Jannyferr
Member
This one came up on the home theater sub and it's a genuinely close call. First proper TV, moving up from a Vizio P65Q9-H1, going into a basement with no outside light at all, mostly 4K films plus Halo Infinite and GTA, seating distance flexible, around $3,000 including tax. The tape on the wall says 83 inches, and the choice is an 83-inch LG OLED in the C series against a 98-inch TCL, QM8K or the QM7 line, depending on what goes on sale.
The dark room changes the maths more than people expect. Brightness is the mini-LED's headline advantage and a blacked-out basement is precisely where it counts least, while the thing that annoys you in that room, halos around subtitles and bright objects on a black field, is where it costs most. The better TCL sets control it well, but they control it, they don't eliminate it. On the other side, going from 83 to 98 inches is not a small upgrade, it's a different room, and no amount of contrast fixes a screen that feels too small once you've sat in front of a bigger one.
The part I'd actually weigh is the gaming. Halo and GTA both park static HUD elements on screen for hours at a time, and if this is a games-first room that's a real argument for the mini-LED regardless of picture preference. Films first in the dark, take the OLED and enjoy the black floor. Games first, take the size and stop worrying.
What would tip it for me is seating distance. Has anyone gone 98 inches and then found themselves moving the sofa back?
The dark room changes the maths more than people expect. Brightness is the mini-LED's headline advantage and a blacked-out basement is precisely where it counts least, while the thing that annoys you in that room, halos around subtitles and bright objects on a black field, is where it costs most. The better TCL sets control it well, but they control it, they don't eliminate it. On the other side, going from 83 to 98 inches is not a small upgrade, it's a different room, and no amount of contrast fixes a screen that feels too small once you've sat in front of a bigger one.
The part I'd actually weigh is the gaming. Halo and GTA both park static HUD elements on screen for hours at a time, and if this is a games-first room that's a real argument for the mini-LED regardless of picture preference. Films first in the dark, take the OLED and enjoy the black floor. Games first, take the size and stop worrying.
What would tip it for me is seating distance. Has anyone gone 98 inches and then found themselves moving the sofa back?
