Buying a new TV

One point or experience I have today with looking for TVs is how people who look at my audio obsessions and laugh they don't get it because it just don't "click" with them. I never took the Big Screen TV and all its specs and designs and what do you get or don't get and if it really matters or not until this conversation. Now my eyes are wide open, I am glad I have had to take extra time to be able to read hear other peoples experience with models. I want to get a very nice TV for my wife that is a given, I hope to approach it with the info I have picked up here and the reading I have done to get a decent TV. They do make a lot of them and we could get a dummy one never know? But I have heard very little of that on this thread. Most people seem to have decent experience with there buys. I would guess that goes to the educated purchase. I am sure there is a diminishing return as there is with all things. Stereo equipment, cars, all that. Seems 600 to 800 dollars will get me and my wife where we want to be to enjoy movies and my sports might jump up a bit in the process also. I do a lot of watching Boxing so the whole thing with 120 HZ is a help there. Nice to know so any other tips let me know if you got time. Another real bad storm is blowing thru right now. And now they are calling for a possibly bad snow Saturday. The window keeps shutting on us for some reason. Hey I sure ramble too much. What can I say. ? I know stop typing.
Canton
 
Thanks yea I have been stuck for two days with rain storms past two days so now I might have to bump it to the weekend with everything else that needs to be taken care of this week. Yea I have a pair of Vandersteen speakers myself but they are 1 CE cant remember the specs on those would like to try a 10-12 watt tube amp that I have and hear how they sound. Or I could use that big ATI 502 (Amplifier Technology Inc.) it is SS of course so don't know the match oh well all good stuff to have to worry about.
Canton
Not to go off course of the thread title but Vandersteens love clean power with the 1 ce's you can use lower watts but im sure they would still like higher clean watts better, plus the headroom is so much better and you can listen at lower volumes with plenty of headroom. I would try tge ATI amp and see how you like it. But with any system you have to try different things in order to find what your looking for.

Audiofreak71
 
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One point or experience I have today with looking for TVs is how people who look at my audio obsessions and laugh they don't get it because it just don't "click" with them. I never took the Big Screen TV and all its specs and designs and what do you get or don't get and if it really matters or not until this conversation. Now my eyes are wide open, I am glad I have had to take extra time to be able to read hear other peoples experience with models. I want to get a very nice TV for my wife that is a given, I hope to approach it with the info I have picked up here and the reading I have done to get a decent TV. They do make a lot of them and we could get a dummy one never know? But I have heard very little of that on this thread. Most people seem to have decent experience with there buys. I would guess that goes to the educated purchase. I am sure there is a diminishing return as there is with all things. Stereo equipment, cars, all that. Seems 600 to 800 dollars will get me and my wife where we want to be to enjoy movies and my sports might jump up a bit in the process also. I do a lot of watching Boxing so the whole thing with 120 HZ is a help there. Nice to know so any other tips let me know if you got time. Another real bad storm is blowing thru right now. And now they are calling for a possibly bad snow Saturday. The window keeps shutting on us for some reason. Hey I sure ramble too much. What can I say. ? I know stop typing.
Canton

Keep typing...it's good for those of us who want to help as we can determine where you are and get some insights on what's important to you.

When I purchased our current TV, which was to replace a 60" LED/DLP unit that was beginning to fail, I knew that time was not on my side. Like you, I knew the better half could not be without her TV. There was binge watching to do and movies to watch. I figured I'd just drop into the audio/video store, get some info, check out some units on display, decide on which TV to buy and make the necessary arrangements to have one delivered to the house. How freakin' naive that was... ;)

I came out of the store with more questions than I had when I walked in. 4K, OLED vs. LED, HDR, refresh rate, SmartTV modules, size, HDMI version, etc....It was all whirling around in my head. And I left the store not having made a purchase decision. Clearly, there was more to it than I had first imagined. Luckily I had brought a notepad with me so I could write down some info. At that point it turned into a research project vs. a try and buy. Yup, a spreadsheet was involved with some basic info such as manufacturer name, size(s), selected evaluation specifications (more on that below) and price.

