Tempted to get a 85" TV this black Friday

[Owen Lucas]

I've had Samsung TVs for 8 years now and couldn't be happier. Great TVs. 85" is pretty large. My dad has an 85" Samsung in his theater room. You sit about 8' from the TV at the center of the room and it still looks big. I'm actually not sure that I'd want to watch a TV that large all of the time, but it is magical when you're watching a movie or a big time football game!

Don't Samsung TVs have built in commercials you can't opt out?

 

[ecotourist]

Don't Samsung TVs have built in commercials you can't opt out?

Not on mine.

 

[kschauweker]

https://www.avu.ca/video/perfecting-proximity-finding-optimal-tv-viewing-distance/

 

[JustN89]

Don't Samsung TVs have built in commercials you can't opt out?

Never seen that on mine. I have the QN65B.

 

[Danno]

Interesting that the link recommends 7 - 10.5' away for an 85" 4K TV.
Matches my experience.

 

[Vil_Riker]

Don't Samsung TVs have built in commercials you can't opt out?

They have Samsung TC Plus which has commercial breaks like any other TV program. It's not a DVR so you can't skip around the commercials. On the home screen they promote different apps as well.

You cannot opt out of the privacy data gathering through the TV settings, you will need to log on to your account through a browser. Conceptually there is no such thing as privacy nowadays unless you are an important person so there's nothing you can do about it short of ditching digital technology.

 

[alarmguy]

Was browsing at Costco while the Mrs. was shopping. These new 85" TV's are impressive. May have to pull the trigger this holiday season depending on the sales.

A must have is ATCS 3.0 or Nextgen TV. All the new Sony's have it as far as I know. Anyone using Next gen TV??

Good point!
Im not using it, maybe never will anytime soon. But moving forward I would never buy a TV without it.
I suspect you are not considering Sony because of price but their models are well worth it in the $1200 to 2000 price range. For 65 inch and higher.
Awesome sets, I am talking about the Bravia X series. Of which in an 85 inch model is around $2000
Forget about the Technologies and rely on the quality of components of set you are buying.
Every technology can be unreliable or cheaply made, its more marketing than reality. Price with Sony, Samsung and LG rule for quality. Buy their upper tier sets, they all make lower tier to be competitive with the "off brands" and some of those are made by the same sub=contractors.
You can make sure you are getting an upper tier by going directly to the website of the manufacturer.

A Sony Bravia XR series is a solid choice and one you will never regret. Never

 

[SubieRubyRoo]

There’s a formula in Consumer Reports I read years ago for buying a tv as far as having the right size tv for the room it will be in. IIRC it’s based on how far you will be away from the tv, the height of the tv, the window locations to eliminate glare, etc. A friend bought an 85 inch tv recently and his seating arrangements are about 8 feet from the tv. It’s like sitting on the front row in an imax theatre, you literally have to move your head to follow all the action. A 65 inch would have been gracious plenty to fit his viewing area IMO. I’m 16 feet from my 65 inch Sony and looking back I could have utilized a little bigger screen but I’m OK with the 65 inch.

I think the formula is 2-2.5x the diagonal measurement of the TV to calculate the distance from the screen, so for an 85” you’d need at least 170” stand-off to your viewing location. Not too many people have rooms big enough to sit a solid 15’ from their telly.

 

[Malo83]

I sit 12' from my Sony 75' tv and it's perfect, upgrading to an 85' would be no problem.

 

[Owen Lucas]

They have Samsung TC Plus which has commercial breaks like any other TV program. It's not a DVR so you can't skip around the commercials. On the home screen they promote different apps as well.

You cannot opt out of the privacy data gathering through the TV settings, you will need to log on to your account through a browser. Conceptually there is no such thing as privacy nowadays unless you are an important person so there's nothing you can do about it short of ditching digital technology.

I heard this is one of the reasons some large tvs cost so little, because you are monetized with ads. I hope this isn't all tv's. I'm still rocking a 42" plasma screen, looks go to me.

 

[Vil_Riker]

You can avoid it if you don't connect to the internet and forego the "smart" part of the TV. I don't think any of them limit the functionality if it's not hooked up to the internet for activation/registration.

 

[ecotourist]

You can avoid it if you don't connect to the internet and forego the "smart" part of the TV. I don't think any of them limit the functionality if it's not hooked up to the internet for activation/registration.

We didn't connect our TV to the internet. That may be why we don't get those ads. I have no interest in my TV reporting to anyone what is being said in our house. I'm told smart TVs do that. For ad optimization purposes supposedly.

Paranoid? Possibly, but "just because you're paranoid doesn't mean you aren't being followed."

 

[IndyIan]

Interesting that the link recommends 7 - 10.5' away for an 85" 4K TV.
Matches my experience.

7' seems kind of close to me, even 10.5' does too... I guess the next thing will be a curved 85" tv.... also given that the site sell tv's, I kind of of think they are pushing the lower viewing distances to get people to buy a new tv...

 

[CatCam2]

Funny how 30 years ago the biggest CRT tv's that were available were like 36" and weighed several hundred pounds!!

