Topic: Finding the right TV for Xbox Series X

Thanks @ThanosReXXX and @BlueOcean 😁 @MaccaMUFC I spoke with Currys and they confirmed their care & and repair plan covers burn-in. They're also offering an LG SL9YG sound bar for 1/2 price with the C9.

@ThanosReXXX @BlueOcean @Nexozi

Thanks for the info about the C9 and the YouTube videos about it’s features. I’m 100% committed to going with the C9 now, it’s reassuring that it has measures in place to prevent burn-in like the screen dimming when not in use after a minute and I’ll be making sure to turn the brightness right down when watching channels with logos on the top corner of the screen but don’t know if games with static HUDs will be a problem?

Like Nexozi I’ll most likely be getting mine from Curry’s too and will inquire about the extended warranty if it covers burn-in. I’ve got home content insurance too which covers accidental damage.

The wife took some persuading seeing as she wanted at least a 65” and saw a 75” for a grand but had to explain that those TVs are not top of the range and don’t compare to the C9’s picture quality. I’m just having to explain how we need to look after it and not to pause Corrie for hours while on the phone.

@Nexozi @MaccaMUFC You're both welcome. If I'm not mistaken, there's options built-in to the latest version of the C9, to prevent and/or minimize burn-in, and of course, there's some settings you could alter. @BlueOcean could probably tell you more about that.

Here's some more info on the topic:
https://www.avforums.com/threads/screen-burn-on-lg-c9.2275544/
(on a side note: AV Forums is a good place for audio or video device related questions in general, because there's also a lot of members that are professional testers and technicians on there)

I’ve changed my mind yet again. I realise this is getting ridiculous and wouldn’t blame anyone being fed up with me going back and forth because I’m fed up myself.

So I did some thinking about what content I’d be using the TV for and how often it’ll be used during the day and night and I honestly think the C9 wouldn’t be the best idea. I’ll be using the TV primarily for gaming and watching sports, other times it’ll be for general tv viewing like soaps for the missus and Netflix now and again. I’ll be using it mostly in a bright room during the day and a few hours during the night.

The Q75T is off the table, it’s the Q90R I’m going for now, it’s Samsung’s flagship QLED from last year but doing some research it’s still regarded as one of, if not the best LED LCD TV on the market and even better than most of the 2020 QLEDs. Even though it officially doesn’t have a recognised HDMI 2.1 port, it is capable of doing 4K @120fps and has VRR and FreeSync. The Q90R is also comparable to the C9 which is saying something. I don’t watch a lot of movies and I think that’s where the C9 excels at most and it’s best viewed in a dark room but like I said I’ll only be taking advantage of that for just a few hours a night.

I was looking forward to playing games like Everspace, Elite Dangerous and Batman Arkham Knight on the C9 to see what a difference the black levels will be like.

I appreciate that some of you guys provided info on the C9 and I was very much leaning towards it but when I’ll be using the TV mostly in a bright room during the day and that I watch a lot of sports, I know it’s better to have the Q90R for its brightness and having no risk of burn-in is one less thing to worry about.

@MaccaMUFC Well, ultimately, it's your choice and it's your money, so if you want to buy a Samsung screen that's up to you. That last video I posted, though, should have taken away any worries about burn-in on the C9, and for gaming there simply is no better TV than the C9. Multiple tests have shown and proven this. You've confused the better blacks it has to be better for movies, but it's actually for gaming.

I have a feeling that you've been focusing too much on the brightness thing, which is only a minor aspect, and perhaps you've also been led too much by that video of "unknown YouTuber #1,398.459" in comment #8, which might have made you kind of blind towards the far greater benefits that LG screens offer vs Samsung screens, ESPECIALLY for gaming, such as reaction time, the aforementioned better blacks AND better viewing angles (which also completely nullifies the "better for daylight" idea).

Oh, well. As I said: it's ultimately up to you, and you have to pay for it and use it, but I know what my choice would have been...

@MaccaMUFC No problem, it's up to you what TV you get but I just want to confirm that "if the wife pauses Corrie", the panel turns off automatically and she'll see a fireworks screensaver and if you play a game or watch channels with static logos or HUDs they are dimmed automatically.

@Nexozi That's great.

@ThanosReXXX @BlueOcean I know the C9 would be the best option for gaming and that’s exactly why I’d consider it for gaming alone but the fact I’ll be viewing it in a bright room most of the time and that I’ll be watching sports a lot which will have bright static logos on the screen for hours as well as games with HUDs, even when dimmed automatically you’d still pick the C9?

Believe me when I say I want the C9 over any other tv (I want the best tv for gaming first and foremost) but given my situation with bright room viewing and many daily hours of general tv and sport channels, on top of gaming, I just worry that I’m going to wear the tv out quickly and constantly checking for burn-in, especially after watching sport programmes over the weekends. The C9 is only a year old, isn’t it possible that problems could start arising in another year or two? I’d be happy if it lasted at least a few years. It just the sport channels and the many hours the tv would be used each day that’s holding me back from the C9 atm.

