Gaming on OLED?

[Sargon]

I am in the market for a new TV for my basement and I'm trying to decide whether an OLED will work for me.

It would be used for a combination of movies, live sports, 4k gaming (Xbox One), and retro gaming (NES, SNES, Jaguar through an XRGB-3). I think OLED would be a great fit for the first 3 use cases, but I'm just not sure it will hold up to 4:3 retro gaming. Input lag may be a minor issue, but I'm more concerned with potential burn-in or uneven wearing of the pixels over time.

Is anyone else using an OLED for gaming, and what has your experience been? I get that it wouldn't be anyone's first choice for a retro gaming TV, but I'm looking for something that can be used for a variety of purposes.

If I don't decide to buy an OLED, I would probably end up going with a high end LED like a Sony X900. I am replacing an old Hitachi HD CRT rear projection TV, which I love, and it still looks good, but it is time to make the jump to 4k (from 1080i) and reclaim some floor space.

[Ikaruga11]

but I'm more concerned with potential burn-in or uneven wearing of the pixels over time.

Pixels will wear unevenly over time even if you're displaying exclusively 16:9. The color and brightness that a pixel displays affects its wear too. So your entire screen becomes uneven in millions of different places.

[ASDR]

I'd also be curious how the OLEDs fare if somebody does a lot of 4:3 gaming on them. Also, how many here got one of the LGs and has no pixel defects?

[Dochartaigh]

IMO OLED isn't ready for mainstream use quite yet. I think they look beautiful, but I just don't get who would drop $1600+ on a TV which can still get burn-in. I haven't heard of burn-in being a problem since like 2006 with the super old Plasma's...I know, I know, burn-in for the majority of users won't be a problem...but it's most common for people who use their TV as a A.) omputer monitor, and B.) Play a lot of the same video game....which I check both boxes so it's simply not for me.

[bigbadboaz]

I just don't get who would drop $1600+ on a TV which can still get burn-in. .

Are you saying this with actual cause, or just suspicion? Because this sounds an awful lot like the common argument that helped doom plasma over the last decade, and as you know yourself it hadn't really been true for a long time.

I'm wary of all the usual things that are somewhat untested with OLED, but think it's notable that we're approaching 4 years now that LG has been marketing somewhat mainstream panels and there is no mass outcry about short panel life or burn-in. If it were a serious issue I think there would be several loud, disenchanted voices out there by now.

I would certainly go for the OLED over any LED LCD, knowing full well the effect of LCD's weaknesses in action. Also, smart shopping these days nets a 4K OLED closer to $1200 than $1600.

[nissling]

I've had my OLED since summer 2016 and have played plenty of retro games on it, as well as watched a whole lot of films in various aspect ratios. There are absolutely no signs of burn-ins whatsoever. I honestly don't even think there's a risk...

Your CRT is more likely to get burn-ins.

[Dochartaigh]

Are you saying this with actual cause, or just suspicion? Because this sounds an awful lot like the common argument that helped doom plasma over the last decade, and as you know yourself it hadn't really been true for a long time.

I would stay tuned to rtings.com extended OLED vs LCD VA vs LCD IPS test - they're only on week 24 of it right now though. Also their "Real Life OLED Burn In Test on 6 TVs" is also good. – I quote "the OLED TV already has permanent retention"... These tests are an extreme case of use...but I use my TV a bunch and expect it to last a full 10 years (as my last, and first I bought myself actually, flatscreen lasted a good 10+ years...only on my second flatscreen home TV right now) - and as it is, it doesn't sound like OLED will last anywhere near that with my watching habits.

[Hoagtech]

After viewing them in person I would definitely buy one for gaming. The motion and color are unmatched by other technologies.

The only reason I bought a Sony instead of an LG is because they don't make an affordable option in above 65" and I like slightly bigger screens.

[Ikaruga11]

The motion and color are unmatched by other technologies.

LCD and Plasma, yes, but not CRT.

[Hoagtech]

The motion and color are unmatched by other technologies.

LCD and Plasma, yes, but not CRT.

It does beat CRT. The is no flashlight effect or green ghost fade effects on the OLED which are common on CRT.

I would still prefer to play my classics on a CRT until they invent a 4:3 oled panel that properly scales to full screen. But seeing as oled is a fixed pixel grid I don't see that ever happening.

[ShootTheCore]

I've owned a LG OLED B6 65" for a year and I love it. I play retro games on it extensively through an OSSC upscaler and it looks fabulous-better picture quality than both of my Sony PVM CRTs. I haven't seen any issues with burn-in. I also put mine on a rotating wall mount so that it's easy to flip for tate shmups. Overall, can't recommend it enough-it's amazing.

