Thinking about... buying a new TV

FORANE

FORANE

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FORANE
In the spirit of the long line of thinking about threads...

I'm thinking about buying a new TV. We've bought a few TV's in the last couple decades but mostly by our manager for the Gatlinburg rentals. I have not purchased a large high end TV for our great room in over a couple decades. I don't think we need an 8k TV because they're crazy expensive and there isn't much we would actually have to view in 8k. I figure we should get a 4k TV, but with what features? There's so much out there now with built in Roku, Google TV, various internet ready options, OLED / QLED / ULED / Mini LED, HDR included or not, name brand vs lesser known brand, etc. I like Google and think I might want one with Google TV built in. I'm thinking about one of the larger models, perhaps 85 inch or so.

We currently do not stream. We have Dish Network receivers and DVD players. In another room I have used the TV screen as a monitor for my computer for over a couple decades.

Given it's Christmas, we have the inlaws staying with us. He wanted to watch the Bills game. It wasn't on Dish Network (at least what I currently subscribe to). Would there be a means of streaming that game on one of the internet ready TV's without subscribing to a sports streaming service?

Please advise. What should I look for or look to avoid?
 
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There are a number of streaming devices that you can plug into your current TV. We use Roku here, I'm know Apple has a TV product as well.

It's been my experience that the TV itself should last 10 years or more, but streaming services come and go. I'd look at the picture and sound quality of the TV, and not concern myself with which streaming services it has the ability to decode, as they can become obsolete. Our main TV gave up the ghost earlier this year, and we replaced it with a Sony Bravia XR A80K. It has 4K resolution and uses OLED technology. We're very happy with it.
 
Unless you really geek out on the specs I’d say focus more on value than the spec sheet. The high end TV’s in the store have a great showroom appeal but most of that is because they are playing some super high def media while the lesser priced TVs are playing standard broadcast type stuff. They all pretty much are capable of streaming the most popular apps. The sound isn’t going to be great on any of them. I’ve owned everything from the cheap ones sold at Walmart to my current Sony. They all seem to hold up fine and after a while you get accustomed to the picture quality. My only real pet peeve on some TV’s is when the blacks aren’t super black. I might spend more on a TV just for that reason.
 
Zeldman said:
I can't help you on what Tv to get. I just wanted to share with everyone a picture of a rare, early model remote control.

View attachment 123640
The batteries never went bad, but it did quit working after several years...
Click to expand...

It appears there were still knobs to use. When I was a kid the remote control duty shift came with these:

1703626633957.png
 
OLED is going to be the cream of the crop in most cases, especially if you want really accurate color and uniform lighting. QLED/MicroLED is basically the same thing, as it's using smaller LEDs to provide that many more pixels to turn on/off for sharper images and better color reproduction. Make sure if you go LED you have something that is back-lit rather than edge-lit with regard to how light is provided to the LEDs, as edge-lit is older tech and results in more pronounced blooming and worse black levels. You want HDR and preferably Dolby Vision.

4K is fine, as most streamed source material isn't even 4K right now anyway, uses too much bandwidth to push 4K data 24/7 for all programming. 8K is great, but the sources are basically nil, so the unit would just be up-converting everything which is mostly a gimmick.

I would look at something like the Sony Bravia A90K if I were wanting something in the Top 10% of quality/features but not completely going absurd on price.
 
I remember helping my Dad load our console TV into the trunk of the car half hanging out and taking it to the TV repair guy. Guy was friend of the family and repaired them in his basement in the evenings while we waited.
My wife says we need a new TV, our 10-12 year old smart TV is not so smart now a days.

https://images.search.yahoo.com/sea...601764/Push_button_cable_box.jpg&action=clickThis was our first remote tuner for the early cable tv.
 
Gary Ward said:
I remember helping my Dad load our console TV into the trunk of the car half hanging out and taking it to the TV repair guy. Guy was friend of the family and repaired them in his basement in the evenings while we waited.
My wife says we need a new TV, our 10-12 year old smart TV is not so smart now a days.

https://images.search.yahoo.com/sea...601764/Push_button_cable_box.jpg&action=clickThis was our first remote tuner for the early cable tv.
Click to expand...
A Smart TV is fine, but they will all run out of hardware (and software support) pretty quickly. Mfgs aren't going to have departments of software developers sitting around to write patches for 8yr old tvs. I'd rather my monitor leave off the SmartTV stuff and I'll use a standalone box that can be swapped out cheaply when an upgrade is needed. AppleTV, Roku, FireTV, NVidia all make good smarttv boxes with better hardware and interfaces than the TV makers will ever squeeze into a TV.
 
