One.

Looking at one of these as new living room tv. 49-50 inches is the max we can go size wise.

LG OLED which comes with 4 x hdmi 2.1 ports or a Samsung QLED which comes with one hdmi 2.1 port.

Eurogamer rates these two as the best top budget gaming tv's.

https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-best-4k-tvs-for-hdr-gaming-7009

Anyone got experience of either tv?

https://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/tv-and-home-entertainment/televisions/televisions/lg-oled48cx6lb-48-smart-4k-ultra-hd-hdr-oled-tv-with-google-assistant-amazon-alexa-10205969-pdt.html


https://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/tv-and-home-entertainment/televisions/televisions/samsung-qe49q80tatxxu-49-smart-4k-ultra-hd-hdr-qled-tv-with-bixby-alexa-google-assistant-10207018-pdt.html

No hdmi 2.1 though.

I have the previous one of that. I like it but it could do with better software imo.

It is android but it’s quite a standard android with an adjacent Philips layer. I’d also say that the software running the sound was glitchy until recently.

They are good value for money, but not spectacular apparently. The HDR is okay, but not great. So you won't be disappointed but are unlikely to be blown away. If refresh rate is your top priority, and they offer the same as more expensive sets it might be worth going for, but the picture quality won't be as high.

What’s your budget Retro.

What I would say right now is that unless you are spending big it is worth holding off until 2021. That is mainly because gaming TV’s are about to get much better.

HDMI2.1 is the main benefit, it will supply variable refresh rate, automatic game switching mode, enhanced audio return channel (for better surround sound systems) and up to 4K/120hz.

For research I used a number of YouTube channels and Avforums.

Good channels include:

Digital Trends - this is your typical light review but have a good balanced approach and give enough detail.

Stop the Fomo - great guy who cuts to the heart of many issues around TV’s.

HDTV Test - very detailed analysis of TV’s. He’s also got a very fry sense of humour and manages to sneak at least one innuendo into each review.

Rtings - great channel and site for comparing sets once you have shortlisted some.

I would also add that TCL are a relatively new company to the UK and their 6 series is supposed to be a good mix of value and quality. But they haven’t released their 6 series in Europe at the moment. So again possibly worth waiting.

If you are considering one now then one of the best Tv’s is the LG CX 48” - all four ports are HDMI 2.1 and it has very low input lag. I got the 65” version. But it is an OLED and one thing to consider is the types of game you play and how long you will play them for as OLED’s can suffer from burn in. Rtings and HDTV test have both done burn in tests and generally found it not to be an issue on modern sets. Lots of PC Gamers are buying this set as a desktop monitor!

The Sony XH90 also has two 2.1 inputs but the smallest size is 55”. It’s an LED set with great contrast and is also reviewing very well as a gaming TV. Not Sony haven’t released the firmware update to activate those ports, but the specs are confirmed in the Sony site.

As I said. Unless you have to or want to go bigger/more expensive I’d wait on buying a gaming TV as next year the main brands will all have the gaming tech.

It depends as I said if you want to maximise the benefits of the new consoles or PC’s wait out this year and the high end stuff will obviously trickle down. HDMI2.1 will really make the difference, especially as new consoles are supporting VRR. Gonna be honest I had refunded holiday money and I’m not going abroad for a while so thought fuck it and bought now.

Also TCL are a budget brand entering the UK market with good quality sets. They’ll probably also drive down overall TV costs.

2.1 - I think it's the variable refresh rate stuff.

GooberTheHat wrote:

2.1 - I think it's the variable refresh rate stuff.

Ah. Still clueless. I'm not sure I've got the capacity to tell the difference in picture quality anymore, I still think 1080p looks great lol.

Thanks all.

2021 isn't an option atm as I have a broken TV in another room, so my current TV will be put there.

The jump in price to HDMI 2.1 seems quite significant, was hoping to spend in the £500 range tbh.

retroking1981 wrote:

Thanks both.

2021 isn't an option atm as I have a broken TV in another room, so my current TV will be put there.

The jump in price to HDMI 2.1 seems quite significant, was hoping to spend in the £500 range tbh.

So at that budget forget about 2.1 for now and maybe look again in 2021/22.

So thinking through the benefits of 2.1 logically. It’s going to make a difference if and when games get to 4K/120hz, which we know is a target not an actuality. Remember last gen when they were claiming 4K/60 and few games hit it.

So you can really expect games to solidly hit 4K/60 for a while so hdmi 2.0 is fine.

The other benefit of VRR would again only apply in some edge cases. A good example would be Sekiro on the Series X where it was hitting 54-60fps. That would benefit from the smoothing, but pretty sure that isn’t worth the £600 difference!

Shortlist your sets. See if those channels I mentioned review and then compare on Rtings.

i'd say a lot of it is relative to what you had before, and the jump to 4K hdr is going to be a lot bigger than the jump between a budget 4k HDR and a £1000+ 4K HDR TV.

so if your old 1080P set was a £400 tv several years ago, then a new £400 TV will look lots better now.
if you had a top of the line mega expensive 1080p just a few years ago, then a budget job now might not be the worthwhile step.

also i reckon the hdmi 2.1 stuff is prob overrated for most uses, these new consoles have the grunt to be steady at 30/60 fps really so while nice to have (he says as he bought an expensive lg last year that has 2.1) i'm not actually sure it's ever really gonna get much use in this next gen. prob more relevant in PC gaming.
obviously if you spent the last 10 years swearing at your console and tv wishing they did VRR then you may have a different opinion on it's value!

I've just started using an old monitor for gaming so that the mrs and kids can watch TV. It's a Samsung SA 300 bought about 7 years ago was OK at the time but think its' 60 HZ and showing it's age. All this advise here is great but could it be different if i'm specifically only using it with Xbox One X? I guess Xbox One X has limitations compared to a high end PC. 27 inch would be plenty.

I've got a TV question too.  Do recent televisions have 1440p displays as an option or is that resolution solely the domain of monitors?