Best "Cheap" TV for a College Group House

KeninDC

Hazy Cosmic Jive
Group house at WVU. 5 dudes. Aged 19-20. There will be the occasional house party. I'm buying (the TV, not the beer).

I'm in the market for a roughly 50 inch "smart" (do I need smart?) TV for my son's new housing situation. The TV will be shared by all in the living room. While I'm tempted to get the first thing I see at the local Walmart (or Amazon), I'm intimidated by all the no-name brands I see. While I generally eschew "zombie" brands like Zenith and RCA, perhaps I shouldn't. Further, there are all sorts of brands I've never heard of like TCL and Sceptre. And what about refurbished?

If any of you guys and gals have a cheap TV you can recommend, I'd appreciate your input.

Cheers,

Ken
 
Group house at WVU. 5 dudes. Aged 19-20. There will be the occasional house party. I'm buying (the TV, not the beer).

I'm in the market for a roughly 50 inch "smart" (do I need smart?) TV for my son's new housing situation. The TV will be shared by all in the living room. While I'm tempted to get the first thing I see at the local Walmart (or Amazon), I'm intimidated by all the no-name brands I see. While I generally eschew "zombie" brands like Zenith and RCA, perhaps I shouldn't. Further, there are all sorts of brands I've never heard of like TCL and Sceptre. And what about refurbished?

If any of you guys and gals have a cheap TV you can recommend, I'd appreciate your input.

Cheers,

Ken
Head to Wal-Mart...
You can get 65 inches cheap and Good!
 
TCL is a highly rated ROKU budget value brand. Otherwise, Visio is also high value and has outlasted other competitors.
 
I've done well with Vizio. Have four. 1 32", 2 43" and one 55" 4K. They come with your basic apps and serve me quite well.
 
Thanks, guys. I was looking at a Vizio, but have noticed they are no longer rock bottom when it comes to prices. Will have to explore the TCL. Price is a huge concern since there is a much better possibility of misuse/damage at the college level.
 
Does it have to be 4K? If not, start trolling CL. I picked up a 50 inch Panasonic plasma for $100. If you go this route, get 2010 or newer as this was when Panny took over the Pioneer Elite TV team.
 
TCL is a highly rated ROKU budget value brand. Otherwise, Visio is also high value and has outlasted other competitors.

QFT!

I bought a 55" returned 4K TCL ROKU TV at work, Costco, for $299 and love it. Regular price was $369.99.

My daughter has a 49 incher and watching her's sold me. I also have a 10 year old 42" Vizio with a fine picture but a wacky tuner. The HDMI inputs are good, so any external source is nice and a Chromecast has it running fine.

I think either would serve you fine.
 
I get my TV’s at Costco and prefer Samsung. That said I don’t much care for Samsung’s Smart Hub GUI so I use Roku.
 
Check to see if the warranty covers smoke damage from burning couches :beerchug:

It would not be a WVU thread without a couch burning mention. My wife, a WVU grad, actually participated in a couch burning ritual after they beat Penn State. Those were the days before the City of Morgantown made couch burning a felony.

Leaning toward the TCL for the boys. No need for 4K. I have a Panny plasma myself and two Samsungs. Agree the the Samsung GUI is frustrating.
 
...Leaning toward the TCL for the boys. No need for 4K. I have a Panny plasma myself and two Samsungs. Agree the the Samsung GUI is frustrating.

1080p opens up a lot of inexpensive video game options for when they are not studying. Older gaming consoles are dirt cheap and still fun. You can connect an inexpensive streaming computer that will play 1080p 60 fps with the right video card. Add in a DVD and Blu Ray drive and you have a HTPC.
 
Thanks, guys. I was looking at a Vizio, but have noticed they are no longer rock bottom when it comes to prices. Will have to explore the TCL. Price is a huge concern since there is a much better possibility of misuse/damage at the college level.

Ken, the new cheap reliable tv is HiSense (they sponsored the World Cup). Can get a 50 for under $500. Do you need the smart feature? Will these kids watch Netflix and Amazon on the tv or just play video games? You could always save the difference and buy an Amazon Firestick for $30.
 
Ken, the new cheap reliable tv is HiSense (they sponsored the World Cup). Can get a 50 for under $500. Do you need the smart feature? Will these kids watch Netflix and Amazon on the tv or just play video games? You could always save the difference and buy an Amazon Firestick for $30.

Smart feature. They all do Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, etc. I'd rather them do that than hook up a laptop with an HDMI cable. Keep it simple and not have them worry about a laptop walking away during a football watching party.
 
Every Smart TV will do Netflix and Youtube. See if there's any "killer apps" that the guys would like the TV to support natively (like Plex, Kodi, Spotify, etc.).

Of course, the likelihood of another networked device being plugged in approaches 100%, so...
 
Make sure you drape chicken wire in front of the TV....keeps beer bottles & cans away from the screen!:):rflmao::naughty:

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