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

EvilDead wrote:

Question regarding the Vizio P series for those who have them.

How did you set up the remote tablet (tablote)? It required me to log in with my google/gmail ID to download required updates for it to function. I immediately realized that was a bad Idea when I started to get notifications for emails and hangouts through the tablote. Obviously that is a lot of personal info that is completely unnecessary to have exposed. Do I have to make a dummy google account or is there some workaround that Vizio is hiding.

For the notifications, at least, you should be able to go into the app settings in the Apps Manager and disable them, and possibly disable entire apps from there as well.

If all the "smarts" are based around the Chromecast functionality, you can just use that from the apps you already have on your phone or other devices.

The more I think about it, it makes more sense to make a dummy account. That way an unlocked device with all my personal info (that could easily be re-enabled) is not sitting around. Also Vizio won't be able to gather location data on an account I actually use. It's strange that they just don't have a generic Vizio account that can get updates without all their customers creating, or using their personal, google profiles.

I'm not sure if it is Chromecast or a modified version (because it supports 4k)

EvilDead wrote:

The more I think about it, it makes more sense to make a dummy account. That way an unlocked device with all my personal info (that could easily be re-enabled) is not sitting around. Also Vizio won't be able to gather location data on an account I actually use. It's strange that they just don't have a generic Vizio account that can get updates without all their customers creating, or using their personal, google profiles.

I'm not sure if it is Chromecast or a modified version (because it supports 4k)

the new now called chrome cast ultra supports 4k. It's basically the same thing built into the display.

A couple more questions regarding the TV that hopefully are easily answered.

1. When I hook up the PC or Raspberry PI the screen will go black with a flicker here and there. It appears to be a resolution issue because the PC BIOS appears on the screen and the windows logo comes up but then it goes black before the login screen.

2. How the hell do I stop that Vizio smarcast notification from popping up every 2 minutes on my phone. The TV is off and I'm at work and it is still popping up telling me my TV is off. The smartcast app is not running.
Edit: Quitting every app didn't fix this issue but, strangely enough, restarting the phone did.

Probably disable notifications will do the trick for the Vizio app

The video out issue may be an HDMI cable issue. Is the TV 4K?

TheGameguru wrote:

Probably disable notifications will do the trick for the Vizio app

The video out issue may be an HDMI cable issue. Is the TV 4K?

Yeah, its the P series Vizio. You might be right as I haven't bought new cables in a few years. I took a few from our new cable boxes and tried those too but I have no idea what spec they are. I guess I should pick up a few new ones and test.

Edit: Would these work? The wording is strange because instead of saying it is HDMI 2.0 compliant it states "Fully compliant with the latest HDMI standard, this HDMI to HDMI cable is capable of carrying the increased bandwidth of HDMI 2.0 at 18 Gbps ". I'm guessing for the PC I need a cable capable of 4K and 60fps.

Edit 2: Reading up on HDMI there is no such thing has HDMI 2.0 cables. There is just category 1 & 2(high speed). So I'm guess my cable box cables are category 2 because they are relatively new. That leaves my receiver in question which is probably 4-5 years old. I'm going to first try running an existing cable directly to my TV before buying anything. I probably should have just done that first. My tech card should be temporarily revoked for that oversight.

I got some display port to HDMI adapters for my PC's to connect to my LG OLED and they maxed out at 1080P. Had to get specifically adapters that said 4K to get full resolution so cables matter.

Also on my other TV had to get new HDMI cables to get 4K with HDR working.

OK, thanks Guru. To be sure I'm going to buy some new cables for all my devices. I did try bypassing the stereo strait to the TV and that solved the PC problem. I might start a new thread with additional questions because now I have to rethink my audio setup.

Can someone link me to that website (I am sure it is listed in this thread somewhere) with overall TV reviews? Does that sound familiar? Or was it a TV buying fever dream?

rtings.com

Spelled just like that.

Jayhawker wrote:

rtings.com

Spelled just like that.

Right on! I am so excited you knew what I was talking about considering how broad that question was. Thanks pal!

C SEED 262 is World’s Largest Widescreen 4K TV

My widest living room wall isn't wide enough. Some day I think this song will no longer be funny:

So I picked up the Sony x900e Sunday. The plan was to get and have it ready to go to watch Microsoft's Scorpio reveal. But nothing really went as planned, and I didn't get it set up until later that evening.

With almost a week with it, I'm pretty darn happy. It upscales everything really damn well. It looks better than my old Toshiba 40". The 4K content looks really nice. And the little HDR stuff I've gotten a chance to see is stunning.