I got a Samsung commercial/digital signage tv, thinking it would be completely dumb. Maybe it's just dumber than a regular smart tv in that it has less shovelware preloaded on it, but it still longs for network access. I continue to deny it my essence. That said, it seems like a decent tv, after I turned off all the interpolation/upscaling nonsense, so now I can watch the DVDs I buy off ebay on a nice 4k tv.
 
cessna182b said:
IIRC the very first actual Remote Control was made by Zenith, and was called the "Space Command" It never needed batteries because it was purely mechanical (used chimes).
Here is a link: https://www.theverge.com/23810061/zenith-space-command-remote-control-button-of-the-month

Dave
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We had a TV with that remote. One evening, my parents were going out. My Dad was ready and waiting in the living room when my Mom walked in.

TV went crazy changing channels. We figured out, she had a belt of metal rings. They made the same tone as the remote.
 
Chrisgoesflying said:
Holy cow, reading these comments on here, how old are you folks on this forum? LOL.
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Old enough to have been one of those early model remote controls.

We did have one of those Space Command remote equipped TVs, my mother dropped her keys and the TV came on. We tried doing it intentionally, never could get it to do that a second time.
 
Just to clarify, resolution and picture quality are only tangentially related. You can have the highest resolution possible and still get terrible picture quality. Get enough resolution for the size of the screen, but after that, focus on the picture quality (panel type, HDR/SDR?). OLED is (last I checked) the king of image quality, but it also suffers from burn in. If you leave it on and displaying a static image for an extended period (The actual duration required will change from model to model), that image will be permanently burned on to the panel.

I'm a big fan of HDR, but most media is still SDR. If you have a list of HDR content you want to watch, go for an HDR panel. If not, you may be better served by saving your money.

I would avoid a TN panel, just due to the viewing angles.
 
I think there are two OLED panel manufacturers out there, with LG being the big one. Sony likely uses their panels. OLED is the answer 90% of the time assuming you have a modicum of control over ambient lighting like blinds or drapes. If you are trying to watch the game with full sun, they won’t work that well.

Your Dish service is mostly 1080p or lower and they compress the heck out of their channels. Get an old school antenna and hook it up as some of your affiliate stations have started broadcasting in 4K which will get the local games. If you need the other games, bite the bullet and get a streaming service and cancel it when the guests leave. But get a Roku/FireTV/Apple TV. Smart TVs continue to disappoint me as they seem to find the cheapest CPU possible, then slow it down even more. Just keep in mind, all of those boxes, apps and tvs now have spectacular telemetry and phone home so they can recommend you the best products and services on all of your devices. I tend to think Apple is less nefarious at it, but not by a whole lot.
 
My early 2010’s Panasonic Veira 65” plasma still looks fantastic. I will be sad the day it goes.
 
I still remember the big old Zenith console TV with the remote control that would cause a mechanical actuator to physically roll the channel tuner knob one increment every time you pushed the button. My first Sony digital TV with the solid state 'silent' remote tuning blew my mind.
 
Controlling ambient lighting would be an issue.
IMG20231227091747.jpg

I've been considering either the TCL 85-Inch QM8
or the
Hisense 85-Inch Class U8 https://a.co/d/5BYGz8f

I like the idea of an external smart controller except it's another remote. An external smart controller can be used with a smart TV when the smart TV gets somewhat outdated, correct?
 
FORANE said:
Controlling ambient lighting would be an issue.
View attachment 123674
Click to expand...

An OLED probably won't fit that room. For that matter, WHY IS THERE A TV IN THAT ROOM??? Just put some binoculars next to the windows and spy on your neighbors. With a view like that, I don't think I could concentrate on the screen.
 
I also agree that an OLED probably isn't the best fit if you want a vivid picture in a brightly-lit room. Looks like QLED is the better fit. I'd see what Samsung has to offer.

Take a look at AVS Forums and read some reviews/recommendations for the QLED sets to get a good feel for the best value for dollar spent. I'd probably avoid the Hisense brand unless you really don't care about quality.
 
We’ve been very happy with our LG OLED. Screen burn is a possibility (I’m told) but not a real concern, and the set has a maintenance routine it runs periodically to help prevent it. It’s not like we ever leave a static image on screen for any length of time.
 
As my eyes age, size over image quality has been my path when dealing with video. I had a DIY painted screen with a 720p projector in the basement. It was just fine for movies, sports, etc. and the kids were quite happy to use that setup to game on a 10' screen. But you probably don't want to paint your logs.

