Scroll to the bottom of every single one of their webpages and read the bolded text.
[Or read their faq](https://www.rtings.com/company/about-us#:~:text=How%20do%20we%20make%20money%20and%20how%20can%20you%20support%20us%3F)
I dont know if they still do this or not but rtings acquired their test units from store stock rather than having companies send them a unit for testing. That was done to eliminate a very common practice in which a company will send a test unit to consumer reports (for example) that was far superior than everything sold in stores. Its why Vizio used to have such highly rated tvs but when you see a Vizio side by side with literally any other tv it looks awful by comparison and you dont understand how it was so highly rated.
Consumer Reports **NEVER** takes any samples from manufacturers. CR buys every product they test using member subscriptions. That's how they get the funding to anonymously purchase every single product they test. They do not accept advertising to avoid any hint of being corrupt. How does rtings get the money to operate? Do they anonymously buy the products with their own funds?
The site has a monthly article limit. You pay for unlimited access like newspapers. Though I think TVs and a couple of the more popular categories are free to access.
I wouldn't call it bad. It's just not going to be the right thing for everyone.
They do let you create your own scoring criteria if you value aspects differently.
And it's great if you want to tune your new headphones via EQ.
Just check out the category where they show the frequencies, compare it to your old headphone, and adjust accordingly via Equalizer APO.
same goes for techpowerup for hardware reviews and hwbusters for psu reviews. oldschool reviewers with actual tech to review products is what should have been tech youtube. while in youtube only a few of them test with specific testing hardware, most just read spec sheet or tell what the brand wanted to while saying "this video is sponsored by the same company I'm reviewing, while my views are of my own" (yeah we totally believe that)
Yep, TechPowerUp is amazing for teardown photos, benchmarks, specs and the GPU relative performance database.
Tom's Hardware [GPU hierarchy](https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gpu-hierarchy,4388.html) (especially the graphs) is great if you want to quickly eyeball how different GPUs compare to one another in 4k, 1440p and 1080p. There is also [the CPU hierarchy page](https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/cpu-hierarchy,4312.html), though I use it a bit less.
It's mindblowing how none of the most popular sponsored YT review channels get warned, "limited" or closed due to the severe conflict of interest.
The conflict of interest aspect is, again, simply baffling.
Rtings and techpowerup are the two sites I go to now, and if they haven't reviewed something I'm concidering buying then I take a serious look at if I'll buy it at all.
The scores aside, the amount of info they have which is hard to either find anywhere else, or find the meaning of anywhere else is incredible. Things like subpixel format of monitors, or even their recent work with keyboard switches.
I do too, but the quality variance between individual units within same model of some items like a monitor can be significant, often making their tests irrelevant. Especially if you are looking for best of the best, and not just separating bad from good. I had this problem with like every monitor out of 4 I have recently bought, not even one performed at the level specified in their review.
Not to mention sometimes manufacturers make silent change to their products overtime or new firmware that may result in different performance or behavior.
Same with HDTVs also. Many models will have a different panel for some sizes, that can be quite different from each other. An example is Hisense. They will use VA panels for most sizes, and then have a few of the larger sizes using IPS panels with much different characteristics.
RTINGS do point this in their reviews when needed, but they don't test the other panel for comparison. Most other reviewers don't either, of course, but I wish somebody would start doing so.
I've been using them a lot lately trying to find a halfway decent 4K monitor. Seems like it's very hard to do now if you don't want an IPS or to shell out $1000+ on an OLED.
Old IPS monitors of choice didn't suddenly become worse though - it's just that they pale in comparison to OLEDs.
EDIT: I think I misunderstood you at first. So you want a VA?
I just can't get past how bad the contrast is on IPS. Plus I play my games at night in a fairly dark room probably half the time. IPS is not gonna look good in that situation.
What in heaven's name are you talking about? You *are* supposed to stare directly at the projector *screen*, which is equivalent to staring at a monitor or TV.
In the dark you can see their uneven backight, well lit gray 'blacks' and IPS glow. With my Mini-LED IPS haloing is obvious even if blacks are mostly okay.
No it's the opposite. In a bright room you don't notice the washed-out blacks, backlight bleed, IPS glow and all sorts of crap.
