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

After many years on the sideline of 4K, I waited patiently for the model I really wanted to become available at a price I was ok with paying, namely Sony's top of the line OLED model

so I just ordered a Sony A9G OLED, which was released at a full 800$ less than last year's model

I really can't wait to get it

Same. Bought a LG C9 today. In the middle of setting it up.
My eyes are burning

interstate78 wrote:

After many years on the sideline of 4K, I waited patiently for the model I really wanted to become available at a price I was ok with paying, namely Sony's top of the line OLED model

so I just ordered a Sony A9G OLED, which was released at a full 800$ less than last year's model

I really can't wait to get it

Very nice, please post impressions. What size did you end up getting?

I am debating upgrading my 6 year old Sony W900A, it is 'only' 55" and lately I keep thinking it would be nice to have something bigger with the way our furniture is arranged. Fonts in games are too small these days!

I went from 42" to 55". I have never understood those crazy huge TVs. But now I have to admit I'd gladly fit a slightly larger TV in. I guess that feeling just never stops.

Shadout wrote:

I went from 42" to 55". I have never understood those crazy huge TVs. But now I have to admit I'd gladly fit a slightly larger TV in. I guess that feeling just never stops.

My first flat screen was 52", and for a day I thought I'd gone too big. After two days I thought "Naw, this is good."

After I week it was "I could go bigger."

We moved to a new house last month and now our furniture is further from the TV which is prompting some of the consideration for me.

LeapingGnome wrote:

We moved to a new house last month and now our furniture is further from the TV which is prompting some of the consideration for me.

I've been at 65" for several years and want to go bigger next time.

LeapingGnome wrote:

Very nice, please post impressions. What size did you end up getting?

I am debating upgrading my 6 year old Sony W900A, it is 'only' 55" and lately I keep thinking it would be nice to have something bigger with the way our furniture is arranged. Fonts in games are too small these days!

It's funny you say you have a 55'' Sony W900A, that's exactly what I have as well. It's like we overpaid for ancient tech didn't we? I've been on the sideline waiting to upgrade to 4K for years because I paid so much for that W900A. It really is a good TV though, so I'll keep it for another room.

I feel that 55'' was perfect for my room so this one will be 55'' as well. I'm about 6 feet from the TV so anything bigger would have been too much.

Fedaykin98 wrote:
LeapingGnome wrote:

We moved to a new house last month and now our furniture is further from the TV which is prompting some of the consideration for me.

I've been at 65" for several years and want to go bigger next time.

Sooo lucky I'm out of sig space.

Bonus_Eruptus wrote:
Fedaykin98 wrote:
LeapingGnome wrote:

We moved to a new house last month and now our furniture is further from the TV which is prompting some of the consideration for me.

I've been at 65" for several years and want to go bigger next time.

Sooo lucky I'm out of sig space.

Lucky? I consider it a shame that my glory will not be communicated as widely as possible!

Well, I've had my new Sony A9G OLED 55'' for a few days now and so far so good. I thought my HDMI cables were high speed but they are not ... so I gotta get a few new cables before I really get the most out of the TV but even without HDR, Dolby Vision, etc. the image is superb. I've spent quite a lot of time in the settings trying to get the most vibrant yet realistic image I can but I'm really no expert. I've turned off or dramatically reduced motion enhancements on most of my inputs and I don't think I'll use them at all in the future either. I tried turning on black frame insertion and it darkens the image a bit too much to my liking. Regular motion enhancement gives a soap opera effect I'm not too fond of when set to max so I've toned it down to the minimum.

I'm scheduled to have a calibrator come and adjust the TV's colours on Saturday. I didn't think it was necessary and it's not something I would have paid for ... but it was a free bonus during father's day week-end... so I'll give you guys my final thoughts on it after I've seen what it looks like once a professional has done his magic on it.

One thing that I didn't expect to like as much as I do is the Android tv set of apps and features. It is super quick and a major upgrade to everything else I was using before. I mostly used my PS4 for a lot of the streaming apps but that time is over now. I don't mind giving the poor thing a break either; that thing was turned on all the time.

farley3k wrote:

Done! Should be to me on Thursday.

Thank you all.

How do you like the TCL?

The 55" 6 series is under 500 now. We won't be buying until the fall but trying to plan the budget. How much will I regret saving money if we go with the 4 series?

