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

TheGameguru wrote:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnarc...

Well thats a step backwards..

So the 2019 models support 48GB, but the 2020 does not? That is damn weird.

I am still holding my breath on the hdmi 2.1 support on the 2019 LGs. Since we still dont have a whole lot of hdmi 2.1 systems to test it on. Wouldn't be very surprising, just extremely disappointed, if the support was not as complete as promised after all. Guess we will know for sure when the new consoles arrive.

Finally there's some press on the Samsung TV purple spots issue I was complaining about in this thread a couple years ago. I haven't replaced the TV and at this point it is literally more purple than white.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/barryco...

PoderOmega wrote:

Finally there's some press on the Samsung TV purple spots issue I was complaining about in this thread a couple years ago. I haven't replaced the TV and at this point it is literally more purple than white.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/barryco...

Oh. I have that on my 2016 Samsung Smart TV, too. I had assumed it was some form of screen burn-in, but couldn't think of anything that had ever displayed on the screen in that pattern, to burn in. Plus, you know, LCD panels really shouldn't have burn-in problems at all.

I have never played games or watched movies with HDR but my soon to arrive Xbox Series X has an auto HDR feature (and lots of HDR content) and I’m debating finally getting an HDR display.

One: am I really missing out not gaming in HDR and will I be massively impressed if I have it? If I get a display with a wide color gamut but without a high peak brightness is HDR even worth it? Getting high peak brightness seems to bump up the cost a lot.

Two: I currently game at a desk using 27” 1440p monitors (PC and consoles) so I was originally looking for a 4k HDR monitor that fit on a desk. Lately I’ve been thinking I could easily fit a 40-50” TV in this room and use that instead just for console gaming.

So I’ve been checking out reviews on RTINGS and shopping around and I think the 2020 TCL 50” 5-Series 535 model is a good value for something with wide color gamut and low input latency for console gaming but it does not have very good HDR peak brightness.
https://www.rtings.com/tv/reviews/tc...

Jumping up to the mini-QLED 6-Series gets me high peak brightness and 120hz refresh but is nearly twice the price and I’m not paying that much right now. At that price I'd probably rather buy a 32" Samsung Odyssey G7.

Any great options I’m missing in and around the price of the TCL 5-Series? The Samsung 43" Q60T looks a little better but is priced a lot higher too.

Would I be wasting my money getting an HDR display without high peak brightness or, as someone without HDR experience, am I gonna be really impressed even without that? My gaming room is always dark so I’m not fighting against high ambient brightness.

My family room has a Samsung NU6900 in it my kids use so technically I do own a 4k HDR display already however it doesn’t have a wide color gamut or high peak brightness so I don’t consider it to be “experience with HDR”. If that was “good enough” HDR tho I could probably buy a really cheap 43” TCL 4-Series 425 for my desk and be happy.

One: am I really missing out not gaming in HDR and will I be massively impressed if I have it?

I'd be interested to hear more about that, too. I have no experience with HDR gaming.

HDR can be impressive and can also be subtle just depends on the game. In the end it’s about making the game appear more colorful but there are drawbacks to how each tech goes about it. LCD’s can typically (high end ones anyway) boost HDR brightness to acceptable levels for HDR specs so imagine coming out of a cave to bright sunlight that will make things positively glow. But LCD suffer from poor black levels and difficulty handling scenes with multiple levels of light sources. OLED’s suffer from low levels of peak brightness. They just can’t crank up the brightness to match a quality LCD so those sun light or bright scenes will be more subdued and might not look as impressive as you hope. But OLED excel in just about every other aspect.

I don't have any HDR gaming experience, but media-wise I have to agree with what TheGameguru said - it can be impressive and also subtle.

I have an Apple TV 4K connected to my Vizio M558, a nice mid-range, medium-plus recommended display. One of the first things I noticed and identified as "HDR" was watching Moana via Disney+. At the beginning of the movie there are a few flashes that are really quite bright when compared to the rest of the movie. Granted it's animation, but to my untrained eye the color in Moana is incredibly rich.

The more "subtle" HDR for me was watching Ted Lasso on Apple TV+ (highly recommended show if you have the service- seriously, this show is great). A few episodes into the series I noticed the rich and detailed colors in the team's locker room and on their jerseys. It's not in your face, and as a live-action comedy/drama that sort of visual detail isn't needed but much appreciated.

We have a 4K HDR TV in the living room. Not sure if it has ever displayed any 4K or HDR content unless maybe something from Netflix or Prime Video was in it.

What I've seen of HDR has been disappointing. My attempts at watching HDR content (on LCD screens) has largely resulted in content too dark to watch comfortably. I'm sure it would work fine on a TV set up for dark room viewing, but in bright room viewing, it was not a good experience.

