Thanks - I had consulted that thread and followed their tips, but either they changed their opinion about Dynamic Contrast or I missed the bit about HDR requiring different DC settings. It's exactly that thread I did find again yesterday, and I'm glad I did. (I'm still a bit miffed for having missed the window during which you could download the Gran Turismo demo, because apparently the HDR is glorious.)
"Nothing is gonna save us forever but a lot of things can save us today." - Night in the Woods
Hey all, we're looking to get a 4k TV this holiday with the sales and all (betting that 4k is the hotness this year) and I was looking for some trustworthy opinions on 4k options.
It seems HDR is a must for 4k, is that true? and we're looking for something in the 55 to 65+ inch range, and it seems there's some competing 4k tech with Dolby Vision and HDR10 and some other nonsense. Is this a major concern? Is it like the blu ray / HD fight in the past when blu ray won out and then HD went away? If so, which side should I bet on?
We're basically looking for a good living room TV mostly for streaming and videogames. It's going to be in a dark environment (no windows for glare) and we'll probably hook up multiple systems and devices to it. Do you have any recommendations for TVs, brands, or sales to watch for?
I've done some google fu but it's mostly linking to dubious sources who have an agenda in the game (bestbuy, forbes, etc.) and I trust people here more. If you have a trustworthy source that explains some of the options, that would also be appreciated. I guess I'm just looking for some general guidance and advice.
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MichaelLCIn what furnace was thy brain?ChicagoRegistered Userregular
I have the TCL S 55" with HDR and it's nice, though I'm terrible at judging picture quality.
Everything (TV, DVD, BD, Netflix) has looked good, though oddly the most recent King Kong BD was a blurry mess.
The step-up P series has been a well reviewed, especially for the cost.
I personally would not bother with a non-HDR 4K set. HDR, when done right, is a more noticeable upgrade than 1080p->4K is.
The TCL P series is supposed to be very nice for the money, and it has all the streaming support you'd ever want because the OS is just a built-in Roku. I have not put eyes on it personally.
If you want something that is bigger than 55" (only size for the TCL), I'd look at the Vizio M-series or Sony X900E if you can swing the higher cost.
a5ehren on
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ShadowfireVermont, in the middle of nowhereRegistered Userregular
The X900E is really great. Sony's Android interface is pretty nice, and the screen is beautiful.
If you want to go overboard, there's always the A1E, though...
I've been really satisfied with my X900E 55" but a quick summary on my experience so far
The Good!
- The overall picture quality is really good. Brights/darks/colors are all very satisfying.
- 1080p at 120hz is fantastic for gaming with my PC, I just wish it was provided as an option by default (I had to use some bizarre magic to get it working)
- 4k picture is also awesome, we use our TV with netflix (some compression is visible) and for games that don't have high demands or 120hz capability I run them in 4k. The difference is noticeable.
- Local dimming can be great, in some situations it really helps to bring out the high contrast scenes. I leave it turned on for our Netflix profile.
The meh.
- The inputs are ok, for anyone who needed more they might have issue that only 2 of them have HDMI 2.0b
- The OS I find has been a bit slow at times and I've added no new apps so I was disappointed with how laggy it feels (but its otherwise nice)
The bad (IMO)
- Local dimming again. In some situations it really sucks. An example is when you have a full white background with something dark on it, you get this really dumb looking black grey halo around it. This is glaringly obvious when the netflix app is loading. I have turned it off for games as I found it created some really annoying grey scenes. Witcher 3 @1080p120hz was noticeably worse with it.
- Black levels are good, but not great. I at times miss the darks I had after I calibrated my old Panasonic plasma screen
- I've had a few OS crashes that forced reboots, updates can take a VERY long time as well
The X900E is really great. Sony's Android interface is pretty nice, and the screen is beautiful.
If you want to go overboard, there's always the A1E, though...
I've been holding off buying a high end tv until OLEDs hit a reasonable price point. Part of my brain is like "Hey dude, its $4500 for a 65" now! And its so pretty!" and the other part is like "You're a fucking idiot, must of the cars you've bought have cost less".
So is this the right place to post about my HDTV antenna?
I've had the thing for a year or so (maybe 2) and all of a sudden all my channels work except the local Fox affiliate. At random times during the day it will come in, but more often than not, I get nothing. I go up on the roof today to adjust my antenna and my wife tells me (on the phone) that it started working. I walk away and it stops. I walk back behind it and it works again. If I sit behind the thing, Fox comes in with no problems. The second I walk away, nothing. No amount of adjusting fixed it.
Do I have a bad antenna? It looks like it's still in good shape and all connections are tight.
I picked up a Vizio M65-E0 last night, and have been pretty damned impressed with it. I'm still not a fan of the limited number of local dimming zones, however. I can see each zone light up and dim as contrasting colors move through a scene. It's distracting, but thankfully turning off the local dimming doesn't ruin the image like it did on a Vizio I looked at three years ago. The difference between local dimming on and off isn't too dramatic to my eyes. Now I just need to get some good 4K Blu-rays to demo the television.
