I'm looking to purchase a new TV for the basement. I think I have decided on a 65 inch. Considering Sony, Visio, maybe LG (non-OLED). Has anyone purchased a similar sized TV lately? Any suggestions as to features, must haves VS gimicks? Is HDR a must have or not, etc. Any manufacturer to stay away from? Will be used mostly for watching sports. All opinions welcome.
Make sure you spend money on a fast processor or sports look bad. 4k isn't widespread yet, but the channels that have it, do look great
Highly recommend Samsung - I've bought 30+ units for my businesses and home over the past 7 years. They stand by their products and the quality is great. Home has 70". There was a problem with a line in the display and they sent two technicians to my house to replace the screen.
I'd suggest finding a model with lots of "cutting edge" features, since you're paying through the nose for them and often low value materializes.
Good luck.
Quoted from cody_chunn:Steer well clear of Sony.
'nuff said.
I have to disagree. The Sony Z9D is one of the best looking non-OLED sets on the market right now.
If you want one with dimples and ghosting, call Stern. I kid. I'd wait till March and buy a 2016 model.
Run an Ethernet cable if you are going to be using any internet services.
Some things that are universally true with buying TVs:
1. Hardly anybody ever says 'I wish I had gotten the smaller one' - pick the one that looks best to you; make sure you view it from the distance and angles you will have in your basement
2. No matter which one you choose it will 100% be the best TV in your basement - minor differences just won't matter anymore
3. You will make yourself crazy researching; do yourself a big favor and never look at prices after you purchase - what costs you $2000 today will cost somebody else $1500 in 4 months and somebody else will pay $1000 in a year
Quoted from highdef:I have to disagree. The Sony Z9D is one of the best looking non-OLED sets on the market right now.
May be, but in my experience their customer support is dismally unacceptable. I will never buy another Sony anything.
I recently bought a new 70" Vizio for the basement. $1,000 at bestbuy, with free delivery. For the money it is pretty nice.
Quoted from boscokid:Run an Ethernet cable if you are going to be using any internet services.
I was wondering about this. My router is on the main floor. Running an Ethernet cable might be problematic. Is there any issue with length of cable?
Quoted from Noobee:Is there any issue with length of cable?
For a run in a typical house, no.
Quoted from Noobee:I was wondering about this. My router is on the main floor. Running an Ethernet cable might be problematic. Is there any issue with length of cable?
Get one with wifi. I have the LG 4K 50" and its wifi is great. All the streaming is good. No buffering at all.
Wireless should be fine on any tv. My whole house is on wireless and it works fine as long as nobody is using up all the bandwidth. I helped my dad get a tv recently and was surprised on how much tv you can get for the money. I wouldn't spend to much and just get something that looks good. In a few years, there will be stuff that looks better and cost less anyways.
Quoted from jawjaw:Wireless should be fine on any tv. My whole house is on wireless and it works fine as long as nobody is using up all the bandwidth. I helped my dad get a tv recently and was surprised on how much tv you can get for the money. I wouldn't spend to much and just get something that looks good. In a few years, there will be stuff that looks better and cost less anyways.
Agreed. I've bought the best of the best before and it's overrated. Everything is so damn good now that buying economical models of good brands is the way to go.
Quoted from Noobee:I was wondering about this. My router is on the main floor. Running an Ethernet cable might be problematic. Is there any issue with length of cable?
Get a pair of these:
https://www.cnet.com/topics/networking/best-networking-devices/power-line-adapters/
Buy the LG OLED B6 (if you want to save some cash) or this year's newly announced OLED model if you want non-sale price.
HDR is a game changer, but it only matters right now if you're watching 4K Bluray or streaming content with HDR.
It's that simple
Buy a good TV with a good picture. Going cheap isn't the way to go. I still have a Pioneer Kuro Elite (bought in '09) and still enjoy it to this day and the picture looks better than most of the TV's out there (esp LCD and LED-LCD). If you can swing it, get an OLED. You buy a TV to view a good picture, not to say "I got this one cheap!"
My last tv was a 42 in lg led. I bought a Samsung 65in plasma and still like my LG better. Vizio is shit imo. So is sony. Lg or bust.