@MaccaMUFC I had my doubts too but after reading the forums I made my decision. The C9 is a recent TV but most C7 (2017) owners are still happy. I don't know how long my C9 (2019) is going to last (ask me in five years and I'll tell you if it still works fine) but the picture is the best I've seen and its power consumption is more efficient because it's OLED. HDMI 2.1 was a big reason for me as a gamer but the overall quality is better than I expected and that includes not just black but all colours, contrast, HDR, etc. I re-played all the main Resident Evil games on it and it was incredible seeing those games in a new light, literally. I would never change that for a LED/QLED TV, no matter what Samsung says.

@BlueOcean @BAMozzy I think I need to be asking someone who owns a C9 and watches the same amount of content, mainly gaming and sport channels, with many daily hours of usage. Channels like ITV, BBC and stuff wouldn’t bother me as we don’t watch morning news programmes like GMB, it’s usually soaps, the chase etc. But one thing I never mentioned is that subtitles is always on with everything we watch. It isn’t bad on Netflix as it’s just white text with no borders but on channels like BBC, ITV there’s black borders.

What if I turned the brightness right down when watching Sky Sports and other content that will have static logos? I suppose that could reduce the wear and when I’m gaming it’ll be automatically switched to Game Mode and all settings will be restored. Like Nexozi said Curry’s care and repair plan covers burn-in (not sure about faded pixels?) so say I start experiencing problems a year or 2 down the line I’ll have the option to get it fixed or even replaced.

@MaccaMUFC Black borders shouldn't worry you at all because on that area the OLED pixels are off. I didn't get the retailer's guarantee, I was confident about my purchase after reading comments from owners of older models like C8 and C7 (on avforums). The C9 is probably the best value so I wouldn't rule it off because of hypothetical issues, especially if you are getting additional guarantee.

I watch TV and play games on my C9, both activities show static logos/HUDs but the TV dims those areas automatically (you can choose between two levels). Settings are saved for each port and mode (SDR and HDR) automatically, you can copy settings too. If you watch TV you can use something like automatic or AI brightness or just turn brightness down. You don't need brightness higher than 50 on this TV (47 is the sweet spot for me). These are the settings I selected for gaming:

Picture (Game user):
OLED Light: 70-100 (100 for more vivid image)
Contrast: 85
Brightness: 50
HDR Brightness: 47 (Because if you select 50 black becomes dark grey in HDR, this was a huge discovery!)
Sharpness: 10
Colour: 55
Tint: 0

Expert controls:
Dynamic contrast: off
Super resolution: off
Colour gamut: auto
Gamma: 2.2
White balance:
Colour temperature: medium
Method: 2 points
Point: high
Red: 0
Green: 0
Blue: 0

Colour management system:
Colour: red
Saturation: 0
Tint: 0
Luminance: 0
Peak brightness: off

Picture options:
Noise reduction: off
MPEG noise reduction: off
Smooth gradation: off
Black level: low for SDR; high for HDR (another important finding!)
Real cinema: off
Motion eye care: off
TruMotion: off
Energy saving: off

Additional settings:
Eye comfort mode: off
HDMI Ultra HD Colour: on
Instant game response: on

@BlueOcean Thanks I’ll be sure to check those settings out if I do get the C9. I’m surprised you set your black level at high for HDR, on my Samsung if it’s on high the blacks look grey but set on low the blacks look much better and darker. I know with Colour Temperature you got to sometimes mess around with it so you don’t get a blue tint on the cool setting and or a sepia-like filter look on the higher settings. And dynamic contrast set to off? Interesting...

When playing different games do you not find you have to mess around with the brightness (both normal and HDR) in the game’s options or do you just leave it at the default settings?

@MaccaMUFC Interesting questions. Regarding HDR, I found out that Black Level Low for SDR and High for HDR is optimal. Keep reading for more about that.

When playing different games do you not find you have to mess around with the brightness (both normal and HDR) in the game’s options or do you just leave it at the default settings?

No, I don't mess with brightness, I use 50 for watching TV and SDR games and 47 for HDR games. The good thing is that settings are automatically saved and loaded so if you launch an HDR game the TV will adjust settings automatically and that applies to SDR games on the same console as well (very useful for Black Level). Lately, I found out that 47 is good for SDR too so I might leave brightness at 47 on all modes. My biggest discovery was that 50 is too bright for HDR games because blacks become grey (with Black Level: High). Regarding in-game HDR setting, in other words, setting HDR brightness in games, I usually go for the widest range available (or brightest setting) because the TV isn't bright enough to wash colours out and OLED technology won't allow contrast to be worse because of bright areas but some games have weird HDR settings. Fortunately, they have a test image with a logo or something so you can choose what you think it's best. With these settings, I enjoy an impressive HDR and perfect black and contrast. Colours look vivid but not artificial like on a QLED Samsung TV. Some people prefer paler (or warmer or colder) colours but I chose to keep colours balanced and nice. I hope that this helps.

@MaccaMUFC Well, @BAMozzy makes some fair points. It all depends on what you watch, and as @BlueOcean mentioned, it also depends on the settings you've applied. Besides the obvious static logos, so-called burn-in issues have been all over the place, meaning they're often different for everyone, but they all put them on one heap as in "yup, I have burn-in".