The wife values price over quality so there's that.

Primary use will be as our main display in a smallish living room for streaming and Stadia.

So far I love it.

However I am such a lightweight user I am not sure I am a great test case. I have the PS4 on one HDMI port, the Computer, Wii U, and Switch on another one with their one switcher. I am saving the third for the Stadia I ordered.

I do have it tied to my Netflix and Amazon video accounts and they both have their own "apps"

Everything works as expected.

I was able to even use the TV mount I had for the old TV which was nice. I thought maybe it would be to heavy but it is actually lighter than the 43" one I think!

All totaled I am quite happy with it but like I said I am a light weight user. Red Dead Redemption 2 looks good on the PS4 and I am satisfied!

Speaking of a switcher, I just bought one that allows for HDR. Has anyone had any problems with them? I haven't got it all set up yet, just curious what everyone's experiences have been if you have used them.
This is the guy I picked up : https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...

Garth wrote:

This is the guy I picked up : https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...

Definitely let us know how you like it. I have 3 HDR devices and numerous regular ones to connect to my TV. I'd definitely like to use a switcher for them all

interstate78 wrote:
Garth wrote:

This is the guy I picked up : https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...

Definitely let us know how you like it. I have 3 HDR devices and numerous regular ones to connect to my TV. I'd definitely like to use a switcher for them all

I really dig it so far. It comes with a remote, but I haven’t used it yet. The tv manages to (usually) detect the source and will switch on or switch devices without needing to manually change it on my end. I’m a fan.

Oh that seems useful. Just got a new tv during the sell but it has fewer inputs than the old tv.

I have an HDMI switcher that automatically switches inputs, and it works nearly perfectly. Maybe a couple times a year I have to manually switch sources.

Dreaming of a new TV so tagging in this thread.

I splurged last week and got LG's 2018 77" C8 OLED to replace my aging 75" Sony LCD in my basement. It's beyond glorious and worth every penny.. I managed to get it at $3700 and after a $50 GC I got it for $3650 with free shipping and no tax (love ebay for TV's)

Nervous as hell mounting it to the wall.. the 2018 C series is very thin and when you move it from the couch to the wall you have to grab the thin part.. but everything is good.

My soundbar passes Dolby Vision from the Xbox One X but either my HDMI cables aren't up to task or I'm losing bandwidth somewhere in the chain because the signal will go black and when it comes back there is some noise. Going to try and play with ARC and plugging directly to the TV and pass back Atmos down ARC (which apparently only works with streaming apps and not 4K UHD BR's until HDMI 2.1 is everywhere)

It's that or go back to speakers and a receiver (ugh.)

Visually PC Gaming looks amazing (Division 2 does a nice job with HDR).. running on 2080Ti at 4K and Ultra and getting decent frame-rates.

Do we have a "How do I choose a soundbar?" thread? My old receiver's popping like crazy in the right channel, and considering soundbars. Would prefer something super simple for my wife to use, hopefully easy to use with wireless headphones, which we could also use recommendations for (considering Sony Golds).

Bonus_Eruptus wrote:

Do we have a "How do I choose a soundbar?" thread? My old receiver's popping like crazy in the right channel, and considering soundbars. Would prefer something super simple for my wife to use, hopefully easy to use with wireless headphones, which we could also use recommendations for (considering Sony Golds).

If price isn't an issue, and you're looking for noise cancelling to boot, my Sony WH-1000MX2's are an astonishingly good pair of cans.

Jonman wrote:
Bonus_Eruptus wrote:

Do we have a "How do I choose a soundbar?" thread? My old receiver's popping like crazy in the right channel, and considering soundbars. Would prefer something super simple for my wife to use, hopefully easy to use with wireless headphones, which we could also use recommendations for (considering Sony Golds).

If price isn't an issue, and you're looking for noise cancelling to boot, my Sony WH-1000MX2's are an astonishingly good pair of cans.

I apparently have ~$300 in my Amazon GC balance I forgot about, so they're well within my price range, thanks! Really need longer sigs on here to fit your cans.

I got em for best-in-class noise cancelling when my office desk got moved to underneath an AC unit and being at work sounded (appropriately) like being on a long-haul flight.

