Advice for buying TV (to watch M athletes dominate)
MGoNerds, we bought a second home last year up in scenic Elk Rapids, Michigan. Still in the process of fixing it up as it was in rough condition and being used as a copy business (before that, a daycare, and before that a Baptist church). Progress has been slow but steady and we're at the exciting point of actually being able to stay in and use it.
Which means I'm gonna need a TV. In our smallish Ann Arbor home, we have a smallish living room and a correspondingly smallish TV. But this Elk Rapids house, being a former church, has a very large main living area and can accommodate a large screen. So I'm toodling around online looking at the new generation of TVs, and quickly getting overwhelmed by the lingo and the panoply of beautiful, massive sets. Looking for some input from this occasionally helpful, always entertaining online community.
Parameters: the TV will mostly be used for watching movies & sports and playing antiquated video game systems. 70-85" is what I have in mind. Planning to mount it directly on the wall. Our current set is a smart TV (which it appears they all are now) but we use Chromecast anyway and I prefer it for streaming, so may use it with the new set as well; we can wire directly to the router via network cable - one of the benefits of buying a former copy shop is the ridiculous number of network wall ports. I'd prefer to try a different brand than LG (our current set is LG and it's fine, not great...previous Sony beast lasted forever). Would prefer to end up around $1500 or less pretax.
Main places I've looked are Costco, Best Buy, and Big George's (local to Ann Arbor). I have the Costco credit card w/exec membership so we'll get 4% back if I buy there; otherwise 2% with another credit card elsewhere. Free delivery a huge plus, or pickup at one of the big box places in nearby Traverse City. In stock only as I plan on installing it early next week. Free installation of the wall mount hardware a plus but not necessary.
Any recommendations? What acronyms should I be looking for (OLED? QLED? UHD 4K? 8K? LCD?) What tech specs are important? Should I also plan on buying a sound bar? What brands/models do you love/hate? Hotter governor: Jennifer Granholm or Gretchen Whitmer?
wonder what you'll be watching on your big screen other than sports......
The South Dakota gubernatorial debates, of course.
Too bad she’s nuttier than a squirrels shit.
You don't typically get one without the other. Or so I've heard.
I have a high end Samsung qled tv 65 inch in my basement that I got for football season last year. I thing it’s the q85hd. But anyway, I got it because the Oled tvs were too dim looking, and I like my sports vivid and to pop. I have YouTube tv 4K package. It’s annoying, but I have to adjust the picture mode for 4K to “movie” and for standard hd I have to change it back to standard mode. The tv has a great picture but it takes too much tech fussing for my taste. I have 3 TCL Roku tvs in the rest of my house and not only are they simple and easy, but I don’t notice any major drop off in quality. Plus they are 4K as well. Just more user friendly if you aren’t into the tech fetish of all the new bells and whistles. You could get a 75 inch 4K tcl and probably love it
Im not really a tech guy but when I replace my living room TV in a few years, I'll probably be looking at the new frame TVs that are out, just for the aesthetic.
We have a 6 series TCL and really like it.
Mine's a 5 series and I like it. I do think I would spring for a little better TV next time, but for $1000 it felt like stealing.
Is it possible to buy a new television of any variety these days that can't be used to spy on you? *dons tinfoil hat*
Exactly. Which is why I never wank or evade taxes in the living room.
username does not check out ;)
If you can spend $1k more look into the Hisense L5 100 short throw projector. I have one and bought it on sale from buy dig. It comes on sale on Slickdeals roughly once a month. It comes with a ALR 100 inch screen that you mount on the wall and a projector box that is roughly 1ft away from the screen wall. It is roughly 16in off the ground. I recommend this for sports because to me the big screen was a huge deal. With the ALR screen it does pretty well in sunlight and doesn't need the pitch dark rooms. The colors are not going to pop like an OLED but good enough in my opinion. The installation can be a hassle but recently saw the deal including installation.
https://www.projectorreviews.com/hisense/hisense-100l5f-laser-tv-review/
I like this idea if it were just me using it, but I've got a young one and we may eventually use it for some short term seasonal rentals. My experience with projectors is that operating them is a bit fussier, requiring more "management" than just using a regular set. Also that the screen is like a magnet for kid/pet mischief.
