Can someone tell me why I can stream a movie like The Dictator on Netflix and get amazing dynamics but when I stream Pacific Rim: Uprising, it sounds like it's been mastered by a kid in Grade 3?

Netflix support claims it is not limiting dynamics. But I know I am not the only one complaining. I believe they are limiting dynamics on highly popular content to save money. If they weren't, they'd come out and say so.

Mojo,
Your not alone the picture quality has gone way down. I see it on my mac and on my 65" plasma.

RJ

This is the reason why i've held off going this route for movies or audio. I don't want to pay for a product that at any point can dumb down the experience because of a lag in the net or the company doing something behind the scenes that the user isn't aware (like the recent spotify and sound quality difference with tidal).

I've held off for probably 5 years in buying an OLED tv but this year it is finally going to happen. Same reasons. Want to see a quality product for a reasonable price that has the bugs all worked out.

I've been looking at tvs and currently the OLEDs look to have the best picture.

Unfortunately, It's my understanding that they are prone to burn-in issues. If this is true there are too many times the tv gets left on with a static screen that I'd want to take that chance ... any thoughts.

They said the same thing about LCD and plasma but it was only ever true when used in mostly commercial purposes like stores or bars that always have on their store insignia, or is playing CNN or TSN almost 24/7/365 that are static with some logos. If you are a home residential gamer playing the same game 8 hours a day which has static images then perhaps some burn in is possible.
IMO, the concept is being overblown just as it was with previous tv tech. I have zero concerns.

I was worried about that since most of my TV use is with my PC. I did have burn in with the Panasonic plasma I was using prior. You could see a ghost of the taskbar along the bottom of the screen, though that wasn't very noticeable with most moving content. After several months with the new LG OLED, I'm still not seeing any signs of image retention. I did set up Windows to auto-hide the taskbar this time around, but as much as I have my web browser open with the tabs lining the top, it still feels like a candidate for burn-in. I'm cautiously optimistic the issue won't manifest, as I usually run the Pixel Refresher every couple of weeks. I was doing it at least once a week at first out of paranoia, but I'm starting to relax.

The one issue I'm having is the screen randomly shutting itself off. It seems to happen more often when it's doing certain things. Like it is happening more often when I'm playing Bejeweled 3, so I'm not sure what it is that's causing it. For a while the picture was dropping out, but the TV was still on. After some hair-pulling, I replaced my HDMI cable with an older one, and suddenly it was working again. I had the company replace the cable since I had spent over $100 for it (30-footer), but unfortunately the replacement developed the same issue over time, so again I had to revert to the BlueRigger HDMI cable I'd been using before. The only issue I'd had with that cable is it couldn't seem to handle Dolby Vision HDR. Everything else it was fine with, but I couldn't watch anything in Dolby Vision without it losing the picture. So I replaced the cable with a newer model of BlueRigger, and besides the TV turning itself off randomly at times, all issues appear resolved. I will have to contact LG Customer Service if I can't fix it on my own. Part of me is thinking it might be the Marantz receiver I'm currently using, which isn't the latest. HDMI always seems finicky, and I probably have more frustration ahead of me since standards are always changing and there are always going to be hiccups across devices.

Charles, you could be running out of cache memory. Contact LG. There may be settings you can adjust for that.

Based on what I see in the help topic on it, I don't think it's that. I don't do any streaming through TV apps, and I already had the QuickStart+ turned off.

I did end up trying the potential fix of unplugging from the wall for at least 30 seconds, then plugging back in, since I wanted to reroute the power cable, anyway, and so far today it hasn't turned off.

As far as OLED's are concerned, I will, hopefully,l put your mind at ease. In the last two model years especially, brands are placing pixel screen shift, pixel refresher and logo luminance adjustments on their models, hence, the burn-in issue is all but gone(LG manufactures the OLED panels for all brands). Of course, if one has a monitor that is on all day locked on to the same channel with countless static logos, you could still have a problem. I would also submit that if you are previously a plasma and/or CRT owner and unless you are in an environment with very bright ambient lights on all the time, aside from an OLED, you will probably not be satisfied with anything but the most expensive LCD. LCDs are getting closer in achieving proper black levels, it does, however, come at price and like plasmas, you can't beat the black levels and "off axis" viewing capabilities of a 4K OLED and it shows in the picture even comparing it to a late model large screen 8K LCD wherein the difference between the two has proven to be almost impossible to discern.

