OLED TV, which country to buy in?

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Paul1977

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#220276 3-Aug-2017 09:44

I am in the position where I may have the option of having an OLED TV purchased for me overseas and brought back freight free (if they are in fact cheaper in these other countries). Obviously GST would still be payable.

The candidate countries are in order of convenience are Hong Kong, USA, Australia.

I'm thinking a Panasonic 65", and was wondering if anyone in the know could suggest which stores in these countries are likely to have the best pricing? The US Panasonic site doesn't even seem to have a TV section?

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billgates

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#1836283 3-Aug-2017 09:50

Panasonic does not sells TV in US. Noel Leeming recently had a 25% off all Panasonic TV and the pricing was sharp.

Do whatever you want to do man.

sbiddle

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#1836286 3-Aug-2017 09:53

I assume you're not aware of the obvious limitations of a TV from the US? I'd never even contemplate bringing a US TV to NZ as it's basically a doorstop.

wellygary

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#1836291 3-Aug-2017 09:54

Are you looking just for a panel, or something that will actually receive TV signals?

Both the US and Hong Kong use different DTV standards to NZ - so its unlikely they would actually work as a TV here...

Paul1977

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#1836297 3-Aug-2017 09:57

billgates:

Panasonic does not sells TV in US. Noel Leeming recently had a 25% off all Panasonic TV and the pricing was sharp.

Well, that rules the US out for Panasonic then I guess.

I saw that pricing at the time, but wasn't ready to pull the trigger at that point. I'm looking at closer to Xmas time to purchase, but want to get my ducks in a row early.

I'm not 100% committed to Panasonic, but my current TV is a Panasonic VT50 plasma that I have been very pleased with. LG I guess would be the other contender.

surfisup1000

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#1836299 3-Aug-2017 10:00

sbiddle:

I assume you're not aware of the obvious limitations of a TV from the US? I'd never even contemplate bringing a US TV to NZ as it's basically a doorstop.

The TV tuner wouldn't work, but if you don't need a tuner and can find a super cheap 230v compatible OLED TV in the US, why not?

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#1836300 3-Aug-2017 10:00

Yer buy a TV from the US next thread created my TV from US is a expensive paperweight

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Paul1977

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#1836301 3-Aug-2017 10:00

wellygary:

Are you looking just for a panel, or something that will actually receive TV signals?

Both the US and Hong Kong use different DTV standards to NZ - so its unlikely they would actually work as a TV here...

Hmmmm... hadn't thought of that, so thanks for pointing it out.

If the pricing was low enough I could just hook a FreeView box/recorder up to it for that, but obviously would need to factor that additional cost into the equation.

sbiddle

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#1836320 3-Aug-2017 10:20

surfisup1000:

sbiddle:

I assume you're not aware of the obvious limitations of a TV from the US? I'd never even contemplate bringing a US TV to NZ as it's basically a doorstop.

The TV tuner wouldn't work, but if you don't need a tuner and can find a super cheap 230v compatible OLED TV in the US, why not?

Tuner aside (it won't work) most panels in the US market have historically never supported 50Hz and would only display and support 60Hz resolutions and content.

This will mean you're not going to be able to hook some devices up, and even if you run a PC at 60Hz for all your content you'll get the usual problems associated with displaying 50Hz content on a 60Hz panel.

sbiddle

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#1836325 3-Aug-2017 10:23

I just had a bit of a Google for some into regarding current models and found this (obviously referencing the 2016 LG OLED)

What happens when you send a NA LG OLED a 25fps 50Hz piece of content?

With the 2016 North American OLEDs, only the B6 supports native 50Hz input (via a custom resolution); on all other NA-spec 2016 models, 50Hz input flat-out doesn't work and therefore you're stuck with either 24Hz or 60Hz.

Regarding the 2017 OLEDs, I have no idea whether they support 50Hz or 100Hz (nobody has confirmed whether it works or not).

For reference, 25fps on 120Hz results in 24:5 pull down, 50fps on 120Hz and 25fps on 60Hz results in 12:5 pull down, and 50fps on 60Hz results in 6:5 pull down.

50fps on 100Hz and 25fps on 50Hz is judder-free much like how 30fps on 60Hz is.

Paul1977

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#1836339 3-Aug-2017 10:29

OK, so sounding like not a great idea to look at the US then.

evilengineer

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#1836700 3-Aug-2017 16:36

sbiddle:

Tuner aside (it won't work) most panels in the US market have historically never supported 50Hz and would only display and support 60Hz resolutions and content.

This will mean you're not going to be able to hook some devices up, and even if you run a PC at 60Hz for all your content you'll get the usual problems associated with displaying 50Hz content on a 60Hz panel.

That's likely to be less of a problem these days.

But I would suggest doing your research and downloading the region specific user manual for the model(s) that you are interested in.

That should tell you what resolution/frequency combinations are supported.

With a US TV it would also be a very good idea to check that it can run on 240 Volt power! :-)

You would be on fairly safe ground with either a UK, Hong Kong or Aus set. All are ex-PAL countries with 240 Volt electricity.

Also, I'm not a huge fan of "Smart TVs". I'd rather have a dumb screen with a smart box plugged into the HDMI ports so that the smart features can easily be upgraded by buying a new box rather than replacing the whole TV.

And there's no problem plugging a NZ freeview box into foreign TV. It's what I do with the telly I brought across from the UK .

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PsychoSmiley

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#1839238 4-Aug-2017 15:51

Consider what happens with shipping and faults too.

I took a big risk buying an OLED before moving from AU to NZ. If I hadn't of unboxed it and used it before moving, it would have had a panel with a defect that didn't show until 30 minutes of use until it warmed up.

I also ran the risk of it getting trashed in transit being moved from trucks to containers and such and not knowing how it was treated or handled.

I lucked in on both accounts. I tested first and got another due the defect and it arrived in one piece.

My other consideration but also at the time LG were the only OLED TV's was that the warranty applies to both NZ and AU. I checked this before purchasing it and wouldn't have if it wasn't the case.

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#1839250 4-Aug-2017 16:06

Warranty and the CGA are major factors I would seriously consider before buying something as expensive as an OLED from overseas. The savings you might make will be gone before you know it as soon as you have an issue.

Others have covered problems with incompatible technologies..

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