Too bad, because the room is quite dark (essentially windowless) and would be great for a projector setup.
I was also going to suggest a projector. And just display it on a wall painted white - only a sucker buys a screen! Much easier than you think. TV remote can be synched to turn it on and change channels/volume. Just my opinion. I could be wrong!
I have a 65 inch in the living room which is very nice for sporting events. Though I never really watch it because I am too busy watching on my old school HD projector that I inherited from my father. Standard 1080p. Nothing fancy. But blows up to about 200 inches. Currently it's at 97.. must be an Hutch thing I guess. Of course it's hooked up to a surround sound as well.
Ultimately it's what you feel comfortable with. But projectors can be found at a decent price if you ever want to check it out.
I've purchased a couple Samsung Q80 class TVs, 65" and 75:, recently from Amazon, very happy with them and the price is decent.
Out of those two, I choose John Engler.
So... you have a fetish for the obese spartie coverup conspirator-type, huh?
/s (maybe)
Not my first choice, but if you're in the more cushion for the pushin camp, I can see how Engler would do it for you.
I grew up outside Mt. Pleasant and when I was maybe 12 or 13 went door-to-door selling products for our Junior Achievement company. Back before everybody had these fucking doorbell cameras or pulled a gun when someone came a-knockin.' At one house down our dusty dirt road, a stunning young woman answered the door, listened to my spiel, and then who should walk up behind her but Johnny Engler in a bathrobe. From appearances, fresh off the hanky panky boat.
I believe the woman was his mistress, and the future mother of the Engler triplets.
Cornholio, you and I might be from the same place outside of Mt. Pleasant. Did it have two bars, one corner store, and one intersection with a flashing traffic light?
Whoa, small world! I lived on Bluegrass Rd, along the Chippewa, across from Hiawatha Hills. Nearest business was a windy-ass bike ride up to the Cracker Barrel General Store on M-20. Graduated MPHS in the early 90s. What was your town/where did you go to high school?
https://www.costco.com/lg-70%22-class---uq8000-series---4k-uhd-led-lcd-…
This is what I have and it's great. Got it a few weeks before the SuperBowl for 600$, but it appears to be 700$ now. Sound is great, picture is great, and easily mounted to the wall. In my experience LG has been the best, but I know everyone has different experiences with TV's. They have a Samsung 70 inch for 650$ on costco.com, but LG is just my preference. I have a 50 inch Samsung that doesn't have any issues, so I wouldn't have a problem doing the Samsung one.
The cheapest prices right now are on Greentoe, a bidding website ala Priceline. (The orders are fulfilled by major retailers).
I believe the 65" LG OLED C1 is going for $1,400 right now (including taxes and delivery). I'm waiting for it to drop a tad bit more.
And yes, get a soundbar. The cheaper vizio ones with the sub woofer are a pretty good bang for the buck.
I bought a 55" LG OLED a few weeks or ago when the lamp burned out again on my old Mitsubishi projection tv.
I like the smart tv features, but I cannot get the picture and sound right for the life of me. All iterations of both settings seem off.
I should've just bought the new bulb for $300 rather than spending $1200 on this fancy schmancy crap.
Vlad, it looks like we're seeing some success at jamming your transmissions.
Have you tried the RTings site for calibration tips/suggestions?
Without knowing your specific model, here's an example: https://www.rtings.com/tv/reviews/lg/b1-oled/settings
You can search for your specific set, or one in the "set family" and see if this helps.
this is a great humble brag thread.
*This guy gets it*
Bigger is better. For example, a 42" TV is vastly better in every way than a 27" TV.
Get a projector and a nice 5.1 speaker system. I switched to a projector and my 133 inch screen is amazing with the surround sound
For that size of a screen you'll not need to worry about OLED as it will be out of your price window. With that screen size, if sports and video games (though probably not as big a deal for the older systems) are your primary uses I'd look for something with at least 120 hertz to reduce the blur when the camera follows Blake Corum's big TD run against OSU in the shoe this year. That might be harder to find though as most TVs are at 60 hertz. Smaller TVs the hertz don't matter so much but If you're going for something in the 70-80 range I'd try to get the 120. I have never had a TV of that size but that would be something I'd look for.