Two weeks ago, I took delivery of my "dream" monitor, a 77" LG 2020 CX OLED. A lot of money, however, when I look at a movie, with the infinite contrast and colors that jump out at you, on a screen of this size, there is almost something resembling a 3D effect in the picture. For the record, I have had little or no problem with Netflix, however, unless you have a bandwidth issue, HDR and Dolby Vision look great.

I will also say that my Netflix picture quality looks great, as long as I'm watching in the Windows 10 app, since they do limit resolution via the web, and I couldn't get 4K playback to work without audio/video sync issues on other streaming devices.

That's what I needed to know ... Thanks

Congrats on the CX 77". Unfortunately, I'm going to have a slightly lower budget .... It seems that the 65" is the sweet spot for screen size/$ at the moment. Also my understanding is that there is little picture difference between the C8, C9, and CX. It's mainly processor speed, the interface, and I believe the C9 & CX have the newer HDMI standard. So, I may go with an older model if it makes $ sense ... we will see ...still trying to figure it out ...

Yep, I don't know how many C8s are left, however, if you want to "future proof"yourself the C9 or CX would be probably be the better choice anyway. Interestingly enough, even though the CX has the Alpha 9 gen. 3 processor as opposed to Gen 2 in the C9, in most cases you will find the CX is actually a little bit cheaper than even the C9. If you look on line, some of the gamers got their "shorts in a knot" because when someone was digging deeper about the 2.1HDMI spec., apparently LG didn't disclose that they chose to slightly cut the CX 48GHz bandwidth to 40GHz which, when investigating further is "theoretically", in gaming performance, only an issue if one is dealing with 12 bit panels of which there are none and won't be for the foreseeable future. As a result, some of these gamer fanatics have bypassed the CX and gone out to buy the now previous generation C9 which has kept their price up, hence, in many cases the newer model being less costly. When I started to look around, in some cases the 77 "C9 was actually several hundred dollars more than the CX! Crazy. All, of this is a total red herring, regardless of what some of these people on the internet claim.

Anyway, other than a couple of issues, when it comes to video, movies, streaming, etc. the C9 and CX are pretty much the same in features and performance, good luck! Great televisions and superb picture.

I haven't had much luck with LG technology over the years to the point where i won't buy LG anymore. Sure they make the underlying hardware for OLED (presently) but difference in processors, mainboards and OS can be considerable. I don't expect the visuals to be night and day difference between the LG and say Sony OLEDs but the customer experience in some ways certainly is.

The most recent LG item was a tv. Owned a LG LED tv (46" i think) not long ago. Hated the remote. Hated the slow OS. The picture had evident edge blooming (not uncommon for LED and varied by model, brand but on this LG on dark scenes it really stood out). Greys weren't great and sound was mediocre. Paid reasonable money for it (it was not bottom end model but probably note the top end unit either which only had additional OS or connection features but the processor and screen was the same as the next model or two down).
Then after a mere few years the thing went downhill and is showing issues which leads me to think this thing is dying. In comparison, i bought a Sony LED 55" just over a year ago. The colours are bloody outstanding. No blooming or minor. The off angle contrast still sucks (a LED downfall), but the OS and remote were so much easier. Longevity is yet to be determined but we've had two other LCD/LED tech tvs which lasted at least 5 years. We had a horrible 1st gen LCD Phillips that lasted a reasonable long time but was glad to see when that thing finally died. It had that motion issue which i am rather acutely tuned to seeing so watching hockey games was painful. It looked to me like Fox brought back their hockey puck with trails nonsense.




In previous encounters with LG, i've dealt more with computer parts although we also had one home appliance that was LG. All of them fell short on longevity but had good specs and functionality otherwise. The occasional customer support call to LG about such things over the years has been less than stellar and basically the units ended up going to e-waste or metal scrap.