I decided to answer the size question first. I am a firm believer in bigger is better but you can go too big. After reading some articles about picking the right size, I realized that the informed writers of the articles weren't looking at TV's with my eyes. Some general guidelines stuck, however. I decided that the size of my room and distance from my seating position to my eyes meant 65" or larger would work. One question down, a few to go.

At the time I was in this process, OLED was emerging and, of course, the online reviewers and in-store sellers where hyping the heck out of it. After spending some more time viewing OLED and LED units side by side I decided OLED wasn't for me. It just looked weird from even the shallowest angles. And for some reason it looked as if the picture was curving upwards towards the corners, almost as if I was looking at some huge Cheshire cat grin. For some viewers, OLED works better and I say go for it if you like it. It was not to my liking and OLED was crossed off the list. So LED it was.

At this point I really began to dig into the specifications and features of the various brands. HDR, or high dynamic range, was a spec I found discussed across product lines so I figured it was a thing to consider. I realized that picture clarity was, in some ways, connected to HDR specifications. OK...it got added to my list of holes to dig into. Other specifications emerged as common across lines, such as refresh rate, HDMI versions, SmartTV functionality, edge lit vs. back lit screens, etc... This is where I began to drop down a rabbit hole. It was difficult for such an "anal"ytical (my wife's term) person such as myself to not dig further. But I managed to extricate myself just in time so as not to suffer paralysis by analysis and move on.

So, having managed to spend more time that I thought I would reviewing specs, I focused on refresh rate, HDR, size and what was emerging with respects to sources such as 4K, streaming and DVD/BluRay technology.

I decided on the first thing I listed above...size. I went bigger than I initially thought I would, overcoming some concerns about going too big by comparing sizes side by side in the store from the measured distance. Answer one = 70"

Answer two = LED for the reasons stated above.

Answer three through whatever = Highest refresh rate, best HDR rating, SmartTV without expensive modules that need upgrades, backlit for best clarity, current HDMI version, 4K to have that capability as the technology and new sources/media emerged along with the generous pixel specification 4K brings, highest streaming MBPS rate, and by picking the 4K spec the DVD/BluRay spec was covered.

You shoulda seen the spreadsheet.... LOL

So what did I buy? Sony's specs, reviews and functionality won the day and I purchased a 70XVR850B.

I also got one hell of a deal on that TV. It was a new model at the time but I balked at the price ($5,497) and told the sales guy during my second visit to the store that I was going to have to think about it and would probably go for something that wasn't as expensive even though it was the one I very much wanted. He called me a few hours later on that very same day and said he had an open box return available. His story was another buyer had purchased the identical unit and decided it was just too big. The buyer had them come over and pick it up, delivering a smaller unit in its place. He sold it to me at a "used" price with a full warranty and an extended service/warranty contract for less than half of the new price. Was his story true? Or was this a demo TV from the floor they decided to unload? I have no idea. But the TV is awesome and it's all I had hoped it would be.

I'm not saying you have to go through the same analytical exercise. But it will help if you can decide what's most important to you, find some basic info on those things and make your decision accordingly.

Good luck!
 
Keep typing...it's good for those of us who want to help as we can determine where you are and get some insights on what's important to you.

When I purchased our current TV, which was to replace a 60" LED/DLP unit that was beginning to fail, I knew that time was not on my side. Like you, I knew the better half could not be without her TV. There was binge watching to do and movies to watch. I figured I'd just drop into the audio/video store, get some info, check out some units on display, decide on which TV to buy and make the necessary arrangements to have one delivered to the house. How freakin' naive that was... ;)

I came out of the store with more questions than I had when I walked in. 4K, OLED vs. LED, HDR, refresh rate, SmartTV modules, size, HDMI version, etc....It was all whirling around in my head. And I left the store not having made a purchase decision. Clearly, there was more to it than I had first imagined. Luckily I had brought a notepad with me so I could write down some info. At that point it turned into a research project vs. a try and buy. Yup, a spreadsheet was involved with some basic info such as manufacturer name, size(s), selected evaluation specifications (more on that below) and price.