Xbox Live, PSN & Origin: Vacorsis 3DS: 2638-0037-166
So is this the right place to post about my HDTV antenna?
I've had the thing for a year or so (maybe 2) and all of a sudden all my channels work except the local Fox affiliate. At random times during the day it will come in, but more often than not, I get nothing. I go up on the roof today to adjust my antenna and my wife tells me (on the phone) that it started working. I walk away and it stops. I walk back behind it and it works again. If I sit behind the thing, Fox comes in with no problems. The second I walk away, nothing. No amount of adjusting fixed it.
Do I have a bad antenna? It looks like it's still in good shape and all connections are tight.
Welcome to the (possible) nightmare of antennas. After our recent move it took quite awhile to get our setup back to working correctly. The final fix actually involved turning OFF our amplifier. Turns out we were receiving everything just fine and I was boosting noise that was confusing the tuners. At least, I think that's what it was. All I know is I turned off the amplifier and everything comes in strong now. Do you have a signal booster of some kind? If so, try turning it off and seeing what happens.
At our old house I had the same issue you're having. As soon as I would touch the antenna the channel would come in, let go, and out goes the channel. Moving and finding the right placement was the only solution. Then you run into the problem of fixing the problem channel but now 2 other channels don't work. We eventually started using two different antennas and a diplexer in order to receive all the channels correctly.
Now, since you've said it's been working for awhile there's some other things to consider too. Was the weather crappy? Did the station move their physical broadcast location? Did someone put up a giant ass building between your antenna and the broadcast tower? You could call the station and try to get in contact with the engineer and ask if they've lowered their output signal. There are a few channels around here that I think do that late at night when they switch over to infomercials as their reception quality drops noticeably that late at night.
minor incidentexpert in a dying fieldnjRegistered Userregular
We actually have one outdoor antenna I mounted on the part of the roof above our front porch, and one internal (Leaf) antenna that moves between being draped over the back of the couch, and propped on the side wall of the living room.
We basically have to alternate between those 3 antennas/positions to get every channel.
Antennas are fun, you guys.
Ah, it stinks, it sucks, it's anthropologically unjust
Yeah, I eventually bought this bad-boy: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B01LWE30ZO/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1
And after an exhausting trip into my attic to install it, and then multiple trips up and down all the stairs in my house to make slight adjustments while Windows Media Center cycled through the channel strength tester everything has been pretty good unless the weather gets super super nasty.
So is this the right place to post about my HDTV antenna?
I've had the thing for a year or so (maybe 2) and all of a sudden all my channels work except the local Fox affiliate. At random times during the day it will come in, but more often than not, I get nothing. I go up on the roof today to adjust my antenna and my wife tells me (on the phone) that it started working. I walk away and it stops. I walk back behind it and it works again. If I sit behind the thing, Fox comes in with no problems. The second I walk away, nothing. No amount of adjusting fixed it.
Do I have a bad antenna? It looks like it's still in good shape and all connections are tight.
Welcome to the (possible) nightmare of antennas. After our recent move it took quite awhile to get our setup back to working correctly. The final fix actually involved turning OFF our amplifier. Turns out we were receiving everything just fine and I was boosting noise that was confusing the tuners. At least, I think that's what it was. All I know is I turned off the amplifier and everything comes in strong now. Do you have a signal booster of some kind? If so, try turning it off and seeing what happens.
At our old house I had the same issue you're having. As soon as I would touch the antenna the channel would come in, let go, and out goes the channel. Moving and finding the right placement was the only solution. Then you run into the problem of fixing the problem channel but now 2 other channels don't work. We eventually started using two different antennas and a diplexer in order to receive all the channels correctly.
Now, since you've said it's been working for awhile there's some other things to consider too. Was the weather crappy? Did the station move their physical broadcast location? Did someone put up a giant ass building between your antenna and the broadcast tower? You could call the station and try to get in contact with the engineer and ask if they've lowered their output signal. There are a few channels around here that I think do that late at night when they switch over to infomercials as their reception quality drops noticeably that late at night.
I'm pretty sure it wasn't the antenna shifting. I have the screws cranked down pretty good and there are no scratch marks like it moved against its will. It's just so odd that it stopped working all of a sudden.
I went out and bought a new antenna, stronger than my original, hoping it was the problem -- no dice. Still can't get Fox reliably. Everything else works just fine.
I tried unplugging my amplifier and lost ALL channels (which is odd considering the antenna I bought didn't come with an amp). I figured maybe it didn't need one so I bypassed it completely and still no dice. It clearly needs an amp for it to function.
I've replaced my splitter, tried going direct to one of my tvs and bypassed some weird thing I had in my attic for an RCA antenna that I don't recall ever having. Apparently it has two inputs, one for VHF and another for a combo UHF/VHF which all my antennas have done. I put a barrel connector in line and still no Fox.
The only thing I can't replace is my amp, but I'm pretty sure it's working fine as without it I have no channels.
I'm not sure if the following should go into Help & Advice, but since this is probably where the most TV- and home cinema-savvy posters hang out, I'm asking here first.
