We’re already halfway through 2024, and that means I’ve had the chance to review some of the most interesting TVs of the year.
And that also means I can safely confirm that 2024 is going to be a fantastic, or at least interesting, year for OLED. Highlights for me include Panasonic’s unveiling of some incredibly tempting-looking OLED sets at a press event I attended earlier this year, including the MLA-equipped Z95A. And Philips came full steam ahead with its latest LG C4 competitor, the OLED809.
We haven’t had the Z95A or any other Panasonic TV to test yet, so I can’t say whether my positive first impression will be borne out in testing, but the latter Philips TV is undeniably impressive. In fact, it proved to be a significant step up in terms of picture quality over the Philips OLED809, which earned it a perfect five-star rating earlier this week.
But amidst this flood of good news and interesting developments, there remains one central problem that I see with virtually all OLED TVs that aren’t from LG or Samsung: They only have two HDMI 2.1 ports, one of which also functions as eARC.
Why is this annoying? The answer is simple: you need an HDMI 2.1 input to run the PS5, Xbox Series X/S, or a modern gaming PC at full throttle. Without it, the refresh rate is limited to 60Hz, rather than the 120Hz or even 144Hz seen on some machines – though only a powerful PC with a modern graphics card will achieve the latter.
If you are a fan of good audio – which I hope you are as Which hi-fi system? Reader – You will need an eARC input if you want to connect a Dolby Atmos soundbar or speaker system.
So if you have two consoles and an Atmos setup, you’ll need more than two HDMI 2.1 inputs if you want to avoid the hassle of frequently swapping cables. As a man with two cats that attack any cable you leave unplugged, and a seasoned Panasonic TX-55JZ1500B user, I can attest that you definitely want to avoid cable swapping as much as possible.
I can’t tell you how many times my cats have either destroyed the end of the loose HDMI cable or knocked items off the stand and once almost knocked the TV itself off – the little “cuties” are stronger than they look, especially when they work together…
I know I’m not the only one annoyed by the limited HDMI 2.1 connectivity on many TVs. Our TV and AV Editor Tom Parsons, our Editor Lewis Empson, and several friends outside of work are also annoyed by it.
So why don’t more companies equip their TVs with four HDMI inputs? Unfortunately, the answer is quite simple. The current Pentonic 700 and 1000 chips used in most OLED TVs from Sony, Philips and Panasonic only support two HDMI 2.1 inputs. There isn’t much competition in the TV chipset market, so TV companies are faced with a dilemma: they have two options: put up with the HDMI problem or invest a lot of money in developing custom chips with the required functionality.
The only companies willing to go down this route are LG and Samsung, which use custom chips that support a greater number of HDMI 2.1 inputs. This, along with excellent picture quality, is a major reason why both companies’ OLEDs are currently featured heavily in our guide to the best gaming TVs.
Thankfully, the situation seems to be changing, as MediaTek’s latest Pentonic 800 chip is confirmed to support four HDMI 2.1 inputs. Industry rumors suggest that the 1000’s yet-to-be-revealed successor will follow suit at an unspecified date later this year. If true, that would be very good news for home theater fans who also like to game.
We hope it happens.
MORE:
Our selection of best OLED TVs
We evaluate the best Dolby Atmos soundbars
All the best 65 inch tvs tried and tested
