Need a new TV

[Dave Lehnert]

Came home from work and my TV took a dump. 11 years old so not even going to try a repair.
Old TV is an LG Plasma 50 or 52" not sure.
Before I over think things and research for a year and a half (Yep going on now with a compact tractor purchase)
Help a woodworker out and just tell me what I want to get. I tend to go middle of the road when buying things.

[Erik Loza]

We've been really happy with Samsung TV's. They are all smart TV's (app-based). We also use a Roku stick. I'm a neanderthal about anything tech but have no problems operating them. Not sure if you are a Costco member but we have bought all ours there. Mostly around $400, never seen the need for 4K or anything like that. Hope this helps.

Erik

[Jim Becker]

I have one Samsung and two LGs; one of the latter was left in this house by the previous owner. The Samsung is a 50" class and has an excellent picture. It used to be in our master bedroom but is now over the fireplace in our family/bird room where it's also visible from the kitchen. The new LG is a 55" class and is in our new master bedroom it also has an excellent picture and is a more modern smart TV. It was only about $400 from Costco, too. We are streaming only here and I feed the TVs with AppleTV devices which I also brought from the old property. We technically don't need that for the new LG, but for consistency of interface, that's what I use.

I will also note that I use small soundbars with a wireless sub for room filling sound from the TVs in the bedroom and family room.

[Anuj Prateek]

Came home from work and my TV took a dump. 11 years old so not even going to try a repair.
Old TV is an LG Plasma 50 or 52" not sure.
Before I over think things and research for a year and a half (Yep going on now with a compact tractor purchase)
Help a woodworker out and just tell me what I want to get. I tend to go middle of the road when buying things.

Any mid-priced TV will have good picture quality.

I would start with laying out the requirements. Something like:
- number of HDMI ports required.
- do you need component video or other ports
- do you need good inbuilt sound
- do you need a smart tv (I prefer separate Roku)
- LED: viewing angle range
- if room is going to be bright, then contrast etc
- size: you may be able to buy a bigger size with very little extra cost ​

Once all other requirements are met you won't be left with many choices.

https://amp.reddit.com/r/HTBuyingGui..._buying_guide/

Above link has some models listed by price.

I used their list for in-wall speakers and it helped narrowing down the choices.

[Stan Calow]

We just picked the biggest TV we could find at Sams Club for $1000. But also test the sound system and see if it works for you. We replaced our 55" Panasonic with a 70" Samsung and glad we did . But the sound seems to be weaker with the new one. Getting a smart TV makes it easier to access premium channels.

[Jim Becker]

'Kinda hard to get good sound internal to such slim designs, so if sound is important, even a $150 soundbar solution with a small subwoofer is going to kick butt over anything internal to most TVs. Nature of the beast...

[Stan Calow]

'Kinda hard to get good sound internal to such slim designs, so if sound is important, even a $150 soundbar solution with a small subwoofer is going to kick butt over anything internal to most TVs. Nature of the beast...

Yes. We bought a Bose sound bar soon after, and it helps, but still annoying that I have to crank that up to understand what they're saying. And its not all my admittedly bad ears. My wife (who can hear any complaining I whisper a whole house away) also says so. In hindsight I would at least look at the sound ratings in Consumer Reports.

[Jack Frederick]

We have a smart Samsung and we got rid of cable and run YouTube tv now. Some time back I was in Bestbuy talking tv sound with the salesman and he said just forget the built in sound on the TVs. As Jim pointed out, not a lot of geography in the boxes. My SIL bought a small, about 24-30” Sonos Sound Bar at Costco and to me it has been excellent.
Now, on the tractor, I have two Kubota BX’s. One a BX23 with BH and FEL and a 2660 with BB, FEL, MMM, tiler and Ratchet Rake. I looked at Mahindra and Kioti too, but when I bought the only local dealer was Kubota and it being my first tractor, I wanted and have needed dealer support. I’ve had them for 8 & 12 yrs now and they have been excellent.

[Adam Herman]

we are happy with our TCL from costco. if you have a costco, just go there with a budget in mind and pick on.

now tractors... hahah. that's a whole other thing. I would like to spend the money on a cabbed utility. maybe an lx 3310 but need to take time to go to the kioti dealer. i may crack and decide I don't need a cab, which makes used much easier to find. my old Allis Chalmers is ok, but we need more capability on the new property.

[Jerome Stanek]

I bought a Hisense that is 10 years old and still working fine. I did replace it with another larger Hisense as the first on gave a great picture and sound but wanted a bigger unit. The old one is my CNC monitor now and only gets shut down when power goes out. It has been 7 years since I put it in the shop.

[George Yetka]

Dont buy the best.
Buy any name brand.

I made the mistake of buying top of the line samsung 6 years ago and the software was outdated pretty quickly. The smart features get better and better. I had to add a Amazon firecube to make it usable.
Picture is good but a tv 1/3rd the price now would be better. the sound is great but a new soundbar would be better. Its a 65 but in the room its in a 75-85 would be more appropriate. But i'm so heavily invested in this tv I have to make it last another 5 years. If I spent 1000 id have no problem replacing it.

[Brian Elfert]

I have used a receiver with speakers for the sound on my TV for years. I never have issues with TV audio. My TV is actually just a monitor so it has no tuner and no speakers.

My personal choice for a TV would be the Samsung QN90A QLED Neo LED TV. It is fairly expensive and most people won't want to spend that much on a TV. If my Pioneer Plasma TV were to die this year that would the TV I would buy. OLED doesn't really work for me.

[Erik Loza]

+1 for getting a sound bar. We have a Sonos unit (not cheap, but made sense because we have other Sonos speakers throughout the house) and it's awesome. If it was "just the TV", you would probably be fine with any budget version.

Erik

[ChrisA Edwards]

Our last two TV purchases, 65" and 80", have both been Sony's. We a couple of Samsungs as well, but to be honest. I don't think we've had a bad TV or one quit working in the last 20_ years.

We are about to replace our bedroom TV, only because we arranged the bedrooms furniture and I want a larger screen.

I purchased sound bars with the last two TV's and my only suggestion here, buy the same brand sound bar as the TV as they'll play better together.

We cut the cable a couple of years ago and now stream everything. we have a mix of smart and dumb TV's, but use a Roku box, on each TV, to control all the streaming.

My next TV will be what fits my size and budget from Sams club.

[Tom M King]

Another one here not impressed with the Bose soundbar for speech.