I have read that Visio is starting to put out some very good TVs and tends to be somewhat less expensive for what You get. They also are now including chrome cast in leu of the traditional smart tv interfaces. I have chrome cast on my primary tv and have been happy with the performance and ease of use. Any thoughts?
Quoted from alleycat-pinball:I recently bought a new 70" Vizio for the basement. $1,000 at bestbuy, with free delivery. For the money it is pretty nice.
Visio is hard to beat and have been very dependable for us. I have three of them. Great pictures.
Quoted from Noobee:I have read that Visio is starting to put out some very good TVs and tends to be somewhat less expensive for what You get. They also are now including chrome cast in leu of the traditional smart tv interfaces. I have chrome cast on my primary tv and have been happy with the performance and ease of use. Any thoughts?
I have a 60" 1080p Vizio and love it for the price. Either buy a fancy 4K TV with HDR, etc for $2K+ or buy a cheapo, non-4K Vizio for $600-800.
Quoted from Noobee:I was wondering about this. My router is on the main floor. Running an Ethernet cable might be problematic. Is there any issue with length of cable?
I'm running a high rated 100ft cable purchased off Amazon.
As others have pointed out wi-fi 'works fine as long as nobody is using up all the bandwidth'. That's the same as saying 'my morning commute only takes 30 minutes as long as I don't hit traffic'
Why leave it up to chance? Just do it right once- I get 85mbs wired or 22mbs using wi-fi. Netflix recommends a minimum of 25mps to stream 4k content and 5mps for normal HD content. It's doubtful your bandwidth needs are going to decrease over time.
Quoted from Flato:What's your budget? But lg oled is the way to go if it's in your budget. If not make sure to get full array local dimming FALD for a lcd vizio is a good budget choice
I would like to stay under 2K total, so I was not looking at OLED. I also want to get some sort of sound bar, so that limits my choices somewhat.
Vizio is pretty good up to 50 inches or so, but on anything over 60 inches they are not good for sports, especially hockey. They don't track the the balls or pucks very well. Blurry.
I bought the Samsung 65 inch 4K curved screen last year from Costco and I am very happy with it. The curve allows for a good viewing screen for people sitting to the left or right. Essential if you have a bunch of people over.
Edit: obviously a cell phone pic of a tv screen is not very representative of actual picture.
Quoted from vicjw66:Vizio is pretty good up to 50 inches or so, but on anything over 60 inches they are not good for sports, especially hockey. They don't track the the balls or pucks very well. Blurry.
I bought the Samsung 65 inch 4K curved screen last year from Costco and I am very happy with it. The curve allows for a good viewing screen for people sitting to the left or right. Essential if you have a bunch of people over.
Hmmm.... That may be a consideration, that is if my Redwings become relavent again any time soon.
I recently purchased a "M" series 65" Vizio and the picture was really fuzzy when upscaling a 1080p Picture to 4k. To be honest, my old 1080p Vizio had a much better picture. I took it back and bought a 65" 8000 Series Samsung. Very happy with it. Pay close attention to what series you are buying while shopping. There are usually a handful of different quality levels available from each Mfg.
Avoid Samsung LCDs. They use cheap Chinese parts, which fail after a few years. I haven't had experience with their LED TV's, but I can't say I've been interested in them because of the high failure rates of their LCD TV's.
LG is a quality brand that generally lasts a long time. Vizio is a close second. Westinghouse is probably 3rd, but the picture quality suffers a bit since they are cheap.
Nothing wrong with Samsung LED/LCD TV's. Samsung sells the most TVs worldwide.
But what is more important are the options on their TV's. CODECs to play all sorts of movies from USB media etc are build in. Also connecting USB storage media is easy and reading from it is working without problems. For example Sony makes it much more difficult with less support on these kind of things. Also their apps are working fine and are updated on a regular basis. Firmware same story, regular updates (and you will need these, esp when you buy the latest blurays. they sometimes need new firmware on TV and or bluray player).
make sure you understand what you want to do with your tv, just tv signal then a normal HD tv is fine. But with current cost of TVs I would buy a 4K tv to be sure. For normal blurays you can use a blueray player with upscalling to 4K. If you want to use native 4K Blurays or other 4K content make sure you get a 4K tv with HDR. HDR is now a standard option (2017 models) on most TVs. Remember that your Bluray player also need to support 4K/HDR. If you have a good WiFi signal then normal streaming over WiFi is fine. For 4K streaming ethernet is recommended.