As to one-off games when Pop-pop visits, a laptop via HDMI cord is what we do using streameast, sportsurge, etc., although image quality will be compromised. There really is no good way to pay a small fortune for one or two NFL games out of your local area. The NFL wants ALL of your large fortune and you will like it.
 
FORANE said:
Controlling ambient lighting would be an issue.
View attachment 123674

I've been considering either the TCL 85-Inch QM8
or the
Hisense 85-Inch Class U8 https://a.co/d/5BYGz8f

I like the idea of an external smart controller except it's another remote. An external smart controller can be used with a smart TV when the smart TV gets somewhat outdated, correct?
Click to expand...
We have a Roku connected to each TV. The TV in our exercise room is around 15 years old and we can use the latest streaming services thanks to the Roku. If it becomes obsolete, you get another one, it's about $35 - $50 at Target, depending on the model. You can program the Roku remote to operate the TV as well for the simple everyday functions, so for the most part that's the only remote you use.
 
If you have multiple TVs, sticking with one brand will make the hundred-button remotes and 4-level-deep on-screen menus at least a little more familiar, even if they aren’t completely identical between sets. We’ve settled on Samsungs, as they tend to be well reviewed
 
Chrisgoesflying said:
Holy cow, reading these comments on here, how old are you folks on this forum? LOL.
Click to expand...
I remember when cable tv came to the area, Imagine, 10 channels for only 2 bucks a month...and no going outside to turn the antenna to get a channel.!!

My parents had an old Zenith. Sometimes the picture would get fuzzy. A quick stomp on the floor would clear it right up. Although sometimes it took dad to stomp the floor to get it clear... :lol:
 
DaleB said:
We’ve been very happy with our LG OLED. Screen burn is a possibility (I’m told) but not a real concern, and the set has a maintenance routine it runs periodically to help prevent it. It’s not like we ever leave a static image on screen for any length of time.
Click to expand...
Most of the manufacturers have software that shifts the image a bit every so often to avoid the burn-in issue. However, when it's a large bar at the bottom, shifting the pixels a bit doesn't help much if the surrounding pixels are all showing the same color.
 
catmandu said:
As my eyes age, size over image quality has been my path when dealing with video. I had a DIY painted screen with a 720p projector in the basement. It was just fine for movies, sports, etc. and the kids were quite happy to use that setup to game on a 10' screen. But you probably don't want to paint your logs.

As to one-off games when Pop-pop visits, a laptop via HDMI cord is what we do using streameast, sportsurge, etc., although image quality will be compromised. There really is no good way to pay a small fortune for one or two NFL games out of your local area. The NFL wants ALL of your large fortune and you will like it.
Click to expand...
The projector would be the worst option for a non light-controlled room, lol. Colors would wash out quickly no matter what he painted or type of screen he had.
 
Still running a 17 year old Sony 50 inch Plasma with no issues. Just run the white screen saver once a week to help with the burn-in

Only has 1 HDMI port but have a cheap switch allows me to run multiple inputs

heavy as hell
 
SoonerAviator said:
The projector would be the worst option for a non light-controlled room, lol. Colors would wash out quickly no matter what he painted or type of screen he had.
Click to expand...
Yeah, we've got a projector in one of the cabins and it has to be a very dark room to have a descent image. I've been reading on the avs forum and it seems a qled or mini led would be best in the bright room.
 
FORANE said:
Yeah, we've got a projector in one of the cabins and it has to be a very dark room to have a descent image. I've been reading on the avs forum and it seems a qled or mini led would be best in the bright room.
Click to expand...
Just about any option is going to do better than the old rear-projection unit you have sitting in that picture, lol. You might look at some of the options with the matte/anti-reflective screens to cut down on light/reflections from the room. My parents have a nice projector in their theater room on a 120" screen, but it is a room with one window and it's blocked with foam so it's theater-dark in there, lol. Great for getting large viewing area though. I'm still limping along an old 50" Pioneer Kuro plasma screen, but I'll probably be going QLED or OLED in the next year just to upgrade the size to something like 65"-70". Probably see my electric bill go down since the Plasma screens are little heaters when they're on.
 
Just went through the same thing 2 weeks ago, I just bought a 70" version of one of these https://www.samsung.com/us/televisi...d-4k-tvs/85-class-qled-4k-qe1c-qn85qe1cafxza/ and hooked it up to a Roku.

Overall pretty impressed for the price, image quality is very good, (had to run a calibration to get it there but it works well.) blacks are good and it does well with high ambient light (I have a wall of windows as well,
 
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