appear wrote:

1) Is an LG OLED refresh just a few weeks/months away?

Refresh? Some of the early orders are only recently shipping? It hasn't even been launched in the States yet!

Yes, the panel is a lot better, but I also love the look at the BV14 and if you can get one half price, then go for it. There's a huge difference between a half price BV14 and full price Eclipse.

Who knows if the 14 gets an LG OLED screen - it would be nice, but personally speaking, i wouldn't hold my breath.

The LG OLED panel is surely much better than the panel in the 14. I returned my 14, largely because the panel didnt produce a good image under some circumstances. It was pretty good for watching sport, and for that i actually liked it - its a "strong image" for sure. But for movies and dramas with lots of dark scenes, it was actually not good at all. The software wasn't the main issue really - it was poor to start with, got better - dont know how it stands now.

In exchange i got an ex display Avant 55 (pre Android) where the panel tech is better - the image is generally more pleasing, not as vivid for sure as the newer LCD panels in the 14 and Avant NG, but more natural, more even around the edges and a bit better at darker scenes. Overall i'm happy with it, though its still well short of the 12-65 i have in another room. 

The presumption here is that 4K HDR isn't important to you (and me)  -  if it is, then the newer OLED's are the way to go.

Thanks so much for the input! Very informative and helpful!

I was reading up on 4k streaming. What is the current solution for streaming Netflix and Youtube 4k content? Do I need to add a Apple TV 4K or does the tv handle it natively?

Now that's a sticky subject (sort of).

The BV14 (plus other Android platform BV's) were supposed to have Netflix natively, but it was disabled (i think more by Netflix - they're a bit fussy about which TV / platform combinations they authorise). Because it was disabled late / around product launch, you can actually install the Netflix native app through the Google Play app store on the TV. For some reason, it forgets its not authorised, and will install it.

A few of us BV14 customers, though not all, managed to actually get it to work sometimes - i watched quite a bit on it. But it would sometimes not work, and show an 'app not supported' type message. Anyway, all a bit janky and in the end its not supposed to work on the 14 and the like.

None of that bothered me actually, as i had a Fire TV (4K version) box connected to the tv, so i could happily get Netflix and YouTube 4K. If you dont mind the additional box, i wouldn't let the messy / de-implementation of native Netflix be a deal breaker. Native YouTube was fine, and pretty good actually PQ wise.

The Fire TV box is good (i'm an Apple fan too), snappy, its Youtube app is leagues ahead of the Apple TV equivalent, its not even close. I use Youtube a lot, so i'm a bit more sensitive to the poor app on the Apple TV - by way of context.

I would also read up on the Apple TV 4K before buying - it's been strongly reviewed but for one thing. Once it knows the TV you have - with the 14, a 4K SDR panel - it will set its output for all content to that resolution / frame rate.  The consequence though is that HD content will get upscaled by the Apple TV box to 4K (to match your 14's capability), rather than show it natively in HD and let the TV do its tricks. And from reviews, the upscaling can be not very good, lets say, especially with content from apps other than iTunes.

So a bit of a curates egg - until they implement flexible mode switching, and not forcing their box to upscale.

Not compelling to me, unless you (a) have an HDR panel and (b) you have lots of previous iTunes movie purchases, which Apple will upgrade to 4K versions free over time (a great and very customer friendly move by them).

In the end, HDR is not important to me - so my Avant 55 + Fire TV combination is dandy. All the B&O stuff works, the Fire TV provides the smart stuff - happy days. I loved the look of the 14, but dont miss it very much, and the well functioning above combination trumps the looks of the 14.