New 65inch TV...

nukemdukem · 18 Jul 2019 at 05:40

Hi all,

I've finally saved enough money to buy a 65 inch TV!!

Currently i'm in Singapore, so prices are different to the UK. Looking at a few deals I'VE narrowed down to 3 options:

1. LG B8S, this is OLED (this is the STB version not PLA, so comes with basic stand and 20W speakers) - around SGD 3800, has dolby vision
2. LG SK8500, this is UHD LCD - around SGD 2800, has dolby vision
3. Phillips 873, this is OLED - around SGD 2999, does not have dolby vision but has HDR 10

I'm leaning towards the Phillips 873 as the reviews seem to be as good as LG B8S but it has slightly better brightness - and that might be important as SIngapore is very sunny!

Just wondering if anyone has any views or alternatives?

Many thanks

Ste · 18 Jul 2019 at 08:18

Hey. I have the B8 and I got a demo of the Phillips. Both have pros and cons. 65 OLED is spectacular so imo discount the LED set.

The LG has way better smart TV functionality, the Phillips has better motion interpolation and upscaling which for me is a huge deal. When I bought however the LG was 25% cheaper so I got that in the end. In your case I would get the Phillips given the price difference. Great TV.

If you go LG there are a lot of uniformity issues at 65, near-black banding and tinting on the edges are part of the OLED game but try to buy somewhere you can return in case you get a bad one. I got through two before I was happy. Not sure about Philips on that front.

Only other point, Dolby vision is pretty popular on Netflix now so not sure whether you'd miss out a bit there or whether it'd just default to HDR10 or something instead. Possibly do some research on that?

Ste · 18 Jul 2019 at 08:20

Also only alternative I can think of is Sony A8F but suspect that may be more expensive and not worth it. Best picture quality of the lot!

Poneros · 18 Jul 2019 at 12:10

Phillips' QA is a nightmare and an automatic pass for me, I've also seen it in person and my impression of it was 'meh'. Out of the 3 the LG is a knockout winner if you can stomach the price.

Rids · 18 Jul 2019 at 13:07

I've been doing a fair bit of research on 65 inch TV's recently - whats the price gap to the LG C8 in Singapore? It seems to be the best reviewed across the board.

nukemdukem · 18 Jul 2019 at 15:03

Thanks everyone for the comments.

Ste - i looked up about netflix, it seems they transmit for both HDR10 and Dolby Vision. However what i cant seem to find an answer to is whether in reality, can a person tell the difference between HDR10 and Dolby Vision when watching a movie today? (i know in the future with more advanced TV's, maybe 2-3 years time, dolby vision has the technical specs to support much more brightness and colours than HDR10, but current TV's dont go much beyond HDR10 in terms of capability?).

Rids - the LG C8 is currently very difficult to find in 65inch, the LG C9 is going for $5500 - which is beyond my budget. Also as far as i can tell the B8 and C8 are very similar, but the C9 is a bit brighter?

It seems theres lots of sales going on at the moment in Singapore to clear the old stocks in preparation for the new 2019 models - but seems like everyone is buying 65inch as quite a lot of stock left on 55inch models - the LG B8 55inch is going for $1999 SGD, which is so tempting, but i'm afraid i will feel disappointed with 55inch vs 65inch.

Does anyone think 120hz tv makes any diffrence (vs 60hz) - i wont be connecting a pc to the tv, but may play fifa on a PS4.

Many thanks

MartinPrince · 18 Jul 2019 at 15:18

nukemdukem said:
It seems theres lots of sales going on at the moment in Singapore to clear the old stocks in preparation for the new 2019 models - but seems like everyone is buying 65inch as quite a lot of stock left on 55inch models - the LG B8 55inch is going for $1999 SGD, which is so tempting, but i'm afraid i will feel disappointed with 55inch vs 65inch.

Let me help dispel any notion of getting the 55" instead of the 65". Definitely get the 65" no matter how cheap the 55" gets, you will regret it if you don't.

nukemdukem · 18 Jul 2019 at 15:22

yep, thats exactly what my heart was telling me too - but my brain was saying "thinking about it - its a great deal!"

def will get 65inch

Blackhawk69 · 18 Jul 2019 at 20:30

My 65" LG B8S arrives tomorrow. Seemed the best value 65" OLED to me.