Quoted from ForceFlow:Avoid Samsung LCDs. They use cheap Chinese parts, which fail after a few years. I haven't had experience with their LED TV's, but I can't say I've been interested in them because of the high failure rates of their LCD TV's.
LG is a quality brand that generally lasts a long time. Vizio is a close second. Westinghouse is probably 3rd, but the picture quality suffers a bit since they are cheap.
Westinghouse is garbage. I bought a Westinghouse super cheap on a Black Friday deal last year and it was horrible in every way shape and form. Returned it the next week and bought my Samsung. With the current pace of technology, I don't care if the Samsung only lasts 5 years. Five years from now I will want a new tv whether it is broken or not.
Quoted from Noobee:I have read that Visio is starting to put out some very good TVs and tends to be somewhat less expensive for what You get. They also are now including chrome cast in leu of the traditional smart tv interfaces. I have chrome cast on my primary tv and have been happy with the performance and ease of use. Any thoughts?
I sell TV's for a living. Don't buy a vizio. The last 2 years it has been #1 in insurance claims at costco. These weeks leading up to the superbowl are a good time to buy. After the game the rebates will go away and tv's are more expensive for a while. Alot of deals in the 65 range now at costco and other stores as well. I recommend a samsung or lg with 240 refresh rate.
I too am looking at TVs and one other thing to mention is that Costco will double the manufacture's warranty to 2 years. May not mean much but they all seem to be priced very close to each other (best buy, HH Gregg, Costco, Walmart, etc)
I would get the Sony xbr65x930d and stay away from curved unless never watching it from the side. I fix them all and if not Sony I would look at Samsung or lg. Sharp makes the worst stuff out there. Go to a friend's house and get them to put a football or basketball game on and look at it from the side. The geometry will be off.
Note: companies make special cheapend models or versions (denoted by sn) for Costco / sams club / bjs. Other special models for target / Walmart (parts are more common for these two than box store models). The 930d is immune to this to the best of my knowledge. Good luck!
Quoted from Frogman:Highly recommend Samsung - I've bought 30+ units for my businesses and home over the past 7 years. They stand by their products and the quality is great.
Good luck.
Funny thing, not so funny for me....
Last two samsung tvs I bought both broke in less than 4 years. Both developed a power supply issue and wouldn't power up. I replaced the power supply in the first one ($110) for the part. Went out again 2weeks later. Went out and bought a new one and here we are 3 1/2 years later and guess what.....same thing. Both big expensive tvs.for me, I'm done with samsung.
Bought a Sony this time. I'll let you know in 4 years if it's still working.
Also if you plan on doing any online gaming make sure you get one with low input lag (nothing to do with refresh rate) as most newer tvs suck when it comes to this feature. All that picture enhancing stuff really slows things down, and when your pushing buttons on your ps4 or Xbox and those things don't immediately happen you'll know you bought a tv with considerable input lag. Also remember just because a tv has a game mode, dosnt mean it's gonna have low Imput lag. Putting a tv in game mode lessens the picture quality and in some models dosnt even bring the input lag down to acceptable levels. Only a couple of models actually have low input lag, they can be found by googling (low input lag tv gaming). 30 ms or less under 20ms is the best.
When it comes to gaming, nothing does it better than plasma, except court tvs. What sucks is both of these have run their course and have gone the way of the dinasaur.
Quoted from Swainer80:Buy a good TV with a good picture. Going cheap isn't the way to go. I still have a Pioneer Kuro Elite (bought in '09) and still enjoy it to this day and the picture looks better than most of the TV's out there (esp LCD and LED-LCD). If you can swing it, get an OLED. You buy a TV to view a good picture, not to say "I got this one cheap!"
Agreed. Buy the best picture and panel you can in your budget after you pick size as you want to live with it a while... Still rocking my Pioneer Kuro!
Go online and read reviews on reputable home theatre sites and others like cnet. DONT go by picture quality in the store as the lighting and TV settings are all crap.
If you are using a separate sound bar, ignore the TV speakers, (best option is to use separate sound) but if not then sound is very important and may affect your choices significantly. Don't get stuck with crap sound!
