PSA: Don't Buy A 4K TV Without This Important Feature

4K TVs have dramatically come down in price recently, and with the holidays approaching, you may be thinking about picking one up. But before you buy, here's an important PSA for you: Don't buy a 4K TV without HDR.

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[ChimerFox]

"With the holidays approaching." Damn son, you're like, 10 months early.

[allansh]

Instead of get a TV that "supports HDR", you should get one that "is capable of HDR".

[Ionic]

If you ever buy a new TV, Always get an extended warranty. TVs are an extreme pain to replace when they die.

[Mephisto]

This video was just an advertisement for TCL

[LyRaLex]

I like how you guys don't mention the major downsides. Seems like a commercial than anything else. Like for instance the borderline criminal life expectancy of OLED panels where the blue diodes can die within a year. Which will result in many unacceptable issues like that the screen will get dimmer and less colour accurate. And then there is permanent, non-fixeable screen burn in. Image retention is permanent with OLEDs most of the time.

[crscrs]

OLED for gaming? Image retention is a major issue so you're not giving the best advice here. TCL is a sensible choice if you don't want to pay double for a xe900e or this year's xf. Also, HDR needs a good display with high luminosity otherwise you won't get much benefit. Read around before you buy otherwise you won't be happy. Manufacturers sell low quality displays for a lot of money, with only a few of the even more expensive models delivering decent HDR and gaming experience. I'm curious about Nvidia's big screens this year but the prices should be sky high and I'm not sure about how well they'll perform compared to Sony's offering in the same price range. Also, don't forget that there is an HDR format war going on between HDR10+ and Dolby Vision and manufacturers supporting one side don't offer the other option on their TV's. Remember HD-DVD vs BLU-RAY? It'a a gamble that may lose you money, being stuck with an obsolete format is not fun. Speaking of obsolete, no matter what format you choose just make sure you don't get something that only supports HDR10 (no plus), instead get something that supports dynamic metadata so you'll have at least half a chance of ending up with a tv you can enjoy for years. In my opinion TV's are not a wise investment because manufacturers charge high prices for half baked technologies with absolutely no shame. No TV out today justifies the asking price which makes Gamespot's OLED recommendation a bit irresponsible as gaming on such a display will lead to a serious burn in issue in a hurry.

[welfiblablabla]

No one should buy a tv that doesn't support hdr in 2018!
I'd guess only really cheap tv's in 2018 won't support. But if you go to buy now, it would really be usefull to make sure hdr10+ and dolby vision are supported for futur proofing :)

[kostasKazama]

I remember when 1080p was epic. Im still there and planing to stay there for the next 10 years. I just bought a new TV. So yeah... thanks !

[nathanielrasey]

wow, these HDR images look my non HDR laptop. I can see all these vibrant colors fine on a normal screen. people just seem to turn the contrast setting down till it is almost black and white so HDR looks better by comparison.

[DragonMatt]

Do your research. I bought a 4K LG tv last year with “HDR Pro”. Turns out that means more colors but doesn’t actually support HDR content. Hooked up a PS4 Pro and it said HDR was not supported on this display.

[PvtDonutDJ]

But you also need to look for how much input lag there is too, if your a gamer.

[OldManYellsAtSpurs]

LOL. There's no such thing as future proofing a tv. If you want a decent tv you have to make sure you buy a tv that outputs HDR. Any old 4k tv can accept a HDR signal but if it aint bright enough, it will be worthless running games with HDR. So no - having '4k and HDR' on a tvs specs doesn't mean it will give you good solid HDR.

[mikesmith]

My Samsung series 7 TV supports HDR 10 plus and also has a psuedo HDR setting to simulate HDR on standard broadcasts. Both look absolutely crap compared to non HDR content. The picture is darker and colours look washed out and the contrast looks shite, especially when watching The Grand Tour from Amazon Prime. I have to go back to watching it in 1080p just to get a decent picture again. Many people on the web complain about the same thing so at the moment they can stuff HDR until they perfect it and it really does look better than standard broadcasts.

[captainonomatopoeia]

I don't really see the reason to buy 4K. I its great and all to have 4K resolution.... but if the game runs like ass with glitches, locked frame rates, etc problems that still persist with 1080p. Why not push to have these improved before going for resolution?

[mr.ihabissa]

Well to me I am playing non fps game on my 55 inch sony X930e linked to a 1080ti- with great local dimming and HDR peak brightness. And I say yes there is a tangible difference. HDR is screen dependable, lot of TVs ( lown to medium end ) that supports a 10bit color depth HDR signal and they market they support HDR 10 and dolby vision, but they do not meet HDR 10 specs for example ( true 10 bit panels, 1000 nits of brightness, 0.05 level of blacks, good wide color gamut, poor local dimming mechanism ) The HDR expereince will be mediocre and the viewing person will consider HDR is not worth it.

[Deltax]

I wouldn't bother getting a new tv until hdmi 2.1 comes out or when next gen systems comes out. So you have a tv that will last you longer and will match the specs of your console. If you get a tv for future proffing now you may miss some sort of future that is beneficial. Unless you really want to play the upgraded systems in 4k hdr which isn't a big selection of games then go for it but I wouldn't reccemend it unless your really rich and don't expect to have it for future proof perpases. That TCL tv is very cheep thou and has a very good response time. I don't have it so do your research.

[Xiox]

HDR is definitely worth it. I've played some games where I checked the difference between HDR and non HDR, and the difference is pretty much night and day in nearly every case. I can't imagine playing some of those games without it.

[danieldougan]

I'm waiting at least until they start coming out with ATSC 3.0 tuners (assuming my current 720p set lasts that long).

[johnwicksfoknpencil]

This reminds me of when I bought my Panasonic Vierra. Best plasma tv ever made and still has great 1080p picture even 9 years later. Happy with that investment, still use it in the den sometimes.

[redcrimson]

Duh!!! I already knew this. I still have my first launch 4k vizio m series tv and while I do see the difference with hdr my tv still looks great and is holding up well. I'll be upgrading to a TCL in the coming weeks