TV shopping.. Ugh!

[Bruce Page]

Our 12 year old Sony XBR 46" LCD TV is starting to have issues. I went out this afternoon looking at what's available. Lots of options with lots of new technology and at what seems like very reasonable prices - I paid $3700 for the Sony in '04.
Do I need 4K? Do I need a smart TV? I don't even know what I need.

The Sony was very well rated when I bought it in '04 but I don't know if they still have an edge on quality.

[Van Huskey]

First any decent TV these days will be a "smart" TV. Do you stream lots of video or play video games? If you don't and/or don't have a 20mbps or above internet connection then you aren't going to get much use out of a UHD panel currently unless you get a very large panel and/or sit close enough to resolve the upconverted video. That said most of the better panels now are UHD so you may end up with it whether you actually need it or not.

If you are shopping in the same price range as 2004 just get a 65" Samsung UE65KS9500 and call it a day, you won't do better for the money, if you have a different budget and or size requirement let us know.




Edit re Sony, Sony still makes decent panels but haven't been the #1 choice for many years Samsung, Panasonic and to a lesser extent LG tend to have the best panels and have for years. Sony usually has 1 or 2 flagship models that are very good but their mainstream stuff is just OK.

[Rich Riddle]

You need to look at models you might want and wait for either Black Friday (next week) or cyber Monday (two weeks from today). You will get much better prices for the short wait.

[Van Huskey]

You need to look at models you might want and wait for either Black Friday (next week) or cyber Monday (two weeks from today). You will get much better prices for the short wait.

I was making the assumption he was shopping now preparing for the holiday electronics deal, if not I agree wait. One thing to note is the big retailers often have models that are very similar but have a slightly different model number often this is to avoid price matching but with TVs it is often a stripped model. That said the stripped features are often things like the ability to have complete control of the picture settings, so unless one is planning to get a professional ISF calibration or knows what gamma is and can tell black level is off within 2-3 seconds of looking at a set it is unlikely it will matter, but it is good to research that if the model number is different.

[Bruce Page]

Thanks, I was in tire kicking mode today, I can wait for cyber Monday.
A 65" is a little too big for our room. The smaller 55" Samsung, UN55KS9500 looked really nice and I loved the curved display but I'm a little leery of Samsung's quality control after their Galaxy note 7 and exploding washing machines. The other two I'm looking at are the Sony XBR55X930D and the LG 55EG9100. The LG has a OLED display but is more money than I really want to spend.

[Matt Day]

Samsungs TV's have an excellent reputation. I wouldnt worry the phone issues.

I bought a 65" Samsung UN series TV and have been very happy with it. No curved screen (I read it was purely marketing when I bought), no 4k (the eye can't tell the difference at our seating distance ~10' and there is very limited 4K signal). Got it for about $900 IIRC. I didn't see a reason to buy technology that wouldn't be used or available for years.

[John A langley]

Bruce google TV size to distance it will tell you optimum size ,I have not had any problems with my Samsung

[Curt Harms]

I think the Samsung phone issue wasn't really a Samsung issue but a non-Samsung battery supplier issue. The batteries were in Samsung phones though, and I'm sure Samsung is a 'juicier target'.

[Jim Becker]

The prices available now through the holidays are pretty impressive...'just got the Costco flyer and wow...holy low prices, Batman! I'm a Samsung fan when it comes to flat screens. No, you don't "need" 4K and in a smaller size like you have now, there will be less benefit. "SmartTV" can be useful if you want to access streaming services directly from the screen rather than an external source, but I've found it more convenient to use external sources because of handling sound consistently across all mediums.

[Ole Anderson]

Our Sam's Club closed so I bought a Costco membership. First purchase? A 65" curved screen Samsung 4k smart TV. They had three to choose from from $1200 to $3700. I bought the lesser 650 model. At checkout I found out I grabbed one that had been returned ("It was too heavy") and ended up paying $1060 for the TV of my dreams. No regrets. Almost all big TV's are 4k now and "smart". Why buy a Grizzly when you can get a Sawstop for almost the same price? You won't regret it down the line. I have been watching some Netflix 4k content and it streams over WiFi without a hitch. Regular HD content over my Sony Blu-Ray player was frequently paused for buffering even with our 150 mb connection. To properly get the benefit of the higher 4k resolution you need to sit closer to the screen, more akin to going to the movies where 4k is now the norm. As noted in the article, a 4k screen will look better than a 1080 screen with the same content. Best use? Football where you have 28 men running around the field. Can't wait until they actually start having live 4k sports content. May be a long wait though. As far as sound, I run a optical cable from the TV to my surround sound receiver. Works fine even though I don't have HDMI on my old receiver. Here is a comprehensive article on the subject: http://www.techradar.com/news/television/ultra-hd-everything-you-need-to-know-about-4k-tv-1258884

[Rod Sheridan]

I agree with the above comments.