I've got a Samsung KS8000 hooked up to a Sony STR-DN1070 AV receiver. All of the devices that I've connected to the receiver work just fine, connecting to the TV via HDMI4. However, since my wife doesn't want to faff about with the STR-DN1070, we've connected the settop box directly to the TV (HDMI1) and for when we watch something off the settop box together, I've connected the TV to the AV receiver with a TOSLINK cable and I switch the TV's audio for HDMI1 to sound output to Audio Out/Optical.
To summarise: STR-DN1070 AV receiver <--HDMI4/TOSLINK--> Samsung KS8000 TV <--HDMI1--> Settop box
However, every now and then when my wife watches something off the settop box, the sound doesn't play, even though the TV's sound output is set to TV Speaker. Sometimes this is solved by switching the TV to a different source and back to HDMI 1, sometimes it's solved by switching everything off and on again. Lately, though, it seems that in order to solve it I have to unplug the TOSLINK cable going from the TV. It's as if the devices get confused as to where the sound signal should end up - even though the AV receiver is usually off in these situations, and even if we switch it on it doesn't play any sound from the TV/settop box.
Any idea how best to solve this? I know there's the pass-through function, but I think I had some problems with this at first - though perhaps I simply didn't persist.
Thirith on
"Nothing is gonna save us forever but a lot of things can save us today." - Night in the Woods
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ShadowfireVermont, in the middle of nowhereRegistered Userregular
Is there a reason your wife doesn't want to use the receiver? If she just doesn't want to fidget with the inputs, a Harmony is a great way to solve that. I recommend the 665 for a lot of people because it's so cheap, and it works well.
If I manage to make it through the end of the year in my current job, I get a retention bonus - which is looking pretty solid right now. My wife and I are thinking about getting ourselves a new TV for Christmas with part of it.
The OP is, uh, 2011 vintage? Holy shit. Anyway, what's the best guide to what's available now?
We're looking for something to wall-mount above our fireplace - the HDMI cables are already run there, and our current TV is already installed there. A full home theater set-up is probably too much for now, but a good TV with a decent sound solution isn't out of the picture.
Hmm. I've never yet considered a Harmony remote, but perhaps that'd indeed be the best option. Can the Harmony remotes also be programmed to easily change TV settings and the like? (There are games where I switch the TV to Game mode, and if I could make that a one-button thing for my wife, that'd be great.)
"Nothing is gonna save us forever but a lot of things can save us today." - Night in the Woods
So is this the right place to post about my HDTV antenna?
I've had the thing for a year or so (maybe 2) and all of a sudden all my channels work except the local Fox affiliate. At random times during the day it will come in, but more often than not, I get nothing. I go up on the roof today to adjust my antenna and my wife tells me (on the phone) that it started working. I walk away and it stops. I walk back behind it and it works again. If I sit behind the thing, Fox comes in with no problems. The second I walk away, nothing. No amount of adjusting fixed it.
Do I have a bad antenna? It looks like it's still in good shape and all connections are tight.
Welcome to the (possible) nightmare of antennas. After our recent move it took quite awhile to get our setup back to working correctly. The final fix actually involved turning OFF our amplifier. Turns out we were receiving everything just fine and I was boosting noise that was confusing the tuners. At least, I think that's what it was. All I know is I turned off the amplifier and everything comes in strong now. Do you have a signal booster of some kind? If so, try turning it off and seeing what happens.
At our old house I had the same issue you're having. As soon as I would touch the antenna the channel would come in, let go, and out goes the channel. Moving and finding the right placement was the only solution. Then you run into the problem of fixing the problem channel but now 2 other channels don't work. We eventually started using two different antennas and a diplexer in order to receive all the channels correctly.
Now, since you've said it's been working for awhile there's some other things to consider too. Was the weather crappy? Did the station move their physical broadcast location? Did someone put up a giant ass building between your antenna and the broadcast tower? You could call the station and try to get in contact with the engineer and ask if they've lowered their output signal. There are a few channels around here that I think do that late at night when they switch over to infomercials as their reception quality drops noticeably that late at night.
I'm pretty sure it wasn't the antenna shifting. I have the screws cranked down pretty good and there are no scratch marks like it moved against its will. It's just so odd that it stopped working all of a sudden.
I went out and bought a new antenna, stronger than my original, hoping it was the problem -- no dice. Still can't get Fox reliably. Everything else works just fine.
I tried unplugging my amplifier and lost ALL channels (which is odd considering the antenna I bought didn't come with an amp). I figured maybe it didn't need one so I bypassed it completely and still no dice. It clearly needs an amp for it to function.
I've replaced my splitter, tried going direct to one of my tvs and bypassed some weird thing I had in my attic for an RCA antenna that I don't recall ever having. Apparently it has two inputs, one for VHF and another for a combo UHF/VHF which all my antennas have done. I put a barrel connector in line and still no Fox.
The only thing I can't replace is my amp, but I'm pretty sure it's working fine as without it I have no channels.
This one has me stumped (and pissed).
Can the antenna be slightly adjusted until you're able to get Fox and then see how the other channels look? May need to go the "two antennas and a diplexer" route if getting Fox means losing something else.