[orange808]

Sample and hold. Nobody is perfect.

[bigbadboaz]

The motion and color are unmatched by other technologies.

Sample and hold. Nobody is perfect.

This. Hoag, you didn't see sample-and-hold affecting scrolling motion the same way it does on LCDs?

[Thamiel]

Had an LG C7 for almost a year now, absolutely love it. No burn in at all yet, havnt even had any image retention. Just run the pixel refresher once a week and don't let your missus fall asleep on the couch with a blu ray menu sitting on repeat and you'll be fine.

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk

[SNK-NEO-GEO]

E7 55" is what I have..

my view
Retrogaming - I find it strange seeing the 8/16 bit pixels at that size, maybe because I never played retrogames in such a big screen.. i prefer my dell 32" LCD instead of the OLED for retro.

Anime - WOWW.. you have to see it..

PC gaming - Yes, this is where it is at.

Motion blur - If you are sensitive to motion blur then you will see it when playing fast pace retrogames..It is to the point where it bothers me when playing NES SMB. On the Dell 32" the motion blur does not bother me and the LCD seems to be faster than the OLED or maybe is the screen size.

I think once they bring the OLED down to 32" then I can say goodbye to my CRTs..

[bobrocks95]

Sample and hold can't be a deal-breaker for everyone. Things would definitely improve if they got rid of it, but I can't really say I'm bothered by it when I switch between a plasma, a CRT, and an LCD (I have all 3). Slow pixel response times are the thing that I really notice, and OLED would fix that...

[bigbadboaz]

Sample and hold can't be a deal-breaker for everyone.

It isn't, not for everybody - but are you running interpolation on that LCD?

[bobrocks95]

Sample and hold can't be a deal-breaker for everyone.

It isn't, not for everybody - but are you running interpolation on that LCD?

Nope- it's a Sony W700B. The only interpolation available in game mode is 60Hz black frame insertion, and the flicker from it really strains my eyes.

[bigbadboaz]

Aha - I have the 800. The black frame insertion is so unbelievable for motion. But what ruins it for me is the severe cost to brightness. It's really too bad.

[Xyga]

Size definitely matters but mainly because we all sit much closer to big screens than we are meant to.
The closer the more apparent the imperfections.

60Hz sample and hold is still the only choice we have for most of our retro sources (assuming available flat panels of course), it's that or buy a gaming PC monitor and only play emulators with blur reduction settings, and PC games.

The complaints and blahblah about OLED motion since the first returns were (and still are) baseless in the sense that what happened is that a lot of people were actually seeing for the first time what a 60hz sample and hold flat panel without ghosting and PWM artifacts really looks like.
(plus with the big size impossible to miss that something's different than usual)

And it's good because it is more accurate and smooth than what they were used to, the problem is that it is a - often not fully conscious - double realization:
1. until now I wasn't seeing proper/clean 60hz sample and hold
2. man, 60hz sample and hold sucks anyway :/

OLED beats all other displays in pure raw technical performance...
- except crt's and plasmas for motion
- a handful of lcd tv's have more backlight brightness power+fald for hdr but the lackings of the lcd panels don't really make them a better choice
- and well there's burn in but apparently like with late plasmas you just have to be a bit careful and it'll be ok

If sticking to mostly retro source hardware that can't go beyond 60Hz without using a PC or laggy/artefactey blur reduction, OLED TVs are the best choice without question.
The issues with size, rotation etc are common to all displays, I have to say I would love a 32" OLED too, but those aren't in sight...

[ASDR]

I also put mine on a rotating wall mount so that it's easy to flip for tate shmups. Overall, can't recommend it enough-it's amazing.

Holy fuck, I'd love to play a round of Battle Garegga on a 65" OLED tate setup...

[Xyga]

^ best thing ever for a group of viewers also

I wonder if the wallpaper model would be more convenient for that...

[PC Engine Fan X!]

I can recall when it was rare to buy a Sharp Aquos 1080p 32" sized LCD-based HDTV back in 2007-2008 as Sharp was pretty much the only manufacturer in town making an HDTV in that particular size/format back in those days with a pricetag of $1,600+ USD. Sure, Sony made/sold 32" sized LCD-based HDTVs but they were 1080i at best during that particular point in time with a pricetag of $1,500+ USD back in 2007. Yeah, it'd sure be nice to buy such an LG or Sony 32" OLED 4K UHD TV but it's no dice these days as it's the 55" size is the smallest size to make do with these days. Samsung makes/sells such a 28" 4K LCD monitor: https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-28-U28E5 ... dpSrc=srch I know at Costco, the same listed Samsung 28" 4K monitor can be had for a mere $299.99 USD.