I recently replaced a Sony WEGA flat screen CRT TV with a larger Sony new TV.

Just about had a triple hernia over the WEGA, I forgot it was about 80Kg..............Holy cow!

Any of the newer models will be great, ours looks wonderful because we use broadcast as a source.........Rod.

[Bruce Page]

I agree with the above comments.

I recently replaced a Sony WEGA flat screen CRT TV with a larger Sony new TV.

Just about had a triple hernia over the WEGA, I forgot it was about 80Kg..............Holy cow!

Any of the newer models will be great, ours looks wonderful because we use broadcast as a source.........Rod.
I hear ya! We had a 32" Sony WEGA before the current 46" LCD. It took three men and a boy to move it! My daughter still uses it in her game room, it still has a great picture.

Thanks for all the above info, there's a lot to sort through.

[Rick Moyer]

Samsungs TV's have an excellent reputation. I wouldnt worry the phone issues.

I bought a 65" Samsung UN series TV and have been very happy with it. No curved screen (I read it was purely marketing when I bought), no 4k (the eye can't tell the difference at our seating distance ~10' and there is very limited 4K signal). Got it for about $900 IIRC. I didn't see a reason to buy technology that wouldn't be used or available for years.
This^! I did the same, although I don't remember the model. 65" for under $1000. No need (for me) to have 4K. Similar 4K I would have had to get <55". Wanted the larger screen for distance from unit.

[Rich Riddle]

I still use a 12" black and white that might be a few years old in the shop. Our main TV weighs in at about 120 pounds. They don't make them like they used to make them.

[Stan Calow]

We got a 50" Panasonic a couple of years ago, based on the guidance for viewing distance. We immediately regretted not getting a bigger one. Vision is not getting better. BTW, Element TVs (Target carries them) are made in the USA if that matters to anyone.

[Jim Becker]

With flat screens, larger really is better...we view them different than the older tube type TVs and you can sit closer. Both of mine are 50" and in our media room, I'd be wishing for a 60-70" if I were doing it now for a more immersive experience. (50" was about the limit "back then") In the MBR, the 50" is fine for watching from bed.

[Matt Day]

Our last TV was a 42" and though that was a "big" tv not too long ago, I noticed it was hard to see football and basketball scores. I chalk it up to tv's getting bigger and bigger and they make the scoreboard proportionally smaller.

The 65" makes a big difference. The first day or two we were a bit taken aback how big it seemed and my wife said I got one that's too big. About a week later we're totally used to it and could have gone bigger!

[Van Huskey]

I have NEVER regretted going larger, I kinda wish I had gone bigger in the media room, 120" (not diagonal) wide seems rather small now when masked for 2.35:1 movies and the main seating is 12.5 feet from the screen. Then again I am one of the home theater nuts with 16 18" subwoofers and 32,000 (real) watts of power running them in a 5500 cubic foot room.

No need to be concerned about Samsung, the have some of the most reliable panels currently. Sony still makes a decent set (and their higher level projectors are very good) but the quality has long been eclipsed by Samsung and Panasonic and to a lesser extent LG.

In the end you can get a really good 60/65" panel for around $1,000 if you never sit down and calibrate the TV (or have it professionally calibrated) you likely won't notice much difference. You can't compare sets in a big box store since they are all set to "searchlight" levels to compete in the bright lights. To compare sets with your eyes you have to go to an AV store that has all the sets calibrated and in a normal viewing setting. If you can't do that then it is best to rely on the professional/hobbyist reviews from people that have enough experience to know what they are seeing. Curved sets are a personal thing, some people like them some people hate them. I personally have had good viewing experiences with both.

[Van Huskey]

Our last TV was a 42" and though that was a "big" tv not too long ago, I noticed it was hard to see football and basketball scores. I chalk it up to tv's getting bigger and bigger and they make the scoreboard proportionally smaller. !

Yes, and you see more and more "small" content during TV and movies, text messages are often important to the plot but when you are supposed to read it the phone may only be taking up 25-30% of the screen.

[Matt Day]

Sixteen 18" subwoofers? Whole Moses. So you have one bandsaw per woofer?

[Bruce Page]

The seating is only 8' from the screen. 46" has always felt like the right size for the room. I think 55" would work great but a 65" display would overhang the cabinet stand we have, and I think, overpower the room. This weekend I'm going to get behind the TV and switch around some of the input connections. I'm still not 100% sure that the problem is in the TV. It could be in the Direct TV box or the A/V receiver, or maybe just a bad connection. I do know that when I switch to the Blue Ray or PS4 everything works perfectly.