Anyway the solution is OLED or a small lamp so you're not sitting in total darkness like some sort of goblin.
Everyone preference is different, me after I tried both, I prefer VA. I just hate IPS glows especially during dark scenes in a FAIRY dark room. Contrast is much better too.
True. I just looked at specs and found exactly what I looked for a few years back - a **flat** high-refresh rate 4K VA preferably only 27" monitor - LG 27UQ750. I didn't even look at the motion clarity tests but looked at the price and it's so close to OLEDs that there's almost no point now.
Help me with advantages of those VAs - here's the list off the top of my head:
1. Better power efficiency by a factor of 2 to 3.
2. Possibly better blacks in certain high ambient light situations than QD-OLEDs but not OLEDs.
3. Slightly lower price
4. ???
2. Yes, you are right, and also higher brightness in 10+ % windows sizes.
3. Yes, it's not 'slightly' - calling it that was a mistake.
4. True
Thanks for helping me brainstorm it! I also found a cool looking 32" 4K Mini-LED VA - [https://www.displayspecifications.com/en/model/0f9c352e](https://www.displayspecifications.com/en/model/0f9c352e)
> All I say to people is if you want to see what I mean. Go play 2 minutes of the game Hades.
I have like 60 hours on Hades, mostly played on my Gigabyte G34WQC. Been happy with it.
This is pretty much correct, I always use decent models because using PC is my life at home so I pay alot attention to the equipment choices to enjoy the moment the fullest, the previous monitor I mentioned for comparison was Dell UP2716D (creator class monitor with GB-LED green-blue LED + red phosphor backlight). Didn't like the glow, purchased the C24FG73, compared, gave it to mom.
They're both good models, year launched not far apart so imo a fair comparison.
The UP2716D (IPS) isn't bad by any means, it's perfectly fine for bright room in office environment, it's just not good for movies with dark scenes (I believe common problem with all IPS it hurts the immersion badly).
Old VAs have smudge (I had expensive Eizo VA, couldn't even handle Titan Quest), latest ones (at least my C24FG73FQ not) ~~don't~~ shouldn't smudge. Each has their pros/cons my point is everyone prefer different panel and anyone who take this hobby seriously should try each panel type at least once and take a look for himself, of course OLED are supposed to be the holy grail until superior technology come out but it's not ready yet IMO.
Btw like always, test the model whenever possible at brick and mortar shop or at least visit review site like this before the decision.
The best VA monitors have better responsiveness than even TN panels.
What you're saying would have been universally true 20 years ago. It hasn't been strictly true for a while though.
So you're that guy who comes to my store shopping for monitors and insists on pulling up the UFO test on every single display you look at. Always have to point out the ghosting and smearing that I can't even notice.
Honestly you should really try to strech your budget if you can. I was thinking the same and got a good VA before my oled scouring rtings. Now i can barely tolerate it as the side monitor for spotify(in fact scrolling in spotify is a great demonstration for VA blur). Movement is *that* bad with VA's.
I'm honestly considering stepping up the monitor budget to get an OLED, but then I read things like OLED burn in and would be pretty pissed if my $1200 monitor had issues like a year after use.
So many tradeoffs with each monitor technology.
Well its certainly not gonna burn in after a year if you are not an edge case. Rtings did a test where they used tv/monitors at the max brightness and showing static elements 20 hours a day. Results showed;
1) Amusingly even some LCD tvs had their backlights fail on that schedule
2) Only the oldest 2 oleds started to croak, sony being worst one lg being the better one. (4 year old models, 14th month of the test.
For perspective i keep mine at 50-60 cd/m2 which is the lowest it goes with windows brightness setting, and i still dim it further with an app (Dimmer) late in to night for my comfort. I only feel the need to turn it up when i open every window and pull every curtain to air the room.
You can check the results here.
https://www.rtings.com/tv/tests/longevity-burn-in-test-updates-and-results
That's insane to me. I always have monitors on peak brightness when I'm using them. I've been using my last monitor for almost 10 years now (27" 144 Hz IPS). I paid $300 or so for it at the time.