In brief, overall, i've been turned off LG as a company. I won't buy that brand anymore.
As such, to replace the aged media room tv, i'm keeping my eye out for the Sony A1E 77" clearances later this year or post holidays i think.
https://www.sony.ca/en/electronics/televisions/a1e-series

If we decide to drop down to the 65" size from 77", there's more options but so very little differences between them. We don't need the actuator and subwoofer sound function so the A8H series is probably the 65" choice.
https://www.sony.ca/en/electronics/televisions/xbr-a8h-series

I bought my 55" Sharp 4 years ago for $499 from Visions. Six months prior, one of my buddies bought an $1800 LG. When he saw and played with mine, he went to Visions and bought two. His LG was relegated to the guest room.

My FWB bought a 55" TCL with Roku from Amazon a year ago for $499. $100 more would have bought the same with more brightness but she doesn't need it. She returned her $900 LG which was slow and not as clear. She's been very happy.

On that topic of OLED burn in, came across this video which tested it for a year:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nOcLasaRCzY
Go to 8:16 for their conclusion

Not to always say price matters but from what i've both seen and read with low cost TVs, price matters. For the average Joe who thinks a TV is a TV then fine, buy a cheap unit. They won't care anymore than they would if they bought a $400 HTIB and thought it sounded as good as anything else in the world.

That being said, the price on Samsung quantum dot LEDs has dropped so much that i saw a 75" version for $1500 recently. Even their top of the line stuff is thousands cheaper than OLED and they are some damn nice looking screens. It had me very tempted but i have to be honest with myself and know that i hate the downsides to LED tech, i see it and am reminded of it every time i turn on the main floor Sony.
I'm not buying LED for the media room.

Mojo, I am unclear, is she happy with the TV or the Benefits?

Lol!!

Just recently Consumer Reports came out with their reliability assessment of televisions covering the last two model years and apparently OLEDs for all brands (LG, Sony, Panasonic) were the best and by a rather wide margin. Second, were LCDs ,but, in the higher end model ranges. Third were TCL and lower LCD model ranges with the "majors" and models from Vizio, Hisense etc. were next on the model list. Of course, these were relatively short term assessments, however, like a lot of electronics, if one is going to have problems it is more than likely going to occur within the first year and within the warranty period. When one looks at it, the OLED technology is, in reality, much simpler in nature as opposed to LCDs with their multiple layers and back lighting.

Funny you mention your issues with LG. I guess everyone has had them, yet, in my case,this OLED is my third LG in the last 6 years, the previous being LCD's, very reliable and good color and still working very well. My 2018 LCD LG "Nanocell" great picture and color but, you are right about the blooming, essentially caused by not having enough dimming zones, something that this new Mini/micro LED technology that is forthcoming is suppose to solve.

In any case, whether it be LG,Sony,or Samsung, in the case of their LCD models, it is rather interesting to note that in the last couple of model years, they are ALL cutting back on their dimming zones, even in their higher end lines making one wonder what is the future of that current technology.

Truth is, as I get older, the TV and the walnut M5s offer more satisfaction than me.

Well guess I may have some fun to look forward to ... recently bought an LG washer and dryer.

The trade offs are giving me brain trauma !

Which will bring me more joy?

- best picture but smaller or
- great picture and bigger or
- really good picture, bigger and less expensive (i.e. have $$ for something else)

Well, ultimately, it is going to be your budget(and its flexibility) that determines your final choice. Since I have been absent from the Axiom forum for awhile, I am not aware of how if any, the television you are talking about is a stand alone deal or integrated into a home theater system, in which case, I suppose, the bigger the better and what you are using it for and then start from there. Of course, as you have seen just from this small sample, everyone has had different experiences with different televisions from different manufacturers so, ultimately, you can only take that advice so far.

If you have yet to start looking around and you want to point yourself in the right direction and not spend your time wandering around retailers looking at blown out, unrealistic pictures, I found YouTube has three pretty good independent minded sites for assessing the different models in various price ranges from many of the manufacturers. Clearly, there is something to be said, even with televisions, you ultimately "get what you pay for". Then again, in the LCD category, much of the newer technologies have come out of what have been perceived the "budget" companies, Hisense and TCL who are making a pretty good run at the big guys with great value. The question with them is still, reliability and availability. Vizio has been kind of left behind in all of this in terms of pricing and availability as well, yet, even Vizio has introduced an OLED in their product line.

