Television technology - where are we?

OLEDs (all the panels come from LG) are very nice looking--deep blacks, color that is superior to other types of panels, and wide viewing angles.  I sometimes see blotchiness in what is suppose to be a wide expanse of solid surface, and there are some motion artifacts, but picture-wise, they look really good.  The better LED/LCD sets with multiple locally dimming LEDs as light source are also quite good, although they don't have as wide a viewing angle and the colors are not quite as "right" as one can get with a properly adjusted OLED.  I know someone who deals the top models of these kinds of sets and the thing that disturbs me a bit about the OLED sets is that he reports more dead pixel and other issues with OLED than with the other kinds of sets.  

I went with the top of the line Sony LED/LCD set, and so far, I am quite happy with it.  Price wise, when you get up to the really big panels, the LED/LCD sets are cheaper than the top of the line OLED sets.

     I bought a Panasonic VT60 series 65" plasma 1080P hdtv in 2014 knowing Panasonic was exiting the plasma hdtv market due to manufacturing costs of producing plasma 4K hdtvs likely causing them to be priced out of the market.
     I'm so glad I did and, knock on wood, this plasma has been awesome and is still going strong with no issues at all.  Of course, I'm restricted from moving to 4K but, at my 12-14' viewing distance, I don't think I'm missing too much except possibly the HDR.
     However, I realize it won't last forever.  Currently my plan is to purchase a 65" or larger OLED hdtv when my plasma kicks the bucket.  I've seen the latest 65" LG 4K models and they're the first hdtv I've seen that beats my plasma, even brighter and with awesome black levels and contrast levels.  They remind me a lot of what I imagine a 4K Panasonic plasma might have looked like. 
       If I get real lucky, maybe my plasma will hold out until even better technology emerges and becomes affordable.
      But for dawgbyte, I'd suggest he take a look at someplace like BestBuy where he might be able to view the Samsung QLED and the LG or Sony OLEDs in close proximity and judge for himself.  There's also the enjoyment factor that comes with shear size, especially with sports and given very good motion performance.  I know a 70" plus OLED might be prohibitively expensive but I don't think a Samsung QLED would be.
       Actually, I find the whole experience of purchasing a new tv very exciting and pleasurable except, of course paying for it.  It's an extended pleasure, too, since you get a thrill every day you turn it on for the first time and begin watching.

Enjoy,
 Tim

8k is already here. So you can upscale the native 4k sources. Where the native 4k souce is sometimes a lie, being scale up itself, from a 2k master.


this is done so they can sell you an upgraded 4k copy later. Eg,...IIRC, all Marvel Universe 4k ultra HD discs are scanned from a 2k master and scaled. So you never get the 4k scan. You are not getting what the box label says.

4k scans tend to be releases of older films, like the recent 4k ’Alien' disc set and...er.. Die hard, Predator, etc. Bladerunner.. pretty sure that one is a 4k scan.

Where they have to bring quality to the table to get you to buy.

teo_audio,

     I didn't know that about 4K scans of 2K movies.  It reminds me of redbook cd transfers of 16bit/44.1KHz content to 24bit/96KHz FLAC and WAV files, without a master provenance history, that some companies like HDTracks scam consumers with.


Tim

Tim good suggestion! I plan to visit Best Buy to do some comparison shopping and then buy online for less.

I'll be replacing my Hitachi 55"Plasma, which is a stellar tv. I was an early adopter of HDTV and was very impressed with Hitachi - every bit as good as the Pioneer Elite Plasma's.

For me the real question is size vs resolution/quality. I have a large dedicated Home Theatre room, so going from 55" to 65" doesn't seem like it will be a significant leap forward, but we'll see.