My biggest issue with OLED TVs hasn’t gone away – but hope is on the horizon

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Despite our constant pleas, chipmakers haven’t bothered addressing the ongoing TV HDMI 2.1 shortage

Philips OLED809 OLED TV
(Image credit: What Hi-Fi? / Netflix, Our Planet II)

We’re over halfway through 2024 and that means I’ve had a chance to test some of the year’s most interesting TVs.

And that also means I can safely confirm 2024 is shaping up to be a fantastic, or at the very least interesting, year for OLED. On a personal level, highlights include Panasonic showcasing some incredibly enticing looking OLED sets at a press event I attended earlier this year, including the MLA-equipped Z95A. Then there was Philips coming out all guns blazing with its latest LG C4 rival, the OLED809.

So if you have two consoles and an Atmos set-up you need more than two HDMI 2.1 inputs, if you want to avoid a fair amount of cable swapping. As a man with two cats that will attack any wire you leave unplugged and a veteran Panasonic TX-55JZ1500B user, I can confirm you definitely want to avoid swapping cables as much as possible. 

I cannot tell you how many times my cats either destroyed the loose HDMI cable's end or pulled items off the stand, and at one point nearly the TV itself, while tugging on them – the tiny "cuties" are stronger than they look, especially when they work together…

I know for a fact I’m not alone in my annoyance at many TVs' limited HDMI 2.1 connectivity. Our TV and AV editor Tom Parsons, staff writer Lewis Empson as well as several non-work friends all get riled by it as well.

Here's hoping it happens.

Alastair Stevenson
Alastair Stevenson
Editor in Chief

Alastair is What Hi-Fi?’s editor in chief. He has well over a decade’s experience as a journalist working in both B2C and B2B press. During this time he’s covered everything from the launch of the first Amazon Echo to government cyber security policy. Prior to joining What Hi-Fi? he served as Trusted Reviews’ editor-in-chief. Outside of tech, he has a Masters from King’s College London in Ethics and the Philosophy of Religion, is an enthusiastic, but untalented, guitar player and runs a webcomic in his spare time.