If I manage to make it through the end of the year in my current job, I get a retention bonus - which is looking pretty solid right now. My wife and I are thinking about getting ourselves a new TV for Christmas with part of it.
The OP is, uh, 2011 vintage? Holy shit. Anyway, what's the best guide to what's available now?
We're looking for something to wall-mount above our fireplace - the HDMI cables are already run there, and our current TV is already installed there. A full home theater set-up is probably too much for now, but a good TV with a decent sound solution isn't out of the picture.
Thanks in advance for the help!
Any ideas on what you're looking for here? What size TV? What's your price range?
I mean, if you're looking for a good TV that's affordable, the TCL 55" that's been mentioned is amazing for the price. If you want to go pricier and bigger, Sony's X900e is a glorious screen for a 65".
As for sound, a "decent" sound solution runs the gamut. Most TVs now sound like crap because the speakers are tiny. You can get a cheap soundbar for a couple hundred bucks (LG makes decent ones). If you don't mind pushing your budget to around $500 or so, we love our Klipsch sound bar.
Edit: your cables are most likely fine, so long as they're high speed cables. If you bought them in the last five years or so, they're almost guaranteed to be.
The Wirecutter's TV and Audio guides are written by a guy I trust to do it right. There's also RTings if you need info on a model not covered in the WC guides.
So is this the right place to post about my HDTV antenna?
I've had the thing for a year or so (maybe 2) and all of a sudden all my channels work except the local Fox affiliate. At random times during the day it will come in, but more often than not, I get nothing. I go up on the roof today to adjust my antenna and my wife tells me (on the phone) that it started working. I walk away and it stops. I walk back behind it and it works again. If I sit behind the thing, Fox comes in with no problems. The second I walk away, nothing. No amount of adjusting fixed it.
Do I have a bad antenna? It looks like it's still in good shape and all connections are tight.
Welcome to the (possible) nightmare of antennas. After our recent move it took quite awhile to get our setup back to working correctly. The final fix actually involved turning OFF our amplifier. Turns out we were receiving everything just fine and I was boosting noise that was confusing the tuners. At least, I think that's what it was. All I know is I turned off the amplifier and everything comes in strong now. Do you have a signal booster of some kind? If so, try turning it off and seeing what happens.
At our old house I had the same issue you're having. As soon as I would touch the antenna the channel would come in, let go, and out goes the channel. Moving and finding the right placement was the only solution. Then you run into the problem of fixing the problem channel but now 2 other channels don't work. We eventually started using two different antennas and a diplexer in order to receive all the channels correctly.
Now, since you've said it's been working for awhile there's some other things to consider too. Was the weather crappy? Did the station move their physical broadcast location? Did someone put up a giant ass building between your antenna and the broadcast tower? You could call the station and try to get in contact with the engineer and ask if they've lowered their output signal. There are a few channels around here that I think do that late at night when they switch over to infomercials as their reception quality drops noticeably that late at night.
I'm pretty sure it wasn't the antenna shifting. I have the screws cranked down pretty good and there are no scratch marks like it moved against its will. It's just so odd that it stopped working all of a sudden.
I went out and bought a new antenna, stronger than my original, hoping it was the problem -- no dice. Still can't get Fox reliably. Everything else works just fine.
I tried unplugging my amplifier and lost ALL channels (which is odd considering the antenna I bought didn't come with an amp). I figured maybe it didn't need one so I bypassed it completely and still no dice. It clearly needs an amp for it to function.
I've replaced my splitter, tried going direct to one of my tvs and bypassed some weird thing I had in my attic for an RCA antenna that I don't recall ever having. Apparently it has two inputs, one for VHF and another for a combo UHF/VHF which all my antennas have done. I put a barrel connector in line and still no Fox.
The only thing I can't replace is my amp, but I'm pretty sure it's working fine as without it I have no channels.
This one has me stumped (and pissed).
Can the antenna be slightly adjusted until you're able to get Fox and then see how the other channels look? May need to go the "two antennas and a diplexer" route if getting Fox means losing something else.
I have been unable to find an adjustment to my antenna that picks up Fox without me standing behind it.
I'd be more than willing to shell out $texas for a very good good UHF/VHF antenna, just so I don't have to keep going up on my roof.
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minor incidentexpert in a dying fieldnjRegistered Userregular
Just invest in a stunt dummy made from ballistic gel to stand next to your antenna 24/7. Problem solved!
Ah, it stinks, it sucks, it's anthropologically unjust
+1
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SnicketysnickThe Greatest Hype Man inWesterosRegistered Userregular
Pretty sure I saw a Mr Bean that had that exact premise
So is this the right place to post about my HDTV antenna?
I've had the thing for a year or so (maybe 2) and all of a sudden all my channels work except the local Fox affiliate. At random times during the day it will come in, but more often than not, I get nothing. I go up on the roof today to adjust my antenna and my wife tells me (on the phone) that it started working. I walk away and it stops. I walk back behind it and it works again. If I sit behind the thing, Fox comes in with no problems. The second I walk away, nothing. No amount of adjusting fixed it.
Do I have a bad antenna? It looks like it's still in good shape and all connections are tight.
