Who makes a good TV?

[Capt W]

I recommend TCL. Great TVs and can’t beat the price. The sound on mine is fantastic and the picture quality is 100% better than my parents Philips TV. I have the 50S451 model. Absolutely fantastic. Hisense isn’t bad either from what I’ve heard. But I’ve never used that one before.

Highly agree. I have two TCL Roku TVs - a 42" and a 55". I'm going to buy another for the living room, likely a bit larger than the 55-inch unit. Considering the price/value relationship they are very hard to beat.

Still using a 40" Sony Bravia in the home office. Bought that one for $699 in 2011. Still perfect, but you can get a much larger unit these days for half that price. It's getting so these things are almost disposable.

 

[rstcso]

My advice is whatever TV you get don't bother with the Smart function of the TV and get yourself a Roku Ultra or Apple TV for the streaming duties. These are separate streaming boxes that connect to the TV, not the cheap Roku Tvs. Most built in Smart Tv functions are slow and clunky and Roku has it nailed IMO. The Tv will never be obsolete until it won't turn on anymore if all your streaming in done by the Roku Ultra. Roku supports software updates for a long time on their streaming boxes. I have 1 Ultra that is 8 years old and gets used daily running the latest updated Roku OS.

100% agree. I use Roku Ultras on both our Samsung TVs (including one that's supposed to be "smart"). Also have it hardwired into the router. Never has any lag.

If you have the Chase Sapphire Reserve credit card, one of their new "perks" is a subscription to AppleTV. If you already have the card, this does not go into effect until October 26th. Although it's "free", you still have to sign up for it on Chase's website. The definition of "free" meaning you don't count Chase's new annual fee of $795 for the privilege they've bestowed upon you to use their CSR card!

 

[ARCOgraphite]

This is a little bit off topic, but I would like to add:
Getting the brightest display possible in a TV is not always a good idea. The Samsung I have has an excellent display, but TV commercials DO NOT play by the rules! When a commercial comes on, I can turn down the volume (they're always louder that the content), but I CANNOT turn down the brightness!

TV commercials will absolutely blow your eyeballs out with their brightness. So much so that I'll sometimes have to actually cover my eyes to avoid pain! The automatic brightness controls are no help on this either. Even room light sensing has minimal effect, in fact sometimes it makes it worse.

Just my two cents.

IDK, on most TV the brightness and contrast are way overblown. Colours oversaturated. The harder thing to get is a nice Grayscale graduated fade to black - so there will be detail retained in darker scenes. I had to spend days fiddling, getting my picture quality just right and natural. How do you know how the display is calibrated in the store?

 

[tmorris1]

100% agree. I use Roku Ultras on both our Samsung TVs (including one that's supposed to be "smart"). Also have it hardwired into the router. Never has any lag.

If you have the Chase Sapphire Reserve credit card, one of their new "perks" is a subscription to AppleTV. If you already have the card, this does not go into effect until October 26th. Although it's "free", you still have to sign up for it on Chase's website. The definition of "free" meaning you don't count Chase's new annual fee of $795 for the privilege they've bestowed upon you to use their CSR card!

Wired is always better. The only thing in my house that is Wifi are some IOT smart light switches and mobile devices (phones and laptop)

 

[rstcso]

Wired is always better. The only thing in my house that is Wifi are some IOT smart light switches and mobile devices (phones and laptop)

My wife and I both WFH, so want reliable and fairly fast internet. We use AT&T Fiber and have had one outage since switching from Spectrum Cable five years or so ago. We pretty much use only wifi except for the Roku.

We both grew up thinking a 1200 baud modem was the best thing on planet Earth. When the speeds hit 56kbps, there was no way it could get better than this! So a few milliseconds here and there isn't critical to us. We mash a button and stuff pops up. Close enough for us (and no, we don't work for the government).

 

[Skippy722]

I am still incredibly pleased with my Hisense U6GR running Roku. It even plays nice with the Vizio soundbar via HDMI eARC, which basically means plug it into the proper hdmi port as not all are eARC, set the tv to use that for audio and you’re done. I have also had TCL’s I was very pleased with.

I absolutely despise the LG I bought. Didn’t realize at the time the 55” on display used a different panel technology than the 65” I bought. The 65” is IPS and far FAR inferior further hindered by a backlight that can’t get very bright at all.

 

[parshisa]

I just got 65” TCL from Costco for 380$. It’s amazing. Apparently TVs have come a long way. My 1,200$ 8yo LG feels ancient

 

[Dborch41]

The WiFi module failed a few years ago, which was a common issue with this model. I just hardwired it to the router.

