Contemplating a 4K TV

[pb4uski]

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

Did he say why? I have two Visio HDTVs... a 47" and a 32" and they have been solid. In fact, I keep hoping that the 47" will die so I can justify getting a bigger/nicer/newer HDTV but it just keep on ticking. We bought them about a year or two apart about 8-9 years ago.

 

[IBWino]

Did he say why? I have two Visio HDTVs... a 47" and a 32" and they have been solid. In fact, I keep hoping that the 47" will die so I can justify getting a bigger/nicer/newer HDTV but it just keep on ticking. We bought them about a year or two apart about 8-9 years ago.

As I understand it, early on, Vizio had a poor reputation for having a relatively short warranty period and not having good service channels. Therefore, their TVs were basically disposable because they were not repairable. However, these days, this seems to be true for most consumer electronics. I also think Vizio has improved considerably over the past few years.

FWIW, my brother in-law and several friends have Vizio TVs and they are quite happy with them.

 

[DallasGuy]

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.

I've had a 55" 1080P Vizio for 5+ years with no problems. You can have problems with any manufacturer.

 

[skipro33]

I've done a lot of research. The M-65 Vizio at Costco is one of the best in it's class. I keep hoping prices will drop further for Superbowl, or I'd have one already.

 

[Lucantes]

Anyone own a really large, high end TV, like say 75" inches or more? If yes, what did you buy and why? (I will be getting one next year when we retire and am just interested in other peoples thoughts/opinions/experiences etc.).

 

[eytonxav]

I've had a 55" 1080P Vizio for 5+ years with no problems. You can have problems with any manufacturer.

Just to add to this, my son has had a 55" Vizio for several years now and its outstanding. Visio TVs are designed in the US, but manufactured elsewhere. Anyhow, you get an extended warranty from Costco and can change to something else (I think within 90 days) if you don't like it.

 

[eytonxav]

Got a Vizio M70 from Costco at Thanksgiving and so far so good.

Check here for good deals:

TV Deals, Coupons & Promo Codes | Slickdeals

Soupcxan, are you getting any motion blur when watching sports?

 

[Senator]

Why not? What else are you going to do with your money?

I am not 100% sure what amount of $$ makes 4K that much better than 1080P, but at least in a year it will be worth more than any index fund you could be buying... (especially the last 12 months)

 

[Dawg52]

4k's are not on my radar. Too expensive and not enough content. Maybe in 3-5 years.

 

[RonBoyd]

We purchased a Vizio M65-C1 a little after Thanksgiving (2015). I am very pleased with it. Yes, the advantage to UHD (4K) is the ability to sit closer. Whether you need that or not is something one doesn't think about... until you experience it.

I wouldn't be that concerned about HDR at this time. There hasn't even been a "standard" set so waiting may take a few years to resolve and another few years for video/movies/TV shows to even be available in any volume.

The biggest help to finding a solution to your decision would probably be this thread on the AVS forum (Official 2015 Vizio 4K UHD M Series Thread - AVS Forum | Home Theater Discussions And Reviews). Yes there are (at this moment) 378 pages and 11,331 posts but well worth a look. You may want to simply start at the most current post and follow it for a few days as a lot of the earlier posts are redundant. (I posted once that one doesn't dare go to lunch because when you get back you will be down by six pages.)

Anyway, the $1,299 price of the M65 is the best price per square inch of any current UHD TV... and is the best PQ (picture quality) TV out there. Even so, spending that much money needs much research and the above thread is pretty darned thorough.

 

[Jack_Pine]

Can't wait for my 73" DLP to die. It just won't. I am partial to the 75" Samsung reviewed on that site.

The whole curve thing does not do much for me though.

 

[soupcxan]

Soupcxan, are you getting any motion blur when watching sports?

I haven't noticed any but I also haven't been particularly looking for it. I have the anti-blur/anti-judder settings on moderate.

 

[eytonxav]

The biggest help to finding a solution to your decision would probably be this thread on the AVS forum (Official 2015 Vizio 4K UHD M Series Thread - AVS Forum | Home Theater Discussions And Reviews). Yes there are (at this moment) 378 pages and 11,331 posts but well worth a look. You may want to simply start at the most current post and follow it for a few days as a lot of the earlier posts are redundant. (I posted once that one doesn't dare go to lunch because when you get back you will be down by six pages.)

Right, I have been looking at that the past few days. It bogles my mind, at the technical savy that some of these folks have in evaluating/tweaking these sets. Makes me wonder if they dedicate themselves 24x7 to TVs

 

[RonBoyd]

Right, I have been looking at that the past few days. It bogles my mind, at the technical savy that some of these folks have in evaluating/tweaking these sets. Makes me wonder if they dedicate themselves 24x7 to TVs

I concur. On the other hand, I am very thankful for that dedication... and how patient they are with complete novices (like me).

 

[CRLLS]

4k's are not on my radar. Too expensive and not enough content. Maybe in 3-5 years.

Me too. BTDT! I was an early adopter of the Samsung DLP for ~ $3500. It was a great set back in the day. Just like computers, every year TV's get better and cheaper. Buying a TV now for something that might be mainstream in a few years, is just throwing money away IMO. I replaced the DLP set about a year and a half ago with a $750 Smart LG 50" LED set and love it. Was it the latest and greatest thing I could buy? NO! But it was worlds better in all respects. All at <1/4 the cost of the DLP. When all video sources move to 4K, there will be some other new gizmo that will demand a $2,000 list price. In the mean time I buy what I need for today and not plan on what might I might need 3-5 years out. In a few years, I could buy a new set for another $750 and still be ahead of the game.