What was interesting about those 32" HDTVs of that era (2006-2008) is, they had lots of the old-school analog inputs (RCA composite video, S-Video, Component Video, HDMI, TOSlink input, and even DVI-A at times). Nowadays, I don't see any HDTVs or 4K UHD TVs with S-Video input whatsoever.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[Lawfer]

Your CRT is more likely to get burn-ins.

Errr no.

Burn in happens on OLED, especially if you use it as a computer monitor, fixed images (like your desktop tab) will burn-in after a while and will degrade this part of the screen unevenly compared to other parts which were less exposed to fixed images.

It does beat CRT.

Certainly not, compare the scrolling 2D games on a CRT and on an OLED, you'll see that OLED still suffer from the same distortions of the background textures when the characters moves/run, that affect other modern display technologies while on CRTs no such distortion appears.

[bobrocks95]

I wonder if future OLEDs could drop sample-and-hold and switch to being impulse-driven? As best as I can understand sample-and-hold was used to keep the liquid crystals in a charged state, presumably so pixel transitions weren't super slow- if that's what it's for, I would think OLED could ditch it?

[Xyga]

When people say oled beats crt it's kind of true now about everything but motion in performance, yes sure, though as bob says sample-and-hold is not specific to oled but is common to most available flat panel displays and has always been here, all lcd's are like that, but lots of people kinda learned about actual sample-and-hold and how it looks without ccfl, nor led pwm disrupting it...only after the first reviews and feedback of oled sets popped on the internet.
Then internet effect: the understanding became that sample-and-hold blur (specifically 60Hz since it's the main offender) is a problem of oleds specifically...

Anyway that little misunderstanding aside, basically oleds are the perfect lcd...common lcd's could never be, in particular thanks to the perfect response with perfect blacks.
Too bad about the burn in but it's not more dramatic than what happened with plasma.

Other thing fixed matrix displays don't beat crt's with is that they require scaling for lower resolutions of course, and it's rarely ever 100% satisfying.
That still hasn't changed, but like with the handling of framerates etc we're in the territory of internals hardware and software rather than panel tech itself, so it's no good to mix up things.

But if oleds acquire good whatever feature that reduces motion blur efficiently without unacceptable drawbacks, it'll be mostly the work done in that area that'll make a difference, same as with lcd's.

[Konsolkongen]

Burn in happens on OLED, especially if you use it as a computer monitor, fixed images (like your desktop tab) will burn-in after a while and will degrade this part of the screen unevenly compared to other parts which were less exposed to fixed images.

Having owned an OLED for 4 months I find that image retention occurs much less than any previous plasma I've owned. Any retention has always cleared up perfectly within minutes whereas on plasma this could take hours or even days.

Furthermore, for every 4 hours the TV has been in use it will run a compensation cycle on the panel after you turn off the power to further ensure panel uniformity.

From my experience at least, OLED is less likely to get burn in than plasma, where I never found that to be an issue either.

Vincent Teoh and David McKenzie from HDTVtest have also said that burn in on OLEDs is pretty much a non issue

[Danexmurder]

I've been playing modern consoles and retro consoles on an OLED for about a year and a half. I have the 2016 55" B6 model. The switch and PS4 Pro look absolutely amazing on it and Horizon Zero dawn in HDR is really something to behold. I play an Analogue NT through HDMI on it as well as a Super Nintendo, Sega Genesis, and PS1 through a frame meister. I haven't had any issues with burn in at all and I play a ton of Diablo 3 on it. Sample and Hold DOES take some getting used to but if you are sitting more than a couple of feet back from the TV it really isn't anything to write home about. I'm totally used to it now. Overall I really couldn't be happier with the TV. I'm hoping someday they'll be able to do black frame insertion for motion but that's about the only improvement that would be a big leap for me personally.

[Konsolkongen]

The 2018 LGs will have black frame insertion. The Sony and Panasonics already have this feature.

The sample and hold does take a bit to adjust to compared to plasma. But it’s still better than LCD because of the instant response time.

The only minor issue I have with OLED is that screen uniformity is no where near as good as plasma. Though I should add that it has improved dramatically on mine after about 300 hours. It’s still better than LCDs in general, but I didn’t expect this to be an issue with OLED.