Oddly, Sony has the #2 and #3 HDMI ports for HDR, out of the 4 it has. I wasn't getting HDR, so it took some time troubleshooting before I realized that you need to go into t he settings and enable the "Enhanced HDMI Ports." Easy fix, but that is weird.

Getting it set up with sound bar was also a little odd. But that may have been due to some misunderstanding of what ARC is and how it works. I set it up just like my old TV, with the XB1 and PS4 and the #2 and #3 ports, and the Switch on #1. But I ran the HDMI from the Xbox through the sound bar and to the TV. I ran optical out from the TV to the sound bar to take care of the PS4 and Switch. But something sep jacking wit the sound bar inputs, so that it was always on digital, and the Xbox wouldn't work. And when it did work, I was getting surround. It was all screwy.

Ended up running the HDMI directly into the TV, and using optical for all three , which meant not having to switch up the sound bar inputs anymore, and worked great.

But I'm wondering if I really need optical out. HDMI #2 is ARC. Should I run the PS4 into the sound bar and out to the TV into that #2 port? And that should deliver sound for anything the TV is playing? It would essentially do the same thing that I have now, but via HDMI, which I think is supposed to be better. And that depends on the PS4 playing nicer with the sound bar pass through than the XB1, which is finicky.

But everything else is great. HDR in MLB the Show looks amazing, as well as in FH3 and the other XB1 games I've tested. Seriously, in FH3, the cars look like photorealistic Hot Wheels cars. Not real, but so very physical. It's nuts.

Can't recommend the TV enough. It's a definite step down from the OLED sets, but I couldn't be happier with it. My wife, who really doesn't want a big TV, was pretty pleased with just how nice it is. I might have gone with a 55", but then it would have just barely hung the fabulous over the edges of our TV stand, but about an inch and half on each side. That's not a big deal, but it would have been enough to annoy her on a daily basis. Sticking with 49" means it is almost even, and just inside the edge of our stand.

Mostly, I'm just pleased with how it handles non-4K so perfectly. Even if it is just the same 720p content upscaled that we were watching before, there is enough new tech and such that it's doing a lot more justice to the same content we were watching before. So it feels like a nice new TV regardless.

So a few weeks back my OLED got a stuck pixel and it stuck on bright glowing neon green. It was impossible to miss and you couldn't help but stare at it any time the screen wasn't bright white or the shot drew the eye to the right third of the screen. I've had a stuck red pixel on an LCD TV before and Sony basically told me to bend over and blow myself so I was kind of expecting that basic response.

Not only did they do the repair but it was free. The process of getting them out to actually do the repair was not short, but it was also never difficult? It was probably 45 minutes on the phone the first time, finishing with taking video of the problem with an LG telepresence app so the guy on the other end could take pictures. Their policy on stuck colored pixels on the OLED sets is apparently *very* favorable as the tiny number of other instances I could find where people's sets developed one they also got brand new panels.

It's sort of amusing that they call it a repair. Repair should be in quotation marks because repair on an OLED apparently means they just walk in, unbolt the stand and all the actual electronics from the back of the bad panel and then attach them to a brand new panel. It's not surprising at all, those things aren't serviceable at all that I know of, it's just still a little startling to actually watch.

They were in and out in about 45 minutes.

I did notice the bezel is a different color on the new panel, I'm not sure what that's about, but the picture is pristine again so I'm happy.

Didn't even have to redo my TV settings.

Resurrecting this in advance of Black Friday shopping; are there any reasonably priced 4k compatible soundbars out there? I have a reasonably cheap Vizio soundbar in my TV room that was fine until the Xbox One X came out, and it doesn't have 4k pass-through, so I had to run the video directly to the TV and route only the audio through the soundbar. Other options out there?

Why is routing only the audio a bad thing?

Kurrelgyre wrote:

Why is routing only the audio a bad thing?

if you want lossless audio you need to use HDMI passthrough.

MilkmanDanimal wrote:

Resurrecting this in advance of Black Friday shopping; are there any reasonably priced 4k compatible soundbars out there? I have a reasonably cheap Vizio soundbar in my TV room that was fine until the Xbox One X came out, and it doesn't have 4k pass-through, so I had to run the video directly to the TV and route only the audio through the soundbar. Other options out there?

I came across this one Edit: actually this one not too long ago. The one I eventually settled on ventures out of reasonably priced, but I like how future proof it is and that it has 3 inputs.