I wasn't expecting them to be superb at literally everything else. Sound quality for music is rich and deep, they're uber-comfortable for hours at a stretch (my only complaint is that they can be a bit hot), the bluetooth on them is rock solid - stays connected to my phone when I leave it on my desk and go to the bathroom, the battery life is mammoth. The noise-cancelling mode is SO good that I find it eerie - I turn it off when I'm walking through an airport or it makes me feel like I'm a ghost. Conversely, the "ambient noise" mode, which is NC with a boost to conversational frequencies feels like bat-mode - I can hear conversations across the room like I'm standing next to the person.

I love 'em.

Jonman wrote:

I got em for best-in-class noise cancelling when my office desk got moved to underneath an AC unit and being at work sounded (appropriately) like being on a long-haul flight.

I wasn't expecting them to be superb at literally everything else. Sound quality for music is rich and deep, they're uber-comfortable for hours at a stretch (my only complaint is that they can be a bit hot), the bluetooth on them is rock solid - stays connected to my phone when I leave it on my desk and go to the bathroom, the battery life is mammoth. The noise-cancelling mode is SO good that I find it eerie - I turn it off when I'm walking through an airport or it makes me feel like I'm a ghost. Conversely, the "ambient noise" mode, which is NC with a boost to conversational frequencies feels like bat-mode - I can hear conversations across the room like I'm standing next to the person.

I love 'em.

Yeah, I really want a pair of those. Been going with BackBeat Pro 2's, which compete with both Sony and Bose for quality bluetooth headphones with noise canceling. The sound on the BBPro 2's is phenomenal. It rates better than the latest Bose, and the previous version of those Sony's. Not sure how they compare to the new ones.

But the noise canceling on the BBPro 2's is only okay. Great for shutting down the AC outside my bedroom window. Terrible for car and plane rides. They are also ridiculously less expensive, which is why I ended up going with them. Sound is more important than noise canceling because I just don't use them outside my house enough to make it a bigger deal.

But, yeah, I've tried those Sony's, and the noise canceling is eerily impressive, and they sound great. But the BBPro 2's run about $130 right now, which is a lot better than $350.

I've got a pair of Lightspeed Sierra aviation-grade NC headphones with boom mic I was issued by work for flight testing. They're double the price of the Sony's and completely sh*t in comparison.

My nice 1080p plasma crapped out ages ago, but the cheap 1080p LCD at the house where I'm living is crapping out with lines of dead pixels. Neither of us wanted to spend much on a TV, so I just ordered that TCL 55R617. Damn, that thing is cheap. Less than half the price of the Sony one I eventually intended to get. I don't want to update the receiver at the house, so we're just gonna run optical out to the receiver and run HDMI into the TV directly from the PS4 and Switch dock. Good enough for now.

I've never even seen 4K and HDR, so I'm guessing this TV will look incredible to me given the last thing I had was a 51" 1080p plasma.

There's a lot to be said for getting a big, cheap TV and just waiting for prices on OLED or whatever is next to come down.

Fedaykin98 wrote:

There's a lot to be said for getting a big, cheap TV and just waiting for prices on OLED or whatever is next to come down.

I bought my Sony W90 back in 2013 telling myself that-- OLED and 4K will come down.

Turns out 4K did but OLED, not so much. They did not become ubiquitous like I thought they would, they are not anywhere as cheap as 4K tvs are. I think the cheapest 55'' OLEDs are LGs at around 1500$ while you can get cheap 4K tvs of the same size for 300$

So when it was time to change my TV recently, I had a dilemma and ultimately I went with a Sony A9G OLED because TVs do last many years and I came to terms with the fact that I was not getting a good deal and my decision was not the wisest financially. To me, enjoying the moment now was more important and I didn't see myself longing for an OLED tv another 6 years. I love my new TV very much and don't regret my decision. Sony OLEDs are said to be the best overall but the law of diminishing returns applies full blast here. You can get a very satisfying OLED TV by another manufacturer for nothing short of a grand less than what Sony sells their TVs for.

I guess that's what it feels like buying an exotic car eh?

I never understood paying the Sony premium for an LG produced OLED panel. Glad you are enjoying the TV though.. I always say the biggest downside of OLED is once you have one if you are a multiple TV household you will hate the other TV's in your house.