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/televi...-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.