Question about 4k TVs and subtitles (1 Viewer)

[Jim517]

I'm looking to buy a 75" 4k TV for our family room. We use subtitles a lot and I was wondering if we are better off with a FALD TV or an edge lit TV?

A couple reviews I watched of FALD TVs showed quite a bit of blooming/glowing around the subtitles, and it looked bad.
Is this common?

I am considering the TCL 75R615(FALD) and the Samsung Q6 from Costco(Edge lit).

Thanks.

 

[Jim517]

165 views and no one has an opinion ?

 

[JohnRice]

I’m not a display expert, but I can’t imagine any reason the lighting method would make any difference in how subtitles would display.

 

[Angelo Colombus]

I have no issues with my 4K Sony LED tv when using satellite or playing a disc.

 

[Jim517]

Thanks !

 

[Josh Steinberg]

No issues with subtitles on my 55” TCL - I use them all the time.

 

[Robert Crawford]

165 views and no one has an opinion ?

Sorry, but, I only have OLEDs.

 

[Jim517]

No issues with subtitles on my 55” TCL - I use them all the time.

Thanks. No problems in SDR or HDR mode ?

 

[Josh Steinberg]

The vast majority of what I watch is SDR but no troubles with that! I basically have subtitles on 100% of the time these days.

 

[Jim517]

Thanks again

 

[Edwin-S]

My opinion is that the TV should be purchased based on the picture quality, not how subs might look. A FALD TV is going to have more consistent, uniform, lighting across the entire screen area than an edge lit TV. Frankly, hot spotting along the edges of the TV will become more annoying than a little bit of glow around subtitles.

The easiest way to decide is to actually go to a store, with some subtitled material, and have it played on both types of TVs and then pick the one that looks best to you. If I didn't have an OLED set then my next choice would be a Samsung QLED. Those sets have Blacks nearly as good as OLED sets and I never noticed any type of glowing around the edges of sample material that was being played.

 

[Jim517]

Thanks Edwin. Of course image quality is most important, but I'm also considering how subtitles will look.

How big of a deal is it that the Samsungs don't support Dolby Vision ?

 

[Edwin-S]

I haven't done a lot of comparison of HDR vs Dolby Vision material. I have a 4K copy of "Wreck it Ralph" with HDR so I decided to compare it to the 4K version streaming on Disney+ in Dolby Vision. It really comes down to what a person prefers when it comes to the look of the picture. The HDR copy is definitely darker. Highlights don't pop nearly as well as the DV version on D+. The more muted look of the HDR version could be looked at as more "film-like" but a person notices little details much more readily on the DV version. For example, Felix's hammer has a golden head. In one scene in the DV version, the light reflects off the edge of the hammer forming a noticeable star-like reflection. In my HDR copy of the film, you hardly notice it. Variations in lighting and colour seem to pop more in the DV version.

Frankly, I'm surprised that Samsung is still not supporting DV. It would be a deal breaker with me as I think TV sets should support any video technology that was available in the market at the time of their manufacture.

Edit: I should add that Whites are at least an order of a level brighter with DV than with HDR; however, that may change with the introduction of HDR10+ which is the HDR10 consortium's dynamic answer to Dolby's DV.

 

[Jim517]

Thanks. It is a shame because the make great TVs.