I decided to answer the size question first. I am a firm believer in bigger is better but you can go too big. After reading some articles about picking the right size, I realized that the informed writers of the articles weren't looking at TV's with my eyes. Some general guidelines stuck, however. I decided that the size of my room and distance from my seating position to my eyes meant 65" or larger would work. One question down, a few to go.

At the time I was in this process, OLED was emerging and, of course, the online reviewers and in-store sellers where hyping the heck out of it. After spending some more time viewing OLED and LED units side by side I decided OLED wasn't for me. It just looked weird from even the shallowest angles. And for some reason it looked as if the picture was curving upwards towards the corners, almost as if I was looking at some huge Cheshire cat grin. For some viewers, OLED works better and I say go for it if you like it. It was not to my liking and OLED was crossed off the list. So LED it was.

At this point I really began to dig into the specifications and features of the various brands. HDR, or high dynamic range, was a spec I found discussed across product lines so I figured it was a thing to consider. I realized that picture clarity was, in some ways, connected to HDR specifications. OK...it got added to my list of holes to dig into. Other specifications emerged as common across lines, such as refresh rate, HDMI versions, SmartTV functionality, edge lit vs. back lit screens, etc... This is where I began to drop down a rabbit hole. It was difficult for such an "anal"ytical (my wife's term) person such as myself to not dig further. But I managed to extricate myself just in time so as not to suffer paralysis by analysis and move on.

So, having managed to spend more time that I thought I would reviewing specs, I focused on refresh rate, HDR, size and what was emerging with respects to sources such as 4K, streaming and DVD/BluRay technology.

I decided on the first thing I listed above...size. I went bigger than I initially thought I would, overcoming some concerns about going too big by comparing sizes side by side in the store from the measured distance. Answer one = 70"

Answer two = LED for the reasons stated above.

Answer three through whatever = Highest refresh rate, best HDR rating, SmartTV without expensive modules that need upgrades, backlit for best clarity, current HDMI version, 4K to have that capability as the technology and new sources/media emerged along with the generous pixel specification 4K brings, highest streaming MBPS rate, and by picking the 4K spec the DVD/BluRay spec was covered.

You shoulda seen the spreadsheet.... LOL

So what did I buy? Sony's specs, reviews and functionality won the day and I purchased a 70XVR850B.

I also got one hell of a deal on that TV. It was a new model at the time but I balked at the price ($5,497) and told the sales guy during my second visit to the store that I was going to have to think about it and would probably go for something that wasn't as expensive even though it was the one I very much wanted. He called me a few hours later on that very same day and said he had an open box return available. His story was another buyer had purchased the identical unit and decided it was just too big. The buyer had them come over and pick it up, delivering a smaller unit in its place. He sold it to me at a "used" price with a full warranty and an extended service/warranty contract for less than half of the new price. Was his story true? Or was this a demo TV from the floor they decided to unload? I have no idea. But the TV is awesome and it's all I had hoped it would be.

I'm not saying you have to go through the same analytical exercise. But it will help if you can decide what's most important to you, find some basic info on those things and make your decision accordingly.

Good luck!
Thanks Mike appreciate the info, I have a list of specs I want answered already. HZ is important but it can be hidden by being true HZ if I read it right? Then the number of HDMI plugs serious but I am like can I still use an older amp and some speakers or did they discontinue that feature? I know nothing about anything computer at all. That passed me by. I know what will happen I will go to a store get a bit goofy about specs and wife will meet me in the middle be like it has most of what you are looking for but I like this one in this size screen and if we can afford it that is what I would like to have plus it looks nice match whatever in the living room. That is really how it will turn out. Which is how it should be in my life don't stay married as long as I have without knowing the unwritten rules.
Thanks,
Canton
 
I have a 43" Samsung that supposedly does have HDR sitting on my desk for a "big screen" monitor for reviewing blueprints. Real basic feature set but it was actually cheaper than a 4K monitor I'm assuming. Should come in under your price point. At least they listened to me, they were going to buy 1080P TVs and I said if they did that I didn't want one, that wouldn't give me any advantage over the 1080P monitors I already have.
 
