Contemplating a 4K TV

[eytonxav]

Since we downsized, a lot of our furniture needs updating, including a 37" LCD TV that is about 10 years old and housed in an armoire. I am actually considering replacing it with a 65" 4K set, and being a Costco member, their Visio M65 and Samsung JS850 look like good possibilities. The Visio looks like a much better buy, but it does not have HDR compatibility which probably isn't an issue now, but it could be if such content becomes widely available in the future. Any one have any insight on this HDR issue or whether it makes sense to wait for OLED technology to become more affordable.

[W2R]

I don't know enough about it to address your questions but I think getting a 4K TV is an exciting idea.

Personally I noticed that while the 4K looked amazing up close, from a reasonable distance away I couldn't see much difference. On the other hand, that was before my cataract surgery....

I guess I'm just trying to suggest that you should make sure you can see a distinct improvement from your normal viewing distance, before shelling out the big bux that a setup like that might cost. Good luck!

[eytonxav]

Our viewing distance will be about 8', so I assume this should put us close enough to see the benefit of a higher def picture.

[RunningBum]

What would be your source for 4K input?

[jjquantz]

DW and I just bought a 60 inch, 1080P TV. From my research, 8 feet makes it pretty borderline for 4K being worthwhile. Lots of links to discussion on the interwebs. You coul dstart with: https://www.avforums.com/article/tv-...ce-guide.10704

[RockyMtn]

at 8ft you would probably need at least 60 inches. 4k is nice. Not a lot of 4k content out there but even the standard 1080 format looks better on a 4k tv. However, you need to be sitting close or you can't really tell the difference IMHO. More 4k content coming soon. Till then you may be left with what you can download from the various streaming sites. I'm hearing a rumor that Directv may offer a 4k Masters golf tournament feed!!


I picked up a 65 inch 4k JVC LED at Costco for about $1k in October. Killer television. Good time to be buying a tv with all of the Super Bowl sales and new models coming out soon!

[Midpack]

Maybe not what you're asking, but FWIW we bought a 55" entry level Samsung 4K LED TV almost a year ago because of a great discount. It was between that and a 55" Samsung 1080p with higher refresh rates among other spec differences for the same price. I knew it would be many years before there was much 4K content, but we usually keep TV's much longer than most consumers, so I bought the 4K.

After a year, if I had it all to do over - I would have bought the same size otherwise better 1080p for the same money. The picture on our 4K isn't any better than a 1080p since that's the native resolution of everything we watch, BUT the motion blur is without question visibly worse. If you watch sports or other programming with fast moving images, you will notice IME - but there's nothing you can do about it.

There's more to the TV experience than resolution. I wouldn't buy 4K again now, but if I did I would not buy a low end 4K.

You will never see the extraordinary 4K images you see on the store demo TV's, in your home. They're of course carefully chosen/crafted to make you think they're much better. And the 4K YouTube content we've watched on the TV doesn't look any different than 1080p to our eyes.

Again you're not going to have access to 4K content now unless you buy 4K UHD movies on disc that can play 4K! There won't be 4K content on air for years, and it will be at a big $ premium. We're already paying more for sat TV than we'd like.

Best of luck with your decision.

[gromit]

The link below is to a simple interactive page that calculates what pixel count is really needed given a screen size, typical viewing distance and 20/20 eyesight. While not exactly addressing the OP's concerns, I thought some post readers might be interested. Associated Press Interactive

[Katsmeow]

I just bought one. The ratings site that was by far the most helpful was:

Rtings.com - TV Reviews - Best TV Recommendations

We ended up buying this one:

Samsung UN55JU7500 Curved 55-Inch 4K Ultra HD 3D Smart LED TV

[Big_Hitter]

I have a buddy that sells tvs for a big box retailer and he told me to stay away from visios

[Animorph]

+1 to Rtings.com, I spent a long time there.

I was looking at the same Samsung and Vizio at Costco. We ended up buying the Samsung, which is slightly more future proof with the wider color gamut and HDR. It still does 3D too. We've viewed some streaming 4k content, and have a few 4k HDR movies downloaded to a hard drive. It works, looks fine close up, but I haven't tried any comparisons to really discern any differences. I have the new Samsung Ultra UHD Blu-ray player on pre-order, so we'll have some real 4k HDR content in March or so. I'd buy the Samsung if I had to do it again. We bought it for less than $2k during the Black Friday sales. I think they are available for about $2k on sale now for the Super Bowl.

We also ended up getting two Vizio M43's for our kids since we wanted real TV's when visiting this year. Paid about $400 each during sales. But I haven't seen them yet.

We really liked the LG OLED sets, but they are too pricey. I didn't want to wait a year or two for potential price drops.

If you want the newest tech I'd get the Samsung. If you're happy with mostly 1080p sources and don't want to try out HDR and wider color (and 3D), I'd get the Vizio.

[Big_Hitter]

I have 3 LG 1080 plasmas (60, 55, 42) and love them.

[eytonxav]

Quote:

Originally Posted by RunningBum What would be your source for 4K input?

Some Netflix and Amazon content, plus you get some benefit from upscaling.

[eytonxav]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Midpack The picture on our 4K isn't any better than a 1080p since that's the native resolution of everything we watch, BUT the motion blur is without question visibly worse. If you watch sports or other programming with fast moving images, you will notice IME - but there's nothing you can do about it.

As a football and baseball fan, the blurring is a real concern. I have also heard it can show up if you watch golf on TV when the players are putting. I know some sets are better than others in this regard, and I suspect the Samsung might be better than the Vizio.

[eytonxav]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Big_Hitter I have a buddy that sells tvs for a big box retailer and he told me to stay away from visios

Do you know why? Not to disparage your buddy, I suspect most big box sales folks are not that knowledgeable. I certainly wouldn't make any decisions based on what one of those sales types had to say, although I suppose there are exceptions.

[Big_Hitter]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DFW_M5 Do you know why? Not to disparage your buddy, I suspect most big box sales folks are not that knowledgeable. I certainly wouldn't make any decisions based on what one of those sales types had to say, although I suppose there are exceptions.

He's really good. He's been selling TVs for years. He says they just have a bunch of returns on Vizios. I'm glad I stuck with LG. I didn't buy one from him tho.


I'm also glad I took the audio guy's advice and got an Alpine head unit for my car.

[Moemg]

My SO bought the Samsung ultra Hi def 4 K . I love it . The room it is in has a lot of windows and we do not have the shadow problems we had with our old TV.Plus I love the ease of the Smart TV .

[eytonxav]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jjquantz DW and I just bought a 60 inch, 1080P TV. From my research, 8 feet makes it pretty borderline for 4K being worthwhile. Lots of links to discussion on the interwebs. You coul dstart with: https://www.avforums.com/article/tv-...ce-guide.10704

Yes, the AVS Forum has always been a good source of info, although I don't post on there. Some of the discussions can be a bit too detailed, so I don't spend a lot of time trying to read all that in-depth stuff. Any how, our viewing distance could be even closer by a foot or two, although its currently situated at about 8'.

[IBWino]

FYI, I've read some good things about the Vizio M-Series; it uses a local dimming full array LED backlight. This yields better contrast and black levels than most edge lit LED/LCD displays. I'm considering a 43" version for our bedroom.

Good review of the 65" version here.

[eytonxav]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Katsmeow I just bought one. The ratings site that was by far the most helpful was: Rtings.com - TV Reviews - Best TV Recommendations We ended up buying this one: Samsung UN55JU7500 Curved 55-Inch 4K Ultra HD 3D Smart LED TV

Thanks for that, hadn't looked at that site.