Welcome to the (possible) nightmare of antennas. After our recent move it took quite awhile to get our setup back to working correctly. The final fix actually involved turning OFF our amplifier. Turns out we were receiving everything just fine and I was boosting noise that was confusing the tuners. At least, I think that's what it was. All I know is I turned off the amplifier and everything comes in strong now. Do you have a signal booster of some kind? If so, try turning it off and seeing what happens.
At our old house I had the same issue you're having. As soon as I would touch the antenna the channel would come in, let go, and out goes the channel. Moving and finding the right placement was the only solution. Then you run into the problem of fixing the problem channel but now 2 other channels don't work. We eventually started using two different antennas and a diplexer in order to receive all the channels correctly.
Now, since you've said it's been working for awhile there's some other things to consider too. Was the weather crappy? Did the station move their physical broadcast location? Did someone put up a giant ass building between your antenna and the broadcast tower? You could call the station and try to get in contact with the engineer and ask if they've lowered their output signal. There are a few channels around here that I think do that late at night when they switch over to infomercials as their reception quality drops noticeably that late at night.
I'm pretty sure it wasn't the antenna shifting. I have the screws cranked down pretty good and there are no scratch marks like it moved against its will. It's just so odd that it stopped working all of a sudden.
I went out and bought a new antenna, stronger than my original, hoping it was the problem -- no dice. Still can't get Fox reliably. Everything else works just fine.
I tried unplugging my amplifier and lost ALL channels (which is odd considering the antenna I bought didn't come with an amp). I figured maybe it didn't need one so I bypassed it completely and still no dice. It clearly needs an amp for it to function.
I've replaced my splitter, tried going direct to one of my tvs and bypassed some weird thing I had in my attic for an RCA antenna that I don't recall ever having. Apparently it has two inputs, one for VHF and another for a combo UHF/VHF which all my antennas have done. I put a barrel connector in line and still no Fox.
The only thing I can't replace is my amp, but I'm pretty sure it's working fine as without it I have no channels.
This one has me stumped (and pissed).
Can the antenna be slightly adjusted until you're able to get Fox and then see how the other channels look? May need to go the "two antennas and a diplexer" route if getting Fox means losing something else.
I have been unable to find an adjustment to my antenna that picks up Fox without me standing behind it.
I'd be more than willing to shell out $texas for a very good good UHF/VHF antenna, just so I don't have to keep going up on my roof.
Ouch. Not sure what you mean by $texas but maybe try the one I linked to earlier or something like it?
I mean, I've got in my attic and get channels that I never thought I would (and mostly don't, who is watching these 24/7 infomerical channels?). Things that were problematic before are now not. Our CW station is the farthest away and used to be very spotty with our previous setup. Now, it's as clear as everything else.
Thanks for the advice all! Been really helpful. We've set our targets for 65" with decent HDR at ~1k, which is a pretty problematic combination. "55 there's plenty of good options around that price range and size, but we're gonna go look around at Best Buy. There's a vizio on sale but it sounds like that local dimming stuff would annoy me crazily.
Has anyone ever dealt with this version before? I know OLED is the new hotness right now, but how does LED stack up? Also I'm trying to look up it's input lag since I would use it to play on my PS4 Pro and she would stream movies, does anyone have a good resource to find out that info?
For $480 it seems like something worth looking into.
I've also started looking into the TCLs. Does anyone know the major differences between the S and P series? Or at least a good resource to find that out? Target has an S series 55" for less than $400, bu I've been looking at the p series and don't know what are the major changes between the two.
@JMan711 : LG LED (LCD) TVs are generally not well regarded compared to their peers' offerings. Now, OLED is an entirely different matter...
As for the TCLs, the major difference between the S and P model is that the P step-up model supports HDR, and has a 'local dimming' backlight. These are pretty significant features, particularly the HDR support, but you won't be able to take full advantage of them unless you have HDR source material (streaming, most recent gaming console gen, or UHD Blu Ray player).
Thanks for that, those are great things to know. I've been hearing good things about LG, but apparently that is just for the OLEDs and not the LED(LCD)s. I have a PS4 Pro so I would like to take advantage of HDR, so now I know to focus on the P series with the TCLs.
That review site has some pretty great info and recommendations on other tvs as well, thanks for the links. If anyone else has any thoughts on 55" 4k HDR tvs around $500 or cheaper ( or at least good brands to look out for) please let me know.
If I manage to make it through the end of the year in my current job, I get a retention bonus - which is looking pretty solid right now. My wife and I are thinking about getting ourselves a new TV for Christmas with part of it.
The OP is, uh, 2011 vintage? Holy shit. Anyway, what's the best guide to what's available now?
We're looking for something to wall-mount above our fireplace - the HDMI cables are already run there, and our current TV is already installed there. A full home theater set-up is probably too much for now, but a good TV with a decent sound solution isn't out of the picture.
Thanks in advance for the help!
Any ideas on what you're looking for here? What size TV? What's your price range?
I mean, if you're looking for a good TV that's affordable, the TCL 55" that's been mentioned is amazing for the price. If you want to go pricier and bigger, Sony's X900e is a glorious screen for a 65".
