On today’s You Asked: Can you have an OLED if you live in a high-humidity environment?
Too steamy for my TV?
Sean, our island nit nerd ohana, writes: I recently purchased a G4, but I didn’t consider humidity. Like a lot of older homes on O’ahu, my house doesn’t have A/C. Should I be very concerned about the humid air in my house for my OLED’s longevity and would it be worth buying a dehumidifier for it?
First off, and I suppose anyone who saw my Golden Ear T66 speaker review may know a little about this, but I have a lot of family ties to O’ahu. My father’s parents served at Pearl Harbor, my grandmother was one of the military’s first female aircraft mechanics, my dad was born there, and my grandfather is resting at Punchbowl Cemetery, more properly known as the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific. I’ve spent a good amount of time in the islands and on cruise ships in high-humidity environments and I can tell you: If you haven’t experienced real humidity or have even been away from it for just two years, you forget. You might have memories, but your body forgets. Humidity can be a problem — not just for people, but for all organic things — and that includes organic light emitting diodes, which is what OLED TVs use to make a picture.
Humidity is not great for electronics in general, so already we’re starting at a disadvantage. OLED compounds are organic and they degrade faster in high humidity environments, not just because of the moisture but because of the accelerated oxidation.
However, an OLED TV isn’t going to die right away. You likely won’t notice a problem within a year, and perhaps two. After that, there are no guarantees because although you may not see the issues right away, the chemical breakdown is happening at a faster level than in lower humidity.
There are scientific papers published on this subject. Three Indian scientists published an extensive report about the effect of high humidity on OLED displays in the Journal of Electronics and Communication Engineering.
So, if you live in a high-humidity environment and don’t have climate control that regulates the humidity for the area where an OLED TV will be placed, get a dehumidifier. It’s a smart investment. As a bonus, the room will feel a bit cooler even if the temperature is the same as an adjacent, more humid room.
High heat can also negatively impact OLED displays, but we’re talking about long-term exposure to high, direct heat. That’s one of many reasons that putting an OLED outdoors is generally a bad idea. Direct sunlight, even on a mild day, can damage an OLED panel. Don’t worry so much about the heat in your home being a problem. The OLED won’t get hurt unless you’re hurting from the heat, and as long as the heat isn’t too high for too long, it should be fine. Direct sunlight for too long, though, isn’t great, but most OLEDs won’t get much inside a home as the sun moves throughout the day.
Possible light projector damage?
Here’s another OLED safety question from Paolo, who writes: Would a 6,000-lumen long-throw laser projector directed at a motorized floor-rising projector screen with 0.4mm acoustic perforations pose any risk of damage to a Sony A95K QD-OLED TV immediately behind it? Unsurprisingly, dots of light spill onto the panel while the projector and screen are in use, but then it’s completely bathed in projection light when the motorized screen isn’t fully erect (<30secs)
I have to be very careful here. I want to say that I will not be held liable should anything happen to your QD-OLED TV, as I have not taken measurements and don’t have hard data to support my theory. However, with that clearly disclosed, I can say: I highly doubt your OLED TV is at risk for damage.
First, the laser light source in your projector is rated not to exceed 250 milliwatts. These labels can sometimes be inaccurate, but I think we’re in the safety zone — even if the projector has a Class 3 rating and associated warning sticker.
Second, if the projector is a single-laser projector, then it is a blue laser with a phosphor mounted over it, so that it can project a very pure white light. That phosphor makes the light source diffuse right away. If it is a three-laser projector, that power is being spread out among red, green, and blue light sources. This means not all of that laser power is going out at full strength all the time, unless it is to make white. Even then I’m not worried.
Third, the light gets scattered a great deal both in the projector and as it travels toward your screen. That means the light beam will be fairly weak at any given single point on your OLED screen by the time it gets there and will only happen for 30 seconds or less. Then, by the time your projector screen is up, those pinpoints of light that get through the perforations will be really weak.
In short, no, I’m not worried about it. I think a 5mw laser pointer at point-blank range isn’t going to cause damage, so the likelihood your projector could do damage is slim to none.
Remote wrangling for two too-close TVs
Anmar writes with another OLED question: We bought an LG C1 TV a couple of years ago, which we are very happy with, and your reviews were very helpful in making that decision. Because of this positive experience, I am thinking of buying the upcoming LG G5 for my parents. However, both TVs will be close to each other, and that could mean one remote might accidentally signal both TVs. Is this possible, and should I consider buying another brand, such as Samsung or Sony, to avoid this issue? What surprised me when I researched this issue was the lack of a consistent and simple solution.
You are correct to anticipate this potential problem — I experience it here in the studio all the time. I had the TCL QM7K set up, and when I pressed the power button on the remote, the QM891G 115-incher lit the room up like it was the holidays.
