f13.net

TVs aren't rocket science so I feel silly asking here, but it's a biggish purchase and a lot of people here know a lot of things, so why not.

My 7 years old LCD tv is giving up the ghost (colors keep reversing, apparently this is a known issue where some component inside the TV burns out and it's not an easy fix, obviously there's no warranty) and rather than pay a guy a few hundred dollars to come out and try to fix it and maybe be successful I'm thinking I just pay a few hundred more to upgrade to a nicer model.

Here's the one I'm eyeballing: Vizio 60" 1080p (http://www.bestbuy.com/site/vizio-60-class-60-diag--led-1080p-smart-hdtv-black/2783415.p?id=1219558785722&skuId=2783415).  Currently $750 brand new, compared to the ~$2k I paid for my current (46") TV as a refurb.  It's stupid how cheap these things have gotten.

I don't *think* I care about getting super super high def 4K or whatever it is, which would more than double the price.  My theory has always been that my eyeballs aren't good enough to tell the difference anyway.  Can't go much bigger on size without outgrowing my media center and/or living room.  Built-in Netflix/Amazon/Pandora is a nice bonus; I get that stuff through my PS3 now but having one fewer device to manage would be cool.

Anything else I should consider before I pull the trigger?  Does Vizio have a track record of extreme shittiness that I'm unaware of, anything like that?

Seems okay except for the fact that's it's 60 Hz native refresh rate. If you care about picture quality you may want to spend ~$250 more and get something in the $1000 range.

get a 4k anyway

also make sure it's curved

and super thin

Who cares? It's just money.

I don't get the whole curved thing.  It's curved, so what?  Seems destined for the same woodpile and 3D TV.

I'll have to be making the same type of purchase when we get in our new house.  Yay.   :|

Yeah, I looked at some curved models in the store and didn't quite get it.  Feels like it's optimized for one very particular viewing angle, which might be good for an optimized home theater experience for one or two people but doesn't fit my lifestyle quite as well, where I'm more likely to be watching from the kitchen while I have a bunch of other people spread out around the couch.

Trippy, where'd you get the 60Hz from?  It says 120Hz on the page -- but is that some sort of trick that's not representative of what my eyeballs would actually be getting?  And does it matter at all if most of the content I'm watching is at 30fps?

Samsung makes good panels. Supposedly LG does too.

That's all I got really. I got a 55" Samsung and unfortunately it's a smart TV since you can't get anything 50" or bigger with a decent panel that isn't smart I guess. The smartTV stuff is shitty and slow and I hate it, but I just use my PS4 for streaming and it's all okay.

Forget Smart, 4K, 3D and curved. Just buy a nice big Sony or Samsung and you will be happy.

4k is interesting but one of those things where by the time enough media comes out for you to give a shit about having it you'll be in the market for a new TV again and will be able to buy one with a massively better 4k panel.

What Fab said; being an early adopter is needlessly expensive.

I would get one with a USB plug. I hear chromecast is amazing for its price.

Chromecast will plug into an HDMI slot.  I've had one since they came out and it's pretty good for 30 bucks.

Scroll to the table near the bottom:
http://www.cnet.com/products/vizio-e-series-2015/

Also mentioned here (search for "refresh"):
http://www.rtings.com/reviews/tv/lcd-led/vizio/e-series-2015

I've had two Samsungs (one got gifted on to my sister) and my folks have had another; I can testify that they are incredibly high quality. Zero issues with any of them over the past five years or so, and the picture on the old one is still as good as ever.

Don't bother with the 3D or other gubbins. I have a smart TV and it's nice, but you can get 95% of the same functionality from a chromecast, and google are practically giving those away nowadays.

I liked my Samsung DLP's build quality better than the Mitsubishis I've had.

Wish they hadn't phased out DLP, it's a great technology at a low cost. Unless you need thin for space requirements, it was the best thing on the market with superior horizontal view angles to LCD (one of the reasons they're trying the curve gimmick). And unlike plasma (the only visual competitor to DLP), pop in a new bulb and it's a new tv. Plus native checkerboard 3D, I had 3D in 2003.

Curves are a gimmick, 3D is gimmicky, 1080p is a fine resolution, even for computing on a tv (4k renders a lot of things too small for sofa computing). Going from 60fps vsync to 120fps vsync is, welp, gimmicky. Good for 3D gaming, soo....niche and gimmicky.

