Looking at a new TV

S

snobuilder

Well-known member
The 14 year old Hitachi projection TV just won't die but we have decided to replace it.
We are close enough to Milw. that we get our stations OTA and also use ROKU and NETFLIX.
Looking at a 50 to 55" screen. There is a 2 YO 42" 120/1080p flat screen in another room, so we know how nice the newer sets are.
Current OTA broadcasts top out at 1080p but I see the latest sets are called 4K and are capable of 2160p.
The 4k will set me back another $150-$200.....will it be worth it/do I need it?.....The 1080p is really nice already.
 
srt20

srt20

Active member
snobuilder said:
The 14 year old Hitachi projection TV just won't die but we have decided to replace it.
We are close enough to Milw. that we get our stations OTA and also use ROKU and NETFLIX.
Looking at a 50 to 55" screen. There is a 2 YO 42" 120/1080p flat screen in another room, so we know how nice the newer sets are.
Current OTA broadcasts top out at 1080p but I see the latest sets are called 4K and are capable of 2160p.
The 4k will set me back another $150-$200.....will it be worth it/do I need it?.....The 1080p is really nice already.
Click to expand...
I don't know of anyone broadcasting in 4K. In fact Fox channels broadcast in 720 because 720 is better for sports, fast moving stuff.
If and when Roku does 4K the bandwidth usage will start going sky high. Might not be an issue now, but I bet internet prices will follow. Even for cable internet.

But, maybe I'm wrong? And everything will be 4K in a few years?
 
Y

yoopermike

New member
IF you can wait until spring, that is the time to buy a TV. I was looking for one 3 or so years ago, walked into a Target store, and they had them on blow-out in April. I asked the young man what the deal was, and he said that time of year is when manufacturers put their new stuff out.
 
yamadooed

yamadooed

Active member
Snowbisket I haven't found the need for anything better than a 1080/120 flat screen yet... Best to hit up Best buy after Superbowel weekend for some open box deals...
 
F

formula_iii

Member
new tv

netflix and hulu actually have very limited 4k shows such as "House of Cards" I just purchased a vizio 65" 1080p have a 5 year old Sony and the Sony was SOOO much better took the Vizio back and purchased a Sony 55" 4K for $899
upgrades supposedly 1080 to 2160 (4K). the picture is pretty awesome! 720 or 1080 is not what makes the difference in sports its the refresh rate. Standard cheaper tvs 60 the 5 year old sony is 120 the new Sony 55" is 480
its night and day better than the 120. sports like hockey and(God forbid) NASCAR its amazing!
The LG OLEDS are super but so is the price...The sony under a grand is hard to beat in that size. Also Samsung is supposed to be good, but personally not a fan!
MY 2Cents!
 
srt20

srt20

Active member
formula_iii said:
netflix and hulu actually have very limited 4k shows such as "House of Cards" I just purchased a vizio 65" 1080p have a 5 year old Sony and the Sony was SOOO much better took the Vizio back and purchased a Sony 55" 4K for $899
upgrades supposedly 1080 to 2160 (4K). the picture is pretty awesome! 720 or 1080 is not what makes the difference in sports its the refresh rate. Standard cheaper tvs 60 the 5 year old sony is 120 the new Sony 55" is 480
its night and day better than the 120. sports like hockey and(God forbid) NASCAR its amazing!
The LG OLEDS are super but so is the price...The sony under a grand is hard to beat in that size. Also Samsung is supposed to be good, but personally not a fan!
MY 2Cents!
Click to expand...
Yes refresh rate makes a difference. But a 720 with 120 refresh, and a 1080 with 120 refresh the 720 "generally" looks better. Obviously many other things can come into play as well. I'm just stating why fox uses 720, because of so much sports on their channels.
 
F

formula_iii

Member
looking at new tv

I respectfully and totally disagree... prime example cbs broadcast 1080 120 refresh broncos vs. patriots fox 720 120 panthers vs. cardinals and the cbs picture was 100 % better! anyone else see the difference!?
 
srt20

srt20

Active member
Well whatever. I did watch both and those games, and that along with every other sporting event looks better on fox here. My tv has 600 refresh rate. 60" Samsung.
 
F

formula_iii

Member
srt20 said:
Well whatever. I did watch both and those games, and that along with every other sporting event looks better on fox here. My tv has 600 refresh rate. 60" Samsung.
Click to expand...

CINNET just did an article on Samsung that their motion rate is fake they claim 600 but the real refresh rate is 120 at best even my sony which claims 480 when put to the test by several experts its 240 at best so bottom line tv manufacturers have fake refresh rates to sell tvs among their competition! By the way NBC Sports are by far the best in by area with DIRECT TV although 219 FOX SPORTS HD is good too, however the local Fox affiliate is poor!
the question is about tvs..snobuilder any decent (non cheap crap) tv will do just fine with the right source and connections
Easily get a 55" under a grand! even 4k...my experience and the guys at BEST BUY say stay away from VIZIO! But hey I know people who love their VIZIO's so I guess You decide?
 
J

jetrep

Member
Okay I just went through this in December. First of all most companies now are not advertising true refresh rates. They made up numbers and call them effective refresh rates. You have to do some digging online to discover the true refresh rate.

Me: I have a roku and love it. I also use an antenna at times.

First purchase: 55" 1080p TCL Roku TV black friday special for something like $380 including tax. Roku aspect of it worked great. Color and picture quality was deplorable. I returned it.

Second Purchase: 50" 4k Vizio M50-C1. Price ~$650 plus tax. Limited smart features but works okay. Motion didn't seem quite right. Picture quality good on some stuff but lousy on others. I couldn't find settings that looked good for everything and I have no interest in changing settings every time I change what I'm watching. Remove has a keyboard on the back but didn't work all that great. It wouldn't work when doing a search in youtube app...***?

Third/Final Purchase: 55" 4k Sony XBR55X810C. Around $1k. When I bought this I still had the Vizio around so I could compare side by side. I discovered analyzing picture quality at best buy is a waste of time. I streamed the same show on netflix on both tvs and timed them exactly. Sometimes it was close and sometimes the Sony would blow away the Vizio. Sony has built-in Android TV that works fairly well. Roku works better but the built in stuff works good enough that I haven't bought another roku for this tv. Remote is basic but works okay (I don't think people discuss remotes enough...it can have a big impact on tv experience). Picture quality was good out of the box. I think I increased brightness a little bit. The Sony does not get very bright so if you have a well lit room look elsewhere. This is a true 120Hz panel. Most videos I put on usb drive play fine on the TV. My biggest complaint about the TV is that sometimes there is a longer than expected delay between remote control inputs and TV response.

One neat thing about the Sony I haven't seen elswhere: It creates a menu of shows for OTA channels like you'd see with cable or dish. This is awesome and blows away having to just click through channels.

My dream TV would be a Sony with built in Roku. Unfortunately as of today Roku is only integrated in cheap TVs.
 
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