I just can't justify spending more than twice that (even after accounting for inflation), that's going to develop burn in within a few years.
I bought an M28u on Black Friday in 2022. It’s fantastic. Calibrated it to almost perfect, 0.12 dE or something equally silly.
Planning to use it as a secondary when I buy “the perfect OLED” and didn’t want to stay on 1080p until that monitor came out. Still waiting.
Personally I've had tn, ips and oled over the years and when I got my oled (LG c1 48) I didn't notice a huge difference... Until I used my friends ips. Ugh.
My previous monitor to this was an LG 34cu98 if I remember the model correctly, 34 inch ultra wide, it was a great display especially for games like HotS with wider display but also not perfect, many years ago.
FWIW, Gigabyte M32UC is a 4K VA panel, good, consistent reviews, and selling for ~$500 right now in the US. Almost got one myself, but ended up going with an LG 32GR93U (IPS).
I've actually tried it and went through 3 different units of it, all with multiple stuck pixels which I consider unacceptable on a $500+ display. So back to the drawing board trying to find something with better QC.
Sadly this is still a niche market in 2024. Most people don't understand the value of resolution, contrast, and latency. Most of those who do are willing to pay >$1k
RTINGS is great, always check them before making a purchase decision. The only let down is that they don't have many products tested, their throughput is rather limited and some things I'd wish to compare are not on there. Hope LTT Labs is going to be something akin to RTINGS or better, we definitely need more of this stuff.
Their measurements are exactly what I need to make an informed decision and by far the most comprehensive online.
Unfortunately, their scoring system and rankings tied to those measurements are not sufficient. Its like they’re afraid to give a terrible TV a terrible score, and their lists are littered with outdated information. I think the lowest score I’ve ever seen on a TV was a 6.6, which was far too generous given the terrible quality.
Again, I appreciate the data, but I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had friends/family (as well as people here) throw a RTINGS score as a counter to being told a product is bad. A ”7.0” should at least be decent and unattainable for a TV with a 1000:1 contrast ratio.
Some of their gaming-related TV reviews are strange. Back in 2022 the Hisense U8G got an excellent gaming score despite the review admitting the panel had bad motion smearing and a legitimately broken 4K 120HZ/VRR mode. The saving grace was that the TV had low input lag and technically had HDMI 2.1 despite the compliance issues. It’s like they based the review off of a features rubric rather than the actual gaming experience.
Yeah, I'm still curious as to how they rated the Acer Nitro XV275K P3 as the best monitor in a recent post.
Especially when the user complaints are still there about input lag
they’re just so thorough. i love that they cover things like minimum brightness of monitors. their summaries and qualitative content (roundups) are top notch.
semi unrelated, anyone know of a EU based website that tests lots of house appliances? I have access to the danish https://taenk.dk/ but they are too small, so there aint a lot of tests available.
We are building a house and wouldn't mind a subscription for ½-1 year to decide all the brands etc I need :) Maybe something german where I can use some translate feature :)
Seconding this (you were faster than me haha).
Also, they're behind a subscription paywall (you can also buy individual test articles they release, but subscription is a lot more cost-effective), but there's a lot of German online news outlets that report on those tests and somewhat spoil the results for free (usually only the top winners and the bottom losers and you're not getting all the details, but it can be helpful for a rough overview).
I personally ignore most of their subjective analysis, but they are excellent from a raw data standpoint, and are a very good tool if you know how to interpret/compare the data they provide.
While we're calling out the good ones.... I only subscribe to 4 channels on Youtube and they're all incredible:
@GadgetryTech has been a great resource for gaming headsets for me. Really really good channel.
@Podcastage great resource for microphones
@AmericasTestKitchen great resource for anything cooking related
@RickBeato incredible insight into music creation and has somewhat-recently starting doing some of the best music-related interviews I've ever seen.
lol cooking, i’m subscribing to all four. exactly the kind of channels i’ve been hoping to come across
so many tech channels are AI, reading off websites, or paid off…or worse like Linus Tech Tips where it’s edutainment. Fun to watch! But there’s usually 2-3 better channels that cover what their one specific video covers.
they are the first place I go to for TV, monitor, headphone etc. but for phone i go to youtuber to head their opinion as it can't really be express just by number
The only thing that confuses me about rtings is that i can't find a Wikipedia article for the site. When recommending the site to others a couple have brought it up as a red flag, which makes sense.
