Best TV brands/models..

[St_Worm2]

I remember when my family bought our first TV. There were only two shows at the time (this was in the 50’s), the news, and big-time wrestling

 

[timothyu]

There were only two shows at the time (this was in the 50’s), the news, and big-time wrestling

What? No World Series?

 

[Anthony2019]

I've recently bought a Toshiba 4K HDR 43 inch TV. Very chuffed with the quality of the picture, despite the price I paid for it.
I use it for playing my DVD's, sometimes screencasting from my laptop or mobile phone.
And of course watching the TV channels. I get all of the Freeview channels (about 100 of them), can replay programmes on Freeview Play and apps such as BBC iPlayer. I have taken out a subscription to Britbox and Amazon Prime Video.

 

[St_Worm2]

What? No World Series?

I was four, and all I remember in our regular TV lineup back then was news and wrestling, but I’m sure that we got the World Series as a special event

 

[timothyu]

I was four

Used to walk a half mile to my uncle's with his magic tv to watch the beginning of Disneyland on tv.

 

[paul1149]

My friend's TCL Roku TV does not have unbridled web access. You can only go to youtube.

 

[Sophrosyne]

My friend's TCL Roku TV does not have unbridled web access. You can only go to youtube.

Most smart tvs don't I think. My Vizio only has Youtube internet access. I think the LG has a browser. I'm not totally sure I would want a TV set with a browser as it could greatly increase it being hacked into as you could access infected websites.

 

[chevyontheriver]

Currently shopping for a TV and wondering what brands/models people here have had good experience with and what they mainly use their TV for.

As for me I am eyeing the Sony Class X900H series. I would love an OLED TV but the real possibility of burn in picture turns me off.

I've worked on several brands of TV. When I finally bought a flat screen TV I got an LG. A plain vanilla one that I hooked up to a Raspberry Pi to turn it into a smart TV. I'm also impressed with Samsung and Vizio, having serviced a lot of those. The manufacturers stand behind their warranties. I have no direct experience with Sony, but they are supposedly good as well. There were some other brands but since I can't say anything good about them I'll end here.

 

[chevyontheriver]

Nope... 4k is essentially 3840x2160, double of a 1080p which is 1920x1080.

It's double in BOTH dimensions, so four times the pixels total. I think it's better than the human eye can tell.

 

[MehGuy]

It's double in BOTH dimensions, so four times the pixels total. I think it's better than the human eye can tell.

Might depend on how good one's eyesight is. I've read that beyond 8K.. the human eye isn't really going to be able to tell the difference.

 

[paul1149]

Most smart tvs don't I think. My Vizio only has Youtube internet access. I think the LG has a browser. I'm not totally sure I would want a TV set with a browser as it could greatly increase it being hacked into as you could access infected websites.

I looked into it, and it seems TCL used to have open web browsing, but ditched it a couple of years ago. My first reaction to learning that is that, as evidenced by the way the rest of the content offerings are set up, TCL-Roku want's as much control over your viewing as possible ($$$).

This is a problem for me, as youtube is increasingly not the be-all, end-all for videos. I would think a hardened browser - limited scripting, etc - would be pretty safe. I guess the workaround is to Cast to the TV from another device, which isn't hard these days.

 

[Sophrosyne]

It's double in BOTH dimensions, so four times the pixels total. I think it's better than the human eye can tell.

Better in all but the larger tv sets I figure. I can tell the difference on my 55 inch set but barely with my old tired eyes I think 65 to 70 would be easier to notice but to be honest 720p looks good enough for most things at proper viewing distances on my set.

 

[Sophrosyne]

I looked into it, and it seems TCL used to have open web browsing, but ditched it a couple of years ago. My first reaction to learning that is that, as evidenced by the way the rest of the content offerings are set up, TCL-Roku want's as much control over your viewing as possible ($$$).

This is a problem for me, as youtube is increasingly not the be-all, end-all for videos. I would think a hardened browser - limited scripting, etc - would be pretty safe. I guess the workaround is to Cast to the TV from another device, which isn't hard these days.

Either cast or just hook up a computer to the tv set as a monitor using an hdmi input.

 

[timothyu]

Either cast or just hook up a computer to the tv set as a monitor using an hdmi input.

Some have the special computer hdmi inputs for a cleaner picture off of a computer

 

[Sophrosyne]

Some have the special computer hdmi inputs for a cleaner picture off of a computer

may be the same ones for gaming

 

[chevyontheriver]

Either cast or just hook up a computer to the tv set as a monitor using an hdmi input.

A lowly Raspberry Pi does admirably. HDMI all the way. Add in a Roku or whatever and your set.

 

[chevyontheriver]

Better in all but the larger tv sets I figure. I can tell the difference on my 55 inch set but barely with my old tired eyes I think 65 to 70 would be easier to notice but to be honest 720p looks good enough for most things at proper viewing distances on my set.

Totally agree. Mine is capable of 1080 and fine for me.

By the way, a human brain runs it's connection to the eyes at about 60 cycles per second. Some people maybe a bit faster, others slower. Up until recently most flat screens ran at 60 cycles too. Which meant that 60 cycles per second out of your TV was often seen as a bit jumpy. So everyone wanted faster. Some needed it. Others just thought more is better. The simple and cheap way was to run at 60 cycles per second but only show the frame for half a cycle. Then average that frame and the next one for half a cycle, then onto the next cycle. The effect was 120 cycles per second but it was sort of cheating. Now I imagine they all run at 120 cycles per second, so going faster is irrelevant.

 

[Sophrosyne]

Totally agree. Mine is capable of 1080 and fine for me.

By the way, a human brain runs it's connection to the eyes at about 60 cycles per second. Some people maybe a bit faster, others slower. Up until recently most flat screens ran at 60 cycles too. Which meant that 60 cycles per second out of your TV was often seen as a bit jumpy. So everyone wanted faster. Some needed it. Others just thought more is better. The simple and cheap way was to run at 60 cycles per second but only show the frame for half a cycle. Then average that frame and the next one for half a cycle, then onto the next cycle. The effect was 120 cycles per second but it was sort of cheating. Now I imagine they all run at 120 cycles per second, so going faster is irrelevant.

Blu-Rays are recorded at 24Fps so we don't even need 60fps at all for the most part. I think likely that peoples frame rates become out of sync with video.

 

[Sophrosyne]

Be happy that you didn't manage to get an LG TV (unless it was an OLED). A few months ago I purchased one of their 4k TVs only to discover that while on paper it is 4k.. in reality it's more of a 3k image. For me, I'll mainly use my TV for gaming.. so a television that is capable of 120FPS is a must for me. I don't want to spend too much, but it'll have to be around at least the 1k mark to get most of the features I'm looking for.

I learned my lesson with my LG purchase. I thought a 4k TV was just a 4k TV. Apparently not.

I think Sharp had/has a 4 color pixel TV set with RGBY? Quattro it was called but I never looked into it as it was way out of my price range.

 

[Sophrosyne]

My friend's TCL Roku TV does not have unbridled web access. You can only go to youtube.

That isn't web access at all, only a app on my TV.