Ah, well. Thin sets won the battle and now you can pony up more cash for an inferior experience. Good job.

Sky, I think I saw a cloud over there that looks like it needs be put in its place.  Can you go do something about it?

4k is TERRIBLE for anything computing right now, but most especially drawing/ drafting. I swapped the 4k monitors I had at work for 'old' standards because it was a fight between "Mouse moves at a crawl" and "mouse alway zips past where I'm aiming."

We've got a 6-year-old 45" Sharp and an 7-month-old 35" LG, both have been great.  Really my only complaint is that LED TVs take a while to turn-on. Could be because I refuse to pay 1,200 for a TV, but a 15 second wait doesn't kill me. The Sharp's picture is still as strong as it was when purchased and it was only $700 when I bought it. The LG hasn't run in to any of those "first year" problems so I expect it will continue to go strong until it dies.

I agree that "Smart" is a gimmick but like having Netflix built-in to the bedroom TV so I don't have to have additional devices hooked-in. I disagree that 120hz is gimmicky. We bought a 24" 60hz for over the master spa tub and the difference is noticeable. (As is 720p vs 1080p even though it 'shouldn't matter on the smaller screen.)

This would be oh so hilarious if I weren't a) correct and b)

I paid just over $1100 for my 73" 1080p 120Hz set that's fucking awesome. If DLP hadn't been phased out, you'd be paying half (or less) what you are for a similar size class.

Large plasmas basically don't exist. To get a mid-70" LED, I'd have to pony up $2500. This DLP is probably my last tv, I'll be going projector (where I can get a DLP, ironically).

 :oh_i_see:

edit: actually, it's as if all pc gamers started buying macs and pushed windows pc out of the market entirely. I mean, you can game on a mac pro, but you'll pay a premium and it still won't be as good.

I have had 3 Sony TVs poop the bed far before their time. I would highly recommend a Samsung Internet model.

Yeah, my last TV was a Sony.  It did last a good 7 years or so before pooping the bed so I guess I can't complain TOO much.  I did end up going with the Vizio I linked originally; even the link Trippy posted said it was a really good value for the money, and after having the last TV die ingloriously I figured I'd rather go with something where I won't have regrets when it kicks the bucket.

No complaints so far; the extra square footage is nice, and I like not having to fiddle with my PS3 controller to watch Netflix.

I thought this was about TV shows.

I got the 60" Samsung UHD TV 4k, etc etc etc. I love it. I think I'm going to call it...Georgette.  :why_so_serious:

But in all seriousness, it's a great panel. PS4, 4k Netflix, and the BluRay stuff all looks fantastic. 3D is a gimmick I've used a few times - not sure it's really worth the hassle at this point, but may be interesting if you can get some movies that are really designed for it.

This seems like the best place for this.

I bought a chromecast last week because Comcast won't let me stream HBO to my PS4.

Holy hell, chrome cast is amazing.

I downloaded a remote desktop chrome add on and used my iPad to browse my PC chrome browser to a streaming service then beamed that streaming service from my PC to my TV.

It was all really simple to set up and really simple to use.  Probably the best $30 I've had in a while. If I had an android tablet/phone I think I could've skipped the PC completely and beamed straight from my phone to the TV.

Anyone see an issue with this Samsung (http://www.bestbuy.com/site/samsung-50-class-49-1-2-diag--led-1080p-smart-hdtv-black/4322019.p?id=1219097784442&skuId=4322019)?  Yes, I'm OK with it not being a 75" curved, 3D, 4K ultra HD set.  Max size I could probably go is 60", although my wife really does not want that big of a TV.

Looks fine and that seems to be the top model in their current LED TV line, though you are actually only saving $50 since the current price is $750 as advertised by Samsung:

http://www.samsung.com/us/video/tvs/UN50H6350AFXZA

Looks like I'll be going with a 60".   After moving in the house and setting up the furniture, we really have a fairly long viewing distance.  The set with 4 HDMI ports is $300 more than the one with 2.  :oh_i_see:

Home theater receivers solve that problem!

I have to buy a TV soon.  80" or thereabouts.  I think Vizio is crap but haven't decided what to do yet.  I don't have time for this and trying to hire an AV guy to do it or tell me how is expensive and annoying.  I might as well run the speaker wire myself this weekend, and put in some coax just because why not.

