Buying a new TV

Zeitgeist 6 Minutes

My ancient Sony Bravia had developed a low grade hum that seemed to be showing up with increasing frequency. Googling around revealed that it likely indicated the power supply was nearing the end of its life. I can’t complain. The set was 16 years old. I mentioned to someone the other day that I was shopping for a new TV, and they suggested the research might make for an interesting post.

For looking at new options, I mostly relied on two sources: Consumer Reports and RTings. I’ve had a Consumer Reports subscription my entire adult life, something my parents hooked me on early. The main value in their reviews is the brand reliability and satisfaction scores, which are based on annual surveys of their subscribers. They’re not perfect, and by themselves don’t lead to the best specific models, but they do help in avoiding junk. From those scores, the three best brands right now are LG, Samsung, and Sony.

I’ve used Sony TVs for decades and been well served, so I began my investigation with them as a favorite. But it turns out that Sony’s Bravia line is now owned by a partnership between TCL and Sony, with TCL holding a 51% stake. Which sounds to me like Sony has sold their TV business. While Sony is in Consumer’s top tier for reliability and satisfaction, TCL isn’t. The partnership was finalized this year, so the current inventory is probably fine, but it also turns out that Sony is coming up behind LG and Samsung in recent performance ratings.

(I do have a friend who has no problem with either TCL, or Hisense, another brand that isn’t in the highest reliability tier. He’s constantly upgrading his home entertainment gear, so reliability isn’t a major concern, and he’s able to get much more functionality for a lower price. Obviously as someone who was fine with a 16 year old set, I’m not into it enough for that strategy.)

Consumer Reports does do detailed test of various models, but the models they look at are a selective subset. For most purchases, I find them sufficient. I don’t typically need to do a deep dive when buying something like a humidifier or blender. But TVs are more complex. That’s where RTings came in. They seem to test everything, and pretty thoroughly. Similar to Consumer Reports, you need to subscribe to get the specific scores, but I found the price tolerable. Although I’ll have to assess next year if it’s worth continuing.

Anyway, in terms of TVs themselves, there are two broad types: LCD/LEDs and OLEDs. The Consumer Reports article I link to above explains the main differences. In general, OLEDs are better, but the highest end LCDs are catching up. The main benefit of OLED is the lack of a backlight, allowing the deepest blacks to be truly black. High end LCDs use direct lighting, local dimming, and mini LEDs to get close to OLED performance, but it doesn’t seem clear they close the gap completely yet.

OLEDs do come with a danger of burn in, something that was a concern for me, as I often leave up things like live Pluto channels for background ambience, and a lot of that content is in old school 4:3 format, leaving the edges of the screen black. But all the major OLED brands have mechanisms to compensate, maintenance that runs at night (or whenever the set is off) to counter uneven wear on the pixels.

But at first I wasn’t sure if I wanted to spring for OLED. I was replacing a 16 year old set. Surely anything decent I bought would be an improvement over an old 1080p TV? And certainly you can get a large 4K set for almost nothing these days. But it turns out my old set had a couple of features I didn’t want to lose ground on. One was a 120Hz refresh rate, something that helps in minimizing motion blur. That pushed me out of the lowest end models, most of which have a 60Hz rate.

But the really expensive one turned out to be a matte finish, which minimizes glare. This isn’t an issue if you watch TV only at night or you’re prepared to darken the room anytime you watch. But I often watch during the day, and dislike sitting in the dark for extended periods. That feature turns out to be expensive, pushing me into the $1000 range.

This was emotional, but if I was going to spend that kind of money, I didn’t want to pass up going the extra distance for OLED. Although at first it looked like a matte finish and OLED were incompatible. I wasn’t initially seeing models with that combination. But it turns out that Samsung introduced a matte finish on their top end OLED model last year, and on their mid-range one this year.

One way to save money on a TV purchase is to buy last year’s model. As long as you’re not hung up on the latest and greatest features, you can save hundreds. But the matte finish pushed me into looking at this year’s model. And it turned out that last week was the July 4 sale window. Consumer Reports has a chart showing the price fluctuations of TVs throughout the year. Basically they cost the most when the new models come out in spring, and gradually decline for the rest of the year, with dips at holiday sales. The July 4 window was the cheapest it would be until November. It was time to act.

