Man of Honour
As posted in a previous thread, my LG B7 OLED is suffering from premature pixel wear and as such the image has an awful green tint.
Richer Sounds have basically said it's not covered by their warranty, but if I get it repaired via LG they'll refund me. This service is currently suspended and so it could be the end of April before I get it sorted. This is from an issue that started in early February.
So as a result I did a decent amount of research and decided to buy a TCL C835 mini LED TV.
I'll get the OLED repaired and sell it on to offset some of the cost of my new TV.
I will say that I also considered buying another OLED as prices have come down significantly since I paid £1300 in 2018 for my B7. But considering I didn't have the usual concerns of buying an OLED originally, I certainly do now after owning one for five years.
I'm not here to justify my purchase to myself, rather just share my thoughts on the difference between the two technologies.
The short answer is that I am extremely impressed by the TCL TV in terms of image quality compared to my OLED. To the point that, other than a few edge case scenarios, I can't tell the difference.
Yes, when watching a film on 4k Blu-ray there was some slight blooming on the white text against a solid black background, it wasn't particularly egregious and when the titles were over and the film started, I didn't notice any blooming at all. It just looked like I was watching on my old OLED, but brighter.
Now you might say it's a bit unfair to compare a 2017 OLED against a 2022 mini LED TV. But that's all reference I have and to my eyes, under everyday viewing of broadcast TV, streaming services and 4k Blu-ray's, it's fair to say that there's little to choose between them.
I will say the LG feels and looks more premium, it has a better remote control and I prefer LG's OS to Android TV. That's not because I'm more used to one over the other, as my Nvidia Shield is very similar to the TCL.
Not that LG's premium feel counts for much when you consider the first panel developed red vertical lines within the first 12 months and had the panel replaced. And the replacement panel has lasted less than four years with well below average usage.
Sound on the LG is probably better too, but that's marginal and not really of importance to me, as I have an AV receiver and 5.1.2 speaker setup.
TLDR:
Current mini LED TVs puts up a very good fight against an OLED TV and you should at least consider them if you're in the market for a new TV. Particularly when you consider the price difference, and that even though OLED TV's have got better, the mini LED is brighter and won't suffer from image retention or pixel wear that an OLED might.
Oh, and CEC HDMI needs to die in a fire no matter what TV or AV equipment you buy.
Richer Sounds have basically said it's not covered by their warranty, but if I get it repaired via LG they'll refund me. This service is currently suspended and so it could be the end of April before I get it sorted. This is from an issue that started in early February.
So as a result I did a decent amount of research and decided to buy a TCL C835 mini LED TV.
I'll get the OLED repaired and sell it on to offset some of the cost of my new TV.
I will say that I also considered buying another OLED as prices have come down significantly since I paid £1300 in 2018 for my B7. But considering I didn't have the usual concerns of buying an OLED originally, I certainly do now after owning one for five years.
I'm not here to justify my purchase to myself, rather just share my thoughts on the difference between the two technologies.
The short answer is that I am extremely impressed by the TCL TV in terms of image quality compared to my OLED. To the point that, other than a few edge case scenarios, I can't tell the difference.
Yes, when watching a film on 4k Blu-ray there was some slight blooming on the white text against a solid black background, it wasn't particularly egregious and when the titles were over and the film started, I didn't notice any blooming at all. It just looked like I was watching on my old OLED, but brighter.
Now you might say it's a bit unfair to compare a 2017 OLED against a 2022 mini LED TV. But that's all reference I have and to my eyes, under everyday viewing of broadcast TV, streaming services and 4k Blu-ray's, it's fair to say that there's little to choose between them.
I will say the LG feels and looks more premium, it has a better remote control and I prefer LG's OS to Android TV. That's not because I'm more used to one over the other, as my Nvidia Shield is very similar to the TCL.
Not that LG's premium feel counts for much when you consider the first panel developed red vertical lines within the first 12 months and had the panel replaced. And the replacement panel has lasted less than four years with well below average usage.
Sound on the LG is probably better too, but that's marginal and not really of importance to me, as I have an AV receiver and 5.1.2 speaker setup.
TLDR:
Current mini LED TVs puts up a very good fight against an OLED TV and you should at least consider them if you're in the market for a new TV. Particularly when you consider the price difference, and that even though OLED TV's have got better, the mini LED is brighter and won't suffer from image retention or pixel wear that an OLED might.
Oh, and CEC HDMI needs to die in a fire no matter what TV or AV equipment you buy.
