TV Buying guide

[isu22andy]

Anything I need to know before buying a TV tomorrow on Black Friday pre sales ? 4k and Smart TV are my requirements . 65inch . I honestly dont watch much TV at all. A little youtube , some antenna and play a little XBox or stream some amazon prime on it. Any recommendations ? Looking to buy at Walmart or online as I live in Rural Iowa.

 

[3TrueFans]

Anything I need to know before buying a TV tomorrow on Black Friday pre sales ? 4k and Smart TV are my requirements . 65inch . I honestly dont watch much TV at all. A little youtube , some antenna and play a little XBox or stream some amazon prime on it. Any recommendations ? Looking to buy at Walmart or online as I live in Rural Iowa.

Check out rtings.com for reviews and various test results.

 

[Isualum13]

Anything I need to know before buying a TV tomorrow on Black Friday pre sales ? 4k and Smart TV are my requirements . 65inch . I honestly dont watch much TV at all. A little youtube , some antenna and play a little XBox or stream some amazon prime on it. Any recommendations ? Looking to buy at Walmart or online as I live in Rural Iowa.

Vizo, Samsung, LG, Sony, are all great brands.
I own Samsung and vizio. The Samsung smart hub is extremely laggy at times. Might be better in new models. My Vizio Hulu app doesn't have the live tv feature if you pay for that. Maybe newer models support an app that supports live tv. Both run Amazon Prime without issue.

 

[Beerbrat]

Anything I need to know before buying a TV tomorrow on Black Friday pre sales ? 4k and Smart TV are my requirements . 65inch . I honestly dont watch much TV at all. A little youtube , some antenna and play a little XBox or stream some amazon prime on it. Any recommendations ? Looking to buy at Walmart or online as I live in Rural Iowa.

Don't buy a model 2 to 3 years out of date if you are looking at the ratings. Companies generally change out the film used after the initial runs to get reviews and then change to lower cost.

 

[Gonzo]

LGs are great. Vizio would probably offer the best value. I got a 55" Vizio 4k Smart TV for $350ish about 8 months ago with no problems.

 

[jsb]

I don't have a lot of knowledge, but I tend to buy the cheapest TV that I can find with the number of HDMI inputs that I want. I only get a 43 inch for my living room, but I find the cheapest ones only have 2 HDMI inputs.

 

[CyclonesRock]

I am a fan of LG, I think they have the best picture and I have never had any issues. Had a Samsung that I couldn't wait to pass down to my son when he went away to college.

 

[Nelcyn]

My son broke my LG tv screen with a kids sword. Samsung screens have lasted through all sword swipes.

 

[ianoconnor]

Budget? Best Buy has a 65" Hisense for $250.

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/hisense-65-class-h6510g-series-led-4k-uhd-smart-android-tv/6430857.p?skuId=6430857

Not sure when it goes live. For the price you can't really do much better.

I bought the 65" TCL that Target had for $229. Really just needed a larger TV to hold us over for a couple years.

 

[jdoggivjc]

I've been a big fan of Samsung TVs for a long time. Only ever had a problem with one of them and it was a defect that they had a repair program for - and lasted several more years after that repair.

 

[Agclone91]

Always been an LG guy, but the majority of reviews say unless you buy their OLED, the price to quality ratio just isn't there anymore vs other brands. Bought the Sony x900H from Best Buy but haven't gotten it yet but am hopeful. Did more research than I probably should have beforehand. Never owned a Sony but I know they're known for being top notch. My #2 was going to be the Vizio M series. Looks like a solid tv for around $600 for a 65".

 

[Bigman38]

Anything I need to know before buying a TV tomorrow on Black Friday pre sales ? 4k and Smart TV are my requirements . 65inch . I honestly dont watch much TV at all. A little youtube , some antenna and play a little XBox or stream some amazon prime on it. Any recommendations ? Looking to buy at Walmart or online as I live in Rural Iowa.

Get an OLED if you're ok with spending that much. Otherwise HDR is probably something to make sure it has, better colors/brightness. It'll increase the cost but 120 Hz is something else to look for, basically the refresh rate of the picture.

 

[Gonzo]

Get an OLED if you're ok with spending that much. Otherwise HDR is probably something to make sure it has, better colors/brightness. It'll increase the cost but 120 Hz is something else to look for, basically the refresh rate of the picture.

Agree, especially if you're going to watch sports with lots of really fast moving action. Like Iowa football.

 

[Bigman38]

Agree, especially if you're going to watch sports with lots of really fast moving action. Like Iowa football.

I got it for football/video games, but it made a bigger difference than I would have thought. I notice it all the time.

 

[Gonzo]

I got it for football/video games, but it made a bigger difference than I would have thought. I notice it all the time.

And I could be wrong but I've heard TVs that advertise 240hz are basically full of shite, not much difference from 120. But I could be wrong on that. I'm not a tech guy.

 

[cstrunk]

If you are on a budget, do a $250 Hisense. I bought a 65" Hisense w/ Roku a year ago for $300 and it has served me just fine.

If you want a step up, look into a Vizio or TCL. Probably in the $500-700 range. Might be able to get one with 120 Hz, which will help a lot especially for sports via antenna or cable/satellite.

If you constantly have money to burn and really care about having a great picture, get a Sony OLED or the likes ($1,000+).

 

[knowlesjam]

For budget, TCL over Vizio. Better brightness and Vizio has had some issues with their local lighting array zones. Roku with TCL is dead simple. Series 6 and up are almost comparable to the OLEDs...OLEDs are definitely the best.

 

[SayMyName]

Just be careful with store-specific, "doorbuster deal" type of models as these are typically cheaper versions of the standard commercial models. They cheap out on build quality, number of ports / inputs, etc. To keep the cost down. If you can't find a review on that exact model number, then buyer beware.

Same for off-brand or store brand models as well (generally speaking - like Onn brand at Walmart vs. Insignia brand at Best Buy, for example).

 

[Gunnerclone]

We’re a Vizio house. I’m not huge in to pixels and zones and backlight or whatever. I just want it to turn on fast and have easy menus.

24”
40”
55”
65”

All varied in age from 1-4 years old and all different “series”. Not sure which ones are which but I think the 40” inch is the “M” series and it’s the best one of the bunch in terms of picture imo.

 

[Bigman38]

Also look for a decent deal on a sound bar, almost a requirement now