RTings.com
HDTVTest and Digital Trends.

RTings and HDTV test are somewhat more detailed and technical in nature
with longer programming, however, they give the potential buyer some good information on the strength and weaknesses of the sets they are assessing.

Anyway, good luck and above all, have fun.

Thanks Casey,
I’m just ranting about my own indecisiveness. Although I do appreciate advise too ... I have already checked out the 3 sites you mentioned. This has led me to all this waffling back and forth. Really just using the forum to get my thinking out. Writing stuff down sometimes helps with decisions...

I’m more into audio then video but also don’t want to be upset with myself for not buying a better TV. It’s coming down to one of two thoughts
- buy a less expensive 75” for the family room and have a big screen HT right away
- get the 65” OLED for the family room and next year move it to the bed room and replace it with a 75” OLED when they come down in price

I have a larger home theater in the basement which may or may not be finished in a year. The family room is really the every day TV/HT/Gaming space.

It sounds alot like you've been going down the same mental path that i have for a few years now.
Price vs. size vs. quality (mixed with tech type - LED vs. OLED) vs. room location (daily uses differ)

I was forced into buying a LED for the main floor because our bedroom tv died (see earlier story on that). I had no choice but to move the LG we had on the main floor to the bedrom and buy something new for the main floor. Going with same size wasn't considered because it is a BIG wall and really a 65" would be a more suitable size. I couldn't do larger unless i also swapped out the media stand for something else that wasn't as tall which is too much of a snowball effect. So we opted for a high quality but LED picture; the Sony LED 65" X900E. To offset the major LED downside of crappy off angle contrast, i mounted it with a full swivel extension arm so at least if i was in the dining area or even off to the far side in the kitchen, i can pull it out and swivel it to see the picture with far less off angle. However, i still lament having people sit from the far left to the far right of the room knowing the contrast dies off in an area where the tv gets far most use (tv, gaming primarily).

Now originally the plan was to wait until OLED came out, replace the media room tv, and then as the bedroom tv failed (or main floor tv failed), move the media room tv upstairs and then finally get the crown jewel tv for the media room. That would have bought us some time to allow for large screen OLED prices to drop. Obviously that plan could not come to fruition in that order so the first OLED will be the crown jewel tv in the media room. As such, i've also been waffling between the 65 and 77" OLEDs ONLY because of price. If i knew i could get 18 years out of this tv just like we have our trusty old Toshiba RPTV, well then $8000 over 18 years is more rational. But if we have any issues with it like we had our previous Phillips and LG tvs which died after 5-7 years, then damn. That's alot of dough to drop for 5 years of use.

Ultimately if you have the cash/income and feel comfortable with your future finances, buy the larger screen.
Life can be short. If people haven't figured that out by now (cliché)...maybe covid will help some to put it into perspective much earlier in life. Enjoy life while you can (cliché).

All that life philosophy aside, you can wait forever if you keep waiting for ...the next tech...for prices to drop....for.....[insert next and unending reason here that caused me to wait 5 years and i'm still not happy with some factor which at this point is price]

Agreed.

Still, having been raised by a depression age baby It took the first half of my life to let go of the buy only value philosophy and come to the conclusion that sometimes it's best to pay more and enjoy it then shop forever and not. Unfortunately, it's also made me a bit of a schizoid on making these kinds of decisions. There are a lot of funny stories here ... mostly at my mothers expense and sometimes at my own.

My biggest block is analysis paralysis. A common occurrence for scientists trying to make a decision.
One plus about increasing age is you care far less so the paralysis relaxes because you just don't give a....kind of like when you were young before you got any education and a modicum of wisdom.

There is an old adage in the sales business, "people buy what they want, not what they need" and when I started to grow older and, on occasion, torn about whether or not I should spend money on something I really wanted, someone gave me some very practical advice:

"There is no connecting a U-Haul to the hearse".

hmmm ... There are some pretty good aftermarket hitches ...

Here for a good time, not a long time.