Didnt read any comment so this may be already covered but I buy Vizio and thats about it.
I have a 55 inch in my bedroom (for the wife i hate tvs in bedroom) that is 9 years old and a 70 inch that is 6 years old and they work flawlessly. They connect to vizio soundbar/bass system flawlessly. for being semi-budget TVs vizio make a long lasting quality product.
If you want "epic graphics with super fast refresh" it's not the TV for you. But if you want to stream ESPN for FOX in 1080p or 4K and have a large screen but not spend a lot, a vizio is a phenomenal TV
OLED is great. If you can afford $1,400 - $2,200 for a TV I highly recommend it.
Obviously you can get much cheaper tvs depending on what your priorities are. Once you get above 65" the OLED gets really pricey, but 65" is pretty big.
If you want the 77" OLED it looks like Best Buy currnetly has it for $,2,700.
I have a couple year old 55" hi sense 9G (it was rtings best value pick when I bought it). It seems great to me and 4k content looks very good. 120 Khz refresh. Live Sports look good. Relatively cheap. Easy to install apps. The audio is decent without a sound bar or surround sound set up. I would probably connect it to some kind of external sound (optical output if you have a receiver/amplifier that takes it) in a bigger space (like what you are talking about it).
All TVs will be 4k hdr and smart TVs. Forget 8k. Obviously with a $1500 budget there will be some sacrifices. Questions you need to ask in order of importance:
1. OLED vs LED- OLED superior, better blacks, but significantly more pricey
2. Assuming LED- backlight type, full array vs edge lit. Full array is going to cost more but much better contrast and brightness
3. size
4. brand
given your budget and the fact that it’s a main tv in the living room to watch sports and movies, I would suggest getting the biggest full array LED you can afford. Try crutchfield (good open box deals) or Cleveland plasma (they don’t have a brick and mortar store so they can sell them cheaper. I have ordered from them before so I can vouch for them), but all online dealers (Abe’s of Maine, etc,) come with some risk of a bait and switch. Probably not worth it.
Look for open box deals from reputable online companies. Since you don’t want an LG, you should be able to find an open box or even new 75 Sony 90J (2021 model) in that price range. Especially with the new model Sony’s being released any day now. 90J is a great set.
SD governor gets my vote.
This will probably get buried without a response but I’ll ask anyway. I bought a Samsung 7 a couple years ago and thought it would be suitable for watching sports and streaming movies/tv shows.
It’s good for sports but watching a dark scene in any movie is horrible. It’s so incredibly blurry. Has anyone had this issue? It almost seems defective because it’s a highly rated TV, but it looks fine 90% of the time.
So I read thru the entire comments section and didn’t see this noted: Costco is a great option because they automatically extend the manufacturer’s warranty by one year. I purchased a 70” Sony there within the last year or two and am thrilled with it. Re: Soundbar, I bought the matching Sony brand so that they could easily ‘talk’ to each other (single remote)
Finally:
Granholm = pretty
Whitmer = sexy
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Postscript: Thanks to all for contributing your input. I learned a lot and the information helped with my decision. So which set did I go with?
Well, I actually ended up buying one, then returning it, then getting another. The first purchase was based largely on price and refresh rate: the LG 65" UN9000, an older model that was on closeout at Costco for just a titch over $500, leaving me plenty of cash for a nice mount and soundbar. The tech on this set was a little "behind" but reviews were good and the refresh rate suggested I would get little motion blur with live sports. However, I left the box unopened because I didn't need to use it right away and had really been hoping to get an OLED set.
A week or so later, the LG OLED A1 65" went on sale at Costco (and elsewhere) for around $1300 and I jumped at the opportunity. Based on reviews, this set lacks some of the wow points of the C1 line, but the price was within my budget and it enjoys the benefits of OLED - including a purportedly excellent picture in a dark room (such as the one where it will be used) and wide viewing angles, great for a big space.
Installing today or tomorrow - excited to check out Game 1 of the NBA finals on it. Cheers to big-ass TV screens!