20 years ago, Robert Zohn, the owner of specialty A/V store Value Electronics, had a bold idea. What if we put all the best TVs in a room, calibrate them for their best performance, hit them with a bunch of test patterns and movie clips and see which TV delivers the best picture quality? And so, in 2004, the TV Shootout was born. Every year but once since then, the TV Shootout event has been held, at first in Robert’s own store in Westchester County, NY, and more recently in a fancy venue in midtown Manhattan. And every year a new “King of TV” has been crowned.
This year, the event returns to its roots. On August 3rd and 4th, Robert will host the 2024 TV Shootout in the Value Electronics showroom in Scarsdale, NY. As in previous years, multiple high performance TV models will compete against each other. But unlike in previous years, the TV Shootout will be broken down into separate competitions, based on the underlying panel technology used in each model. Instead of one overall “King of TV,” there will be a “King of OLED TV” and a “King of MiniLED TV” crowned at the event.
OLED TVs are known for their outstanding black levels thanks to their emissive nature and their ability to control the brightness of each individual pixel. MiniLED TVs excel at peak brightness and can approach OLED TVs in black levels and contrast when they have enough local dimming zones and fine enough control over the brightness of these zones. Having seen all of the top TVs in each category this year, I can safely say that the judges of the event will have their work cut out for them in picking the winners. Both OLED and MiniLED/LCD technologies have made great strides in picture performance lately.
Robert Zohn will share emcee duties with Jason Dustal, a Field Trainer and ISF Instructor from AVPro Global. The panel of independent judges for this year’s event is comprised of professional Hollywood video colorists, film finishers, TV reviewers, and video experts. Robert and Jason will lead the judges through the voting elements but the judges will be the ones voting to determine the winners in each category. As in previous years, evaluation material will include test patterns, stills and video clips, each selected to highlight specific areas of video performance including contrast, color fidelity, color saturation, and motion resolution.
Three 65-inch models from Sony, LG and Samsung will compete in each category for a total of six TVs competing. All TVs offer full Ultra HD 4K resolution with multiple flavors of HDR (High Dynamic Range) supported. All but the Samsungs support Dolby Vision dynamic HDR, while Samsung TVs support HDR10+ dynamic HDR instead. All TVs in the competition are also “Smart TVs” with access to all of the popular streaming apps and smart home features. LG TVs feature the company’s WebOS platform, Samsung its Tizen operating system and the Sony TVs are built on the Google TV platform. In addition to high quality panels, the TVs feature each company’s latest video processing technology.
All of the TVs included in this year’s competition are available through regular retail channels except Samsung’s QN95D which is only available through the company’s CI (Custom Install) channels, of which Value Electronics is an authorized dealer. Prices listed below are MSRP (Manufacturer Suggest Retail Price). Actual street prices may and usually do vary. Visit the linked retailer sites to view current pricing through eCoustics’ affiliate partners.
Competitors in the 2024 OLED TV Shootout with MSRP:
- LG OLED65G4PUA WRGB OLED TV ($3,399) – Amazon, Value Electronics
- Samsung QN65S95D QD-OLED TV ($3,399) – Amazon, Value Electronics
- Sony XR65A95L QD-OLED TV ($3,499) – Amazon, Value Electronics
Competitors in the 2024 MiniLED TV Shootout with MSRP:
- LG 65QNED90T MiniLED TV ($1,899) – Amazon, Value Electronics
- Samsung QN65QN95D MiniLED TV ($3,299) – Value Electronics
- Sony K65XR90 Bravia 9 MiniLED TV ($2,999) – Amazon, Value Electronics
As to why MiniLED/LCD TVs and OLED TVs are being separated into independent categories this year, Robert had this to offer. “MiniLED TVs and OLED TVs each excel on different content and in different viewing conditions. While a customer may prefer an OLED TV for a controlled light home theater environment, a bright MiniLED/LCD set may be a much better choice for a bright living room. With the Shootout’s emphasis on controlled lighting viewing, we feel it would be an unfair comparison to pit the two different technologies directly against each other.”
Notably absent from the competition are TCL and Hisense, both of which have been stepping up their game lately, particularly in the miniLED/LCD category. Robert stated that the selection of models was informed by their own direct experience with all of the top TV models currently on the market. Robert did tell me that a fourth competitor is being considered for the MiniLED competition, but a final decision would be made closer to game day. So stay tuned for that.
To ensure peak performance, each display in the event will be professionally calibrated by experienced Level 3 ISF calibrators: Cecil Meade, John Reformato and DeWayne Davis. AVProGlobal is supplying the latest state-of-the-art switching, distribution, and test equipment. Magnetar’s UDP-900 flagship 4K universal player will be the reference source for content. A Kaleidescape media player will also provide a number of 4K movie clips for evaluation purposes. Sony’s latest professional broadcast monitor, the 31-inch BVM-HX3110, which sells for over $30,000, will be used as the reference to compare all displays against.
Unlike in recent years, the full shootout event will not be broadcast live over the web. The opening remarks and manufacturers’ presentations will be webcast live, but not the main evaluation sessions. After the TV Shootout is completed, Robert’s team will provide highlights of the event to content creators for distribution on YouTube and other social media platforms.
The main event with competition among the 65-inch models will be held on Saturday, August 3rd. After the conclusion of the Shootouts, the winner from each category will be placed side by side for additional comparisons. Day two of the event (August 4th) will include a more informal comparison of several of the larger sized OLED and MiniLED TVs to observe, compare and discuss the performance differences of these TVs at their larger screen sizes.
Be sure to stop back by after the event when we can share the results of the competition.
More information: Value Electronics Web site
Related reading: 2023 Value Electronics TV Shootout Results: A New King of TV is Crowned
James Frederick Johnson
July 21, 2024 at 3:01 pm
In all fairness, they should include panasonic z95a oled in the evaluation even though it is not sold in the US since many reviews consider it the gold standard this year.
Chris Boylan
July 23, 2024 at 6:17 pm
I’ve heard good things about the Panasonic OLEDs. I owned a couple of Panasonic plasmas over the years and they were awesome TVs. Robert’s store only sells in the U.S. so it doesn’t make much sense for him to host and pay for an event that includes models that can’t be purchased in the U.S. He does sometimes include brands of which he is not a dealer, but only if they are available in the U.S. market as that’s his primary audience. It would make more sense for a European retailer to do their own version of this and include the Panasonic OLED in that competition (as well as maybe a Philips OLED, which are also not available in the US).