Let's talk TVs

[Phoenixkh]

I wouldn't be shocked to learn that Vizio sets come out of a Sony factory somewhere.... their picture quality matches up pretty well with the Sony sets... at least, this was the case a few years ago when we were looking... but didn't buy.

I'll have to make sure my Onkyo receiver will work with whatever set we end up choosing. I don't want to upgrade to 4K all the way. I run everything through the receiver since our TV is a dumb as we are.. It's just a monitor.

 

[Jay21]

Most LCD TVs have screens made by Samsung or LG. Their images and colors will all be pretty similar. The main differences between the TVs is how they handle motion, resolution and upscaling, color calibration, and refresh rate. Vizio has the same wonderful colors as everyone else, but they are absolutely bottom of the barrel in terms of motion and resolution/upscaling. Professional reviewers have shown that Vizio actually incorrectly upscales certain resolutions.

Some people will never notice issues like motion, color calibration, and resolution/upscaling. That's actually a blessing because they will be over the moon with any TV they see in Walmart. They can have a fantastic experience that's quite inexpensive. But once you see the image issues, you'll never un-see them, and you'll be forced to buy better TVs like Samsung and Sony if you want the best experience.

 

[FarmerTan]

When we moved at the beginning of 2021, my wife wanted a bigger TV than our 40" Samsung LED because she wanted the sofa further back than our old place. We bought a 65" Sony X90 4K UHD LED/LCD from Costco for around $1400. I fibbed a little and told her if she got the tv, I'd need to special order a new 4K UHD all-region disc player to watch my foreign silent films. She agreed, as long as she doesn't ever have to be in the same room as a silent film. I still don't understand the difference between Oled and Led, 4K Blu vs 4K UHD. We're retired and watch mostly older movies and tv shows, so the Sony is fine. My wife is one who insists our dvds don't need upgrading to BD, much less 4K. The only 4K UHD disc I've bought to date was Cabinet of Dr Caligari, a 1920 silent. I have to admit the 4K was a big improvement over my BD. I wasn't expecting that in a 100+ year old film. Unfortunately, the 4K reviews of some BD talkies I had hoped to upgrade, haven't been that good.

Good points my friend.

 

[FarmerTan]

This statement here is everything I need to know to give you a recommendation. Home theater is one of my other hobbies, and I’m into resolution, color space, and frame rates in an attempt to recreate the material as the director intended in a theater.

If you are happy with viewing that type of material at home as you mentioned, you would be best served by buying the largest screen size the Mrs. and wall space will allow from brands like Hisense, TCL, or Samsung. The only other brand I recommend is Sony, which is my theater choice, but there is a large step up in price. I would only ever recommend an LG if it was OLED. The other brands I cannot recommend because of lower quality.

Stick with LCD displays and LED backlights. The type of backlighting won’t matter if you’re not into watching UHD material with its expanded colorspaces. Local dimming is a bit overrated because it causes halos around bright objects against dark backgrounds. It can be distracting.

Another thing to consider, when I’m in my home theater with all the bells and whistles, I’m amazed at what it presents, but I’m perfectly happy on the couch next to the Mrs. watching material on our living room TV without any bells or whistles and using the built in TV speakers. In fact, that’s where we spend most of our viewing time now anyway.

You may want to check out rtings.com as I feel they have the most unbiased reviews out there.

I can vouch for the Hisense. Bought one for mom and I was blown away by the picture quality and price. And blessedly, she is too!

 

[Jay21]

I can vouch for the Hisense. Bought one for mom and I was blown away by the picture quality and price. And blessedly, she is too!

Hisense TVs are thumbs up.

 

[FarmerTan]

Hisense TVs are thumbs up.

Lol, very good to know. I bought a totally unnecessary extended warranty at WallyWorld just because it was so cheap! Like $9.99ish for 3ish years?

Mom has a small apartment and watches a lot of TV. Her TV HAD to fit on a small stand. The cable company is upgrading the system and her ancient TV would not werk on it. So I FINALLY convinced her to let me get her a TV after years of trying. She's like me; she hates change.

I'd have paid ANY amount for a TV for her: the lady raised me when honestly she should have left me to the wolves. Seriously!

She's the closest thing to a living saint you will ever meet. Lol, but she did mostly kontrol my Dad, so she's either a miracle werker or she secretly werks with the Hillbilly Mofia!

