Low versus high ticket: a tale of two TVs
How does a $549 budget set stack up against the latest tech costing $9000? Pat Pilcher finds out.
With piles of information produced on the latest gadgets and gizmos, you’d think that finding details about televisions should be easy.
While the latest high-end TVs are groaning under the weight of countless reviews, those at the other end of the spectrum tend to be neglected. I decided to remedy this by reviewing a premium TV – LG’s latest OLED TV – and a budget model, Dick Smith’s 42-inch LCD TV. One costs just under $9000 while the other is just $549.
DSE HD TV
It costs about 16 times less than LGs OLED TV, but is this set significantly inferior? It may affordable, but its sticker price doesn’t equate to a lack of features or compromises to picture quality.
Design
The DSE TV has a standard flat LCD panel whose feet screw into place and its 10mm bezel is on par with that of most flat panel TVs and doesn’t distract. Inputs are usually the first thing that gets cut on budget TVs. Not so with the DSE. In addition to the obvious antenna socket, there are three HDMI inputs, a USB socket and audio ports. The DSE TV isn’t a smart TV so there’s no internet port. That can easily be remedied using a streaming device such as Chromecast or Apple TV. There’s a Freeview tuner built in and adding a USB hard drive gives the DSE TV PVR-like capabilities so shows can be recorded.
In use
The picture was a pleasant surprise. Cheap back-lit LED TVs usually deliver poor and uneven contrast levels which see blacks become dark grey while whites assume a dreary light-grey pallor. Poor calibration is another common issue with budget TVs. This can result in garish colours and poor skin tones. Cut-price video processing hardware also makes motion judder noticeable in sports or action movies.
It turns out that DSE did a reasonable job in the video department. Contrast levels were passable. Blacks might not have been deep but they were plenty dark, and brightness levels were also good. Colours were also reasonably accurate.
That said, its picture wasn’t perfect – rapidly moving on-screen objects did display some motion judder, but it wasn’t a big distraction. Better still, the DSE TV’s intuitive user interface had plenty of settings so tweaking the picture was a much less fraught undertaking.
While the supplied remote wasn’t anything flash, it was solid and simple. Navigating menus was easy using its D-Pad control. Used in combination with the TV’s user interface, it proved intuitive.
About the only real issue was the audio delivered by the TV. It was lacking bass. This was probably to do with a lack of available space for a woofer. It’s a common issue with many TVs regardless of their price and is easily remedied using a soundbar.
Verdict
The DSE TV proves you needn’t pay a lot for a good TV. While LG’s OLED TV delivers noticeably better video and has more fancy features, it also costs 16 times the price. The DSE TV delivers surprisingly good performance and its $549 tag makes it ideal for those on a budget.
LG 65C7 OLED TV
If the budget model impressed with the sheer bang for buck value, the top-end blew my socks off. LG’s 65C7 uses organic LED (OLED) technologies. This allows it to handily sidestep some of the limitations of LCD and gives it some unique advantages.
Depending on where you buy it, the 65C7 costs just under $9000. The question is: does it deliver $9000 worth of viewing?
Design
Unboxing the 65-inch LG was a huge undertaking. Get two people involved as the 65C7 is just too big for one person to handle alone.
The most striking thing about the 65C7 is just how thin it is. Because OLED displays don’t need backlighting, they can shed a significant amount of the bulk. This translated into a screen that was just 5mm thick.
At the base of the rear is a small bump that houses a built-in Freeview tuner plus 4 HDMI Ports, 3 USB sockets, an antenna input, plus internet and audio ports. It uses a solid metal base stand that clips and screws into its rear for freestanding use.
Setting up a smart TV can an intimidating process but LG has developed ‘‘bean bird’’, a cartoon avatar that guides users through the setup process. This gets helped along by the webOS operating system which manages to be useable and intuitive.
The remote uses gyroscopes and accelerometers to track wrist movements to move an onscreen pointer. In use, this greatly simplifies common TV tasks and makes the 65C7 one of the more intuitive TVs I’ve used.
The 65C7 supports Netflix, Lightbox, YouTube, Amazon and a bunch of other streaming services. In addition, there’s a good selection of smart TV apps. Like the DSE TV, the 65C7 can also record (or play) content to and from a USB storage device.
In use
The video delivered by the OLED display is astonishing. Black onscreen areas are created simply by switching OLED pixels off. This translates into contrast levels that are near impossible for even the best LCD TVs to achieve. Add to this support for HDR (high dynamic range) and even more detail becomes visible, especially in onscreen shadows.
The 65C7’s screen also doesn’t suffer from the motion judder effect that plagues LCD TVs, so UHD or upscaled HD content takes on a distinctly cinematic feel.
Verdict
The 65C7 is one hell of a TV and you get a lot for your money. A well-executed design translates into great usability and the OLED display technology really delivers on video. If budget is no problem, this is the TV you want.
It turns out that DSE did a reasonable job in the video department.