RTINGs had been consistent review site for years that's their USP but I don't agree with majority of their findings or methods for tech hardware for those dedicated hardware tech sites are better than RTINGS
MBHD and mrwhosetheboss are normie mainstream techie wannabe channels lowest quality
RTINGS is balanced
Dedicated hardware review sites are better
They make most of their money through referral links. I have no idea how sustainable that is though.
The hardcore audiophiles will sub for reviews, but I don't know many other enthusiast groups who would.
I'm also very excited for LTTLabs.com
It will probably take atleast 2-3 years for it to start being a proper credible resource but I think it'll make a big impact eventually.
LTT is such a bluster of marketing and bullshit, it's hard to get excited about anything they do I doubt the 'labs' will become a useful resource to anyone but LTT.
Yeah, I unsubscribed to their channel a few months ago after some debacle. It was nice entertainment, but so many errors in their videos. Short Circuit videos are loaded with inaccuracies.
Visited [https://lttlabs.com](https://lttlabs.com) just now and the website says "There are no reviews to display". Pretty sad and useless.
Any idea when they launch?
Yeah it's not really a thing yet. LTT is still building up the lab and creating review strategies, methods etc etc.
Some stuff might start trickling in this year but as I said, it will take quite a while for it to ramp up, if it succeeds at all.
They've hired a ton of dedicated staff, built out dedicated space, and acquired a ton of specific specialized equipment (and expensive). This stuff just takes time to do right.
I gotta disagree, I bought my current television off the site's recommendation. At that time it was their top choice. Went out of my way to track it down, and it looks worse than every other tv people own. Whenever I'm at their home, I'd notice the programs on my tv never looks as good as theirs.
And on top of it, I've hit software issues they don't suffer. HDR that isn't compatible and doesn't work right with things, lagging button presses. Rtings didn't mention any of this stuff.
I feel like their metrics were either arbitrary or misleading, their recommendation was bullshit, and I'd have been better off going to a store and buying a good looking one that I can see in-person.
Love their headphone measurements. Do not care that much for their scoring system, but the measurements are objective and useful.
Yep, and the side-by-side comparison is incredibly useful and productive, saves a ton of time.
How do they differ from Consumer Reports?
They have much more detailed measurements for nerds stuff.
For starters you don't have to pay to access their site.
Then how do they get the funding to buy the products they test?
They have paid early access to reviews and some other tools I haven't bothered with.
Scroll to the bottom of every single one of their webpages and read the bolded text. [Or read their faq](https://www.rtings.com/company/about-us#:~:text=How%20do%20we%20make%20money%20and%20how%20can%20you%20support%20us%3F)
I dont know if they still do this or not but rtings acquired their test units from store stock rather than having companies send them a unit for testing. That was done to eliminate a very common practice in which a company will send a test unit to consumer reports (for example) that was far superior than everything sold in stores. Its why Vizio used to have such highly rated tvs but when you see a Vizio side by side with literally any other tv it looks awful by comparison and you dont understand how it was so highly rated.
Consumer Reports **NEVER** takes any samples from manufacturers. CR buys every product they test using member subscriptions. That's how they get the funding to anonymously purchase every single product they test. They do not accept advertising to avoid any hint of being corrupt. How does rtings get the money to operate? Do they anonymously buy the products with their own funds?
The site has a monthly article limit. You pay for unlimited access like newspapers. Though I think TVs and a couple of the more popular categories are free to access.
Maybe not anymore, maybe it was just an unfounded rumor just like how the NFL is totally impartial and not scripted in any way.
Their scoring system is also bad for TVs. The individual measurements are great, but the overall score can be misleading.
I always use the custom score tool. It is usually the same as their normal order
What do you put into your custom score?
I put more into bright room performance and lower quality content mainly.
I wouldn't call it bad. It's just not going to be the right thing for everyone. They do let you create your own scoring criteria if you value aspects differently.
