Last summer I decided it was time for me to upgrade my 4-year-old 55-Inch Vizio TV. There was nothing wrong with it, but I got it into my head that I really wanted a 4K UHD television. The problem is how do you shop for a television when the content you are purchasing the television for isn’t available to properly test it? So needless to say I went on a 3 month journey the led me through 7 television returns and an eventual banishment from Best Buy. Not even kidding, they banned me! But I can’t be mad, they were really great about coming out and exchanging my TVs for no extra charge. Be sure to check out our YouTube Channel for more cool video reviews! Or visit top9 for best reviews of electronic products.
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The issue with modern television shopping is 4K Ultra HD standards weren’t settled and don’t even get me started on HDR. At the price level I was spending, I wanted a television that would be future proof because I plan on keeping it for 5 years. So not only did I want HDR, but I wanted both Dolby Vision HDR and HDR10. I also wanted at least a 10-bit panel and wide color gamut. If Best Buy didn’t have such an easy exchange policy – until I abused it, I probably would have been fine with any of them. But at $1,300 – $1,900 for a TV, I didn’t want to be “just fine.”
The TVs I tried all had too many deal breaking compromises. Only one of them offered Dolby Vision support. Some of them only had 3 HDMI ports, only one of them supported HDMI 2.0 at 60 mhz across all their ports. This is vital for getting true HDR. Several panels had light bleed and only 2 of them had wide color gamut. It was ridiculous really, the amount of key features missing from last year’s television models.
Out of all the televisions I tested, I think the 65-inch Samsung 7000 was the best one. This television was cheap and had amazing black levels – especially for an LED TV. Problem was that TV only had 3 HDMI Ports (I think), no wide color gamut and didn’t include Samsung’s Quantum Dot Technology. Shopping for a TV is a little easier now because there are standards. I had a 60 inch LG UHD television that had horrendous light bleed. Just look for the UHD Premium and HDMI Premium logos and you should be good to go.
My dream television from the beginning was LG’s B6 OLED 4k television. OLEDS just deliver a superior picture to any other television on the market right now. It’s technology delivers pure, perfect black levels and scary thin displays. However, the cheapest OLED (which is the 55 Inch B6) was $3,500 at the time. So I checked out other televisions and had issues with everyone one of them. Even though I really wanted a 65-inch television, I snapped up the LG B6 OLED when it was an open box special for $1,800.
The television is about as future proof as a television can get. It supports both Dolby Vision HDR and HDR10, it actually has a 12-bit panel. Many enthusiast obsess over buzzwords things like the Nit Count (the amount of brightness a TV can produce) and honestly, I know this TV is rated at 600 NITs but I’ve never once thought. I wish that shot of the sun was brighter.
It has 4 HDMI I’m not a huge fan of Web OS, but the smart television features are excellent and include all the standard 4K apps and is one of the only products that Vudu UHD supports. While I do use a Sony soundbar, I do like the built in sound the TV produces. It’s not bad at all, depending on the audio source it does sound like the “premium” speakers are delivering pseudo surround sound.
I like the remote, it fits nicely in my hands and is easy to navigate. The TV also provides “perfect” picture from anywhere in the room. As far as gaming is concerned, many have complained about the lag on the television but honestly as a casual gamer I just don’t notice it all. I think 90 percent of the gamers using this television will be perfectly fine with it. I haven’t noticed any judder or motion blur when playing games like Call of Duty, Batman Arkham, etc.
Finally other manufacturers are jumping on the OLED bandwagon, I’m pretty sure those TVs won’t be cheap. We’re still a few years away from sub $2,000 OLEDs as an common thing. The 55 Inch B6 can be had for $2,000 these days. If you have the money get an OLED, you won’t regret it. My only regret is I wish I splurged and got the 65 Inch. But that model is still over $4,000.
Final Grade A