As for sound, a "decent" sound solution runs the gamut. Most TVs now sound like crap because the speakers are tiny. You can get a cheap soundbar for a couple hundred bucks (LG makes decent ones). If you don't mind pushing your budget to around $500 or so, we love our Klipsch sound bar.
Edit: your cables are most likely fine, so long as they're high speed cables. If you bought them in the last five years or so, they're almost guaranteed to be.
Thanks for the comments and sorry for the delay in responding!
We're still trying to figure out our price range, but probably in the $1k-$2k range is the top end of our TV budget. Our current TV is a ... 40-ish inch, and honestly looks pretty tiny on the wall it's on. I'd like to probably get a sound bar in that total, if possible, but exceeding it slightly to include the sound bar wouldn't be the end of the world.
The cables were installed 2 years ago when the house was built, so ... ?
Thanks for that, those are great things to know. I've been hearing good things about LG, but apparently that is just for the OLEDs and not the LED(LCD)s. I have a PS4 Pro so I would like to take advantage of HDR, so now I know to focus on the P series with the TCLs.
That review site has some pretty great info and recommendations on other tvs as well, thanks for the links. If anyone else has any thoughts on 55" 4k HDR tvs around $500 or cheaper ( or at least good brands to look out for) please let me know.
As mentioned earlier, I'm happy with my 55" S. It helps that it was free thanks to a GC from work and that I was replacing a 10 yr old LCD but it's a great TV for the price.
Between the two TCLs, I recommend the P for the extra $250? Looks like it's gone up since I was shopping.
MichaelLC on
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MichaelLCIn what furnace was thy brain?ChicagoRegistered Userregular
Best But has the 55" P for $600 right now and Target has the 65" for $700.
Best But has the 55" P for $600 right now and Target has the 65" for $700.
I don't believe the P-series goes up to 65 inches. They opted to not release that model in that size. I'm seeing the S-series for $700, though. It has great input lag, but doesn't get particularly bright it seems. Of course, if you don't care about HDR then that's still a fantastic deal.
Xbox Live, PSN & Origin: Vacorsis 3DS: 2638-0037-166
The Sony X900E is on fairly steep discounts on Amazon (.ca or .com) right now. I've been very happy with mine and would have loved to get it for the current sale price. The 55" in particular is down about $300 off the average price and I think it's a good buy at 1000 usd.
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ShadowfireVermont, in the middle of nowhereRegistered Userregular
The Sony X900E is on fairly steep discounts on Amazon (.ca or .com) right now. I've been very happy with mine and would have loved to get it for the current sale price. The 55" in particular is down about $300 off the average price and I think it's a good buy at 1000 usd.
I love this set. Every one I've set up so far has been beautiful.
You'll need help setting them up though. They weigh a ton.
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That's all you need with TVs anymore, unless it's in brick. Then I usually go eight just to make sure in case one slips.
Yesterday I found a forum thread that mentioned setting Dynamic Contrast to Low or Medium; I'd previously had it off.
I did that and fired up Uncharted: The Lost Legacy, and...
"Nothing is gonna save us forever but a lot of things can save us today." - Night in the Woods
Might want to check this thread out for more calibration goodness: http://www.avsforum.com/forum/139-display-calibration/2539897-samsung-ks8000-calibration.htm
"Nothing is gonna save us forever but a lot of things can save us today." - Night in the Woods
It seems HDR is a must for 4k, is that true? and we're looking for something in the 55 to 65+ inch range, and it seems there's some competing 4k tech with Dolby Vision and HDR10 and some other nonsense. Is this a major concern? Is it like the blu ray / HD fight in the past when blu ray won out and then HD went away? If so, which side should I bet on?
We're basically looking for a good living room TV mostly for streaming and videogames. It's going to be in a dark environment (no windows for glare) and we'll probably hook up multiple systems and devices to it. Do you have any recommendations for TVs, brands, or sales to watch for?
I've done some google fu but it's mostly linking to dubious sources who have an agenda in the game (bestbuy, forbes, etc.) and I trust people here more. If you have a trustworthy source that explains some of the options, that would also be appreciated. I guess I'm just looking for some general guidance and advice.
Everything (TV, DVD, BD, Netflix) has looked good, though oddly the most recent King Kong BD was a blurry mess.
The step-up P series has been a well reviewed, especially for the cost.
The TCL P series is supposed to be very nice for the money, and it has all the streaming support you'd ever want because the OS is just a built-in Roku. I have not put eyes on it personally.
If you want something that is bigger than 55" (only size for the TCL), I'd look at the Vizio M-series or Sony X900E if you can swing the higher cost.
If you want to go overboard, there's always the A1E, though...
The Good!
- The overall picture quality is really good. Brights/darks/colors are all very satisfying.
- 1080p at 120hz is fantastic for gaming with my PC, I just wish it was provided as an option by default (I had to use some bizarre magic to get it working)
- 4k picture is also awesome, we use our TV with netflix (some compression is visible) and for games that don't have high demands or 120hz capability I run them in 4k. The difference is noticeable.