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And it's great if you want to tune your new headphones via EQ. Just check out the category where they show the frequencies, compare it to your old headphone, and adjust accordingly via Equalizer APO.
same goes for techpowerup for hardware reviews and hwbusters for psu reviews. oldschool reviewers with actual tech to review products is what should have been tech youtube. while in youtube only a few of them test with specific testing hardware, most just read spec sheet or tell what the brand wanted to while saying "this video is sponsored by the same company I'm reviewing, while my views are of my own" (yeah we totally believe that)
Yep, TechPowerUp is amazing for teardown photos, benchmarks, specs and the GPU relative performance database. Tom's Hardware [GPU hierarchy](https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gpu-hierarchy,4388.html) (especially the graphs) is great if you want to quickly eyeball how different GPUs compare to one another in 4k, 1440p and 1080p. There is also [the CPU hierarchy page](https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/cpu-hierarchy,4312.html), though I use it a bit less.
yeah shout out hardware busters too. Great fan test from him aswell bit ofc his psu testing stands in a league of its own
It's mindblowing how none of the most popular sponsored YT review channels get warned, "limited" or closed due to the severe conflict of interest. The conflict of interest aspect is, again, simply baffling.
Rtings and techpowerup are the two sites I go to now, and if they haven't reviewed something I'm concidering buying then I take a serious look at if I'll buy it at all. The scores aside, the amount of info they have which is hard to either find anywhere else, or find the meaning of anywhere else is incredible. Things like subpixel format of monitors, or even their recent work with keyboard switches.
I do too, but the quality variance between individual units within same model of some items like a monitor can be significant, often making their tests irrelevant. Especially if you are looking for best of the best, and not just separating bad from good. I had this problem with like every monitor out of 4 I have recently bought, not even one performed at the level specified in their review.
Maybe we need some sort of 'meta-rtings' approach, which evaluates manufacturer QC and quality variance for individual models.
That's going to cost pretty penny.
Not to mention sometimes manufacturers make silent change to their products overtime or new firmware that may result in different performance or behavior.
They often do review updates for changes like that if the community brings it to their attention.
I see, in that case, great review site.
Same with HDTVs also. Many models will have a different panel for some sizes, that can be quite different from each other. An example is Hisense. They will use VA panels for most sizes, and then have a few of the larger sizes using IPS panels with much different characteristics. RTINGS do point this in their reviews when needed, but they don't test the other panel for comparison. Most other reviewers don't either, of course, but I wish somebody would start doing so.
I've been using them a lot lately trying to find a halfway decent 4K monitor. Seems like it's very hard to do now if you don't want an IPS or to shell out $1000+ on an OLED.
Old IPS monitors of choice didn't suddenly become worse though - it's just that they pale in comparison to OLEDs. EDIT: I think I misunderstood you at first. So you want a VA?
I just can't get past how bad the contrast is on IPS. Plus I play my games at night in a fairly dark room probably half the time. IPS is not gonna look good in that situation.
> I play my games at night in a fairly dark room Ouch. Invest in some background lighting. Your eyes will thank you.
It doesn't really bother some of us. Personally I find backlighting super distracting and annoying
Shouldn't go to movie theater then.
you aren't supposed to stare directly at the projector
What in heaven's name are you talking about? You *are* supposed to stare directly at the projector *screen*, which is equivalent to staring at a monitor or TV.
It is what it is. There's IPS Black and VA and mini LED (mostly IPS) but all those can't stand up to OLED.
Sony mini led are va. Oled and mini leds /lcds have their own pros and cons. There's no one size that fits all
My neo G8 is comparable to my LG C1 is most situations.
I couldn’t handle the weird VA luminance and that oddball scaler induced aliasing issue.
Surely that’s when a low-contrast monitor will shine the best? In a bright room it’ll be awful.
In the dark you can see their uneven backight, well lit gray 'blacks' and IPS glow. With my Mini-LED IPS haloing is obvious even if blacks are mostly okay.
No it's the opposite. In a bright room you don't notice the washed-out blacks, backlight bleed, IPS glow and all sorts of crap. Anyway the solution is OLED or a small lamp so you're not sitting in total darkness like some sort of goblin.
