Help! TVs All Look the Same-

[willbur]

Shopping at Best Buy for a new BIG tv for media room. Saw row upon row of the latest TVs. Compared LED LCD, OLED, QLED etc, etc. pictures. Hugh price difference but they all looked the same to me. Is it mostly marketing or my eyes?
Should I settle for medium level TV since technology changes so rapidly and buying upper end TV is wasting $$$ ? Opinions?

 

[atikovi]

Why not buy the cheapest one that looks good to you? I bought a $250 55 inch Insignia model that has an excellent picture. The $500 or $1000 TVs didn't look any better.

 

[KJSmith]

You've answered your own question... they all look the same to you.
Why pay more?

 

[tnt_motorsports]

The last 2 tv’s we bought came from Walmart. We bought a 55” LG 2 years ago on Black Friday and 65” LG this spring for our house. I’m impressed by them, they are smart tv’s and both were reasonably priced. I can’t remember the price but I want to say around $650 each…. I saw them cheaper yet last week.

Anymore tv’s seem to be a commodity and all look similar.

Just my $0.02

 

[Skippy722]

We’ve definitely hit the point of diminishing returns on TV’s. Each one has its pluses and minuses, I use Rtings.com to compare them. More expensive TV’s generally (but certainly it always) get brighter than cheaper ones, and it’s the major gripe I have about my 65” LG… it just doesn’t get bright enough and HDR content is meh because of it.

 

[dippschtick]

It's when you have them at home and in a dark room is when you'll see the difference. (Oled vs LCD)
Although many full array local dimming LCDs are becoming competitive in that area. And get brighter to boot. I have two 55" LG Oleds (C7, B8) and my only complaint is brightness certain times of the day. The one in my dark bedroom is perfect for that environment.

 

[willbur]

Thanks all. The store TVs had super quality signal feed and that may explain why they all appeared the same. I'm looking for real life differences, if any, observed by the very knowledgeable ppl here on this forum. What I observed at Best Buy may be a lot different(?) from what I see in my media room.

Dippschtick- I read your post after I posted by reply

 

[Barkleymut]

I am really into high end audio.... yet most of the time very moderate sounding systems sound much better than top priced stuff. Ignore the hype and go with what your eyes tell you.

Since I have not shopped for a TV in years, I assume all of them have HDMI inputs and Roku/Hulu/Prime/Netflix/HBO/Showtime/everything built in already. What other stuff is there?

 

[94astro]

Two years ago on Walmart Black Friday they offered a 65 inch, smart, android, Philips TV for an astounding $278, I thought JUNK, but for $278 give it a try. I bought this TV, took it home, set it up & I was shocked, the brightest, clearest picture I have ever seen, I was blown away.
It has been 2 years now & it is still perfect viewing on this set.
Just never know till you try!
Now that I have bragged about it, it will blow up

 

[tmorris1]

I would buy based on the picture and not worry about the smart features. Just get a Roku Ultra to use as the smart part. You will be much happier and it will stay up to date and useable much longer. Most smart features are janky at best compared to a dedicated streamer like Roku.

 

[tmorris1]

Thanks all. The store TVs had super quality signal feed and that may explain why they all appeared the same. I'm looking for real life differences, if any, observed by the very knowledgeable ppl here on this forum. What I observed at Best Buy may be a lot different(?) from what I see in my media room.

Dippschtick- I read your post after I posted by reply

Its a digital signal. The TV either gets it or it doesn't. They were probably playing some kind of 4K content, but it will still give you an idea of how each looks. If they all looked the same to you, then get the cheapest and use what you saved to get a decent dedicated streamer like Roku or Apple TV.

 

[Skippy722]

Thanks all. The store TVs had super quality signal feed and that may explain why they all appeared the same. I'm looking for real life differences, if any, observed by the very knowledgeable ppl here on this forum. What I observed at Best Buy may be a lot different(?) from what I see in my media room.

Dippschtick- I read your post after I posted by reply

So… even with LCD’s, not all of them are the same. For instance, the LG I referenced in my post uses what’s called an IPS panel, so it has amazing viewing angles but it struggles with contrast. So blacks aren’t truly black on that tv, more of a super dark gray. Local dimming can help with contrast though, but not all local dimming is the same. Other TV’s use VA panels, great contrast but narrow viewing angles.

OLED’s don’t have a backlight, the pixels themselves light up. Amazing contrast, but they can’t get as bright as a high end LCD/QLED. They can also “burn in” much like an old CRT.

QLED is really just a LCD with some quantum dots to help boost color reproduction and saturation. When my kids are a bit older and I can trust them to not break a TV, this is what I’ll be getting. Something like the Samsung Q90T which is capable of getting very bright.

QLED vs OLED vs LED TVs: Which one is the best?

When buying a new TV, the different technologies can be confusing. Marketing terms like OLED, QLED, and LED may all seem the same to you, but they actually refer to different panel types.

www.rtings.com

 

[Malo83]

I prefer SONY tv's for the last 40 years, can't go wrong.

 

[dishdude]

Android powered TCL or Hisense is my preference - a lot of performance and value for the money.

 

[Bobaloo22]

If I may jump in and ask a question, do the smart TVs have the ability to control the bass and treble? Thanks

 

[willbur]

If I may jump in and ask a question, do the smart TVs have the ability to control the bass and treble? Thanks

dunno- was interested in picture quality only. Sound quality is not so good on these TVs since they are so thin. All need a separate audio system to go with the dazzling picture

 

[willbur]

Its a digital signal. The TV either gets it or it doesn't. They were probably playing some kind of 4K content, but it will still give you an idea of how each looks. If they all looked the same to you, then get the cheapest and use what you saved to get a decent dedicated streamer like Roku or Apple TV.

Yep- got Apple TV. The remote is absolutely the worst designed and implemented remote ever! Knuckle heads

 

[97prizm]

Qled is led backlit, go with OLED, which are lit by the led's themselves

 

[wkcars]

If I was looking for a tv right now an lg or sony oled would be my first preference otherwise it would be sony with fald backlight.

 

[Donald]

Some TVs show movies better (OLED or Plasma) as they can do a great job with the brightest to the darkest scenes. For sports especially live there are probably few if any dark scenes and you may not see the benefit of OLED or Plasma.

These days I would not buy less than a 4K TV.

I do not see the need of a "smart" TV. Get a Roku and use TV as a monitor.