Quoted from tp:Funny thing, not so funny for me....
Last two samsung tvs I bought both broke in less than 4 years. Both developed a power supply issue and wouldn't power up. I replaced the power supply in the first one ($110) for the part. Went out again 2weeks later. Went out and bought a new one and here we are 3 1/2 years later and guess what.....same thing. Both big expensive tvs.for me, I'm done with samsung.
Bought a Sony this time. I'll let you know in 4 years if it's still working.
Also if you plan on doing any online gaming make sure you get one with low input lag (nothing to do with refresh rate) as most newer tvs suck when it comes to this feature. All that picture enhancing stuff really slows things down, and when your pushing buttons on your ps4 or Xbox and those things don't immediately happen you'll know you bought a tv with considerable input lag. Also remember just because a tv has a game mode, dosnt mean it's gonna have low Imput lag. Putting a tv in game mode lessens the picture quality and in some models dosnt even bring the input lag down to acceptable levels. Only a couple of models actually have low input lag, they can be found by googling (low input lag tv gaming). 30 ms or less under 20ms is the best.
When it comes to gaming, nothing does it better than plasma, except court tvs. What sucks is both of these have run their course and have gone the way of the dinasaur.
I also replaced a few P/Supplies on Samsung TVs. But for about 100 bucks its no big deal. Better than spending a few
thousand.
Quoted from bonanza:I too am looking at TVs and one other thing to mention is that Costco will double the manufacture's warranty to 2 years. May not mean much but they all seem to be priced very close to each other (best buy, HH Gregg, Costco, Walmart, etc)
If you purchase the tv with the costco visa it adds an additional 2 years beyond that even. So you get 4 years 9f warranty at no cost to you and when paying with the costco citibank visa
Quoted from hoby1:I also replaced a few P/Supplies on Samsung TVs. But for about 100 bucks its no big deal. Better than spending a few
thousand.
Buying a part for $100 bucks and having it fail again in 2 weeks? Spending thousands on a tv that dosnt last 4 years? Then buying another samsung (cuz "everyone" says their the best) and it barely makes it past the 3rd year.(same issue) We're talking high end models...used in my home...not left on all day.
Fool me once shame on you
Fool me twice shame on me
Fool me three.....no no no I'm moving on to something else.
If I'm not mistaken samsung has a class action suit against them for this very issue.
I've installed a couple different brands at my work(Vizio, LG, Samsung) and the Samsungs are all that I'll buy now. They stay on all the time and seem to just keep going and the others did not. I've got three Samsungs at home now as well and haven't had an issue.
Thanks to you all for your inputs. Sounds like there are pros and cons with any choice. The technical advice is much appreciated!
sad to see nodoby has said it yet...
Screw the TV and buy another pin!
How much TV do you actually watch? In out household it is under 2hrs a week. I would rather put my spare $$$ in more pins 
I was a big Samsung fan until:
My son bought an 80" Samsung. Beautiful picture. After a month it developed a bright slow moving oscillating line. He called Samsung and they said he must've dropped it. (It was hanging on the wall for the month). They told him they'd send out a tech for $100 an hour and a minimum 2 hour charge and they'd probably determine he dropped it, anyway. Then they told him he'd be responsible for the parts and labor to repair it. After a month ! Fortunately he called Best Buy where he bought it and they brought him out a new one , no charge.
Just got the LG c6p 65', and happy I went with oled. You could have a 55 oled and Bose cinemate soundbar/woofer for just a tad over $3k. Otherwise there is a ton of great options right now, especially with SUHD 55-65 Tv's running between $800-1400 depending on brand. Any of the major brands are solid, and out of the dozen newer models tv's I have, there have been no issues (minus a simple wifi board in Samsung).
Quoted from jayhawkai:I have a 60" 1080p Vizio and love it for the price. Either buy a fancy 4K TV with HDR, etc for $2K+ or buy a cheapo, non-4K Vizio for $600-800.
This is sound advise. The 60-70 in Vizios look great and are getting less expensive every day. As for high end, 4K is absolutely meaningless without HDR. HDR is the next big thing that your eyes will actually be able to see.
I just bought a refurbished 50 inch Vizio for my garage for $270. It looks amazing and is way overkill considering I will mostly be working in my shop and not actually watching the screen, but for the price...
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