an hour a day, that's still 7hours a week and will wear the pixels out as much as watching 7hours of news in one day and not watching news again for the rest of the week. People who watch a variety of content but enjoy watching sports news for 3/4hours on a weekend still end up with uneven wear because that 3hours adds up over the weeks, months etc.
I will say though that CoD, despite having a relatively static elements whilst gaming thanks to its HuD has proven to be one of the least likely to cause uneven wear. Fifa does because of the boxes on screen (score/time etc) and the 'green' field too seems to have caused some fading/uniformity issues. As I said, its worth checking out the RTINGs link to see the results and whether or not you would be a more risk. I don't play MHW so not sure of what elements are on screen that could add up o potential problems in the long run. Of course that's not a risk at all with a QLED anyway and that's one less worry - don't have to make changes to your viewing/gaming habits to minimise risks of burn-in/uneven wear.
I know a lot of gamers with OLEDs though that haven't (yet) had noticeable issues so it can last 2yrs+. Anyway, enjoy your new TV and hope it delivers for you...
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@BAMozzy Hey sir, terribly sorry to bother you, but I'm desperately trying to find an acceptable 55" 4K tv for about 500 to 750 max. I've tried to find one on my own, but I'm just overwhelmed by the market. Any hint on which is okay for the price? I don't care much about the sound, but fluid, nice picture with low lag would be appreciated, obviously. Any idea?
@Reverend_Skeeve At that price, you are not going to get the 'best' HDR experience but you can still get a 'reasonable' HDR experience. At that price, I would probably recommend a Samsung NU series, the 8000 is at the higher end and can be found at Richer Sounds for £750. The NU range is the 2018 range so you are getting a TV that was £1400 at launch. Richer Sounds offer a 6yr warranty as standard too so I think its the 'best' deal out there right now. Argos has it for £730 which you could use as a Price match to get a slightly better price but Richer Sounds would be the better retailer and better warranty included in the price - 6yr warranty is invaluable AND if you aren't happy, are a fantastic retailer to deal with.
I know its at the 'top end of your budget but as you drop down the budget, you drop down on specs, performance etc too. At launch, this TV was £1400 although did drop to ~£1100 - that was just 1year ago where as some of the other TV's I would recommend, wouldn't be as big a saving. I think this is the 'best' TV in your price range and a bargain. Its certainly the best gaming TV you can buy and, if you get an Xbox One X, and I am sure PS5/XB2 will have, you can take advantage of the TV's VRR (Variable Refresh Rate) and also has a low latency mode too. No other brand TV can match this for input lag.
Being a VA panel, it also has incredible blacks for an LCD display. I believe it was rated as the best TV in its price bracket. Its nearly as bright as the best OLEDs too so its not 'too shabby' with HDR. The only other TV that you perhaps could consider is the Samsung NU7100 at around £500 BUT, as RTINGS say, The Samsung NU8000 is much better than the Samsung NU7100. The NU8000 is much brighter with all types of content. Motion is smoother as it can remove 24p judder from almost all sources, and the faster response time means less motion blur. The NU8000 also has some advanced gaming features, including automatic low latency mode and support for a variable refresh rate. I think its worth mentioning that if only to show you what the extra £250 (maybe £230 if you can get them to price match) actually buys you.
As with the best picture LCD TV's, certainly the best Black performing HDR TV's, the one downside is that off angle viewing isn't the best so best viewed head on. Head on viewing cannot be bettered at this price point though...
Hope this helps...
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So I'm toying with the idea of getting a 4k tv at some point this year. My thinking is it better to have one now rather than wait till after PS5 is released assumingly next November.
After doing a bit of research, LG and Samsung seem to be the better for games with the lowest response times. I've had bad experiences with LG so it will most likely be a Samsung. The Q70R 49" is just over the price limit I was planning but I think it will be worth it.
@WanderingBullet I think this is the same model you got, how you finding it?
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