Our 13 year old 37” Vizio LCD TV is dying — the display board is likely giving out, resulting in periodic full pixelation of the image cleared only by power cycling the set. I suppose I could take it back to Costco…
TV technology has changed substantially since I last researched a purchase. Since I want this to be a once per decade purchase, I’m weighing OLED vs Mini-LED, willing to trade size for picture quality in a balance with price. suppose someone watching a smallish LCD TV in 2024 might not have much to protest on picture quality, but I do want value for the money spent on a replacement. The smallest set I’m entertaining is 43”, the largest that comfortably fits the space without rearranging the entire room is 55”. I don’t want to buy three TCLs in the next decade, but I might be okay with buying two midrange Hisense sets over the next decade instead of one nicer, but smaller LG that lasts about years.
We aren’t cable or broadcast TV watchers; the set primarily serves as a display for controlling our streaming music selections and streaming video for a couple evening shows or a weekly movie night. Right now this is a one TV home, but remodeling the finished portion of the basement might double that. I would expect a larger (possibly up to 65”, which feels insane) TV to eventually live downstairs.
Suggestions, recommendations, and other thoughts are quite welcome.
I bought a 65" TCL Roku TV a few years ago and liked it so much I bought a second one when I finished the basement. They're 4K LED tvs and the picture looks good enough for me. What I haven't isn't available any more, but my point is TCL is solid. We also have smaller LGs in the bedrooms and those are also pretty nice.
What's really annoying about buying a tv after 10+ years is just how frickin expensive that old tv was compared to better tvs today.
Good point on the relative cost of sets actually going down, even as I’m looking at the sticker price with a bit of shock. I’m heartened to hear the TCLs have held up and meet muster, performance-wise.
Rather than citing a specific brand, I should have said that I don’t want to shop so low in the market as to wind up with a set that self-destructs in three years because of build quality or poor heat management. (So if TCLs hold up, that relieves some of the worry there.)
I see a deal for a 42” LG OLED model that is within $100 of a 55” Hisense U8N, which sort of illustrates my basic conundrum.
Please, no Hisense.
We have a fair size plasma TV in our bedroom that's been around for quite some time; it's not a smart TV, but with an inexpensive Chromecast attached you'd never know it.
What’s the issue with Hisense? It seems like their mini-LED panels are fairly well regarded for contrast (good deep blacks thanks to local dimming) and color, but suffer from smaller viewing angles.
I don’t need a smart TV for the smart features. It won’t be hooked up to the WiFi any longer than necessary to run whatever firmware update it needs. I have a streaming puck that handles the smart duties.
From my experience Hisense is truly a discount manufacturer: their configurations limit options for audio hookups, for example, and they age poorly, hardware-wise. They might have improved, but they're always a hotel room TV to me.
My main issue with TVs these days is the feature set makes them start slower. They actually have to boot. Our 2011-era Sony takes a few seconds to display a picture and our 2021-era Samsung QN55 takes closer to double that.
My second issue appears to not be an issue in your household: using a separate streaming device to allow upgrading that and keeping the TV itself longer. It's still electronic waste, but upgrading the Apple TV in several years is so much cheaper than an entire new TV. Instead the TV just has a too large banner reminding to activate its "smart" features. Fat chance.
As for technology, I'm still team mini/micro/whatever-LED over OLED. I have a computer hooked up to the TV to play retro games from my childhood and that means fixed UIs on the TV for hours at a time. Every generation of OLEDs resists burn-in better than the previous generation but they still aren't immune. Every generation of mini-LED gets more precise arrays to mimic those pure blacks. Finally, OLEDs don't get as bright and being in a room with a lot of afternoon and evening sun means I need the TV to be brighter to compensate.
I inherited an old 36" LG TV from my daughter that I kept because it's from the heart of the transition era so it has a crazy number of inputs -- HDMI, VGA, DVI, Composite, Component, S-VHS, RCA and digital audio, I think the only thing it's missing is a Display Port connection. I have that one in my office with a Roku, Flex and Chromecast on it, so I get plenty of viewing options. The older 55" Vizio in the ultra lounge is a smart TV that got dumb when they killed the Yahoo! app store and refused to update the firmware to fix the problem. Their solution was telling us to buy a new Vizio smart TV to replace the one we bought three years ago, not even a discount offer, FFS. But thanks to Chromecast and Roku we were able to make it smart again and keep it that way for many years.
Our TV is nearly 15 years old, so sooner or later we'll need a new one. Right now we have a Roku box and Chromecast both plugged in and love it.
