Streaming TV over the internet isn’t the easiest for a TV. Even the first several generations of smart tv didn’t have the power to stream TV reliably. Maybe they could handle Netflix, but even then they would take days to boot up.

If you’re serious about cutting the cord, then a smart TV with some decent speed and power is very, very helpful. I got one smart TV that was a refurbished model from a couple years ago. It took forever just to boot up. It was really frustrating.

Back to what is OLED technology

OLED stands for organic light-emitting diode. That’s all well and good, but what you really need to know is how it performs. I’m sure you’ve seen LED screens since they are everywhere now.

The first flat panel TVs were made using plasma displays. However, those were super heavy and a bit limited in performance. Along came LED displays and the TVs got a lot lighter and thinner.

Now OLED has appeared and they are even better. Why? The most interesting thing about OLED technology is that they have more contrast. This is because the LEDs don’t try to create black anymore. Now they just turn off. This is the darkest black you can get. Therefore, if your screen is black, it looks like it’s off.

For example, the LG E7 65 inch TV that I have has to have a screen saver so that you know it’s still on. It shows these firework-looking explosions of color. My little boy love to watch them, haha.

In any case, that’s what OLED is for.

Is LG OLED special?

Yes! In fact LG is special. Although the technology was first invented by Eastman Kodak way back in 1987, it’s been used variable over those 30 years and finally made it’s way to consumer electronics.

There are several companies that manufacture OLED displays, but in fact LG makes most of them. They manufacture screens for Panasonic, Sony, Toshiba, Phillips, and Loewe. So if you go with one of those brands, you are getting an LG display. And you’ll find a lot of Sony and Panasonic TVs especially on some top lists.

You should also note that LG has a lineup of cheap to expensive TVs in several different sizes. Remember that the entire lineup uses the same display, so you’ll only be considering the other features of the TV set. A lot of people choose to by the less expensive B and C series TVs because of that fact.

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YouTube TV in general has more sports channels than the other guys, at least in the cheaper versions. For each one of them, you can pay more and get more channels.

You can play YouTube TV anywhere these days. It’s great to play on your phone when you are traveling about town. But you can also play it on the Roku or the Apple TV. It’s pretty widely available. All you need is an internet connection. It’s great for smart tvs, like this one.

As with any TV streaming, you’ll probably want some decent speed to your internet connection. Companies like Spectrum all offer 300 mb download speeds mostly anywhere. In some areas, you can get 1gb speeds, which are awesome.

The video quality is good. It’s full HD, although it will degrade if your internet speed dips too low. That can be a little annoying, but it’s not really the fault of YouTube and will happen with any streaming TV service.

The layout of the program guide works pretty well and is actually customizable. You can bring your favorite channels to the top of the list. The one thing is that I have had difficulty finding the program summary/info. So it’s hard to know if you want to watch something until you click on it.

Does YouTube TV ever go down?

This is very important, because we all take for granted that our cable tv will work. But how about these streaming TV services? Will they work during the Superbowl? Or when you were interviewed by that guy on the news? You know you don’t want any outages at those important TV watching times.

I actually did experience an outage for YouTube TV a week or two ago. I was really surprised when it hit. I figured there was a problem with my internet or something. However, my internet was fine. So I used my phone to lookup the outage and sure enough it was ongoing. It didn’t last very long, but it still put some doubt in my head.

Overall, however, I think these services have a pretty good record of uptime. They seem to be pretty reliable.

A Personal Choice

In the end, which streaming TV service you choose really depends on what you like to watch. YouTube TV has clearly positioned itself as the leader in streaming sports. ESPN for example is available at a low subscription price. But if you can’t sacrifice HGTV, then you can always look at a more extensive plan.

If you are interested in the TV streaming services, make sure you check out a decent smart TV to go with it. They are really incredible these days.

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