Sony KD-55A1 £3500
The best of the OLED/QLED bunch
If the star ratings of these four TVS look as though they simply reinforce your preconceptions of QLED and OLED, it’s important to note that that’s not really the case.
It’s true that the natural traits of the two technologies do skew in the expected ways, with QLED majoring on punch and brightness and OLED majoring on black performance and strong contrast, but that’s only half the story.
Nearly LG
The Samsung QE55Q7F finds itself in fourth place not because it isn’t an OLED, but because a major bug at the time of testing meant that HDR from the two primary HDR sources wasn’t working properly. It wouldn’t have won the test without that issue, but it would have received five stars thanks to an extraordinarily vibrant, detailed and defined image.
Panasonic’s TX55EZ952B is a bit of a disappointment. It has the core qualities we’d expect from OLED, but rather than build on the raw materials supplied by LG, it instead delivers a lacklustre HDR performance. HDR is too big a deal now for a TV to not make the most of it, particularly if said TV costs £3000.
LG is the progenitor of modern OLED, so it may be disappointed with second place for the OLED55B7V. There’s no denying the natural balance of its
“We think that the way Sony has built on LG’S OLED panel makes it worth that exta £500”
picture, the purity of its blacks or its superb contrast, and coming in at £500 less than the Sony KD55A1 helps make it a tempting proposition indeed.
Champion screen
But we think that the way Sony has built on LG’S OLED panel, delivering an extra degree of punch, sharpness, detail and motion control, makes it worth that extra £500. If the price gap grows, we could well see the LG B7 become our premium TV of choice. However, as things stand right now, the Sony A1 is the champion.