Value Electronics, an A/V retailer located on the outskirts of New York City, has been holding an annual ‘TV Shootout’ for nearly two decades. Shootout traditionally brings together a panel of TV test experts and puts them in front of the best 4k tvs to decide which is the best – an honor Sony won this year for its A95K QD-OLED model.
With the rise of 8K TVs, the Value Electronics test expanded in 2022 to include a separate test for that category, with LG’s Z2 OLED model taking the 8K crown in this year’s Shootout.
4K TVs competing in TV Shootout 2022:
- LG G2 Gallery Series OLED
- Samsung QN95B Quantum Dot Mini LED
- Samsung S95B QD-OLED
- Sony XR-A95K QD-OLED (winner)
- Sony XR-X95K Mini LED
8K TVs competing in TV Shootout 2022:
- LG Z2 OLED (winner)
- Samsung QN900B Quantum Dot Mini LED
- Sony XR-Z9K mini LED TV
To create a level playing field for the assessment, each TV is first tuned by a professional TV calibrator. The sets are then laid out side by side along with a 32-inch Sony professional broadcast reference monitor and fed test patterns and regular movie scenes over a video distribution network. This arrangement allows expert entrants to rate TVs simultaneously, with their votes tabulated to determine the winner in each category.
The ratings covered standard high definition content displayed in a light and dark viewing environment and 4K high dynamic range (HDR) in a dark viewing environment. For the HDR tests, each set was further evaluated for “tone mapping”, or its performance when scaling the full contrast range of the input HDR programs to the screen’s maximum brightness capability.
Is QD-OLED the best TV technology?
The Sony QD-OLED took first place in each test category in the Value Electronics Shootout, and was closely followed by Samsung’s S95B QD-OLED model. This result says a lot about the future of the new television technologywhich combines the best qualities of OLED with the Quantum Dots technology used by QLED TVs.
LG G2 OLED also closely followed Sony’s QD-OLED in the 4K TV test. This tells us that regular OLED is still a viable competitor, especially models like the LG G2 and C2 that use the company’s highest gloss ‘evo’ panels. In fact, the G2 outperformed the Sony A95K in the Value Electronics test’s peak brightness and 4K image detail categories.
The LG Z2 OLED model was also the winner in the 8K category, which proves that OLED can be expanded to even higher resolutions and larger screen sizes (the Z2 is only available in 77-inch and 88-inch options) and still compete with success with the best QLED TVs.
What’s really interesting about the results of this test is the price aspect. At around $4,000 / £3,499 at a 65-inch screen size, Sony’s award-winning XR-A95K is one of the most expensive 4K TVs you can buy – not surprising, as it uses state-of-the-art display technology.
But the Samsung S95B which uses the same display technology and was nipping at the Sony QD-OLED’s heels in Value Electronics’ assessment, is priced at just around $2,600 / £2,799, making it the test’s true value champion.
You can’t go wrong with any of the sets that participated in this test, as they are all top models from top brands. But if getting a good deal is also interesting, you might want to do more research before simply shelling out the hard-earned cash for an award-winning flagship TV.