Poneros · 18 Jul 2019 at 21:32

nukemdukem said:
Does anyone think 120hz tv makes any diffrence (vs 60hz) - i wont be connecting a pc to the tv, but may play fifa on a PS4.

Afaik you can't use the 120hz mode (at 1080p) with a PS4. With Xbox, yes, at least for some games, but not with Sony. If you can, I'd love to know, haven't seen the option on my PS4 Pro.

Psycho Sonny · 19 Jul 2019 at 13:23

LG OLED - no contest here

Ste · 19 Jul 2019 at 20:35

Can't understand the love for the LG, have people seen the Phillips? They're pretty good and PQ wins over LG.

I like my LG a lot for the money but coming from a 5 year old sony the motion handling is absolutely awful and the tinting/banding on the B series 65 is high risk.

If the LG was the cheaper one then absolutely but... meh.

HDR on the LG OLED isn't great to be honest so the difference between the formats won't be worth a lot. The peak brightness is too low to really stun like the better LCDs do. OLED still rules though because of blacks, contrast and viewing angles.

Did you find a price on the AF8 at all?

hornetstinger · 19 Jul 2019 at 21:31

Buy a 6.5" and sit 10x closer.

nuke_neon · 20 Jul 2019 at 01:00

If you are getting an LG oled definitely make sure you can return as panel uniformity can be very bad. To be fair I am bias as just returned one and may be returning the second one unless a big improvement after running for a while. I can't understand how QA can be so varried on a premium product.

nukemdukem · 20 Jul 2019 at 05:09

Thanks all, I finally went for the LG B8 (made in Korea version) - managed to get it for $3500 SGD.

If any issues I can return, would be interested to know how I can asses it when it gets delivered (is it just visually when turned on?)

When I saw the Phillips (873) it was ok but didn’t seem as good as the b8.

The Sony TV’s were much more expensive.

One other tv that caught my eye was the Panasonic FZ950, screen looked really good - but also was very expensive.

Overall i’m really happy with the deal and think the LG will be a big step up in size and quality vs tv I have now (5year old Panasonic lcd 49inch).

nuke_neon · 20 Jul 2019 at 10:27

Honestly I would watch some varried content in a dark room during the return window and see if you notice any issues. You can use test slides with low percentage grey if you want but has the downside it will show uniformity issues (almost all have some, 5% grey could look very bad but normall watching will be fine) once you know where they are there is more chance you will notice them during standard watching. Watch normal but varried content if you don't notice anything I would be tempted to stay away from test screens.

Ste · 22 Jul 2019 at 07:32

Exactly this. Do not go running the slides to check grey uniformity as much of it is physiological and when your brain knows where to look for issues in dark scenes that's all you will ever see! Give it some serious use in the first week so that it runs a few compensation cycles (does it when on standby after four hours usage - but don't use the manual option) and then have a thorough look at some darker content.

Other thing on the 65 is tinting on the sides. This will be obvious if really bad. Pink sides on white screens (bad on eg ice skating) and similar issues on green fields (goes yellow on the edges, bad on eg golf)

easyrider · 24 Jul 2019 at 00:58

Blackhawk69 said:
My 65" LG B8S arrives tomorrow. Seemed the best value 65" OLED to me.

How much did you pay mate ? I’m after a new TV

Blackhawk69 · 29 Jul 2019 at 08:06

£1449 from Richer Sounds (think I'm ok to say that, as Overclockers don't sell TVs). They had an additional voucher deal a few weeks ago which knocked off an extra £130.

Broken Hope · 29 Jul 2019 at 11:50

Ste said:
Can't understand the love for the LG, have people seen the Phillips? They're pretty good and PQ wins over LG.

I like my LG a lot for the money but coming from a 5 year old sony the motion handling is absolutely awful and the tinting/banding on the B series 65 is high risk.

If the LG was the cheaper one then absolutely but... meh.

HDR on the LG OLED isn't great to be honest so the difference between the formats won't be worth a lot. The peak brightness is too low to really stun like the better LCDs do. OLED still rules though because of blacks, contrast and viewing angles.

Did you find a price on the AF8 at all?

I dread to think how bright the LED sets go if HDR on the LG’s isn’t very good. Coming from a Panasonic plasma HDR content on my C9 can be blinding.