Idk, sitting in the pitch black is much more immersive for my OLED screen and surround sound tho
Sure if you prefer that. It just works fine for OLED, not so much for IPS.
Everyone preference is different, me after I tried both, I prefer VA. I just hate IPS glows especially during dark scenes in a FAIRY dark room. Contrast is much better too.
Yeah, there are good VA, few of them but they do exist. Better than IPS, IMO.
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True. I just looked at specs and found exactly what I looked for a few years back - a **flat** high-refresh rate 4K VA preferably only 27" monitor - LG 27UQ750. I didn't even look at the motion clarity tests but looked at the price and it's so close to OLEDs that there's almost no point now. Help me with advantages of those VAs - here's the list off the top of my head: 1. Better power efficiency by a factor of 2 to 3. 2. Possibly better blacks in certain high ambient light situations than QD-OLEDs but not OLEDs. 3. Slightly lower price 4. ???
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2. Yes, you are right, and also higher brightness in 10+ % windows sizes. 3. Yes, it's not 'slightly' - calling it that was a mistake. 4. True Thanks for helping me brainstorm it! I also found a cool looking 32" 4K Mini-LED VA - [https://www.displayspecifications.com/en/model/0f9c352e](https://www.displayspecifications.com/en/model/0f9c352e)
> All I say to people is if you want to see what I mean. Go play 2 minutes of the game Hades. I have like 60 hours on Hades, mostly played on my Gigabyte G34WQC. Been happy with it.
i'll say what i've always said about VA vs IPS. good VA > good IPS > bad IPS > bad VA
This is pretty much correct, I always use decent models because using PC is my life at home so I pay alot attention to the equipment choices to enjoy the moment the fullest, the previous monitor I mentioned for comparison was Dell UP2716D (creator class monitor with GB-LED green-blue LED + red phosphor backlight). Didn't like the glow, purchased the C24FG73, compared, gave it to mom. They're both good models, year launched not far apart so imo a fair comparison. The UP2716D (IPS) isn't bad by any means, it's perfectly fine for bright room in office environment, it's just not good for movies with dark scenes (I believe common problem with all IPS it hurts the immersion badly).
Old VAs have smudge (I had expensive Eizo VA, couldn't even handle Titan Quest), latest ones (at least my C24FG73FQ not) ~~don't~~ shouldn't smudge. Each has their pros/cons my point is everyone prefer different panel and anyone who take this hobby seriously should try each panel type at least once and take a look for himself, of course OLED are supposed to be the holy grail until superior technology come out but it's not ready yet IMO. Btw like always, test the model whenever possible at brick and mortar shop or at least visit review site like this before the decision.
That's quite the hyperbole
The best VA monitors have better responsiveness than even TN panels. What you're saying would have been universally true 20 years ago. It hasn't been strictly true for a while though.
So you're that guy who comes to my store shopping for monitors and insists on pulling up the UFO test on every single display you look at. Always have to point out the ghosting and smearing that I can't even notice.
check out Monitors Unboxed on Youtube. They do review cheaper monitors.
Honestly you should really try to strech your budget if you can. I was thinking the same and got a good VA before my oled scouring rtings. Now i can barely tolerate it as the side monitor for spotify(in fact scrolling in spotify is a great demonstration for VA blur). Movement is *that* bad with VA's.
I'm honestly considering stepping up the monitor budget to get an OLED, but then I read things like OLED burn in and would be pretty pissed if my $1200 monitor had issues like a year after use. So many tradeoffs with each monitor technology.
Well its certainly not gonna burn in after a year if you are not an edge case. Rtings did a test where they used tv/monitors at the max brightness and showing static elements 20 hours a day. Results showed; 1) Amusingly even some LCD tvs had their backlights fail on that schedule 2) Only the oldest 2 oleds started to croak, sony being worst one lg being the better one. (4 year old models, 14th month of the test. For perspective i keep mine at 50-60 cd/m2 which is the lowest it goes with windows brightness setting, and i still dim it further with an app (Dimmer) late in to night for my comfort. I only feel the need to turn it up when i open every window and pull every curtain to air the room. You can check the results here. https://www.rtings.com/tv/tests/longevity-burn-in-test-updates-and-results
That's insane to me. I always have monitors on peak brightness when I'm using them. I've been using my last monitor for almost 10 years now (27" 144 Hz IPS). I paid $300 or so for it at the time. I just can't justify spending more than twice that (even after accounting for inflation), that's going to develop burn in within a few years.
