The big "How do I choose an HDTV?" thread.

Trashie wrote:
conejote wrote:
Trashie wrote:

So my lovely wife surprised me with a PS4 Pro for Christmas. I hooked it up to my Samsung KS8000 TV (4K HDR ready) and started some configuration. When it works, it looks great. Uncharted 4 is a jaw-dropper. However, I'm getting a weird inconsistent problem - when I first start up a HDR game, the TV tells me it's now playing HDR content. However, I get weird "blinks" in the video. The screen will go black for a second and then the TV will tell me it's showing HDR video again. Like it's switching resolutions or something. It repeats pretty frequently when I first launch something but eventually (after maybe five minutes) it goes away.

I've searched around online and found a variety of people reporting this problem but with no solid solution. What's mind-boggling is that it eventually sorts itself out and is stable. Could it be the cable? I'm using the brand new HDMI cable that came with the PS4 Pro. I'm not sure what else it might be. Any thoughts?

I haven't run into problems with the combination of those two devices (also using the cable that came with the Pro), but it did take some setting up in advance. In the Pro advanced settings, make sure the output is set to Auto (not RGB or YUV 2160p). In fact, just set everything to Auto in that menu. In the KS8000 settings, switch to Game Mode and make sure UHD HDMI is turned on for all ports. But, you have to manually adjust the brightness to 20, or you'll see the HDR message but you won't really be getting it. Set the Color Space to Auto and Smart LED to High. Plus, you have to manually turn on HDR in some game menus.

Tested out a new AmazonBasics HDMI 2.0 cable last night and the issue seems to have resolved itself. Hopefully, it's stable.

OK - issue is still there. It seems to go away after I've cycled the UHD Color option on the Samsung. Am I turning on the TV and PS4 Pro in the incorrect order? Something related to the stand-by mode? It's weird that it's so inconsistent. Seem like it'd either work or it wouldn't.

That is weird. This thread suggests a firmware update, factory reset, or trying a different outlet to make sure it's not electricity-related.

https://us.community.samsung.com/t5/...

Well, it's finally happened; I turned on Skyrim on my old 60" Sony SXRD the other day, and the world had a very noticeable greenish-yellow tint to it. It's why Sony stopped making those TVs; about half of them were complete crap that had the internals die quickly and shift all the colors towards greenish-yellow, and about half were really solid TVs. Mine was a really solid TV for about a decade, but I guess it's time to move on to a new, exciting world of television.

Looking at the Vizio P65-C1; it's got pretty solid ratings, is within my price range, and it gives an extra five inches, so your mom THIS JOKE REDACTED and all; it does say there could be some HDR gaming concerns due to input lag, which would be a concern if I actually could do that these days. My plan was to actually upgrade the TV at the end of the year for the new Scorpio Xbox (which should do some level of HDR); is this a real concern? I mean, I'm not exactly fussy about these things, so just wondering what the potential hit is while playing FPS and such in the future. Am I just being pointlessly paranoid here?

Input lag is a huge issue for lots of people.. I mean people are saying this. It's not an issue with me I have 2015 and 2016 LG OLED's TV's and the 15's have higher input Lag than the 16's in HDR mode and I can't tell the difference.. even though its supposed to be a major difference.

So it's very much YMMV when it comes to how much of an impact it will be to you. The Vizio from what I read online is a solid choice for overall usage and comes at a great price... Vizio tends to be on the slower end with their TV updates.. it could be that they don't do a major update for 17.. but it could also be that they roll them out towards the 3Q of 17.

I've seen some really good sales on the Samsung KS series, which is probably the best bet for a gamer right now. If I had to buy today, it's what I would get. But I'm sure spring will bring in a new set of TVs to choose from.

I recently picked up a Saumsung KS8000 and I'm VERY happy with it. It's a great set and seems like it's selling at a pretty reasonable price.

MilkmanDanimal wrote:

Well, it's finally happened; I turned on Skyrim on my old 60" Sony SXRD the other day, and the world had a very noticeable greenish-yellow tint to it. It's why Sony stopped making those TVs; about half of them were complete crap that had the internals die quickly and shift all the colors towards greenish-yellow, and about half were really solid TVs. Mine was a really solid TV for about a decade, but I guess it's time to move on to a new, exciting world of television.