Thanks for all the help past 24 Hrs got to learn a lot about TV I never really took the time to do before why who knows. Good to spend money armed with the facts. I wouldnt buy a car without knowing a whole lot about it under the hood past history all that good stuff same with my audio equipment. Although that is from the 50s and early 60s so a lot of experience out there on that well some experience a lot of opinion. So if anyone has anything else to add do's and don'ts. Let me know I never buy a extended contract I always say if it breaks in six months it is under warranty and it is also junk at which point they would see a man get mean.
Canton


You have a budget that seems firm. What is going to be your main source for watching? That will determine if you need 4K ,HDR, Dolby Vision, etc. How critical are you about image quality? You mentioned hooking up to your amp. Is this to be the standard RCA jacks vs. HDMI on the amp? It seems that most newer sets have eliminated analog outputs. There may be a digital out plus HDMI. if that's the case and you only have RCA jacks on the amp, then you'd need a digital to analog converter as well. Lot's to ponder.
 
You have a budget that seems firm. What is going to be your main source for watching? That will determine if you need 4K ,HDR, Dolby Vision, etc. How critical are you about image quality? You mentioned hooking up to your amp. Is this to be the standard RCA jacks vs. HDMI on the amp? It seems that most newer sets have eliminated analog outputs. There may be a digital out plus HDMI. if that's the case and you only have RCA jacks on the amp, then you'd need a digital to analog converter as well. Lot's to ponder.
The first thing that gets my in front of a TV is a boxing match. Very simple now there is nothing like watching a fight live it is one of the rare sports that live you see so much more. So TV is very important there. Things happen fast the theater of unexpected so to speak. So bussiness of blur caught my eye. Now sound yea all my amps are vintage I have a few SS amps but mostly tube amps. Wife is not going to have me hook up a tube amp to the TV not going to happen. How do these sound bars sound? What is the hit on those set ups. Something that I am going to have to investigate down the road. Dolby Vision never even saw that term before. Image is everything with a screen it is what I do when I sit down in front of it. Also OS dont want to get lost in a screen for 20 min setting up the movie fight whatever I am going to watch. How about the apps? I would like to be able to use any app I may have to watch older fights, interviews things like that.I read that some TVs dont allow you to download any apps but what comes bundled on the TV? So that is some stuff that I am looking into if you have any thoughts experience on this let me know. I am sure there is a Screen out there with my name on it, it is a matter of me being sharp enough to locate it.
Canton
 
Ok I am not going to put this comment on anyone but me. I want to say this without sounding too stupid. A person said they bought a TV and got it home and they could not watch it. They had to buy an additional box blah blah. Now this person said this in the presents of my wife who then said to me. YOU are not going to bring home a TV that WE have to invest in some kind of addtional boxs more money no TV just a Blank screen sitting there. Get the question understand my position? I was like no bring it home hook it up to the cable box have to programe it somehow but that is all.
Canton
 
The additional black box was most likely a sound bar lol. If the SQ isn't important the built in speakers will do, just don't expect much.

As for connecting an amplifier, I believe I already posted this, maybe not. I have a couple, they work great.

Screenshot_2018-03-24-20-31-45.png
 
I would point that with an offbrand 'Walmart special', you're less likely to find replacement part if it goes south. This is also true to a lesser degree of all the brands. My suspicion is that in 10 maybe 20 years all these TV's will be replaced by something even more advanced, roughly the difference between CRT and flatscreen. As I mentioned before, waiting for OLED to come down to comparable prices to current LED models, say 5 years or so.
10 - 20 yrs? I think there are a few dozen threads concerning the expected longevity of current electronics.