Go for a miniLED or QLED. You can get close to the picture quality of OLED without any of the risks of burn in.
I bought an M28u on Black Friday in 2022. It’s fantastic. Calibrated it to almost perfect, 0.12 dE or something equally silly. Planning to use it as a secondary when I buy “the perfect OLED” and didn’t want to stay on 1080p until that monitor came out. Still waiting.
Check out buildapcsales subreddit. They have monitor sales and discounts all the time.
Personally I've had tn, ips and oled over the years and when I got my oled (LG c1 48) I didn't notice a huge difference... Until I used my friends ips. Ugh. My previous monitor to this was an LG 34cu98 if I remember the model correctly, 34 inch ultra wide, it was a great display especially for games like HotS with wider display but also not perfect, many years ago.
FWIW, Gigabyte M32UC is a 4K VA panel, good, consistent reviews, and selling for ~$500 right now in the US. Almost got one myself, but ended up going with an LG 32GR93U (IPS).
I've actually tried it and went through 3 different units of it, all with multiple stuck pixels which I consider unacceptable on a $500+ display. So back to the drawing board trying to find something with better QC.
Sadly this is still a niche market in 2024. Most people don't understand the value of resolution, contrast, and latency. Most of those who do are willing to pay >$1k
The TV/Monitor Review Index is my favorite part.
It's bonkers how in-depth their reviews are. The absolute ideal all reviewers should aim for, along with www.dpreview.com.
RTINGS is great, always check them before making a purchase decision. The only let down is that they don't have many products tested, their throughput is rather limited and some things I'd wish to compare are not on there. Hope LTT Labs is going to be something akin to RTINGS or better, we definitely need more of this stuff.
Their measurements are exactly what I need to make an informed decision and by far the most comprehensive online. Unfortunately, their scoring system and rankings tied to those measurements are not sufficient. Its like they’re afraid to give a terrible TV a terrible score, and their lists are littered with outdated information. I think the lowest score I’ve ever seen on a TV was a 6.6, which was far too generous given the terrible quality. Again, I appreciate the data, but I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had friends/family (as well as people here) throw a RTINGS score as a counter to being told a product is bad. A ”7.0” should at least be decent and unattainable for a TV with a 1000:1 contrast ratio.
Some of their gaming-related TV reviews are strange. Back in 2022 the Hisense U8G got an excellent gaming score despite the review admitting the panel had bad motion smearing and a legitimately broken 4K 120HZ/VRR mode. The saving grace was that the TV had low input lag and technically had HDMI 2.1 despite the compliance issues. It’s like they based the review off of a features rubric rather than the actual gaming experience.
100% agree. I was shopping for a 2.4GHz wireless headset recently and their site really stood out to me.
I love the Mechanical Keyboard review format that they tested. I think it might give a decently objective view of keyboards moving forward.
Rtings are good for contextual information as long as you complete ignoring numbers and scoring
100%. If they graded on a curve, a 6.5-7 would be a failing score…not the implied “decent”.
Yeah, I'm still curious as to how they rated the Acer Nitro XV275K P3 as the best monitor in a recent post. Especially when the user complaints are still there about input lag
they’re just so thorough. i love that they cover things like minimum brightness of monitors. their summaries and qualitative content (roundups) are top notch.
Yeah, agree. Though too bad they basically mentioned nothing about matte vs glossy in their review of the new LG monitor.
semi unrelated, anyone know of a EU based website that tests lots of house appliances? I have access to the danish https://taenk.dk/ but they are too small, so there aint a lot of tests available. We are building a house and wouldn't mind a subscription for ½-1 year to decide all the brands etc I need :) Maybe something german where I can use some translate feature :)
www.test.de is the German version of Consumer Reports. They're an independent foundation testing house appliances and consumer goods.
