Kogan sells OLED TVs? How good could it be? Kogan OLED 4K 120Hz Smart AI Google TV – X98J – review

Look, I’ve been reviewing TVs including Kogan TVs for a long time now and I had no idea they were selling OLED TVs. Then a 77 inch behemoth arrived at the EFTM office for review.

This is the X98J OLED from Kogan, featuring Google TV operating system and a 4K 120Hz display.

Unboxing a TV this big is a two person job at least, make no mistakes. I’ve gotta say, the stand had me flummoxed, but after a few attempts, I worked it out. It’s a heavy plate with an angular back stand which is all that holds the TV as if it’s hovering.

Side profile of the Kogan OLED is also impressive. Like LG’s base and mid-range OLED TV’s it has a super thin top half and a bulkier base.

Inputs and Outputs include;

• USB-A 3.0 (5V-1A)
• Antenna
• HDMI 1
• HDMI 2
• HDMI 3 (ARC)
• HDMI 4
• 2 x USB (5V-500mA)
• 3.5mm Earphone
• Composite AV IN
• Ethernet
• Optical Audio

I love the cover for the inputs on the back, it magnetically attaches, so none of that trying to work out on which angle the cover goes in on to get it to attach.

The remote is pretty traditional, with Google trimmings.

Of course I threw on Top Gun Maverick and took in some action scenes. 120Hz refresh rate on this one means the motion looks good.

Kogan quotes 300cd/m² as the brightness – which is a measure of “candela” or luminance, and roughly translated that is 300 nits. This to me comes off as a third of the brightness of a 2024 LG OLED, but I have to say it really isn’t obvious to me.

Look, I’ve got NO DOUBT that if you sat this TV side by side with it’s LG, Samsung and Sony OLED competitors – you’d notice that there is perhaps a deeper level of HDR giving you more visible detail in the darkest areas of the screen, and perhaps you’d notice a difference in brightness. But seriously, who has two TVs side by side?

Let’s talk about OLED. If you don’t know, the reason it’s the best picture quality on the market is because every single pixel on an OLED TV lights it self up – on a regular LED there’s the coloured pixels, and behind them some sort of light shining through. We’ve got that light down to small areas, but nothing as small as each individual pixel.

To Prove it, here’s a close up of the a word showing on the Kogan OLED screen

You’ll see a clear definition between the white text and the black surrounding it. No blooming – this creates a high contrast outcome which is the impressive picture people are looking for.

A fantastic picture quality can be let down by a poor operating system. Kogan’s OLED TVs are running “Google TV” which is the most open system allowing for every app you could want.

And it’s snappy too – really responsive menu system not at all laggy.

The processor I can’t speak to other than to say that the menu’s look and perform well, there’s no talk of “AI Upscaling” here which is where LG and Samsung are really hanging their hats, but all the content I watched looked awesome.

Interestingly, after my experience reviewing Samsung’s top of the line S95F OLED TV on the weekend and learning about Panel Care and Pixel shifting, I dug into the menu of this TV and found that even an affordable Kogan OLED has OLED Panel Care.

This means the pixels shift across the panel so that there’s no “burn in” which was a real issue with OLED in the early generations.

The presence of Panel Care really blew me away. There’s also Wide Colour Gammut settings and much more

Price wise, this is insane. OLED TVs are the most expensive you can find, so to get a 77 inch OLED for $3,599 is just wild.

Let me compare for you on today’s retail prices;

48 inch

• Kogan OLED – $999
• LG OLED – $1,995
• Samsung OLED – $2,495

55 inch

• Kogan OLED – $1,299
• LG OLED – $2,495
• Samsung OLED – $2,495

65 inch

• Kogan OLED – $2,099
• LG OLED – $3,295
• Samsung OLED – $3,295

77 inch

• Kogan OLED – $3,599
• Philips OLED – $4,995
• LG OLED – $5,995
• Samsung OLED – $4,995

No question this is an outstanding deal.

I’d have this as my main lounge room TV. 77 inch is a big big TV – and you simply cannot get an OLED anywhere near the price that Kogan offers.

I’ve read the comments on my Kogan 65 inch video a few weeks ago, it really is hilarious how some people think that everyone has the choice to spend all the extra money. If you’re a gamer looking for OLED the $999 48 inch is crazy good value. Particularly because it goes to 144Hz while the rest of the range does 120Hz.

Web: Kogan