LG shows off 8K 88” OLED ahead of CES. I can’t imagine that this will be less than $35K when it eventually comes to retail.

https://www.engadget.com/2018/01/01/...

TheGameguru wrote:

LG shows off 8K 88” OLED ahead of CES. I can’t imagine that this will be less than $35K when it eventually comes to retail.

https://www.engadget.com/2018/01/01/...

not a bad price if it is.

It made sense to be an early adopter in 4K since regular film could be converted directly, but how many things will be filmed in 8K for the future?

Delbin wrote:

It made sense to be an early adopter in 4K since regular film could be converted directly, but how many things will be filmed in 8K for the future?

I think studios will adopt 8k pretty quickly because it gives them more flexibility in editing for 4k screens.

TheGameguru wrote:

LG shows off 8K 88” OLED ahead of CES. I can’t imagine that this will be less than $35K when it eventually comes to retail.

https://www.engadget.com/2018/01/01/...

I just want a 75" 4k HDR OLED at a reasonable price.

Fedaykin98 wrote:
TheGameguru wrote:

LG shows off 8K 88” OLED ahead of CES. I can’t imagine that this will be less than $35K when it eventually comes to retail.

https://www.engadget.com/2018/01/01/...

I just want a 75" 4k HDR OLED at a reasonable price.

I keep watching the 77” price and it’s hit just below $9K which is still crazy. But if it hits $5K I’m jumping on it.

I'm in this boat as well, 75 or 77. If you come across one, let us know, GG. 5k is my trigger point as well.

Chairman_Mao wrote:
Delbin wrote:

It made sense to be an early adopter in 4K since regular film could be converted directly, but how many things will be filmed in 8K for the future?

I think studios will adopt 8k pretty quickly because it gives them more flexibility in editing for 4k screens.

Yea there are a number of things you can do by filming in 8k for 4k presentation. Personally I think the 1080p to 4k improvement is pretty overhyped and I don't think the content producers/providers are anywhere near ready for 4k so I don't think 8k is going to get much traction. Really it is just the TV makers needing a new gimmick to try to get people to buy new screens.

Switching back and forth between using my XB1X (4K content) and my TiVo (1080p content) for streaming has made it pretty clear to me that the average person will never care about the difference between HD and 4K. I mean, it is clearly a better picture in 4K, but my wife never notices, and always chooses the TiVo to stream. And the HDR stuff we have streamed mostly just makes the picture darker.

I think 4K, and particular HDR, stands out when gaming much more than watching video content. Even the 4K BluRay I rented was not really enough to make me want to rent discs again. Playing Madden in 4K and HDR was astonishing, though. It's only on the PS4 Slim, so no 4K, but HZD in HDR is jaw dropping. My wife has raved about both it and AC:O in how the look.

Now, one caveat is that I'm only comparing 1080p and 4K on a 4K screen right now. I'm going to set up my One S on my daughter's 1080p TV downstairs soon, so maybe I will see a bigger difference then.

The thing I think makes hdr difficult is that it is technology designed for use in a dark room. The 4k hdr channel has a good explainer video.

At night, I've found hdr looks pretty incredible on some Netflix content, but not all. Can't wait to try a uhd player.

It's also worth noting Xbox users have had issues getting their tvs to show hdr content properly. Not sure Microsoft has resolved this yet.

Chairman_Mao wrote:

It's also worth noting Xbox users have had issues getting their tvs to show hdr content properly. Not sure Microsoft has resolved this yet.

Also worth noting.

That video pretty much substantiates one of my theories about general displeasure of HDR is that people don't actually understand what HDR is actually supposed to do. I think the HDR in Madden on the One S was not actually broken or wrong. People assumed HDR was going to make the game explode with brilliant colors, with an image that just pops. But what it did was dim the overall picture and used HDR to provide a greater range of brightness. But all anyone saw was that their game got darker. But that's what HDR does, allows the details of a darker image to still be picked up.

Their comment about HDR being designed for darker rooms makes sense. My wife has long since decided she no longer wants to watch TV in the dark. for one, she knits, but she also just prefers more artificial light on. I prefer to leave most lamps and lights off all day, but she wants them on. So when we watched the Marvel Netflix stuff, most of which is in HDR, it really comes off dark. The same goes for Mindhunters. Maybe if we were watching in a dark room, it would feel right.

But those are TV shows, designed for whatever environment people watch TV in, vs. the Star Trek scenes the video showed, designed to be shown in a dark theater. While technology allows for better tools to do more with, we are still in a learning stage with how to deploy those assets in a way that mainstream audiences will actually value.