What They Say
Vincent Teoh of HDTVTest had a shootout among five TVs to decide on ‘the best TV in 2021’. He was one judge and two other professional calibrators joined him in the venture. The sets are:
- LG G1 (OLED)
- Panasonic JZ2000 (OLED)
- Philips 936 (OLED)
- Samsung QN95A (LCD)
- Sony A90J (OLED)
There were a number of different tests and in the video he gives the top results for each area.
- Black level and shadow detail – the winner was the Panasonic JZ2000 then Sony A90J, just behind
- Colour accuracy (compared to a Sony X300 used as a reference monitor) – best Panasonic JZ2000 and the Sony A90J which were tied. The LG was good but was let down by tone mapping in filmmaker mode
- HDR – Panasonic JZ2000 then Samsung QN95A (tested on 1,000 and 4,000 cd/m² mastered content)
- Motion performance – Sony A90J first and Philips 936/Samsung QN95A were joint second
- Video Processing – Sony A90J and then Samsung QN95A
- Screen uniformity – dark and light were measured separately – LG G1 and Sony A90J were joint top – Panasonic JZ2000 & Philips 936 were second (but close)
- Bright room performance – Output level, anti-glare and luminance were tested – Samsung’s QN95A was clear winner and second was LG’s G1
- Gaming – side by side testing was not possible as HDMI 2.1 splitters were not available.. Lag, image quality and features were rated. The LG G1 was the best gaming TV followed by the Samsung QN95A.
Overall, there were three awards given based on subsets of the marking scheme, The first was for ‘best home cinema TV’ and that went to the Panasonic JZ2000 with the Sony A90J second. The best ‘living room TV’ which included the bright room performance went to the Sony A90J ahead of the Samsung QN95A. The overall ‘best TV’ award went to the Sony A90J ahead of the Panasonic JZ2000.
What We Think
I can’t say that any of the results were surprising. Sony and Panasonic have had better video processing know-how and technology for a long time and although LG and Samsung are catching up, they are staying ahead. As Ken wrote when he attended the US equivalent of this event, the Sony is a good set – it won in the US as well. (The Value Electronics TV Shootout Returns)
If Samsung has its way, of course, next year’s winner might well be a QD-OLED. (BR)
