i was in the same boat as you apart from the space limitation. I sent almost 2 years looking at TVs around the 1k mark and nothing would ever really come close to an OLED for picture quality and viewing experience.
In the end i figured that im likely to have the TV for 7 to 10 years like my old 40 inch LCD then i wanted to have the best viewing experience that i could get for value vs quality. In the end i stumped up 1400 quid for the 55 inch C8 OLED TV and to be quite frank im absolutely blown away by the quality. Ive even spent more time with the wife as a result watching all types of programs and series that we wouldnt have done before which is pretty cool.
I guess in the end for me i figured that if i spent a bit more money and got the OLED under the expectation that it will last a good 7 - 10 years then the extra money didnt really matter. It was then just a case of sitting back patently and waiting to strike when a good deal comes up. Was it worth it for me? Yes totally worth it and i love the TV more than i even expected and im pretty savvy when it comes to tech specs and the like.
Yeah, I take an age to choose. I look at the specs, find as many reviews as I can and still faff about way too much. That said, spec alone can be misleading and what should on paper be the logical choice, doesn't always live up to expectations. But I guess we all have our own idea of what the perfect picture is?
I really would like to take advantage of stepping up to a 55" but just do not have the space. Likewise I also keep my sets for a while, current set is nigh on 10 years old (TX-42D25B) I have no idea how often is considered the norm, but would imagine many folk hang on to them for somewhere near that.
OLED appears to "set the bar" at the moment, but as there is nothing at the 49-50" range at the moment, you are limited to as good an LED as you can find. I may wait until the promised LG appears but I have the itch to swap before the end of the year.
If you don't watch the same channel for several hours every day for months on end it should be fine but ideally you need to vary your viewing habits, some channels should be fine as they aren't bright white logos but things like the white BBC banners will be a killer long term. The panels have some kind of maintenance cycle that operates every night but it can't work miracles.
If you don't want to have to nanny your TV then I'd avoid OLED but otherwise the picture is stunning, top end QLED is more expensive and still suffer blooming.
Panasonic GX800 is probably a good choice but it doesn't get bright enough for proper HDR, it's even less bright than OLED and without the flawless black levels. Similar story with the Q60R.
OLED may be problematic, ours does tend to be left on BBC news for hour after hour, so even though it's the best choice image wise may not be pragmatic in the long term. Also in the past I've found that initially when you get a new set, you spend ages looking at the picture, tweaking this that and the other. It's only when you've had them a while you start to watch the content again. Plus you become used to your own setup after a time.
Also I don't stay on top of what is the latest and greatest feature wise, I only start to look every 10 years or so when it's time for an upgrade. What are the "must haves" to at least make it future proof to some degree?
