New TV, what to buy?

[PaunchyPirate]

I just upgraded the TV in my bedroom. I bought a 43" (the largest that fits (barely!) in my armoire) Samsung CU8000 4k. I have a 55" Samsung S95 4k in the living room. I could not be happier with both of them. Great pictures.

 

[Midpack]

We've had our LG 65C3 OLED for a couple days now, and I have a soundbar on order. Last night DW was watching the new TV before she went to bed, and later flipped on the old Sony 40" LCD TV in the bedroom - and she said "what's wrong with this TV, why does it look so blurry?" That TV was perfectly acceptable to both of us until a couple days ago...

I have to admit I've taken to watching the Samsung 55" LED TV former main TV that landed in our guest room - too big for the bedroom.

 

[ArmchairMillionaire]

It's been a while since this discussion made the rounds here, we're seriously considering an upgrade, so I thought I'd take a pulse from those here more knowledgeable... I'm open to suggestions before I BTD.

We're still using our 32" Samsung flat-screen from around 2007. It's just a regular (non-smart) TV. It has RCA inputs, which are important to us so we can connect our DVD/VCR combo (We always watch It's a Wonderful Life in black and white on Christmas Eve) and also play games on our Wii™. In addition, it has an HDMI input so we can connect our Firestick™. DW would like to move it to a different location but that space needs a larger (around 42"-44") screen. DW is probably even more frugal that I am so she told me she can't see replacing a TV that still works just fine. If our old Samsung ever dies, then we'll probably get a new Samsung. But we'll probably have to find some kind of adapter for it, as I don't think many TVs come with RCA inputs anymore.

From a longevity standpoint, we're happy with Samsung.

 

[explanade]

We're still using our 32" Samsung flat-screen from around 2007. It's just a regular (non-smart) TV. It has RCA inputs, which are important to us so we can connect our DVD/VCR combo (We always watch It's a Wonderful Life in black and white on Christmas Eve) and also play games on our Wii™. In addition, it has an HDMI input so we can connect our Firestick™. DW would like to move it to a different location but that space needs a larger (around 42"-44") screen. DW is probably even more frugal that I am so she told me she can't see replacing a TV that still works just fine. If our old Samsung ever dies, then we'll probably get a new Samsung. But we'll probably have to find some kind of adapter for it, as I don't think many TVs come with RCA inputs anymore.

From a longevity standpoint, we're happy with Samsung.

If you're keeping the VCR and a 15-year old TV for that one movie, you can either stream it if you subscribe to certain services or just buy a digital copy outright.

Then you can recycle the VCR and replace the TV if you want.

https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/frank-capras-its-a-wonderful-life

 

[rayvt]

Don't buy Vizio. I have two that are each 15 years old and the damn things just won't die.

LOL That was our problem. We finally gave our 55" Samsung away to our house cleaner's son, because it just would not die and we wanted to get a bigger screen.

Got a TCL 65" LCD tv for $400-ish on Black Friday and have no complaints. Have had it for 4 years now.

 

[explanade]

LOL That was our problem. We finally gave our 55" Samsung away to our house cleaner's son, because it just would not die and we wanted to get a bigger screen.

Got a TCL 65" LCD tv for $400-ish on Black Friday and have no complaints. Have had it for 4 years now.

TVs last. The old CRTs did as well.

I advertised a 34-inch HDTV for free on Craigslist to haul away.

Because I think it would have cost me a couple hundred to have hauled away IIRC.

Thing was over 200 pounds and even if I could lift it, I wouldn't be able to get my arms around it.


Last TV I bought was at Best Buy because if you subscribe to the Geek Squad extended warranty for a year, they will mount your TV to your wall for $50 and also haul away old flat screens for like $30.

I got rid of a 42 inch plasma which was probably about 70 pounds and about 5 inches thick, nothing like the TVs now.

I still have a 50-inch plasma, not as thick but still unwieldy. It shuts off periodically, signs of a failing power supply.

I do plan to upgrade but every year there is always the prospect of some key advance.

I could buy the LG C3 but the C4 to be announced in January may have MLA.

 

[Dawg52]

Last year on a whim I bought a 48" LG A2 OLED for my bedroom. At $599 it's a low end OLED but the picture is great with good colors and deep blacks. For the price it was a no brainer. In my living area I have an LG mini led as the room is fairly bright and mini led's are suppose to be better in that environment. I couldn't be more pleased and it's very close to the A2 in picture quality. At my condo I have a 4 year old Sony x930e. The thing I like about the higher end Sony's is the picture has an almost 3D look to it. Sony's are great tv's but there are many good one's to choose from.