Sixteen 18" sub-woofers? :eek:

[Brian Elfert]

I have a 50" TV only because the model I wanted didn't have anything smaller than that. I would have liked to get a 42" instead. I bought my parents a TV two years ago and the smallest I could find that was truly 120 hertz was a 47". (Most of the 120 hertz TV at the time were really just 60 Hertz with some trickery to call them 120 hertz.)

If my TV were to die and I have to get something new I would probably go with OLED.

[Mike Nolan]

I like a large screen but with my eyes high definition does nothing for me.

[Van Huskey]

The seating is only 8' from the screen. 46" has always felt like the right size for the room. I think 55" would work great but a 65" display would overhang the cabinet stand we have, and I think, overpower the room. This weekend I'm going to get behind the TV and switch around some of the input connections. I'm still not 100% sure that the problem is in the TV. It could be in the Direct TV box or the A/V receiver, or maybe just a bad connection. I do know that when I switch to the Blue Ray or PS4 everything works perfectly.

Sixteen 18" sub-woofers? :eek:

Every AVR I have had that "died" the fault was in the video switching, usually you will get audio from the AVR but no video on the TV or in some cases digital snow either full screen or flashing bars of it. If you can get a proper picture with other sources then it is either something else other than the TV or depending on how it is wired one of the video ins for the TV may be corrupt and you could wire around the problem, unless you just want an excuse to buy an new TV.

65" overhangs a cabinet, who cares, you are a woodworker and can solve that problem and maybe find and excuse to buy a new tool to build the new cabinet...

I forgot to mention the amps for the subs are 240v and have two dedicated 50 amp circuits to feed the beasts but it is uber-overkill since 99.9% of the time they loaf along at less than 1% of their potential output. Systems like these are joked about on AV forums doing damage but with a good door seal there is actually the potential to cause structural damage with over/under pressurization but nobody has actually done it yet.

[Duane Meadows]

Deleted post

[Pat Barry]

Get the smart tv. My bride loves hers. Otherwise, bigger is better and 1080p is minimum requirement.

[Bruce Page]

Well, it turns out the A/V receiver was the culprit. I took it out of the loop and the TV looks and performs as good as ever. Sigh.. I'm a little disappointed, the new TV's with the new smart technology look really nice. The Sony XBR still has a great HD picture, so I can't justify replacing it just yet.

Thanks for all the help.

[Todd Willhoit]

I am in a similar boat here. Our Samsung PN51F8500 plasma died after less than two-years service. Repair parts arts are not available. It was an excellent TV. Do you guys have any recommendations for a good replacement?

[Roger Feeley]

Please learn from my mistake. We bought a 30" tv for the bedroom that would go up on an armoire. I didn't think to check how it would look from that angle and we learned that it's optimum viewing angle is either straight on or from a bit above. But the viewing from below was bad. I can't remember why we didn't just return the thing. I built a special stand for it that angled it down so we could see it. We are building a new house that that TV won't go in it. I will find something about 40" or so and I will be sure to simulate the expected viewing angle.

[Jim Becker]

Roger, a good solution is to never put these screens "on" a piece of furniture. Wall mount is the way to go, both for being able to adjust for optimal viewing angle as well as for safety. This is a 50" in our master bedroom viewed from "my spot". The wall mount was adjusted to provide a straight-in view from lying down.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/a-j-adopt/junk/IMG_8722_zpsaxgn6ks7.jpg

[Bruce Page]

The old Sony XBR made it another 4 years before going psychedelic. We replaced it with a Sony MASTER Series A9G OLED 4K Ultra HD Smart.
All I can say is Wow! I always thought the old XBR had a great picture but it’s a case of “you don’t know what you don’t know”. The OLED picture is stunning.
If it lasts ½ as long as the old Sony, I’ll be happy.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Bruce, am I interpreting this correctly, the Master Series is also a Sony?

[Bruce Page]

Yes, it's the 55" model.

[Nike Nihiser]

If you watch a lot of sports I wouldn't get a curved screen. I (and some others ) think it distorts the action as the "action"moves across the screen.

[Matt Day]

If you watch a lot of sports I wouldn't get a curved screen. I (and some others ) think it distorts the action as the "action"moves across the screen.

Nike, the curves comments were from 3.5 years ago. OP updated the thread today saying he bought a new TV, non curved I believe.

Bruce, that’s an expensive tv! $2500 msrp?

[Frank Pratt]

If you watch a lot of sports I wouldn't get a curved screen. I (and some others ) think it distorts the action as the "action"moves across the screen.

I don't know that anyone sells a curve TV anymore, do they? Computer monitors, yes, but when I bought my current TV a couple of years ago the curved panels were well on the way out.