Looking at the Vizio P65-C1; it's got pretty solid ratings, is within my price range, and it gives an extra five inches, so your mom THIS JOKE REDACTED and all; it does say there could be some HDR gaming concerns due to input lag, which would be a concern if I actually could do that these days. My plan was to actually upgrade the TV at the end of the year for the new Scorpio Xbox (which should do some level of HDR); is this a real concern? I mean, I'm not exactly fussy about these things, so just wondering what the potential hit is while playing FPS and such in the future. Am I just being pointlessly paranoid here?

You should buy a TV with high input lag and then play more online games against me.

MilkmanDanimal wrote:

My plan was to actually upgrade the TV at the end of the year for the new Scorpio Xbox (which should do some level of HDR); is this a real concern? I mean, I'm not exactly fussy about these things, so just wondering what the potential hit is while playing FPS and such in the future. Am I just being pointlessly paranoid here?

You should play those FPSs on that PC you just built instead.

FWIW Vizio just in the last couple weeks released updated firmware for the P series that dropped Input lag down into the 40ms range in HDR modes. It's a huge reduction.

That's the borderline range for me and I'm overly picky. If you aren't and you've let the TV update itself you'll very likely be just fine.

Given that update and the full array local dimming for the backlight I might be tempted to recommend the Vizio over the Samsung KS sets as the better LCD set for most people.

I *really* hated some of the backlight behavior on the KS8000 I got to spend some time with, but most people seem to just not care. The Samsung does nearly halve the input lag of the Vizio even with the new update taken into account though. And barring the backlight behavior being a big issue for you, the picture is otherwise excellent.

Just depends on your priorities.

@Thin_J

If I was looking for a 60 (or slightly more) Vizio what model should I be looking at? Amazon only shows a 2014 "P" model and I'm guessing that isn't the right one. I have been pushing off the purchase for a while but would really like to get something by this summer.

EvilDead wrote:

@Thin_J

If I was looking for a 60 (or slightly more) Vizio what model should I be looking at? Amazon only shows a 2014 "P" model and I'm guessing that isn't the right one. I have been pushing off the purchase for a while but would really like to get something by this summer.

Yeah, you won't find it on Amazon

The P series is still a Best Buy exclusive as far as I know. I thought that deal was supposed to expire back in August but I've still never seen them listed elsewhere. It may have been extended or something.

The only caveat with the P series that I'm aware of now is that the 55 inch is an inferior LCD panel of an entirely different type and a lower native refresh rate. If you're looking at the P65 it's just fine.

Oh yeah, I forgot about that best buy deal. I can't believe it is still going on.

Edit: It looks like they have it at Costco too. Weird.

I went with the Vizio; there was a bit of a kerfuffle recently where Samsung was going to push ads on-screen, and the simple idea of that annoys me enough I avoided the TV. As for the P series, they're on sale at Costco as well, but Best Buy gave me an earlier delivery date, and the rewards program made the TV effectively cheaper.

EvilDead wrote:

Oh yeah, I forgot about that best buy deal. I can't believe it is still going on.

Edit: It looks like they have it at Costco too. Weird.

Yes the exclusivity ended awhile ago, but I think Costco is the only other dealer to carry it, and only in limited quantities. Get the 65 if you can, but I disagree that the 55 is inherently inferior technology. It's just an IPS screen, which is a trade off for wider viewing angle at the cost of higher black levels. However several owners on avsforum have found the local dimming so good that black levels beat out most of the last generation plasmas. Since best buy and Costco both let you buy/return at no cost (even if shipped to you), I see no reason not to try whichever model you think will work best for your viewing conditions first.

Chairman_Mao wrote:

Get the 65 if you can, but I disagree that the 55 is inherently inferior technology. It's just an IPS screen

It's also a slower panel. 60hz native vs the 120hz in the larger sizes. Slower, more complicated 24p playback, motion judder, etc.

Thin_J wrote:

FWIW Vizio just in the last couple weeks released updated firmware for the P series that dropped Input lag down into the 40ms range in HDR modes. It's a huge reduction.

That's the borderline range for me and I'm overly picky. If you aren't and you've let the TV update itself you'll very likely be just fine.

Wow, that's great. That makes it actually viable for gaming.

