Should Gamers Get an OLED TV?

Gaming has slowly grown more into an art form, with gorgeous graphics, soundtracks that easily rival movies, and storylines worthy of novels themselves. Some of these games are so beautiful, in fact, that they deserve the full cinematic experience.

It is for this reason that I constantly invest in some of the things I believe will assist in making these games look that much prettier. One such thing which I was excited to get for well over a year before I took the plunge was the purchase of an OLED TV.

OLED TVs are different from the LED technology that most monitors and TVs use nowadays. To skip all of the scientific mumbo-jumbo — which has even me confused despite knowing exactly what OLED is — it's a display that is capable of achieving perfect blacks, because each pixel individually lights up, which means that each of the pixels can turn off completely.

This might not sound like the most impressive thing on paper, but when standing in front of one, it produces some of the cleanest, most beautiful picture qualities I've ever experienced. 

There's a saying amongst the OLED communities: Once you go OLED, you can never go back. I didn't believe this at all until I saw the screen for the first time in person.

My eyes couldn't believe the gorgeous, 3D-like experience that the OLED simulated whenever there were pure blacks with colour in the front. The quality of the image was beyond compare. Hell, even now, after several months of owning my own, I still am taken aback by the quality that the TV offers while playing. It has made my gaming so much more enjoyable simply because of the beauty it provides.

It almost sounds too good to be true, doesn't it? It's a gorgeous display, with surprisingly powerful audio that nearly rivals my audiophile headphones. So what's the catch? It's simple, this TV just won't be for everyone.

You see, since the lighting is self-emitting, that means that some of the pixels can experience burn-in; in particular, the red sub-pixel suffers from this. This means that when there is something red and static present on the screen for too long, the pixel will burn in and cause a slight shadow which will grow significantly darker, obstructing the image.

It sounds horrible, and it is! Apart from OLED TVs not being particularly cheap, this causes a problem with gamers that like to play the same game for extended periods. Given that life bars are red, you can see the issue.

Don't click away yet, all disheartened and broken-hearted over the news of the technology not being great. You see, OLED TVs aren't meant to burn-in, and for the most part it's just a manufacturing failure. Some companies offer warranties that cover burn-in, and just because it can, doesn't mean it will.

You see, OLED TVs are a technology that you have to take care of. This means not always being at maximum brightness , preventing static elements from sticking around for too long, and having all of the anti-burn-in features enabled, some of which dim the static elements to make sure they don't cause much strain.

How much of a problem is burn-in exactly? This is a question that I couldn't for the life of me find an answer to, no matter how desperately I sought and went into the forbidden lands of the second page in Google. So I will address the issue from my personal experience.

I am nearly 5,000 hours into using my CX OLED TV, I play some games constantly but since I began writing here for GameGrin I have strayed into jumping around from game to game, and I can safely say that I don't have any noticeable burn-in; this is including through extended sessions of aggressive obsession with League of Legends and its ARAM game mode.

Burn-in shouldn't be a problem, and it is slowly becoming less and less prominent in the TVs, with new preventive measures taken to ensure that they are as long-lasting as they should be. Does that mean the problem is completely fixed? Of course not, burn-in is still a real problem with the technology, but as long as you vary your content and don't play for too many extended hours at a time without giving the TV a break, it should be the perfect display.

Apart from the burn-in threat, these TVs truly excel in darkness. HDR is a true beauty, despite the TV not having 1,000 nits; this is in big part due to the infinite contrast made by the perfect blacks. I live in a very dark area, my lights are turned off for gaming, and I have a blackout curtain. And boy, is the OLED TV the best display I've ever had, even against my beloved ultrawide monitor.

In fact, I might go as far as saying that the OLED TV is the best purchase I've made, as long as we're excluding my gaming PC. It's gorgeous, makes movies so much prettier, and makes some of the most unexpected games beautiful. 

So here's a quick summary of everything. The OLED TV is a great display, it can go up to 4k resolution, HDR display, 120 hertz ready with HDMI 2.1, and beautiful audio quality. However, the threat of burn-in and the price tag might scare off some gamers.

This TV is best for anyone that varies content; Watching movies, interchanging games, and people who are willing to put in the extra effort to turn off the TV while not using it to make sure that it gets the rest it deserves.

If the above categories fit you, an OLED TV purchase is easily a recommendation I can make, and I can assure you that the quality will not disappoint.