But I had a problem. My old sound system, something cobbed together decades ago, didn’t have modern connections, relying on old RCA component connections. I knew I could get adapters, but those would come with compromises. I decided it was time to bite the bullet and upgrade to a premium soundbar with a subwoofer and satellite speakers. Consumers and RTing turned out to be very useful for this as well. And in this case I had no problem going with last year’s model, which was available at half retail.

But the soundbar meant new furniture. So this last week was getting in that furniture, assembling it, then getting in the soundbar, temporarily connecting it to my old set with a digital audio line, then finally the new TV coming in yesterday, and wiring everything together. The change in furniture also meant the TV being further back, so I decided it was also time to upsize a bit to a 55″ model. (My old set was 46″.)

In terms of specific models, I ended up with a Samsung S90H for the TV, and a Samsung Q990F for the soundbar. (I didn’t plan for them to be the same brand, it just worked out that way. Although there are some nice conveniences from it.) When the TV was set up yesterday and I started watching it, I reflected that 16 years was way too long between upgrades.

Disconnecting everything and putting it back together is providing an opportunity to assess the various components. I’m pretty sure I won’t bother connecting the antenna again; it’s an eyesore, I use it too infrequently, and discovered during a recent day long internet outage that broadcast content is worthless, at least where I live.

I also discovered that my ancient Blu-ray player was dead. The slightly less ancient one from the bedroom still works and has been moved to the living room, but it isn’t 4K. On the other hand, my disc collection is mostly old 480p DVDs, and I haven’t bought anything on disc in well over a decade. I do see that Sony has a new player out that promises to upscale those old discs to 4K. Of course the TV itself has upscaling, so maybe I won’t need it. For now, I’ll likely keep the player and see if it gets any use, at least while I have a free HDMI slot.

I’ve also been assessing my streaming console. I’ve been using successive models of Roku for years, but lately they’ve been making choices I’m not wild about, and they’re being bought by Fox, which feels ominous. I tried Amazon Fire and found it gross. The Google streamer isn’t bad. I tried Apple TV c. 2012 and wasn’t impressed, but hear good things about the latest models, even if they’re expensive. Of course, with a modern TV I have the option to use the built in functionality, which I’ll likely try at some point, but don’t have high expectations.

I’ll also need to upgrade my bedroom TV at some point since it’s just as ancient. But it’s mostly used to put up Youtube videos or various live channels to fall asleep to, so a lower midrange model will likely be enough.

So that’s what I’ve been doing lately. What have you been up to?

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20 thoughts on “Buying a new TV”

  1. @selfawarepatterns.com That's a fantastic and helpful review – thanks I'm looking to upgrade my 12 year old Bravia as well.

    My biggest 'ouch' for modern TVs is… how much bullshit does the TV come with that stops it being just a TV? I dont want smart anything, I dont need apps, I dont need recommendations. Sure as pox I dont want advertising. Anything 'smart features!' sends me running for the trees.

    How does your experience shopping stack up for that?

    Liked by 2 people

    1. Thanks!

      I didn’t prioritize avoiding the smart TVs. My plan is to largely ignore the smart features and focus on separate streaming consoles. The new TV does let me mess with picture and sound settings without being in its full UI, which is a relief. That said, the first thing it wanted to do when it came up was connect to my wifi. I let it so it could register and download updates.

      I think there are some non-smart models out there, but they tend to be either low-end budget models, or for commercial use. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but you’ll likely have to deal with the smart features at least on initial setup. Might be worth paying Best Buy or someone to do that setup.

      Hope this helps.

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      1. Yes, I should have read further before offering that advice. Sorry.

        I remember finding an early-60s era Altec Lansing PA — preamp-mixer and power amp modules — in the trash outside a church many years ago, and taking it home to see if it could be rescued. At that time I didn’t have much disposable income, and I was always interested in scavenging anything that could be used for a guitar amp. I hooked it up to some speakers, turned it on, and was assaulted by a very loud hum. But it was just the main power supply cap; the purchaser where I worked got me a replacement as a free sample, I soldered it in, and well I tell you, you’ve never heard such a sweet tube sound. It was an awesome amp. I gave it away years ago, but I still remember it fondly.

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          1. True, in part because of electronic miniaturization, and in part because of impenetrable or irreversible mechanical assemblies, or ones that require special tools. But if you can get the thing open, there’s still hope sometimes.