Thin_J wrote:
Chairman_Mao wrote:

Get the 65 if you can, but I disagree that the 55 is inherently inferior technology. It's just an IPS screen

It's also a slower panel. 60hz native vs the 120hz in the larger sizes. Slower, more complicated 24p playback, motion judder, etc.

you're thinking of 50. The 55 is 120hz. In the m series, only the 60 and above are 120hz. Incidentally the p50 switches into a special more to show 24p content judder free when detected. (Yes I spent too much time on avsforum when the p series launched)

Chairman_Mao wrote:

you're thinking of 50. The 55 is 120hz.

Looked at the rtings review again and yep, you're absolutely correct. I was thinking of the 50 inch.

What are the odds that we will see OLED TVs with better input lag with HDR enabled this spring? I know that the price will be significantly more, but it may be worth it for everything else.

Jayhawker wrote:

What are the odds that we will see OLED TVs with better input lag with HDR enabled this spring? I know that the price will be significantly more, but it may be worth it for everything else.

No way of knowing until the various new models end up in the hands of good reviewers for testing.

Thin_J wrote:
Jayhawker wrote:

What are the odds that we will see OLED TVs with better input lag with HDR enabled this spring? I know that the price will be significantly more, but it may be worth it for everything else.

No way of knowing until the various new models end up in the hands of good reviewers for testing.

It looks like LG's B6 actually got the input lag way down from the latest update at rtings. Is that what you have? As much as I do like to game, we watch a lot of TV shows and movies, and it seems like if we are going drop this much money, we should get the better picture. And I don't think input lag will be a signifiant problem for me, as long sit is in reasonable parameters. They have it listed at around 27 to 29ms in HDR modes now.

Jayhawker wrote:

It looks like LG's B6 actually got the input lag way down from the latest update at rtings. Is that what you have? As much as I do like to game, we watch a lot of TV shows and movies, and it seems like if we are going drop this much money, we should get the better picture. And I don't think input lag will be a signifiant problem for me, as long sit is in reasonable parameters. They have it listed at around 27 to 29ms in HDR modes now.

Yep, the B6 is what I have and they did indeed fix it. Input lag results are ~27ms for both HDR game mode and regular game mode.

Just don't enable 4:4:4 chroma if any game console supports it. Doing that shoves it back up into the 60ms range

Unf.

Costco's price on the 75"

I wish I had the budget for a new TV. My aging 52" Sharp (refurb replacement in 2010 for a unit bought in 2007) is still kicking, but I want a larger screen.

The OLEDs coming out this year look snazzy. Would love to stumble into one of those, but I suspect that pricepoints will preclude those as an option.

As much as I love reading RTings reviews and spec sheets, this review of a curved Samsung TV from The Verge is probably the most honest review on the internet.

If I was going to impulse buy a TV before looking at reviews, I sure wouldn't be going to freaking Walmart.

But that was a hell of a review.

T-Prime wrote:

As much as I love reading RTings reviews and spec sheets, this review of a curved Samsung TV from The Verge is probably the most honest review on the internet.

I've been leery of the curved TV since they started showing up, and this review pretty much nails it. This lady is spot on. I've yet to watch a curve TV without thinking "huh, I wish this wasn't curved".

Yeah, the curved trend was very transparently an attempt to come up with something to sell a new round of TV models without having any worthwhile technical upgrades in the pipeline.

Notice how quickly the concave phone screen gimmick disappeared? Now when people say "curved" phone screen, they're talking about screens that wrap around the edges. The concave curve disappeared so fast that the label has already been reclaimed to mean something completely different.

I thought my old TV had a really good picture until this Vizio P-65 showed up. HOLY SH*T. I just wandered around in Fallout 4 for a while starting at the scenery.

So this probably won't bother some, bit if you're one that is bothered by it here's something worth considering: Vizio smart TV's tracked viewers around the clock without consent.

They're apparently paying 2.2 million and deleting all data to settle the charges.

That is bullsh*t and people who are bothered have a right to be.

A bit of detail:

The collection occurred under a setting that was described as a "Smart Interactivity" feature that "enables program offers and suggestions." The menu never informed users that the feature also transmitted viewing habits or other personal information.

Any time you see words like "offers" and "suggestions", it means "tracking". Always turn that off.

On my TV, the option is called "Viewing Data", although there was a recent firmware update, so that setting may have been named differently before.