You could always plug a Roku or Fire Stick into a spare HDMI port and you're back to being wireless. I've turned several older "dumb" TVs into WiFi-capable smart TVs that way.

 

[Pablo]

We love Roku but you gotta cold boot the beasts regularly. Even the best models.

 

[Zee09]

I recommend TCL. Great TVs and can’t beat the price. The sound on mine is fantastic and the picture quality is 100% better than my parents Philips TV. I have the 50S451 model. Absolutely fantastic. Hisense isn’t bad either from what I’ve heard. But I’ve never used that one before.

TCL is great if you like to be spied on .

 

[Auto tech]

Samsung all day everyday. Ours we bought in 2017 and the picture and sound is just like day 1.

 

[Zee09]

I have a 22 year old Hitachi 55"
Never a repair... I'd toss it but it works great

 

[oilboy123]

I just read that Wally World is going to be exclusive Vizio retailer going forward? I assume the article was valid.

I have an older Samsung 48" from Costco. The computer won't run Netflix anymore. But has been a good TV. My next one will probably be Samsung as well. But that is not written in stone...... price, quality, features etc will guide my decision.

 

[macarose]

The majority of TVs are Chinese commodities for the most part.

We bought two Changhong 42-inch TVs back in 2014 when they had them as a Black Friday special.

They were $269 each. These were mid-level TVs when it came to features, resolution and so forth.

Over 10 years later they still operate fine. The one used more often has developed a few minor lines which don't impact viewing, and the other one is still pristine.

Once the one with lines becomes more wore out, we'll switch the two. We also got a 44-inch Samsung TV for free. Once that second one is lined up a bit we'll bring that one to the living room.

TVs are not worth investing in new. At least here in metro-Atlanta there is always someone moving out of the country who has to get rid of one.

 

[odie]

MAGNAVOV 32 inch bought at TARGET for about $500 which were expensive back then . It's about 17 years old . Lots of inputs / outputs . Many new TVs' have 3 or 4 .

 

[Geekhead]

Sound bar that most all the public will love for a room (around) 15 x 15 maybe a little more or less.

JBL BAR 500 (recommended to me a couple years back in this very forum) Ive been a sound fanatic all my life, from the 1970s >I always had the best sound systems in my car, boats and home. (compared to my friends)

Anyway, new home, getting older, the wild parties are now in the past, I wanted simplicity. Worked great for our great room. The JBL Bar 500 is truly amazing for a wire free simple set up if that is what you are looking for. It's perfect for a TV movie set up. Im not saying it's perfect for regular stereo sound for music only.
Best part is you can't be disappointed. Free Returns at Amazon and JBL gives a 30 day free returns.
https://www.jbl.com/soundbars/BAR-500MK2.html

AS far as TVs, higher end, midrange priced, Samsungs, LG and Sony let's say in the $1,200 to $1,600 price range.
Im not loyal to any brand of anything however when it comes to TV. We are now loyal to Sony X900 series or the equal in future model numbers. I believe that is now the X90 and cost is lower. We just bought a 65 inch for our daughter's new home.
The only thing about the TV for my wife and I is we do not use the "google tv" at all.
We have Roku players on all our TVs and the only thing we use. (Im not a google fan)
https://www.bestbuy.com/site/sony-6...-smart-google-tv-2023/6544733.p?skuId=6544733

Ahh, I remember JBL speakers, that and Cerwin Vega for volume and clarity. Have to fire up my old Carver stuff sometime now that I am retired and can rework the sound system.

 

[Pablo]

Anyone want a challenge?

Get a Yamaha sound bar to work well with an LG TV!

 

[Slick3914]

I have 3 TCL TVs purchased within the last 2 years that all work like a charm and have very good 4K pictures. I have a Sony 65" 4K I got from Costco in 2021 that is the slowest to respond piece of garbage I've ever used. It sits unused in a spare room.

I have two 50” TCLs that I purchased from BJs for $240. I’m very happy with them. I’m sure a TV aficionado could find fault with them, however, the pictures are quite good.

 

[earlyre]

I just read that Wally World is going to be exclusive Vizio retailer going forward? I assume the article was valid.

Yes. Walmart bought the Vizio brand over a year ago...
Meijer ( my employer) is no longer carrying Vizio, and just started getting TCL units in their place.

 

[Hermann]

Been happy with my 55" TCL QLED. Simply stunning picture. Adjustable black levels FTW.
Most impressed that they upgraded the GUI interface which was very laggy. It is now more than acceptable. Really Like companies that support their products.