I'm not sure if the newer Samsung flat panels are like this (mine's about two years old now), but the smart TV stuff on mine is a separate thing you turn on after you turn on the TV (which then has to *boot* ugh), so apart from once out of morbid curiosity, I've never turned that crap on and just use the TV to watch stuff from its many (4?) HDMI inputs.  It's a 46" panel and I regret not going a bit larger even though I have a pretty small living room.

I use the Samsung TV apps for watching Netflix. Works fine, though has all the same problems as all of these smart TV apps (slow, crashes occasionally, etc etc). Overal works fine though and means I don't have to connect up a PC or somesuch. I've done Youtube too, though "typing" with a remote is really slow. Haven't tried the other apps (Hulu, etc).

I've found the Amazon and Netflix apps on the PS4 to be pretty reasonable for streaming video stuff and it makes an okay bluray player.  I do have a small PC in the living room for playing the occasional console-ish Steam game or playing video content from the NAS, though I need to give the new PS4 video player stuff a look and see if it can do that job well enough.  I'm annoyed there's no dedicated transport control remote for it like the PS3 had though.

Are you ready to pay four grand. Because get ready to pay four grand.

Too bad all the haters killed DLP, by now you'd be able to get an 80" for a grand.

I am.  Some people want more, is the problem, and I don't have anything that would make use of 4k.  By the time it becomes an issue, I'll be ready to buy another one.  As long as HDMI remains a thing, I'll probably be OK.  Not sure what I need to put in for Uverse, so I've got Cat5 and will be adding coax.

Uverse wants me to buy some wireless receivers but I don't have any experience with them.

I have two 55" Samsungs - one purchased last Christmas and one purchased two years earlier.  The Apps for the new one are 1000% better.  Netflix on the old one is a joke.  However, if you really hate the old apps, buy a new Blu Ray and use the apps from it.

I find that best thing to do is to go to Best Buy and look at the TVs yourself.  For my wife, who has bad vision (explaining why she is with me), anything over a very basic model is wasted.  It is all a blur to her anyways.  For me, I noticed a big difference when I went to the top of the line 55" Samsung.

Buy a Roku/FireTV/AppleTV device of your choice, connect it to HDMI and have a better experience that will likely get software updates long past the point any smartTV/BluRay player will (and it will cost you less).

Can you even buy a new/larger TV that's not "smart"?

Unless you buy something that's really cheap (typically quality and price) or something that's targeted at business/commercial use (which will likely be extremely expensive), probably not.  The best you can hope for is that the "smart" features are not so intrusive that they make basic operation horrible.

I like the smart feature stuff on my new TV.

Workflow on old TV:
1) Turn on TV via TV remote.
2) Turn on PS3 via PS3 controller.
3) Wait for both TV and PS3 to boot/warm up so I can see what I'm doing.
4) (sometimes) Switch TV to PS3 input.
5) Navigate PS3 menu to Netflix app.

Workflow on new TV:
1) Press "Netflix" button on TV remote.

Pleasantly, it's the exact same UI; the only difference is using the remote vs the controller.

I just got an Amazon Fire stick so I can do stuff the TV can't on its own, like Plex and HBO Now.  We'll see if their Netflix client is any better (and more importantly, better enough to make up for having to use a second remote).

I just bought a Samsung 55" J6275. It lacks 4K, 3D and its not curved, the stuff I don't care about anyway. Will let you know what I think in a month, but my comparison will be a 8-year old LG 32" so unless they screwed up my TV I will be fine.

Bought a 75" 4k Samsung.  Supposedly the embedded NetFlix will do 4k, so that's something.  I won't know until after I get it installed, which will be sometime after Sep 16.

Listened to a friend talk to me about how awesome projectors are, and eventually I said "Are you in the projector business now?"  "Yeah, kinda." :oh_i_see:  He did some reviews of Ricoh projectors and is apparently a fan now.

Buying a top end Samsung is never a mistake.  This has been true for getting close to 10 years, and by that definition, buying anything else probably IS a mistake (unless you are on a tight budget).  Also, Samsung 4Ks are their best panels, period...even if you are seeing anything in 4K. 

Projectors are awesome if you have the space.  The only weakness they have are wives.  I'd give up the TV way before I gave up the projector.

You are right, I had a projector once and his wife was a total bitch.