- Local dimming can be great, in some situations it really helps to bring out the high contrast scenes. I leave it turned on for our Netflix profile.
The meh.
- The inputs are ok, for anyone who needed more they might have issue that only 2 of them have HDMI 2.0b
- The OS I find has been a bit slow at times and I've added no new apps so I was disappointed with how laggy it feels (but its otherwise nice)
The bad (IMO)
- Local dimming again. In some situations it really sucks. An example is when you have a full white background with something dark on it, you get this really dumb looking black grey halo around it. This is glaringly obvious when the netflix app is loading. I have turned it off for games as I found it created some really annoying grey scenes. Witcher 3 @1080p120hz was noticeably worse with it.
- Black levels are good, but not great. I at times miss the darks I had after I calibrated my old Panasonic plasma screen
- I've had a few OS crashes that forced reboots, updates can take a VERY long time as well
I've been holding off buying a high end tv until OLEDs hit a reasonable price point. Part of my brain is like "Hey dude, its $4500 for a 65" now! And its so pretty!" and the other part is like "You're a fucking idiot, must of the cars you've bought have cost less".
Maybe the A2E will be cheaper...
I've had the thing for a year or so (maybe 2) and all of a sudden all my channels work except the local Fox affiliate. At random times during the day it will come in, but more often than not, I get nothing. I go up on the roof today to adjust my antenna and my wife tells me (on the phone) that it started working. I walk away and it stops. I walk back behind it and it works again. If I sit behind the thing, Fox comes in with no problems. The second I walk away, nothing. No amount of adjusting fixed it.
Do I have a bad antenna? It looks like it's still in good shape and all connections are tight.
Welcome to the (possible) nightmare of antennas. After our recent move it took quite awhile to get our setup back to working correctly. The final fix actually involved turning OFF our amplifier. Turns out we were receiving everything just fine and I was boosting noise that was confusing the tuners. At least, I think that's what it was. All I know is I turned off the amplifier and everything comes in strong now. Do you have a signal booster of some kind? If so, try turning it off and seeing what happens.
At our old house I had the same issue you're having. As soon as I would touch the antenna the channel would come in, let go, and out goes the channel. Moving and finding the right placement was the only solution. Then you run into the problem of fixing the problem channel but now 2 other channels don't work. We eventually started using two different antennas and a diplexer in order to receive all the channels correctly.
Now, since you've said it's been working for awhile there's some other things to consider too. Was the weather crappy? Did the station move their physical broadcast location? Did someone put up a giant ass building between your antenna and the broadcast tower? You could call the station and try to get in contact with the engineer and ask if they've lowered their output signal. There are a few channels around here that I think do that late at night when they switch over to infomercials as their reception quality drops noticeably that late at night.
PSN : Bolthorn
We basically have to alternate between those 3 antennas/positions to get every channel.
Antennas are fun, you guys.
And after an exhausting trip into my attic to install it, and then multiple trips up and down all the stairs in my house to make slight adjustments while Windows Media Center cycled through the channel strength tester everything has been pretty good unless the weather gets super super nasty.
PSN : Bolthorn
I'm pretty sure it wasn't the antenna shifting. I have the screws cranked down pretty good and there are no scratch marks like it moved against its will. It's just so odd that it stopped working all of a sudden.
I went out and bought a new antenna, stronger than my original, hoping it was the problem -- no dice. Still can't get Fox reliably. Everything else works just fine.
I tried unplugging my amplifier and lost ALL channels (which is odd considering the antenna I bought didn't come with an amp). I figured maybe it didn't need one so I bypassed it completely and still no dice. It clearly needs an amp for it to function.
I've replaced my splitter, tried going direct to one of my tvs and bypassed some weird thing I had in my attic for an RCA antenna that I don't recall ever having. Apparently it has two inputs, one for VHF and another for a combo UHF/VHF which all my antennas have done. I put a barrel connector in line and still no Fox.
The only thing I can't replace is my amp, but I'm pretty sure it's working fine as without it I have no channels.
This one has me stumped (and pissed).
I've got a Samsung KS8000 hooked up to a Sony STR-DN1070 AV receiver. All of the devices that I've connected to the receiver work just fine, connecting to the TV via HDMI4. However, since my wife doesn't want to faff about with the STR-DN1070, we've connected the settop box directly to the TV (HDMI1) and for when we watch something off the settop box together, I've connected the TV to the AV receiver with a TOSLINK cable and I switch the TV's audio for HDMI1 to sound output to Audio Out/Optical.
To summarise: STR-DN1070 AV receiver <--HDMI4/TOSLINK--> Samsung KS8000 TV <--HDMI1--> Settop box
However, every now and then when my wife watches something off the settop box, the sound doesn't play, even though the TV's sound output is set to TV Speaker. Sometimes this is solved by switching the TV to a different source and back to HDMI 1, sometimes it's solved by switching everything off and on again. Lately, though, it seems that in order to solve it I have to unplug the TOSLINK cable going from the TV. It's as if the devices get confused as to where the sound signal should end up - even though the AV receiver is usually off in these situations, and even if we switch it on it doesn't play any sound from the TV/settop box.