HDR feels to me like a feature that's just waiting for OLEDs with higher max brightness to come along.

HDR is pretty damn nice. I absolutely love it for the blacks, and we have that cheap budget TLC. I noticed that the Roku Netflix app that's built in never popped the "HDR" symbol when doing Netflix since my partner likes to just use that and not mess with the PS4. We were watching a show that had a particularly dark intro where I couldn't see anything, and I was like "You know, I really don't think this app does HDR." Swapped to the Netflix app on PS4 and rewatched the intro, and it's night and day. It will depend on the content, but in content that utilizes it correctly, it's great stuff.

tuffalobuffalo wrote:

HDR is pretty damn nice. I absolutely love it for the blacks, and we have that cheap budget TLC.

Do you have the TCL 4-Series S425 model? It’s so cheap that even if I decide I want a better HDR display and I decide to wait for a sale I’ll just buy the S425 now to tide me over. Really hoping to find a good deal on a better one now tho.

I’ve been planning out display placement in my gaming room and I’m thinking it would work out best if I get a 43” or smaller display and still fit it on my desk beside my main 27” monitor (which I’ll still use for competitive PC gaming and other PC stuff). I could make a bigger display work but it won’t be ideal in this space.

RTINGS is calling the Samsung Q60T the best 43” 4k HDR display on the market. They suggest the Samsung TU8000 as a cheaper alternative but that doesn’t have a wide color gamut so not really a great option if I really want to experience HDR.

They suggest the Samsung Q50T as the best 32” 4k HDR display and that fits my desk better but it’s not as nice as the Q60T and almost the same price.

The TCL 5-Series is a chunk cheaper than the Samsung models and is nearly as nice as the Q60T however the smallest model is 50” which might require me to re-arrange my room a lot.

If I can find that Samsung Q60T for a lower price that might be the right option today but I’m not seeing any deals. The Xbox arrives in less than 2 weeks and I don’t need a 4k HDR screen before that but I really want one.

pandasuit wrote:
tuffalobuffalo wrote:

HDR is pretty damn nice. I absolutely love it for the blacks, and we have that cheap budget TLC.

Do you have the TCL 4-Series S425 model? It’s so cheap that even if I decide I want a better HDR display and I decide to wait for a sale I’ll just buy the S425 now to tide me over. Really hoping to find a good deal on a better one now tho.

I’ve been planning out display placement in my gaming room and I’m thinking it would work out best if I get a 43” or smaller display and still fit it on my desk beside my main 27” monitor (which I’ll still use for competitive PC gaming and other PC stuff). I could make a bigger display work but it won’t be ideal in this space.

RTINGS is calling the Samsung Q60T the best 43” 4k HDR display on the market. They suggest the Samsung TU8000 as a cheaper alternative but that doesn’t have a wide color gamut so not really a great option if I really want to experience HDR.

They suggest the Samsung Q50T as the best 32” 4k HDR display and that fits my desk better but it’s not as nice as the Q60T and almost the same price.

The TCL 5-Series is a chunk cheaper than the Samsung models and is nearly as nice as the Q60T however the smallest model is 50” which might require me to re-arrange my room a lot.

If I can find that Samsung Q60T for a lower price that might be the right option today but I’m not seeing any deals. The Xbox arrives in less than 2 weeks and I don’t need a 4k HDR screen before that but I really want one.

We got the TCL 55R617. It was the best budget model on rtings at the time. I forget just how much it was. Sadly, it doesn't have any HDMI 2.1 ports for the new consoles, so we may have to upgrade at some point soon. It says it does 120 Hz CMI, but I don't think it'll do more than 60 Hz for games because of the HDMI 2.0 ports. I haven't bothered to look into that stuff recently.

Looks like the TCL 55R617 has a wide color gamut and high peak brightness so it’s roughly comparable to a new 6-Series. Not really budget as far as TCL models go. Seems pretty nice actually.

120hz CMI is just 60hz with interpolation inserting frames for high motion compensation. 120hz input isn’t supported by the panel even if it had HDMI 2.1 ports.

pandasuit wrote:

120hz CMI is just 60hz with interpolation inserting frames for high motion compensation. 120hz input isn’t supported by the panel even if it had HDMI 2.1 ports.

Gotcha! That was my guess on that.

Malor wrote:
One: am I really missing out not gaming in HDR and will I be massively impressed if I have it?

I'd be interested to hear more about that, too. I have no experience with HDR gaming.

I guess I'm gonna find out soon because I went and ordered that Samsung Q60T.

