In the market for a new TV..so many choice

Marie5656

Marie5656

SF VIP
Location
Batavia, NY
I am in a financial position to to replace my 12 or so year old TV. It is a Smart TV and I definately want another Smart one. I have been looking around, and will be going out next week. I would like at least a 50 inch. But so many Brands. A friend suggested getting one with ROKU, and as I trust his opinion, that is on my list of features.
But the brands..Samsung, Phillips, Visio. My current one is Samsung, and it has treated me well. Just starting to act a bit wonky...especially with all the apps. Plus I know there will be more apps on a newer model.
Has anyone made a recent TV purchase? Any hints or suggestions?
 
I always buy Samsung just like I always buy Honda cars. They work well and are reliable.

As far as buying a "smart" TV, I prefer a separate Roku box so if something goes wrong with it, it's not a $1000 investment like it would be with a "smart" TV. They're only like $30.
 
We bought a Panasonic plasma "dumb" TV way back in 2006, and it's still working good. The price we paid then would buy 3 or 4 flat screen TV's today. I sometimes do some "shopping" on the Walmart and Best Buy web sites, and pay close attention to the customer reviews. If our TV quit working, I would lean towards Samsung. I have a Samsung monitor on my PC, and it works good.
 
We have a 65" Samsung smart TV in the living room and a 40+" Vizio smart TV in the bedroom. I like the quality on both and we haven't had any problems with either one.
 
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I prefer my TVs w/the Roku feature already built in.
But, My TVs are no where near $1000.

I have a TCL 40" and an Insignia FireTV 40"...and I like them both.
 
I agree with others that have mentioned LG. We bought a 50" LG HD TV several years ago and were stunned by the clarity and depth of the images. We felt like we were in the show. Granted, our previous TV was at least 10 years old.

We've also had no issues. Darn, I've now jinxed it! :ROFLMAO:
 
PamfromTx said:
We have a 65" Samsung smart TV and a 40+" Vizio smart TV in the bedroom. I like the quality on both and we haven't had any problems with either one.
Click to expand...
Do you remember when a 36" tv was thought of as big, and of course the old black and white tvs of my youth were 14", and you couldn't see much at the side of the picture at that, (I watched Pele playing for Brazil in the 1962 world cup, when he was aged nineteen I think, and scored twice, all this on a tiny tv with very poor sound quality when I was aged eight, and I'd say it was just as exciting as anything you'd see today on a massive screen).
 
We went back to Sony after our Samsung gave up a couple of months out of the warranty. Research showed that this was a common fault with Samsung. We do have a larger Samsung in the basement that is 12+ years old and haven’t had any problems with it. I’d never put big money into a TV now.
 
I'd never heard of ROKU, but apparently it is some sort of 'streaming' device for TV's - is that correct?

Unlike the old days when you could repair TV's, they are now just consumables - but they are relatively cheap. I have a 'Sharp' TV. Apparently it's 'smart', but we only use it as a dumb TV. It has built-in "Freeview" which as the name suggests provides a range of free to view channels. We also have a "Top box" - a digital recorder and a DVD player. I wouldn't worry too much about the brand - just go for what is the best value.
Our Sharp has never given any trouble, though the Top Box needs re-booted occasionally.

We don't pay for any 'premium' channels. There is nothing 'unmissable' or that ' everyone is talking about' , but we do have to pay for the privilege of having a TV. Apparently this funds the Woke and left leaning BBC who while producing the odd excellent programme, generally fills the screens with trash.
 
We have a 55" Vizio that is 12 years old and survived the moving truck to Florida. It's still going strong and is now out on the lanai where I can watch baseball. We recently got a new 75" Sony for the living room.

It's really hard to NOT get a smart TV these days. Even so, I don't use the smarts. I use an Apple TV for streaming.

My advice, stay away from the extreme low end and the extreme high end. That applies to brands themselves and to models within a brand. Most of the mainstream brands, the ones mentioned already in this thread, are pretty good and you'll probably be happy. I would have gone with Vizio again, but the feature set and the deal I got for the Sony X90J was hard to beat at the time. Also, buying from Costco always gets you their free extended warranty.

Like most electronics, if you get through the first 3 months without any trouble then your probably going to solid.
 
TV buying is a bit tricky do to all the brands and options. I use Consumer Reports online to see what models and options are available. They also rate TV's by size comparisons telling which brands their subscribers found to work the best without needing repairs. You may have to buy a membership, but it is money well spent as they have many other products they test and report on.

At least they give you best options, backed by some real research and consumers feedback...

Good Luck
 
We bought a 60" Sharp smart tv back in 2014. It was over $1,000 and considered a good deal at the time. We got it from Amazon. We've never had any problems with it and we have a Roku hooked up to it, which we watch more than regular tv. It has survived a move from PA in 2014 to the first house in AZ and then to the second house in AZ and then just recently in February the move back from AZ to PA.

I also have a TCL Roku tv for my sewing room and I love it. I don't have it connected to any cable as I only watch YouTube, Netflix or any other streaming channel on it.

The only thing I have a huge gripe about ANY tv (doesn't matter the brand...cheap or expensive) is the speakers! They are terrible. My husband is hard of hearing and wears 2 hearing aids so we've had a sound bar on the Sharp TV. It was originally a Vizio but it quit working a couple years ago so we bought a Zvox, which I wouldn't recommend.
 
My Vizio is 12 years old and going strong and I figured I would keep it as long as it lasts. Then I bought a small Insignia for another room and was amazed at the difference in the picture. The Vizio is LCD and the Insignia is LED. The Insignia displays colors I never saw on the Vizio, thinking it was as best as could be. You get used to viewing what’s familiar after a while.

Keep in mind that ideal screen size depends on seating distance. I saw a giant TV once in a smaller room and you had to turn your head to view it.

https://www.rtings.com/tv/reviews/by-size/size-to-distance-relationship
 
I didn't even know they come now with built-in Roku. I have one of those little boxes (sticks?) that plug into a port in the TV. My TV is old, about 14 years now, and even it has a port on the back. The Roku stick cost about $30, and it works perfectly.

Capt. Lightning, you are right, it is a streaming device. Once you plug it in, you can stream channels such as Netflix, Hulu, Prime, etc. It's made all the difference in the world for me. I seldom watch regular network TV any more. The streamed series, movies, and stage performances are so much better, and usually, those channels have no commercials. Some are free, others cost about $10 a month. Easily worth it.

P.S. I think you have to have Wifi for streaming to work.
 
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