 

[catii]

Our computer consulting company probably installed 250 large-screen TVs in offices & boardrooms, so I know the MTBF (Mean Time Between Failures) on all the major brands. What I have in my livingroom is a 55" LG OLED TV (C series). I had an older LG model, but after about 6 years (well out of warranty), LG contacted me, & told me that they wanted to replace it! It still looked great, but they sent me a brand-new screen, & even installed it! That's service! It does look better, too.

My neighbor was over here when the screens were swapped out, & his first comment was that his expensive Sony TV doesn't look anywhere nearly that good, & that was before I tuned it! And I've never had a complaint about any of the LGs that we installed.

 

[ArmchairMillionaire]

If you're keeping the VCR and a 15-year old TV for that one movie, you can either stream it if you subscribe to certain services or just buy a digital copy outright.

Then you can recycle the VCR and replace the TV if you want.

https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/frank-capras-its-a-wonderful-life

We also like playing Wheel Of Fortune, Jeopardy!, and sometimes other games on our Wii. We're not much into streaming, although we do have the Firestick and Amazon Prime. It seems like if we think of a movie we want to watch together that we don't already own on DVD, we look on all the streaming services we have available (Prime, Pluto, Freevee, etc.) and either they want you to pay for it or it's just not available. But, hey, at least we get free 6-day shipping with Amazon Prime™.

We enjoy being old-school. We still own and use rotary phones instead of cell-phones. We mail out Christmas cards to friends & family. We watch DVDs and even the occasional VHS tape. We listen to music (and NFL football games) on the radio. We still listen to our CDs from time to time. We try to keep life simple.

 

[wildsun]

It's been a while since this discussion made the rounds here, we're seriously considering an upgrade, so I thought I'd take a pulse from those here more knowledgeable.

We have a then low end 2014 Samsung 55" 4K LED (60Hz refresh), and we use Roku's to watch Hulu+Live, Netflix, Apple TV+ and (me) lots of free YouTube. We do watch sports. We're not gamers. We have simple 2.1 sound system we turn on for concerts and movies only, not looking to go crazy with sound add ons.

I think I want a 65" Sony Bravia A80L OLED 4K XR processor - they're on sale for $1800 at several places right now, MSRP appears to be $2500. We want something bigger and better, but I don't want to pay for the absolute best, e.g. Bravia A95L. [My MO for most consumer electronics is to buy the second best versions and avoid the top premiums] From what I gather the Sony is better than comparable LG or Samsung TV's at least for non-gamers.

I want a reasonably great TV, we don't update that often (9 years this time) - not what's cheapest. Visio, Hisense, TCL no thanks WADR.

But I'm open to suggestions before I BTD.

i bought the 55" Sony Bravia wth Google TV embedded. Sony quallity is great, and Google TV is game changer. I liked it so much I bought a 45" model a few months later for a different house.

Note that pricing is all over the place on these TVs. I paid $800 for the 55" on sale at Best Buy.

 

[FLJim]

TV's

I have purchased quite a few TV's over the years. Learned years ago that after buying a new one, wished i would have gone with the next bigger size. (Like boaters who have 2-foot-itis). Replaced a 55, looked at a 65. Went with the 75 and glad I did.

 

[FIREarly]

I would just get the size you want form Costco. They usually have a 5 year warranty at no extra cost. Their return policy is excellent.

Agree, we got the "LG 65" Class - OLED B2 Series - 4K UHD OLED TV - Allstate 3-Year Protection Plan Bundle Included for 5 Years of Total Coverage" -Costco

URL: https://www.costco.com/LG-65%22-Class---OLED-B2-Series---4K-UHD-OLED-TV---Allstate-3-Year-Protection-Plan-Bundle-Included-for-5-Years-of-Total-Coverage*.product.9765022.html

 

[Midpack]

I have purchased quite a few TV's over the years. Learned years ago that after buying a new one, wished i would have gone with the next bigger size. (Like boaters who have 2-foot-itis). Replaced a 55, looked at a 65. Went with the 75 and glad I did.

I considered buying the LG 77" C3, but bought the 65" as planned. Good thing as when I got to my car, it barely fit! The 77" wouldn't have...