RTINGS is calling it the best 43" 4k HDR display right now and after messing around with my desk layout a bunch yesterday (and building a mock TV so I could test out positioning) I decided that I didn't want to try to fit something bigger on here. It's gonna take up half my desk as is. I used to have 3 27" displays on here and now it's gonna be tight with just one 27" display and a 43" display.

I'll let you know what my impression of first time HDR gaming is once it arrives. If I'm not impressed I'll return it and buy something cheaper that is still 4k but not pay as much for good HDR support.

Now I just have to figure out what the best Xbox games are to test out HDR. I've got Gears 5 and Doom Eternal ready to go as my main Series X tests when that arrives. Gears 5 already has a Series X patch and Doom Eternal runs at higher resolution on Series X day one without a patch. Both support HDR10. I don't think CoD Warzone or Destiny 2 are getting Series X upgrades until after launch but both have HDR support I could test.

My PC can also do HDR so I'll have to see what I have on there for testing.

I guess there is also YouTube and other streaming providers with HDR content I can test out. What's the best content on there for testing?

Edit: I tend to forget that I own a PS4 Slim since it mostly collects dust these days but I believe that can do HDR as well (at 1080p tho). I should look and see which good HDR games I have on there too. Shadow of the Colossus and The Last Guardian both support HDR and have really cool lightning. Digital Foundry has mentioned in the past that Horizon Zero Dawn has great HDR and I've never really played that so many I should now give it some time. Any other PS4 games with good HDR?

The colors in The Witness looks incredible with HDR turned on.

Anyone have experience with really large TVs? Our 65” Samsung needs replacing and while I was originally going to go with a 75”, the prices on 85” TVs is shockingly low. $1500-$1700 for an LG or Sony set.

This is for the main family room so it doesn’t need to be fancy. My OLED for gaming remains in my office. This would be pretty much for cable, Netflix, and eventually some movies when my kid is older.

I guess what I’m asking is, are there any logistical or experiential issues that arise from such a huge TV that I may not be aware of?

Cheap 85" LCD's are likely to be edge lit only.. may or may not be a huge issue but you won't find FALD in a sub $2000 85" TV. Otherwise its basically a bigger LCD that weighs slightly more and can be a bit trickier to mount because it will be harder to see the hooks line up with the mount... as well make sure to account for the greater length to reach the side mount HDMI ports if you are running cables behind the wall.

FALD falls under the “fancy” category that I said I don’t need

These say they’re direct lit on Best Buy’s website. I don’t think they make edge lit 85” TVs because it would get dicey in the middle.

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/lg-86-c...

6.7 rating on rtings.com

Blind_Evil wrote:

FALD falls under the “fancy” category that I said I don’t need

These say they’re direct lit on Best Buy’s website. I don’t think they make edge lit 85” TVs because it would get dicey in the middle.

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/lg-86-c...

Yes you are correct.. back lit will probably be more common on that size TV.

r013nt0 wrote:

6.7 rating on rtings.com

Yeah, I saw. I look at that site before buying any TV.

Cool. Never sure who knows about it or remembers it, and their reviews generally answer any of the "is this good enough for my use case" questions that they might have.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...

I'd go for this set.. seems like the best combination of features vs price.. I would bet it gets even lower on Black Friday.

TheGameguru wrote:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...

I'd go for this set.. seems like the best combination of features vs price.. I would bet it gets even lower on Black Friday.

That TV looks like a great one, and actually has important features like HDMI 2.1 and VRR - but I'll just note that a firmware update to actually make the 2.1 features useable is forthcoming. This reinforces my view that next year will be a much better time to buy a new TV, once the consoles have been out a while, and someone else has had a chance to see which TVs really do it all. Also, wait long enough and many manufacturers will have put out new revisions that incorporate all the features.

That’s more than I’d like to spend, even if it dropped to $2000. And waiting isn’t really an option - wife is dogging me about it because it’s annoying that the TV she mainly uses is turning itself off and on every few minutes. I told her I’m going to hold out til next week, see what happens on BF.

Consoles won’t be played on it, so that’s not a consideration either.

Best Buy has been doing early BF deals this week. I think they start more on Sunday. I know Walmart had some over the weekend too. Everyone is going early and online this year to try and get sales. Look around you might get lucky now.

Definitely look for deals on the Sony that Guru linked in the next week.

It really is likely the best possible option at that size without spending way more money.

I try to look at a TV as a thing I'm going to live with for years and years, and spend accordingly.

I would avoid LG LCD TV’s. I’ve seen a few in person and they look terrible. For $1500 I’d go for the low end Samsung.

https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-85-in...

I rather like the LG LCD in my bedroom and the broken, 5 year old TV I’m replacing is a Samsung.

*shrug* my anecdotal evidence is more persuasive to me