Any idea how best to solve this? I know there's the pass-through function, but I think I had some problems with this at first - though perhaps I simply didn't persist.
"Nothing is gonna save us forever but a lot of things can save us today." - Night in the Woods
If I manage to make it through the end of the year in my current job, I get a retention bonus - which is looking pretty solid right now. My wife and I are thinking about getting ourselves a new TV for Christmas with part of it.
The OP is, uh, 2011 vintage? Holy shit. Anyway, what's the best guide to what's available now?
We're looking for something to wall-mount above our fireplace - the HDMI cables are already run there, and our current TV is already installed there. A full home theater set-up is probably too much for now, but a good TV with a decent sound solution isn't out of the picture.
Thanks in advance for the help!
Steam: Elvenshae // PSN: Elvenshae // WotC: Elvenshae
Wilds of Aladrion: [https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/comment/43159014/#Comment_43159014]Ellandryn[/url]
"Nothing is gonna save us forever but a lot of things can save us today." - Night in the Woods
Can the antenna be slightly adjusted until you're able to get Fox and then see how the other channels look? May need to go the "two antennas and a diplexer" route if getting Fox means losing something else.
PSN : Bolthorn
Any ideas on what you're looking for here? What size TV? What's your price range?
I mean, if you're looking for a good TV that's affordable, the TCL 55" that's been mentioned is amazing for the price. If you want to go pricier and bigger, Sony's X900e is a glorious screen for a 65".
As for sound, a "decent" sound solution runs the gamut. Most TVs now sound like crap because the speakers are tiny. You can get a cheap soundbar for a couple hundred bucks (LG makes decent ones). If you don't mind pushing your budget to around $500 or so, we love our Klipsch sound bar.
Edit: your cables are most likely fine, so long as they're high speed cables. If you bought them in the last five years or so, they're almost guaranteed to be.
I have been unable to find an adjustment to my antenna that picks up Fox without me standing behind it.
I'd be more than willing to shell out $texas for a very good good UHF/VHF antenna, just so I don't have to keep going up on my roof.
I did!
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Ouch. Not sure what you mean by $texas but maybe try the one I linked to earlier or something like it?
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01LWE30ZO/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1&pldnSite=1
I mean, I've got in my attic and get channels that I never thought I would (and mostly don't, who is watching these 24/7 infomerical channels?). Things that were problematic before are now not. Our CW station is the farthest away and used to be very spotty with our previous setup. Now, it's as clear as everything else.
PSN : Bolthorn
It seems like this bad boy is great, https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01MZF7WCT?tag=rtings-tv-sm01b-20&ie=UTF8&th=1
but out of our price range sadly.
Has anyone ever dealt with this version before? I know OLED is the new hotness right now, but how does LED stack up? Also I'm trying to look up it's input lag since I would use it to play on my PS4 Pro and she would stream movies, does anyone have a good resource to find out that info?
For $480 it seems like something worth looking into.
I've also started looking into the TCLs. Does anyone know the major differences between the S and P series? Or at least a good resource to find that out? Target has an S series 55" for less than $400, bu I've been looking at the p series and don't know what are the major changes between the two.
As for the TCLs, the major difference between the S and P model is that the P step-up model supports HDR, and has a 'local dimming' backlight. These are pretty significant features, particularly the HDR support, but you won't be able to take full advantage of them unless you have HDR source material (streaming, most recent gaming console gen, or UHD Blu Ray player).
Check out the RTings reviews for both:
http://www.rtings.com/tv/reviews/tcl/s-series-4k-2017-s405
http://www.rtings.com/tv/reviews/tcl/p-series-2017-p607
That review site has some pretty great info and recommendations on other tvs as well, thanks for the links. If anyone else has any thoughts on 55" 4k HDR tvs around $500 or cheaper ( or at least good brands to look out for) please let me know.
@Shadowfire
Thanks for the comments and sorry for the delay in responding!
We're still trying to figure out our price range, but probably in the $1k-$2k range is the top end of our TV budget. Our current TV is a ... 40-ish inch, and honestly looks pretty tiny on the wall it's on. I'd like to probably get a sound bar in that total, if possible, but exceeding it slightly to include the sound bar wouldn't be the end of the world.
The cables were installed 2 years ago when the house was built, so ... ?
Steam: Elvenshae // PSN: Elvenshae // WotC: Elvenshae
Wilds of Aladrion: [https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/comment/43159014/#Comment_43159014]Ellandryn[/url]
As mentioned earlier, I'm happy with my 55" S. It helps that it was free thanks to a GC from work and that I was replacing a 10 yr old LCD but it's a great TV for the price.
Between the two TCLs, I recommend the P for the extra $250? Looks like it's gone up since I was shopping.
I don't believe the P-series goes up to 65 inches. They opted to not release that model in that size. I'm seeing the S-series for $700, though. It has great input lag, but doesn't get particularly bright it seems. Of course, if you don't care about HDR then that's still a fantastic deal.
I love this set. Every one I've set up so far has been beautiful.
You'll need help setting them up though. They weigh a ton.