As for replacement parts, who repairs tv's these days? Certainly not many spending less than $600. Let's look at why. Purchase a tv for $600, three yrs down the road it needs service, it's out of warranty. The estimate for repair is $300, 1/2 what you paid, seems reasonable.

But then you look at the new tv's and see the prices have dropped to the point where you're current tv can be bettered for $350. Bigger screen, better picture, more features, etc etc. So you purchase the new tv, simple economics.

Personally worrying about tv replacement parts has nothing to do with my buying decision.

As for "off brand Walmart specials" they carry the "name brands" also. Their online options are much wider so happy hunting, hope your little lady gets her tv soon.
 
OK so I got out Sunday and bought a TV finally was tight on cash due to having to have two engine mounts and two Trans mounts on my buick 94 anyhow that was a hit.
Got a Vizio M50-E1 for $ 500. It seems nice I have not had any quality time with it yet but hope to get check it out today/tonight see some features how it works for me. Anybody familar pros/cons settings that may help any of that good stuff fire away.
Thanks all for helping out in pulling the trigger on this TV. 50 inch smart and so on. I have to read the booklet on it this morning and go from there. Main thing is the wife liked it so from there it is all gravy to me.
Canton
 
Ok I am not going to put this comment on anyone but me. I want to say this without sounding too stupid. A person said they bought a TV and got it home and they could not watch it. They had to buy an additional box blah blah. Now this person said this in the presents of my wife who then said to me. YOU are not going to bring home a TV that WE have to invest in some kind of addtional boxs more money no TV just a Blank screen sitting there. Get the question understand my position? I was like no bring it home hook it up to the cable box have to programe it somehow but that is all.
Canton

Monitors/displays (basically TVs without tuners) have always been around but lately there seems to be a resurgence. Perhaps what they bought was one of these new displays without a tuner. I think to skirt the TV aspect, technically it has to have a tuner to be a TV; I think they're calling them displays.
 
The sound quality on most of the new tv's is poor. Plan on a sound bar.
Any sound bar recommendations? Do any of these have options to connect satellite speakers? I just got one of the lower end 4k LG TVs from Costo and I would like to add surround sound. I'm not trying to hijack this post so I will likely post details in a new thread, but in case you have thoughts on decent (not top end) sound bars the original poster might also be interested.
 
Yes Matt thanks if you post else where let me know would like to know what people think of the soundbars. I immeadatdly thought no but I would still like to be more informed as to what they have out there specs. Really I would prefer a small amp and two nice small speakers to help out the sound. Anyhow see if anyone responds to your response. What type of TV did you get exactly was it a tunerless TV like mine just curious as to what you got and if it fit in well with you set up home whatever.
Canton
 
Sony, LG, and Sansei make the best displays that are accessible to the general public. Sonly may make the Best OLED but LG is much more reasonably priced. Whats great about OLED is the of axis presentation. Its almost as good as my Elite Plasma. Samsung QLED is pretty good, too. But right now OLED is the Best.
 
Sony, LG, and Sansei make the best displays that are accessible to the general public. Sonly may make the Best OLED but LG is much more reasonably priced. Whats great about OLED is the of axis presentation. Its almost as good as my Elite Plasma. Samsung QLED is pretty good, too. But right now OLED is the Best.
Sony Oled screens are LG screens , Sony sources all there Oled screens from LG .

Audiofreak71
 
Any sound bar recommendations? Do any of these have options to connect satellite speakers? I just got one of the lower end 4k LG TVs from Costo and I would like to add surround sound. I'm not trying to hijack this post so I will likely post details in a new thread, but in case you have thoughts on decent (not top end) sound bars the original poster might also be interested.

I just bought this one Vizio sb3621n-e8m 36 and so far it's been great. Read the reviews it's highly rated and they say it beats anything else selling under 400. I paid 142 out the door. Just remember it's not a kick ass HT it's a sound bar but the wife and I really like it.
 
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