Which do you feel is better, sRGB or OLED?

[CSDX]

So, I'm trying to find a 2nd job to try to save up for the Steam Deck OLED, even though I at the same time feel I shouldn't try to cause I've already got a Deck and even gave it a bigger SSD. However, it's looking unlikely, so I'm trying to convince myself that I'm better off not trying due to Steam Deck 2 likely having an OLED screen, even though I admittedly feel I've been spoiled by my OLED Switch.

Then I saw Steam Deck got an update that adds its own version of VibrantDeck with something called sRGB. I've tried it out, but admittedly am unsure if it looks much better. Some games look better with vibrant colors, though, while others(namely pixel graphics) look best on the OLED screen. Just in case I'm just being a stubborn little fart, I thought I'd ask here to get 2nd opinions and also cause I can't figure out what proper subreddit to ask.

Do y'all think sRGB is good enough, or do you feel OLED is supreme? Hell, let's throw in QLED while we're at it since that type of LED monitor/TV is starting to gain traction, as I'm sure QLED has its fans.

So, sRGB, OLED, or QLED?

Oh, and please keep things civil, obviously.

Edit: Oh, and I'm also curious if y'all feel the burn-in woes of any of these 3 is worth it.

[PopinFRESH]

sRGB is a color space? OLED and QLED are display panel technologies.

[CSDX]

Originally posted by PopinFRESH:

sRGB is a color space? OLED and QLED are display panel technologies.

Yes, and I am asking what people feel is in their opinion the go-to one, especially since I can't really go to a Best Buy or whatever to compare them all myself.

[invision2212]

you just have FOMO. keep your current deck and enjoy it

[Drak3]

I've had OLED and LCDs of varying backlight styles over the years, and here's how I see it:

OLED vs QLED vs LCD isn't a worthwhile discussion. Generalizations are just that, and there's too much variance in quality for each tech to definitively say that one is better than the other. An excellent LCD absolutely hangs out with good OLED offerings and smashes low end trash that only has an OLED panel to market that it has an OLED panel.
Instead, you should be asking about the specific model/range. In the case of the Deck, yes, the OLED version is a pretty good upgrade.

[PopinFRESH]

Originally posted by invision2212:

you just have FOMO. keep your current deck and enjoy it

^ this. If you are needing to get a second job in order to save up to get a Steam Deck OLED, you shouldn't be considering it. Your current Steam Deck LCD will continue working fine the same way it has been.

By all means, still go out and try to get a second job and keep working at improving your financial position; which part of that is not succumbing to FOMO every time some new shinny comes along. Another 2 - 3 years will come and go faster than you think and in that time your situation may have changed significantly; but you will survive, it will not be the end of the world, if you just use your current Steam Deck LCD until a second generation Steam Deck is launched.

Also I think you missed the point I made previously. sRGB isn't a display panel technology; it is a color space, a measure of what range of colors / how well a panel is able to reproduce specific colors/ranges.

comparing color spaces would be like looking at sRGB, AdobeRGB, DCI-P3, etc.
In otherwords, it is an attribute of a display panel; not a type of display panel.

I.e. the display in the Steam Deck OLED is about 143.7% sRGB and about 102% DCI-P3. Where as the display in the Steam Deck LCD is about 71% sRGB.

Here is a decent article about color gamut.
https://www.uperfectmonitor.com/blogs/portable-monitor/differences-between-color-gamut-srgb-ntsc-adobe-rgb-dci-p3

The option you are referring to in SteamOS, similar to what VibrantDeck does, is essentially a software calibration profile to adjust the renderer to be better / more accurately representative of the sRGB color space on the Steam Deck LCD's panel.

[CSDX]

Originally posted by PopinFRESH:

Originally posted by invision2212:

you just have FOMO. keep your current deck and enjoy it

^ this. If you are needing to get a second job in order to save up to get a Steam Deck OLED, you shouldn't be considering it. Your current Steam Deck LCD will continue working fine the same way it has been.

By all means, still go out and try to get a second job and keep working at improving your financial position; which part of that is not succumbing to FOMO every time some new shinny comes along. Another 2 - 3 years will come and go faster than you think and in that time your situation may have changed significantly; but you will survive, it will not be the end of the world, if you just use your current Steam Deck LCD until a second generation Steam Deck is launched.

Also I think you missed the point I made previously. sRGB isn't a display panel technology; it is a color space, a measure of what range of colors / how well a panel is able to reproduce specific colors/ranges.

comparing color spaces would be like looking at sRGB, AdobeRGB, DCI-P3, etc.
In otherwords, it is an attribute of a display panel; not a type of display panel.

I.e. the display in the Steam Deck OLED is about 143.7% sRGB and about 102% DCI-P3. Where as the display in the Steam Deck LCD is about 71% sRGB.

Here is a decent article about color gamut.
https://www.uperfectmonitor.com/blogs/portable-monitor/differences-between-color-gamut-srgb-ntsc-adobe-rgb-dci-p3

The option you are referring to in SteamOS, similar to what VibrantDeck does, is essentially a software calibration profile to adjust the renderer to be better / more accurately representative of the sRGB color space on the Steam Deck LCD's panel.

Ngl, y'all are right about this. It's definitely FOMO, but it's also admittedly that even with sRGB and vibrantdeck, it doesn't look as good color wise as the OLED imho. Though, as you said, 2-3 years will go by in a snap.

Though, I still feel I need to get a 2nd job, cause my main job suffers from low payroll, and I don't want to leave it for three reasons.
1) I get to use the break room to rest up from bike rides when I go grocery shopping at the nearby store on my days off.
2) I got too attached to everyone there(I understand if you think that's a poor reason).
And 3) Dental insurance. I finally got my wisdom teeth pulled over a week ago. I just wish I got it done sooner so I don't have to wait until May to remove the supplemental dental that wasn't needed.