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  3. I’m in a similar position, preparing to upgrade a 12 year old 46 inch Sony with something newer. Not for any reason, other than I want to! I definitely would like a 55 inch screen, and HDR is also something I think makes a difference. I used to own a plasma TV (before the EU effectively legislated away that particular technology) and I would like to get back to that kind of picture quality with OLED. So, for me, LG is the current favourite.

    Ideally I would like to keep my ancient Sony sound system – now over 25 years old and still working well!

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    1. In retrospect, I probably should have upgraded before the 10 year mark, so I think you’re on solid ground for wanting to upgrade at 12.

      Just about anything you buy today will have HDR, at least in the sense that it can decode the signal. Of course, rendering it is a different matter, and you reportedly get a very different experience from a budget TV compared to a higher end one.

      LG is the most reliable brand (garnering a 94 CR score compared to Sony and Samsung’s 86, although the owner satisfaction scores are closer). If they’d had anti-glare features, I would have gone with them.

      Modern TVs have a digital-audio optical line, and there are adapters you can get for RCA connections, but I’ve heard they can be glitchy. I didn’t realize it ahead of time, but Samsung sets still have an old school audio jack, which could have been used for a connection. But one nice benefit of a modern sound system is it connects to the TV over an eARC HDMI line, allowing you to control its volume and turn it on and off through the TV.

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  4. I bought a new tv myself last year. I bought a 50in and got some walmart brand. Mrs B watches maybe 2-3 movies a year and the only time I watch tv is sunday afternoon while I’m blogging. So it’s not a high priority for us. which made buying it so much easier 😀

    I haven’t looked at a consumer reports in years. Are they still in physical form or did they switch over to digital only?

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    1. I often buy Walmart brand grocery, but have long been leery of their electronics. I did buy a small Vizio several years ago for my workout room. It was fine for what I needed, but it died after a couple of years. OTOH, if I had still been using it, it was cheap enough that replacing it every two years would have been tolerable.

      Consumers is both physical and digital. They were pushing the physical magazine hard for a while, but I switched to the online version decades ago and have never been tempted to go back. I remember going through my parent’s stack of issues to find reviews for something I was shopping for. The online version is much more convenient!

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  5. Having bought several TVs recently (a few years) my experience is that they are so cheap I don’t have to research them. I look for the correct size and then not having “Smart” features and hit the buy button. I have been quite happy so far.

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    1. That’s one way to approach it. It’s all in what’s important to you. I’m not really using the smart features on mine, using my Roku for now, and only playing with the picture and audio settings on the TV for the time being, although I’ll likely explore the smart stuff eventually.

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  6. Thanks for doing all that research. It confirms my gut sense that I’ll buy another LG TV. I’ve been pretty happy with the one I bought many years ago. My only complaint is that the OLED screen degraded after about five years and looks blotchy — the red pixels only.

    Are those “quantum dot” TVs still a thing?

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    2. Ah the WordPress commenting system. When they surveyed us last year, I warned that it’s a major weakness. But I’ve been complaining about it since the first year of my blog, so not holding my breath. Anyway, extra comments removed.

      Do you know if that screen degradation was burn in? That’s the one thing that made me nervous about going OLED. Although there’s supposed to be nightly maintenance now to correct for it. But I still wonder about 4:3 and 2.35:1 stuff which leave the edges of the screen dark. Although my current plan is to just watch whatever and take it as a lesson if it happens.

      Quantum dots are still a thing, both in LCD (QLEDs) and OLED (QD-OLEDs). They supposedly result in brighter colors. No idea if they’re worth it. My current set is WOLED because I had to draw the line somewhere.

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      1. I don’t think the degradation is from burn in, although there is some from the constant use of closed captions. That it only affects the red pixels makes me think it’s a problem with the OLEDs degrading with time (something I’ve heard was an issue for the early sets). The affected area is an irregular blotch in the middle of the screen.

        There’s nothing from the edges of 4:3 video that I can see. The set apparently moves the image a pixel or two to help mitigate that.

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        1. That’s another reason I’m skittish on the latest and greatest features. Aside from cost, the pioneers are the ones with the arrows in their back. Although there’s always a degree of luck involved, even with the most reliable brands.

          On no 4:3 effects, good to know. Thanks! The pixel shifting is still a thing with contemporary sets, along with logo dimming and “panel care” maintenance. Hopefully it won’t be an issue.

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