 

[Chan Eil Whiskers]

Believe it or not, despite their TVs being bottom rung, Vizio sound bars are fantastic regardless of their lower price. I've had three over the last decade on various TVs in various places I've lived and they've been fantastic. Reviewers are also quite fond of them, too.

My previous soundbar was a Vizio (with a subwoofer). It was quite good, but not as good as my current Samsung. The Vizio did not point the sound at me. The Samsung is significantly easier to hear and understand especially in terms of the dialogue.

I have some hearing loss and wear hearing aids and need all the help I can get to understand what's being said.

I've not checked any of the current Vizio models.

Happy shaves,

Jim

 

[Phoenixkh]

I'm still pretty sure I'll end up with a Sony TV when we decide to buy one.

I have an old set of Definitive Technologies front two and center speakers along with their subwoofer and I'm using the first set of good speakers I bought years ago: Fried A/3s for rear speakers... a bit overkill, but I had them around. At the time, a local high end stereo store had customized the Frieds, upgrading the capacitors, etc. and they had been traded back in to them. I would guess a few people here have heard about Bud Fried's speakers... but not too many.

 

[Jay21]

I wouldn't be shocked to learn that Vizio sets come out of a Sony factory somewhere.... their picture quality matches up pretty well with the Sony sets... at least, this was the case a few years ago when we were looking... but didn't buy.

I'll have to make sure my Onkyo receiver will work with whatever set we end up choosing. I don't want to upgrade to 4K all the way. I run everything through the receiver since our TV is a dumb as we are.. It's just a monitor.

I'm still pretty sure I'll end up with a Sony TV when we decide to buy one.

I have an old set of Definitive Technologies front two and center speakers along with their subwoofer and I'm using the first set of good speakers I bought years ago: Fried A/3s for rear speakers... a bit overkill, but I had them around. At the time, a local high end stereo store had customized the Frieds, upgrading the capacitors, etc. and they had been traded back in to them. I would guess a few people here have heard about Bud Fried's speakers... but not too many.

You can't go wrong with a Sony. However, you can't buy 1080p TVs anymore. You can only get 4k and 8k ones now. That's no worry as they're all perfectly backwards compatible with all of the other resolutions from DVD, regular TV, and Blu-rays.

How have you hooked up all of your devices to the TV and Onkyo receiver? This can make a difference for when you get a new TV.

 

[Phoenixkh]

Because this TV is monitor only.. I feed the video via a hi def video cable... the sources all go into the Onkyo via HDMI cables. At least, that's how I remember it... I haven't had to fuss with it for since I replaced the receiver. The old one was taken out by a low level power surge that got past my protection circuits.

 

[Jay21]

Because this TV is monitor only.. I feed the video via a hi def video cable... the sources all go into the Onkyo via HDMI cables. At least, that's how I remember it... I haven't had to fuss with it for since I replaced the receiver. The old one was taken out by a low level power surge that got past my protection circuits.

As long as you don't have any 4k sources (Roku, Apple TV, UHD Blu-ray) your receiver will work just fine with any new 4k TV you buy. But as soon as you get the itch for a 4K source, you'll either have to buy a 4k-certified receiver or plug everything into your TV and use HDMI ARC or an optical cable from the TV to the receiver. I learned this the hard way about 4 years ago. 4k certification in receivers is real and not just a sticker they put on them to make them cost more.

 

[ColtRevolver]

A few months ago, our 55" ten year old Samsung died. I online shopped at Walmart and Best Buy and found the same price on like models. I paid 600 bucks for a Samsung 65" 4k TV. I like Samsung because I like the free Samsung TV Plus streaming service. I discovered it a couple of years ago when I bought a new TV for my travel trailer. Samsung TV Plus has over 200 free streaming channels.

 

[gpjoe]

Well, my Samsung gave up the ghost. For the last week whenever I turned it on I would get only sound, but after 10 minutes or so,the screen would illuminate. Today, it went full radio - no picture for over an hour, so...

...I bought a 65" 4k Hisense for $339 at Costco. With a five-year warranty and tax I escaped for under 400 bucks.

I did a lot reading, looked at a lot of TVs and succumbed to information overload and burnout and decided to just by the sub-$400 TV that looked best to me.

Got it home, muscled the old set off the wall mount and unboxed my new Hisense. As I was mounting the wall brackets to the back of the new set, I noticed that the holes were positioned so low that the new TV would be sitting waaaaay to high on the wall.