My fear for the future is what you mention with the Vizio, I don't want to be beholden to someone else's software being up to date. I'm not plugging the TV directly into the internet, I'm just not
We have a (I think) 39-inch Vizio "smart" tv that is about 7 years old. It's our main upstairs unit.
The apps suck. I plugged a Roku Ultra box into it a couple years ago. That part seems to work fine. But, assuming our home remodel ever finishes and we move back upstairs, I fear that it won't work with my new Tablo setup.
The downstairs TV is a 55-inch TCL, which we bought soon after moving. So, about 5 years old. For the most part, it works well. The Tablo app crashes now and then, which may be related to a known problem with memory management. I am hoping Tablo comes out with a firmware upgrade to address that issue.
Our third is, iirc, a 32-inch Vizio or Samsung or something, which I used as my main computer screen and occasional tv, hooked up to a Roku Ultra stick. It is at least 10 years old. Similar fear with the Tablo, but it will be in the same room with it, so I can probably connect it directly to the Tablo or the antenna, possibly sidestepping issues.
I mostly want the Tablo so that I can watch NFL games on broadcast and PBS channels not in my streaming app. So, looking forward to testing those out this fall.
Yep, AppleTV (or similar peripheral) for the streaming features is the way to go. But I don’t see a way to get a midrange panel without buying a smartTV attached to it — features I don’t need that are designed to be obsolete in a few years’ time and kickstart another cycle of purchasing. It seems that nice displays just aren’t available at TV size without software to run them and cut-down versions of apps.
I still have the receiver I bought in high school, an early 5.1 capable Pioneer that is finally starting to die. To replace it, one of my oldest friends gave me his cheapest-of-the-top-line Onkyo receiver from around the same era.
It seems that nice displays just aren’t available at TV size without software to run them and cut-down versions of apps.
We call them computer monitors now, though the 50" or higher sizes aren't available. You have to get commercial TVs but also pay the kickbacks manufacturers get from bundling all the apps in the TVs.
Overall, our Samsung has been fine with ignoring any built in features and I believe most TVs are similar.
4Bux
Lopez is nasty so far, 6 hitters batters, 5 strikeouts.
Every batter in Oakland's lineup has struck out except for Nevin.
Our 13 year old 37” Vizio LCD TV is dying — the display board is likely giving out, resulting in periodic full pixelation of the image cleared only by power cycling the set. I suppose I could take it back to Costco…
TV technology has changed substantially since I last researched a purchase. Since I want this to be a once per decade purchase, I’m weighing OLED vs Mini-LED, willing to trade size for picture quality in a balance with price. suppose someone watching a smallish LCD TV in 2024 might not have much to protest on picture quality, but I do want value for the money spent on a replacement. The smallest set I’m entertaining is 43”, the largest that comfortably fits the space without rearranging the entire room is 55”. I don’t want to buy three TCLs in the next decade, but I might be okay with buying two midrange Hisense sets over the next decade instead of one nicer, but smaller LG that lasts about years.
We aren’t cable or broadcast TV watchers; the set primarily serves as a display for controlling our streaming music selections and streaming video for a couple evening shows or a weekly movie night. Right now this is a one TV home, but remodeling the finished portion of the basement might double that. I would expect a larger (possibly up to 65”, which feels insane) TV to eventually live downstairs.
Suggestions, recommendations, and other thoughts are quite welcome.
I bought a 65" TCL Roku TV a few years ago and liked it so much I bought a second one when I finished the basement. They're 4K LED tvs and the picture looks good enough for me. What I haven't isn't available any more, but my point is TCL is solid. We also have smaller LGs in the bedrooms and those are also pretty nice.
What's really annoying about buying a tv after 10+ years is just how frickin expensive that old tv was compared to better tvs today.
Good point on the relative cost of sets actually going down, even as I’m looking at the sticker price with a bit of shock. I’m heartened to hear the TCLs have held up and meet muster, performance-wise.
Rather than citing a specific brand, I should have said that I don’t want to shop so low in the market as to wind up with a set that self-destructs in three years because of build quality or poor heat management. (So if TCLs hold up, that relieves some of the worry there.)
I see a deal for a 42” LG OLED model that is within $100 of a 55” Hisense U8N, which sort of illustrates my basic conundrum.
Please, no Hisense.
We have a fair size plasma TV in our bedroom that's been around for quite some time; it's not a smart TV, but with an inexpensive Chromecast attached you'd never know it.