 

[Big_Hitter]

Did he say why? I have two Visio HDTVs... a 47" and a 32" and they have been solid. In fact, I keep hoping that the 47" will die so I can justify getting a bigger/nicer/newer HDTV but it just keep on ticking. We bought them about a year or two apart about 8-9 years ago.

No he didn't clarify.

 

[soupcxan]

Anyone own a really large, high end TV, like say 75" inches or more? If yes, what did you buy and why? (I will be getting one next year when we retire and am just interested in other peoples thoughts/opinions/experiences etc.).

I bought the 75" Vizio M75 when Costco had it on sale for $1999 on Thanksgiving day. However when I got it home and compared it to the M70 I had bought the week before I did not think the picture quality was as good (and not just due to the fact that the same resolution was scaled larger). So I returned the M75 and kept the M70. Apparently the LCD panels are made by different vendors in those two models.

 

[DallasGuy]

4k's are not on my radar. Too expensive and not enough content. Maybe in 3-5 years.

Question: For those of you that already have a 4k TV, have you noticed that the 1080P programs upconverted to 4k look appreciably better?

I've read articles that unless you actually have 4k content, many of the 4k TV's don't make the 1080P content look that much better and in many cases, you can't really tell the difference. I watch most of my TV via over the air signal, Netflix and Amazon Prime. The over the air broadcasts may never be 4k. Remember what a big deal it was for the over the air broadcasters to be changed from analog to digital?

At this point the only way I'd get a 4k TV is if I wanted to buy a new TV to replace my old one. I have a 55" 1080P TV and sometime in the next year or two I'd like to get a 65-70" TV. At that point I'll get a 4K TV but won't get it just for the 4K, but because it's what the new standard is and I want a bigger TV.

 

[RonBoyd]

A couple days old so it may be "old news" but:


The Best Big Screen TVs for the Big Game - Reviewed.com Televisions

 

[RonBoyd]

Question: For those of you that already have a 4k TV, have you noticed that the 1080P programs upconverted to 4k look appreciably better?

I've read articles that unless you actually have 4k content, many of the 4k TV's don't make the 1080P content look that much better and in many cases, you can't really tell the difference. I watch most of my TV via over the air signal, Netflix and Amazon Prime. The over the air broadcasts may never be 4k. Remember what a big deal it was for the over the air broadcasters to be changed from analog to digital?

I am not sure how to answer this. I, too, am a OTA watcher -- with some streaming with a Roku 4 or the built in Apps in the TV.

I have SageTV running through a Yamaha RX-V673 AVR which has always upconverted the signal to 1080P. That plus the 4K TV replaced a 10-year old 42" Sharp Aquos so I don't have any real perspective. I should also mention that I run the signal from the SageTV (the HTPC) to the AVR through a Darbee Darblet 5000 (DarbeeVision) so the picture is even further enhanced.

In any event, I did download a couple 4K YouTube videos and converted them to H.265 format (so the TV could play them natively -- through the USB port). Even at 2' away from the TV, it is like you are actually in the scene... incredible resolution. In addition, I have tried some of the Amazon Prime 4K videos both through the Native Apps in the TV as well as through the Roku 4. Quite impressive. I do not subscribe to any other providers -- cable, satellite, or any others.

So, again, I don't know if this added anything to the conversation but I can say that until you actually see a 4K image it is hard to imagine the improvement... and I don't mean on the display floor of Costco or Best Buy.

 

[audreyh1]

I think we'll stay satisfied with occasionally viewing 4K content on our iMac Retina display for now. Our internet bandwidth really only handles 2K max.

 

[RonBoyd]

Our internet bandwidth really only handles 2K max.

A very important point if you viewing TV from anywhere other than OTA (Over the Air).

We have DSL and I just checked: 31.74 Mbps Download and 2.38 Mbps Upload. I don't very often run into bandwidth problems but it is very irritating when it happens.

On your iMac, is the images (still or video?) on disk or are you streaming from the Internet?

 

[audreyh1]

A very important point if you viewing TV from anywhere other than OTA (Over the Air).

We have DSL and I just checked: 31.74 Mbps Download and 2.38 Mbps Upload. I don't very often run into bandwidth problems but it is very irritating when it happens.

On your iMac, is the images (still or video?) on disk or are you streaming from the Internet?

We were watching some demo 4K videos. I think we let one download before watching, but somehow when streaming another we figured out we were seeing it at a 2K rate. It still looked great.

We have a 10mbps internet connection.

 

[RonBoyd]

We have a 10mbps internet connection.

10 Mbps should be sufficient. But, yeah, a 4K image should be impressive on your Retina. I have a Eizo Monitor connected to my Desktop (Monitor 2) and can attest to the quality.

 

[audreyh1]

10 Mbps should be sufficient. But, yeah, a 4K image should be impressive on your Retina. I have a Eizo Monitor connected to my Desktop (Monitor 2) and can attest to the quality.

That was one of the first things we did when we got the new display. Found some wild Chinese 4K video that did a slow-mo over some elaborate banquet showing the food in all its glorious detail.