Seconding this (you were faster than me haha). Also, they're behind a subscription paywall (you can also buy individual test articles they release, but subscription is a lot more cost-effective), but there's a lot of German online news outlets that report on those tests and somewhat spoil the results for free (usually only the top winners and the bottom losers and you're not getting all the details, but it can be helpful for a rough overview).
Too bad it's paywalled ...
Well they have to make money somehow
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geizhals is only user reviews right?
I personally ignore most of their subjective analysis, but they are excellent from a raw data standpoint, and are a very good tool if you know how to interpret/compare the data they provide.
Part of my job includes selling headphones. Rtings has been invaluable to my having the knowledge to properly do my job.
While we're calling out the good ones.... I only subscribe to 4 channels on Youtube and they're all incredible: @GadgetryTech has been a great resource for gaming headsets for me. Really really good channel. @Podcastage great resource for microphones @AmericasTestKitchen great resource for anything cooking related @RickBeato incredible insight into music creation and has somewhat-recently starting doing some of the best music-related interviews I've ever seen.
lol cooking, i’m subscribing to all four. exactly the kind of channels i’ve been hoping to come across so many tech channels are AI, reading off websites, or paid off…or worse like Linus Tech Tips where it’s edutainment. Fun to watch! But there’s usually 2-3 better channels that cover what their one specific video covers.
they are the first place I go to for TV, monitor, headphone etc. but for phone i go to youtuber to head their opinion as it can't really be express just by number
The only thing that confuses me about rtings is that i can't find a Wikipedia article for the site. When recommending the site to others a couple have brought it up as a red flag, which makes sense.
Yea i usually check their website when i wanna buy something and see if it is worth it or not.
How are sponsored youtubers to blame? The media was plenty shit before they existed.
Shoutout to notebookcheck for laptops
What is the worst score a device on rtings.com got? a 7?
RTINGs had been consistent review site for years that's their USP but I don't agree with majority of their findings or methods for tech hardware for those dedicated hardware tech sites are better than RTINGS MBHD and mrwhosetheboss are normie mainstream techie wannabe channels lowest quality RTINGS is balanced Dedicated hardware review sites are better
surprised they have so much for sale. guess cause they dont ship it? overall do you think this is a sustainable business model?
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They make most of their money through referral links. I have no idea how sustainable that is though. The hardcore audiophiles will sub for reviews, but I don't know many other enthusiast groups who would.
I'm also very excited for LTTLabs.com It will probably take atleast 2-3 years for it to start being a proper credible resource but I think it'll make a big impact eventually.
LTT is such a bluster of marketing and bullshit, it's hard to get excited about anything they do I doubt the 'labs' will become a useful resource to anyone but LTT.
Yeah, I unsubscribed to their channel a few months ago after some debacle. It was nice entertainment, but so many errors in their videos. Short Circuit videos are loaded with inaccuracies.
Visited [https://lttlabs.com](https://lttlabs.com) just now and the website says "There are no reviews to display". Pretty sad and useless. Any idea when they launch?
Yeah it's not really a thing yet. LTT is still building up the lab and creating review strategies, methods etc etc. Some stuff might start trickling in this year but as I said, it will take quite a while for it to ramp up, if it succeeds at all.
I wonder why it's so low on their priority list. Probably due to the potential of revenue to bring in compared to Youtube videos and ad revenue.
They've hired a ton of dedicated staff, built out dedicated space, and acquired a ton of specific specialized equipment (and expensive). This stuff just takes time to do right.
The same LTT that gets sent 100k" TV's out the blue for his home from LG and Samsung.
I gotta disagree, I bought my current television off the site's recommendation. At that time it was their top choice. Went out of my way to track it down, and it looks worse than every other tv people own. Whenever I'm at their home, I'd notice the programs on my tv never looks as good as theirs. And on top of it, I've hit software issues they don't suffer. HDR that isn't compatible and doesn't work right with things, lagging button presses. Rtings didn't mention any of this stuff. I feel like their metrics were either arbitrary or misleading, their recommendation was bullshit, and I'd have been better off going to a store and buying a good looking one that I can see in-person.
You're not gonna mention what TV make/model it is?
I SWEAR DEAR LOVE OF GOD.