Many remotes pair to their televisions via Bluetooth, and some commands are executed only over Bluetooth. This includes LG OLEDs. However, most remotes still use infrared (IR) for basic functions — the power button most notably. Some remotes enable many functions over infrared, with Bluetooth as a backup. That way, if you go out of line of sight, you can still control the basics of a TV — even when the infrared signal can’t reach the TV’s infrared “eye.”
The biggest problem most people will likely have in this situation is powering on the TV. You may want one TV to turn on, but not the other. I can also hope that if the TVs are fairly close together and running at the same time, you probably want the same programming on each.
Regardless, here’s the best solution I have: Shield the remote’s infrared signal from the TV you do not want it to operate. Infrared signals are very basic and most manufacturers do not modulate them year to year. So, the power button on a remote for a C1 is likely to be the same IR code as the power button for a C4 or C5, even if the remote looks different and has different buttons.
Is this a high-tech, clever, sexy, and convenient way to handle the problem? No, but it works. There’s no better solution I’m aware of, and that’s probably because folks don’t often run into this problem.
Is it worth getting a different TV brand just to avoid this issue? I’ll leave that up to you. If you have two TVs from the same brand, you’ll need to shield the remote’s signal from the set you aren’t watching. If you buy another TV brand, you’ll need to get used to using a different style remote with a different on-screen interface.
New brand for better picture?
Jan from Slovakia writes: I still love my old Panasonic GZ950 OLED from 2019, but this year I finally decided to upgrade. I am considering LG C4 or even C5. Will I see a significant upgrade in picture quality or do I have to aim for the flagship models? I am also worried about motion processing and color handling, since I hate the soap opera effect. Panasonic handles this perfectly, and also has a strange, special film-like feel that I like, which I struggle to see in other brands.
This is a tough one. The LG C5 would be notably brighter than the Panasonic you have, as it is notably brighter than the LG C4. The LG C4 may be a bit brighter than your GZ950 — I think your Panasonic was tested to produce up to 700 nits in a 10 percent window and about 165 nits full screen white. The LG C4 did about 800 nits in a 10 percent window and maybe slightly higher full screen.
While the LG C4 did do 1,000 nits in smaller areas of the screen, the LG C5 can do 1,000 nits at a 10 percent window. I haven’t tested it yet, but I think it will do a higher brightness full-field white than the LG C4, too, meaning it would be brighter for SDR content. LG has said the C5 sees a bit of a brightness boost compared to prior years.
Panasonic’s processing is indeed special, though. I like LG’s processing very much: It has come a long way and can look very cinematic. However, the best processing is reserved for the G series.
I want to ask: Why not consider another Panasonic OLED? Are they not available in your area? I think the Z85 would work well for you.
Will there be a significant uptick in picture quality? That depends on your sensitivity. I would say that unless you are unhappy with your current TV, don’t replace it yet. There will always be fun and fancy new TV tech available whenever the time is right for you to buy. Remember: Your OLED TV is awesome already. It can only get more awesome in small increments.
Washed-out watching
Marc O’Hara writes: I have just purchased an LG G4 OLED, upgrading from a LG C2 OLED. The picture quality is a night-and-day difference, but I am having difficulty finding the sweet spot for picture settings. I typically like a bright and cool type of picture and typically have used the Vivid preset on my C2 and other TVs in my home. The Vivid setting is the closest to what I like for the G4, but it almost seems like the brightness is too much and washes out the color accuracy and detail. A lot of people rave about Filmmaker Mode, but that setting is just much too dim for my liking. Any advice on which picture settings on Vivid mode to adjust to fix this issue or any other recommendations? Also should I be enabling settings such as AI picture pro?
Some folks don’t want accuracy, and they don’t want accuracy at the expense of brightness, which is why many like the Vivid Mode. If people didn’t like Vivid Mode, TV brands wouldn’t put one in the TV. They would have a Store Mode preset and call it good.
The reason it looks washed out is because it is washed out. The TV is maxing out that white subpixel in your G4 to the point that it is washing out the color to achieve white brightness. Also, the blue color channel in the RGB balance that produces white is juiced way up.
Here’s what you can do. Select Vivid, but back down the brightness setting a bit so it isn’t so washed out. By backing down the brightness setting, you’re not losing all the TV’s advantages. You may find it easier on the eyes if you back down the blue channel in the 2-point white balance adjustment for the gain section. (Note: I normally don’t tell people to adjust the white balance in their TVs without being able to measure the results.) Gain is at the high, powerful side and bias is at the low luminance side. When you back down the blue a bit, you won’t meaningfully throw off the other colors because they are already about as off as they can be. Start with small adjustments and keep backing it down until you feel it is easier to watch. Start with the brightness setting first, though.
