The thing is, all those features are locked behind units that cost several thousand dollars. So, they’re never going to see large volumes of sales or widespread adoption until they trickle into the sub-$1k and sub-$300 price points.
QD-OLED just came into the market in the past couple years and is definitely worth some hype for someone like me that was hanging onto an old plasma, but in general TV’s have been excellent for ages, if you already have an OLED or higher end TV with HDR you probably don’t need to upgrade for a long time.
For gaming probably HDMI 2.1 for higher frame rates, VRR, and/or 40fps with ray tracing and whatnot.
But in general…not really. I just got a new tv for these features plus it having a brighter oled panel than my last one. But at this point I imagine I’ll have this tv for years and years.
But as an answer for if there were any “killer features” in TVs for the last few years, better inputs and panel refresh rates are about the best new things outside of brighter OLEDs.
I was playing devil’s advocate to that, implying they are not killer features. TV gaming is generally consoles, which are all 60fps in 99% of cases anyway.
TVs with actual new panels or features are far too expensive for people to consider, when their current ones already do the job.
If you’ve got disposable income and use the latest tech devices as a status symbol, absolutely.
If you’re going the projector route, I’d say definitely. New laser projectors and screen tech is waaaaaay beyond what it used to be.
If you’re a gamer (or using a TV as a PC monitor) I’d say yes, the tech here has advanced quite a bit, and 4K gaming looks really good if your hardware can support it.
If you’ve got a home theater setup, and are a movie buff, I’d say maybe, depending on how big of screen you want, how much money you want to spend, and how satisfied you are with your current gear. For me I don’t think the latest tech improvements justify the thousands of dollars of new gear I’d have to re-buy just to get 4K/HDR and ATMOS support when most of the movies I watch don’t even have good 5.1 tracks and are still on 480i or 1080p based media because they’re so old.
If you’re a casual viewer of movies, streaming content, and TV shows, absolutely not. Any LED 1080p capable TV that isn’t trash tier is fine.
Has there really been a killer must-have feature from TVs in the last couple of years? If yours is still working is there a need to buy another?
OLED, highly-localized dimming, and HDR10
The thing is, all those features are locked behind units that cost several thousand dollars. So, they’re never going to see large volumes of sales or widespread adoption until they trickle into the sub-$1k and sub-$300 price points.
QD-OLED just came into the market in the past couple years and is definitely worth some hype for someone like me that was hanging onto an old plasma, but in general TV’s have been excellent for ages, if you already have an OLED or higher end TV with HDR you probably don’t need to upgrade for a long time.
For gaming probably HDMI 2.1 for higher frame rates, VRR, and/or 40fps with ray tracing and whatnot.
But in general…not really. I just got a new tv for these features plus it having a brighter oled panel than my last one. But at this point I imagine I’ll have this tv for years and years.
For gaming you are better off with a proper monitor.
Not if I want to play on a giant screen in my living room on my couch with proper, nice surround sound.
And most TVs will work just fine for that.
I wasn’t arguing most TVs weren’t ok for that.
But as an answer for if there were any “killer features” in TVs for the last few years, better inputs and panel refresh rates are about the best new things outside of brighter OLEDs.
I was playing devil’s advocate to that, implying they are not killer features. TV gaming is generally consoles, which are all 60fps in 99% of cases anyway.
TVs with actual new panels or features are far too expensive for people to consider, when their current ones already do the job.
If you’ve got disposable income and use the latest tech devices as a status symbol, absolutely.
If you’re going the projector route, I’d say definitely. New laser projectors and screen tech is waaaaaay beyond what it used to be.
If you’re a gamer (or using a TV as a PC monitor) I’d say yes, the tech here has advanced quite a bit, and 4K gaming looks really good if your hardware can support it.
If you’ve got a home theater setup, and are a movie buff, I’d say maybe, depending on how big of screen you want, how much money you want to spend, and how satisfied you are with your current gear. For me I don’t think the latest tech improvements justify the thousands of dollars of new gear I’d have to re-buy just to get 4K/HDR and ATMOS support when most of the movies I watch don’t even have good 5.1 tracks and are still on 480i or 1080p based media because they’re so old.
If you’re a casual viewer of movies, streaming content, and TV shows, absolutely not. Any LED 1080p capable TV that isn’t trash tier is fine.