 

[Slater]

I bought a 77" c3 recently. With new technology theyre saying now if youre 10 feet away from the screen / viewing area, go large / as bigas you can 75'-80"+.....
Came from a 65" c2 oled thats in my sons room now...

 

[RunningBum]

I considered buying the LG 77" C3, but bought the 65" as planned. Good thing as when I got to my car, it barely fit! The 77" wouldn't have...

I had the 77" delivered. It barely made it down the U shaped stairs. It would've made it easily had they taken it out of the box, but they didn't want to do that since all I paid for was the box to be delivered to a room of my choice, plus the risk of scratching the screen. They also could've carried it around the back and in via a slider, but they didn't like the rocky footing.

My son got a 65" and it barely fit in my car, on an angle which I didn't like, but it was a short drive.

 

[meleana]

We have a 3 year old basic 55 inch screen Samsung and it suits our needs just fine. Lots of stuff to watch on it with internet only service also. Use our ROKU stick as well.

We have a sound bar plus wireless woofer hooked into it.

 

[audreyh1]

We had our 77” delivered.

 

[Qs Laptop]

We had our 77” delivered.

Same. Plus my wife did it when I was unaware of the delivery being made. Imagine my shock and surprise when I saw my two sons carry it downstairs and put it "under" the tree on Christmas morning.

Best Christmas for me in a long time.

 

[RunningBum]

Our computer consulting company probably installed 250 large-screen TVs in offices & boardrooms, so I know the MTBF (Mean Time Between Failures) on all the major brands. What I have in my livingroom is a 55" LG OLED TV (C series). I had an older LG model, but after about 6 years (well out of warranty), LG contacted me, & told me that they wanted to replace it! It still looked great, but they sent me a brand-new screen, & even installed it! That's service! It does look better, too.

My neighbor was over here when the screens were swapped out, & his first comment was that his expensive Sony TV doesn't look anywhere nearly that good, & that was before I tuned it! And I've never had a complaint about any of the LGs that we installed.

Do you suppose any of us who are not responsible for the sale of some 250 large screen TVs would get this kind of service? It's great that you did, but I've never heard of such a thing done for a home consumer like me.

 

[Out of Steam]

I had the 77" delivered. It barely made it down the U shaped stairs. It would've made it easily had they taken it out of the box, but they didn't want to do that since all I paid for was the box to be delivered to a room of my choice, plus the risk of scratching the screen. They also could've carried it around the back and in via a slider, but they didn't like the rocky footing.

My son got a 65" and it barely fit in my car, on an angle which I didn't like, but it was a short drive.

As both of our cars are sedans and my wife can't help with carrying and setup, I would need to get even a 55 inch TV delivered.

Once it's on the front porch or in the house, I can get a friend to help with setup.

 

[explanade]

How many are wall mounting?

That definitely takes a couple of people as well as some knowledge.

 

[Slater]

just have bestbuy do it all, deliver, mount, configure / set-up, etc....

 

[Midpack]

Mine is wall mounted, but I installed the wall mount/bracket in 2019 with our previous TV. It's more than adequate for the 65" TV.

In fact the 2014 55" Samsung LED TV weighs 37.04 lbs, while the 2023 65" LG OLED weighs 36.6 lbs! Other than the bulge on the bottom back, it's scary thin.

 

[Midpack]

An addendum, I bought an all-in-one soundbar, and it's wonderful.

With TVs getting so thin, there is no place left to put speakers! Even expensive models can't have great speakers.

The speakers that came on the LG 65C3 are OK, though it sounds like the sound is being directed into the wall behind the (wall mounted) TV? So the soundbar is a huge improvement even though it's an inexpensive all-in-one - Vizio M213ad-K8 that lists for $179.99. I really didn't want 3, 5 or more speakers all over the family room for better sound. YMMV

 

[Qs Laptop]

An addendum, I bought an all-in-one soundbar, and it's wonderful.

With TVs getting so thin, there is no place left to put speakers! Even expensive models can't have great speakers.

The speakers that came on the LG 65C3 are OK, though it sounds like the sound is being directed into the wall behind the (wall mounted) TV? So the soundbar is a huge improvement even though it's an inexpensive all-in-one - Vizio M213ad-K8 that lists for $179.99. I really didn't want 3, 5 or more speakers all over the family room for better sound. YMMV

Vizio's soundbars are highly rated.

Once you get everything dialed in, give this a whirl in a darkened room. Crank it up a bit.


https://youtu.be/9JLN581QWxc?si=xsHO1Eks68wm-L5E