So, of course, I removed the bracket from the wall and lowered it. The nice part is that nobody will see the old holes.

Wall mount moved and brackets installed on TV I asked myself if I should lift it into place on my own, or call the neighbor. I looked across the street and his truck is gone. The TV is only 50lbs (and only $350) so what the hell...I lifted up and it dropped right into place.

Next, I ran the power cord through the wall...and it's too short. So for now I have a visible cord hanging from the TV, until I get around to lengthening it.

So, how's the picture you ask?

Surprisingly good, and better than the $1200 Samsung it replaced. To my eyes the colors are more vibrant, contrast is better, details are sharper.

I'm very happy, and kind of amazed at how much TV $350 will now buy.

 

[luvmysuper]

Well, my Samsung gave up the ghost. For the last week whenever I turned it on I would get only sound, but after 10 minutes or so,the screen would illuminate. Today, it went full radio - no picture for over an hour, so...

...I bought a 65" 4k Hisense for $339 at Costco. With a five-year warranty and tax I escaped for under 400 bucks.

I did a lot reading, looked at a lot of TVs and succumbed to information overload and burnout and decided to just by the sub-$400 TV that looked best to me.

Got it home, muscled the old set off the wall mount and unboxed my new Hisense. As I was mounting the wall brackets to the back of the new set, I noticed that the holes were positioned so low that the new TV would be sitting waaaaay to high on the wall.

So, of course, I removed the bracket from the wall and lowered it. The nice part is that nobody will see the old holes.

Wall mount moved and brackets installed on TV I asked myself if I should lift it into place on my own, or call the neighbor. I looked across the street and his truck is gone. The TV is only 50lbs (and only $350) so what the hell...I lifted up and it dropped right into place.

Next, I ran the power cord through the wall...and it's too short. So for now I have a visible cord hanging from the TV, until I get around to lengthening it.

So, how's the picture you ask?

Surprisingly good, and better than the $1200 Samsung it replaced. To my eyes the colors are more vibrant, contrast is better, details are sharper.

I'm very happy, and kind of amazed at how much TV $350 will now buy.

Demand is high for TV's so production is high and cost is low. So much so that a high definition TV is WAY cheaper than a comparable quality computer monitor.
I use a 55 inch OLED TV as my computer monitor, and can watch movies and TV with good results at the same location.

 

[dojpros]

Great job and outcome.

 

[gpjoe]

OK, a follow up:

I get it.

After finally watching some movies (something other than sports, news, sitcoms and other mostly well-lit, serial TV programs) I see the importance of black levels.

Watching dark scenes in movies, I see that the el-cheapo Hisense TV struggles with blacks. The dark areas are pixelated to the point of distraction. None of this is a problem, or even apparent, when watching most standard programming.

Luckily (?) our bedroom TV (55" Vizio) went out shortly after buying the Hisense. Perfect excuse for me to move it into the bedroom and buy a better set for the living room.

My second new set is a 60" Samsung LCD with LED backlight...and though it was only $150 more than the Hisense, it is infinitely better in the darker movie scenes. No pixelation at all, just smooth, dark black.

I usually subscribe to the "Buy once, cry once" adage, but in this case things worked out OK. She's happily watching "The Masked Singer" and "The Golden Bachelor" in the bedroom on the Hisense while I watch my stuff in the living room...and of course we both enjoy watching together on our new Samsung, especially movies.

 

[musicman1951]

The amount of bass in newer films really drowns out dialogue. I'm to the point that I always have closed captioning on so I can easily understand dialogue without having to go over it again and again.

I blame the people who are too cheap to buy added speakers. I think they often mix the bass to be balanced with just the TV speakers. I have mine going through my surround sound stereo and the bass speaker behind my chair sometimes rattles my eyeteeth.

 

[dojpros]

Random thoughts from a guy who an unabashed plasma fan and still owns a Samsung 43 and 50.

Blacks are a thing if you watch movies.

Refresh rate and its interplay with motion is a thing for sports, particularly hockey And other fast “movers.”

How much TV can be bought for 500.00 is astounding.

While I think that Vizio and Samsung exceed the intersection of quality and value and ill be my first stops when I need to buy, TCL and its Roku interface do as well In the entry level space.

Indeed, when my son went off to school, an 43 inch TCL ( 250 ish) with “matching” TCL soundbar and Bluetooth Sub for 120 ish and a good set of hdmi cables made it some of the best 400.00 ever spent.