European OLED TV Shootout Results... this is interesting!

[Todd Anderson]

Philips has run a mighty tight shootout event squaring off OLED options from Sony, Panasonic, Philips, and LG. I've included a video link from AVForums below. They ran a very tight ship, implementing a blind viewing scenario that obscured any sort of brand identification. At this point, a blind shootout seems like a necessary measure as brand bias can obviously influence results... and definitely can leave one wandering if results are valid. Personally, I'd like to see this kind of event also incorporate top LCD models as well, especially from brands like TCL and Vizio.

Anyhow, it looks like Philips.... yes PHILIPS... won best display in Calibrated mode. Differences weren't necessarily huge... but each brand's processor did produce different results with basically the same display. Color me surprised. If I had been a betting a man, I would have put money down on either Sony or Panasonic.

Could it be that the reign of LG is quickly coming to an end??

This was a Philips event... which obviously makes one wander: were specific clips/scenes selected to favor Philips? Phew. Tough question. It doesn't appear so...

 

[Matthew J Poes]

Isn't Phillips in Europe a different company that phillips here? That Phillips branded tv's here have not been reflective of the quality of that brand in Europe (and I think Phillips isn't even making branded TV's in the USA anymore?).

I'm just thinking that Phillips is really a large and high end electronics firm and I would expect good things from them, just not here in the US (which is too bad).

 

[Todd Anderson]

To be honest, I'm not sure how that brand's markets are divided. I'm not even sure if Philips TVs are sold in the North American market right now? Panasonic OLEDs definitely aren't.

Nonetheless, I like the execution of this shootout. Adding the blind element definitely helps to make the results feel genuine. Although it would be nice if it were an independent event.

 

[tripplej]

Just fyi, the "Philips" TV brand is licensed by TP Vision in Europe.

 

[Matthew J Poes]

Just fyi, the Philips TV brand is licensed by TP Vision in Europe.

ah so they don't even engineer their own TV's in Europe? I didn't realize that. Ok than maybe what I said was all nonsense.

 

[tripplej]

For more details about TV Vision, see link here.

 

[Matthew J Poes]

you know i remember reading about this now. It looks like everything is sold under license. I guess they are like GE and many other storied brands, the name has power but it isn't worth their time to continue engineering their own products.

Well, good to see that this new TV line is so good. Hopefully it makes it stateside. LG needs more competition in this country to help bring pricing down.

 

[mechman]

I wouldn't put much stock in a Philips run event.

 

[Todd Anderson]

No faith, Steve?

 

[mechman]

I'd put as much stock in it as I would a Sony or LG run event. Nope, no faith. lol

 

[Todd Anderson]

All of these events are imperfect for one reason or another. Bias, at some point is bound to be introduced. Ultimately, we need a completely blind scenario with the best model from each manufacturer... with widely varied content.

Did you watch the video link? Could it be a total PR show for Philips? Possibly... but AVForms is well respected, which makes me take the results as somewhat valid.

 

[mechman]

Yes I did. "The second part of the test was set up by Philips with no input from AVForums and was their opportunity to show off their picture processing".

I do respect AVForums too. They're much better than AVS. And I guess there needs to be money behind these things but it's probably all moot between them. Each display is probably close enough to where none of it matters except to those who allow little things to bother them. Those people make up probably less than .001% of the crowd and yet they're the most vocal.