 

[meep]

we aren’t big tv people. We bought a 40” lcd in 2010, and then a 65” earlier this year, which gets used more for Wednesday study gatherings here than movies or entertainment. The price/picture quality for me landed on Samsung- man it’s got a lot of features, and Advertisements at every power up. That made me so mad, and was perhaps why it was so inexpensive?? Maybe ads prop up the cheap cost? As a result, I blocked its IP on the router from seeing the internet, while still supporting airplay in the home. Boo for ads. Yay for feature/price point.

 

[alarmguy]

I heard this is one of the reasons some large tvs cost so little, because you are monetized with ads. I hope this isn't all tv's. I'm still rocking a 42" plasma screen, looks go to me.

The reason for the different price levels is who makes the set. All of the name brand sets sell a less expressive line of TVs produced by subcontractors and labeled with the name brand manufacturer who placed the order.
They are built in China (or other countries) factories that produce TVs for a wide range of companies and place that company name on it.
I call them "contract" TVs.
The major manufacturers produce their own TVs in the higher price levels but not the budget line.

You dont have to get blasted with ads and is no reason not to buy a TV. Very simple, stay independent and dont hook the TV up to your Wi-FI network and you will have no issue. Buy a Roku player which we much prefer over a TV set operating system anyway. We also have an over the air antenna for local channels including all the major networks, 30 channels in all.
We do not keep our Wi-FI hooked up our Sony X900 because the last thing I wanted was to use their Android operating system. I do on a rare occasion, every year or two, connect it to my wifi network to check for firmware updates and if there is one I do the update and then disconnect for another year or two. Really simple stuff and dont overthink, if this helps.

 

[alarmguy]

We didn't connect our TV to the internet. That may be why we don't get those ads. I have no interest in my TV reporting to anyone what is being said in our house. I'm told smart TVs do that. For ad optimization purposes supposedly.

Paranoid? Possibly, but "just because you're paranoid doesn't mean you aren't being followed."

Read Above ^^ Good for you, no, not paranoid. I refuse to share my TV habits with Sony AND for the privilege of buying one of their $1,600 TVs so they can deliver ads to me, not that I can confirm Sony does this on their upper tier sets but either way its obnoxious to me, I know the public in general doesnt care.
I do use Roku and stream Netflix, Apple TV and some others and I am sure some information is transmitted, but I am in control and they dont know everything and anything, including my use of DVDs and OTA TV.

 

[JGmazda]

There’s a formula in Consumer Reports I read years ago for buying a tv as far as having the right size tv for the room it will be in. IIRC it’s based on how far you will be away from the tv, the height of the tv, the window locations to eliminate glare, etc. A friend bought an 85 inch tv recently and his seating arrangements are about 8 feet from the tv. It’s like sitting on the front row in an imax theatre, you literally have to move your head to follow all the action. A 65 inch would have been gracious plenty to fit his viewing area IMO. I’m 16 feet from my 65 inch Sony and looking back I could have utilized a little bigger screen but I’m OK with the 65 inch.

My brother has such a beast in his small living room. I don't remember the size of the TV but it was HUGE. Obviously, it broke all the Rules for what the recommended size should be for that particular room. And NOT surprisingly...

There wasn't one person that didn't complain (family gathering) on how difficult it was to watch anything on his TV.
He thought it was great... We laughed (Because "bigger" is better, right?) Thank goodness a Tennis match wasn't on. Ridiculous.

Needless to say, we hardly watched anything on that TV when visiting there. Straining (Yes, like an IMAX) made for difficult viewing. Geeez... I grew-up with console TV's and then the luxury TV's started to come out... 19"!! 30" 42"!! Some of my greatest TV shows were viewed on a 19" glass tube. Do I look back on that negatively? Like I was missing something? Nope.

Well... it's a new era and... I'm perfectly happy with my 55" TLC. I don't have any good reason to purchase a larger TV at this point. In fact, we hardly watch it because afterwards... we've lost brain cells and had to endure endless pharmaceutical commercials. So yeah, as you have guessed, I'm not the best person to be promoting larger screens.

Don't get me started on the privacy intrusion issues!!

 

[FADEC]

Good point!
Im not using it, maybe never will anytime soon. But moving forward I would never buy a TV without it.
I suspect you are not considering Sony because of price but their models are well worth it in the $1200 to 2000 price range. For 65 inch and higher.
Awesome sets, I am talking about the Bravia X series. Of which in an 85 inch model is around $2000
Forget about the Technologies and rely on the quality of components of set you are buying.
Every technology can be unreliable or cheaply made, its more marketing than reality. Price with Sony, Samsung and LG rule for quality. Buy their upper tier sets, they all make lower tier to be competitive with the "off brands" and some of those are made by the same sub=contractors.
You can make sure you are getting an upper tier by going directly to the website of the manufacturer.

A Sony Bravia XR series is a solid choice and one you will never regret. Never

I am most definitely considering a Sony. It seems they have implemented the Nextgen on most/all of their TV's

What is the lowest line from Sony that is still made by Sony?

BTW I'm at just a little over 14' from the TV. So not sure if I want a 75" or 85".

 

[dishdude]

We didn't connect our TV to the internet. That may be why we don't get those ads. I have no interest in my TV reporting to anyone what is being said in our house. I'm told smart TVs do that. For ad optimization purposes supposedly.

Paranoid? Possibly, but "just because you're paranoid doesn't mean you aren't being followed."

I'd worry more about the Tesla spying on you than a TV.