What’s the issue with Hisense? It seems like their mini-LED panels are fairly well regarded for contrast (good deep blacks thanks to local dimming) and color, but suffer from smaller viewing angles.
I don’t need a smart TV for the smart features. It won’t be hooked up to the WiFi any longer than necessary to run whatever firmware update it needs. I have a streaming puck that handles the smart duties.
From my experience Hisense is truly a discount manufacturer: their configurations limit options for audio hookups, for example, and they age poorly, hardware-wise. They might have improved, but they're always a hotel room TV to me.
My main issue with TVs these days is the feature set makes them start slower. They actually have to boot. Our 2011-era Sony takes a few seconds to display a picture and our 2021-era Samsung QN55 takes closer to double that.
My second issue appears to not be an issue in your household: using a separate streaming device to allow upgrading that and keeping the TV itself longer. It's still electronic waste, but upgrading the Apple TV in several years is so much cheaper than an entire new TV. Instead the TV just has a too large banner reminding to activate its "smart" features. Fat chance.
As for technology, I'm still team mini/micro/whatever-LED over OLED. I have a computer hooked up to the TV to play
retrogames from my childhood and that means fixed UIs on the TV for hours at a time. Every generation of OLEDs resists burn-in better than the previous generation but they still aren't immune. Every generation of mini-LED gets more precise arrays to mimic those pure blacks. Finally, OLEDs don't get as bright and being in a room with a lot of afternoon and evening sun means I need the TV to be brighter to compensate.I inherited an old 36" LG TV from my daughter that I kept because it's from the heart of the transition era so it has a crazy number of inputs -- HDMI, VGA, DVI, Composite, Component, S-VHS, RCA and digital audio, I think the only thing it's missing is a Display Port connection. I have that one in my office with a Roku, Flex and Chromecast on it, so I get plenty of viewing options. The older 55" Vizio in the ultra lounge is a smart TV that got dumb when they killed the Yahoo! app store and refused to update the firmware to fix the problem. Their solution was telling us to buy a new Vizio smart TV to replace the one we bought three years ago, not even a discount offer, FFS. But thanks to Chromecast and Roku we were able to make it smart again and keep it that way for many years.
Our TV is nearly 15 years old, so sooner or later we'll need a new one. Right now we have a Roku box and Chromecast both plugged in and love it.
My fear for the future is what you mention with the Vizio, I don't want to be beholden to someone else's software being up to date. I'm not plugging the TV directly into the internet, I'm just not
We have a (I think) 39-inch Vizio "smart" tv that is about 7 years old. It's our main upstairs unit.
The apps suck. I plugged a Roku Ultra box into it a couple years ago. That part seems to work fine. But, assuming our home remodel ever finishes and we move back upstairs, I fear that it won't work with my new Tablo setup.
The downstairs TV is a 55-inch TCL, which we bought soon after moving. So, about 5 years old. For the most part, it works well. The Tablo app crashes now and then, which may be related to a known problem with memory management. I am hoping Tablo comes out with a firmware upgrade to address that issue.
Our third is, iirc, a 32-inch Vizio or Samsung or something, which I used as my main computer screen and occasional tv, hooked up to a Roku Ultra stick. It is at least 10 years old. Similar fear with the Tablo, but it will be in the same room with it, so I can probably connect it directly to the Tablo or the antenna, possibly sidestepping issues.
I mostly want the Tablo so that I can watch NFL games on broadcast and PBS channels not in my streaming app. So, looking forward to testing those out this fall.
Yep, AppleTV (or similar peripheral) for the streaming features is the way to go. But I don’t see a way to get a midrange panel without buying a smartTV attached to it — features I don’t need that are designed to be obsolete in a few years’ time and kickstart another cycle of purchasing. It seems that nice displays just aren’t available at TV size without software to run them and cut-down versions of apps.
I still have the receiver I bought in high school, an early 5.1 capable Pioneer that is finally starting to die. To replace it, one of my oldest friends gave me his cheapest-of-the-top-line Onkyo receiver from around the same era.
We call them computer monitors now, though the 50" or higher sizes aren't available. You have to get commercial TVs but also pay the kickbacks manufacturers get from bundling all the apps in the TVs.
Overall, our Samsung has been fine with ignoring any built in features and I believe most TVs are similar.
4Bux
Lopez is nasty so far, 6
hittersbatters, 5 strikeouts.Every batter in Oakland's lineup has struck out except for Nevin.
Quite the outing by Pablo. Just dominating.