Either way, yeah, I'm gonna try to not let OLED spoil me so much. Thanks for the help.

[CSDX]

Originally posted by Drak3:

I've had OLED and LCDs of varying backlight styles over the years, and here's how I see it:

OLED vs QLED vs LCD isn't a worthwhile discussion. Generalizations are just that, and there's too much variance in quality for each tech to definitively say that one is better than the other. An excellent LCD absolutely hangs out with good OLED offerings and smashes low end trash that only has an OLED panel to market that it has an OLED panel.
Instead, you should be asking about the specific model/range. In the case of the Deck, yes, the OLED version is a pretty good upgrade.

What do you feel is the best setting for the sRGB update then, if I may ask?

[CSDX]

Btw, tbh, I'm still curious about the consensus of OLED vs QLED, at least.

[Drak3]

Originally posted by CSDX:

What do you feel is the best setting for the sRGB update then, if I may ask?

I haven't messed with it at all. I'm personally of the opinion that the Deck's screen is perfectly fine for most games, and having the most accurate colors isn't much of a concern for me when gaming on a 7" screen.

That's also a highly subjective thing. Color accuracy (and temp) preference changes person to person. What works for me might not work for you, best thing is to play around with it and find what works for you.

[CSDX]

Originally posted by Drak3:

Originally posted by CSDX:

What do you feel is the best setting for the sRGB update then, if I may ask?

I haven't messed with it at all. I'm personally of the opinion that the Deck's screen is perfectly fine for most games, and having the most accurate colors isn't much of a concern for me when gaming on a 7" screen.

That's also a highly subjective thing. Color accuracy (and temp) preference changes person to person. What works for me might not work for you, best thing is to play around with it and find what works for you.

That's fair.

[PopinFRESH]

Originally posted by CSDX:

Btw, tbh, I'm still curious about the consensus of OLED vs QLED, at least.

As Drak3 noted; generalizing about a type of panel isn't all that worthwhile; and I'd argue there wouldn't be a consensus.

All display panel technologies; well actually all technologies, have tradeoffs. QLED (which is really just a samsung branding) is just another enhancement on LED backlit LCD panels. Various advancements in tech, such as FALD or QLED, are trying to solve problems to minimize those tradeoffs.

µLED (microLED) is another panel tech on the horizon; but is still extremely expensive to produce and early large panel TVs using it cost in the hundreds of thousands dollars.

OLED also has drawbacks and tradeoffs.

So back to Drak3's point, a poorly engineered OLED can be worse for various use cases than a well engineered LCD (of which there are a plethora of LCD panel types). When looking at displays, you should look at the specific thing you are trying to compare rather than trying to compare the type of things you are comparing.

[CSDX]

Originally posted by PopinFRESH:

Originally posted by CSDX:

Btw, tbh, I'm still curious about the consensus of OLED vs QLED, at least.

As Drak3 noted; generalizing about a type of panel isn't all that worthwhile; and I'd argue there wouldn't be a consensus.

All display panel technologies; well actually all technologies, have tradeoffs. QLED (which is really just a samsung branding) is just another enhancement on LED backlit LCD panels. Various advancements in tech, such as FALD or QLED, are trying to solve problems to minimize those tradeoffs.

µLED (microLED) is another panel tech on the horizon; but is still extremely expensive to produce and early large panel TVs using it cost in the hundreds of thousands dollars.

OLED also has drawbacks and tradeoffs.

So back to Drak3's point, a poorly engineered OLED can be worse for various use cases than a well engineered LCD (of which there are a plethora of LCD panel types). When looking at displays, you should look at the specific thing you are trying to compare rather than trying to compare the type of things you are comparing.

I see. Thanks for the info. I'm gonna stick with my Deck the way it is for the time being. Same with my TV which, truth be told, I don't know what kind of panel it even has(it's a Samsung Crystal UHD TU7000 Smart TV, if that means anything), & my only issues gaming on it that I've had is that Metroid Prime Remastered was so dark to see that I had to change my Switch's RGB mode to Limited(not sure of any other fix tbh, and it's why I largely played it handheld), and that certain pixel games don't look as good as they do on OLED such as Sea of Stars, which of course is super minor and I think I found a decent setting for that to work it out.

[RedBaronK™]

If you are going to play the latest and the greatest AAA titles then I guess might as well go for the new one... It'll look better and I heard there's been some performance improvements due to the chip being 6nm and slightly different.

But if you are playing old games and will continue to play older games and titles from way back when, then keep what you have... That's what I'm doing.

[Krid]

Short version:
If you do not own a Steam Deck, the OLED is the better option.
If you do own a Steam Deck, your current deck is the better option.

[CSDX]

Originally posted by RedBaronK™:

If you are going to play the latest and the greatest AAA titles then I guess might as well go for the new one... It'll look better and I heard there's been some performance improvements due to the chip being 6nm and slightly different.

But if you are playing old games and will continue to play older games and titles from way back when, then keep what you have... That's what I'm doing.

It's a mix of both, although I admittedly haven't touched many old games even with EmuDeck due to focus on attempting to finish my miles long backlog. Hoping to try out a WWE PS2 game eventually, though. I'm also curious as to whether or not PS2/Gamecube/Xbox games used/needed CRT filters.

Originally posted by Krid:

Short version:
If you do not own a Steam Deck, the OLED is the better option.
If you do own a Steam Deck, your current deck is the better option.

Noted. I'm sad it's looking like I can't truly get it, but noted.