And while it's true that the C9 is barely 2 years old, so no real issues are known yet, we can look at the previous models in the same line, so the B8 and the C8, and these are also still doing VERY well.

Normally, I'd say go to a brick and mortar store and see how these screens operate in well-lit environments, but seeing as many stores will probably not be open under the current circumstances, if any, that's going to prove a bit difficult, I suppose. Unless of course you're not in a hurry to buy that new TV, in which case I would definitely wait a bit until I could see and compare things with my own eyes.

We can all give you tips or advice, or show you videos, but ultimately, you need to see it for yourself.

On a side note: I wouldn't be too surprised about the difference in settings. Different brands of TVs don't always necessarily yield the same results when using the same or similar settings, so where on your TV you would have dynamic contrast on, it would be better to leave it switched off on other screens, and so on.

@MaccaMUFC asking someone with a C9 isn't likely to tell you anything - they really won't have accumulated enough hours of usage to have any detectable wear on slides. On the 2017 LG's, It took over 5000hrs to detect very faint fading of the Red on a Magenta slide - highly unlikely you would notice in general content unless you had a Magenta slide - even on the red, it was barely noticeable - could just be a fraction darker. 5000hrs would require a TV to have been on for 14hrs a day, every day for a whole year and then that still may not be enough unless the channel they watched may have had the sports score box in Red more often than the channel they used for this test - and assuming LG haven't improved the life span of Red too.

I know that's not helpful but its not like LG are particularly forthcoming about the amount of fading and of course the person you ask may not watch TV as bright as you do or the same higher risk content for the same number of hours a week as you. The only way someone will have the same experience will be if the watch the exact same content for the exact same amount of time at the same brightness as you and any variation could make a big difference over several years Just browsing Netflix for 1hr less a week will make a difference - that's 52hrs less wear a year and if its not as bright too, that will mean a lot less wear over the course of year too...

I think it makes more sense to understand what is a 'high' wear element on screen - a single colour (R, B, G) or maybe a 2 colour (C, M, Y) that is 'static' and how often you display that element. Can you reduce or even eliminate it? How many hours is your TV on a year? Maybe you don't want to reduce it but will a warranty cover it and is it worth looking around to see if you can find a warranty that will - even if you have to go elsewhere for that - is it worth the extra cost? If having an extended shop warranty is a lot, but doesn't cover it, is it even worth paying for or are you better off putting that money aside in case an issue does occur in ~3yrs. Is it worth going to a 65" now with that extra cost when you can save that money and see what is around in a few years time...

What is best for you, Can you, if necessary make changes to minimise risk? What cover can you get to protect you in the even of an issue IF it occurs and is it better to perhaps buy a 55" for now and get you own experience over time - maybe replace it in a few years - move that to the bedroom to replace the KS and upgrade again?

I really don't think there is a better TV on the market especially for next gen gaming - the issue is the long term and what that 'long' term means to you? Is 5yrs what you want/expect - then what can you do to minimise the risk to get to 5yrs OR do you need to make sure that you are fully covered in the event of uneven wear? Is 3yrs Long enough? Even if it gets to 3yrs relatively unscathed, your bedroom viewing habits - if you move it to there could see it through another 3yrs+ so what is the 'long' term for you and what can you do to help it reach that if you buy it and will you be properly covered if something does occur. If Curry's will replace the panel if it suffers from issues, then it almost negates that negative but you need to make sure its not just a 2yr plan or something in the small print.

Everyone will have a different experience and timescale so its really down to you to understand what are high risk elements and reduce/eliminate them and/or make sure you have appropriate cover for the lifespan of your ownership. Of course then you have to decide if its still the right TV for you and the family with the other considerations....

This thread was very useful, thanks to all who contributed! Got a great deal on a couple of C9's one new one manufacturer refurb. New game room is going to be awesome!

Thanks again for the info!

Got to thank everyone for all the input in this thread. I still haven't gotten the new TV. Still trying to finalise the layout of my office / gaming room. I'm def going for an OLED, as the Q90T has major issues in game mode. The LG CX 48" would be the easiest for the layout in the room. But a 55" would really separate the room and dominate the gaming space. LG C something is what I'm def going for. The larger C9 is cheaper than the CX 48". But the 48" CX is more likely to get freesync LFC than the C9 is. After the assassin's creed demo they made LFC is quite important. They decided to go for the ultimate settings instead of frame rate. Though we can't expect all games to do that.

@redd214 @Nexozi Your both no doubt going for probably the best TV currently on the market especially for gaming but unfortunately I’m not brave enough to go for an OLED as it will be the main TV in the living room that the whole family will be using. If I were to get a TV for just myself then I’d get the C9 no question.

Right now though I’m looking at getting the Q90R, I’m happy with it only having one HDMI port that supports 4K/120Hz as I’m only looking to use it solely for the Series X, it has VRR free-sync and Direct Full Array with local dimming, although it’s blacks won’t match an OLED it’s not far off and won’t find any other LED TV with better blacks. Either way the Q90R is still going to be a considerable upgrade from my KS8000.

@MaccaMUFC glad you found one that works for you