Any TV experts? Learn me 4K TV

My wife wants to do a makeover of our family room. New furniture, new TV. If we're going to spend the money to replace the TV, we're going to go with a 4K. I've started looking at them, but wanted to hear from people who already have them. Super Bowl week has tons of big sales. Doesn't mean we'll buy now, but it's worth looking.

We currently have a 10 or 11 year old 65" Mitsubishi 1080 TV. It's HD and has served us quite well. It sits on a huge cabinet thingy. The new TV will hang over the fireplace. We're looking for something between 55" and 65", preferably 60 or 65. We're not big TV junkies. On a good weekday, we'll watch it 30-45 minutes, many days we hardly watch it at all. Weekends it will get more use from us. When we do watch it, it's mostly sports. My kids use the TV about the same amount as my wife and I, depending on weather. If it's nice out, they hardly watch it, rainy weather they watch up to an hour a night.

Given that we don't use it a ton, we don't want to blow the budget. We're looking to spend under $1200. We like to check out the open box and clearance stuff that Best Buy sells. Yesterday, we saw a 65" Vizio for $950. So who has experience with these things?

My go-to site for TV stuff is rtings:

http://www.rtings.com/

For my money, I'd be looking at spending the extra $300 above your budget for a Sony XBR65X810C. It gets a very good rating for sports / motion.

We just got a 55" Vizio from Costco a few months ago for $600. It's 1080p, but there isn't much 4K content out there yet, so I decided to save the money.

In addition to Rtings, you can also use Cnet reviews, and I always go to AVSforum and search for the TV I'm looking at to see what real-world experiences people are having.

Most important question - can you get any 4k content (like Netflix and a few other sources)? If not, I'd reconsider getting a 4K TV until you can actually get 4K content.

BoxheadTim wrote: Most important question - can you get any 4k content (like Netflix and a few other sources)? If not, I'd reconsider getting a 4K TV until you can actually get 4K content.

It sounds like they keep their TV for a really long time, so eventually that won't be a problem.

In reply to MCarp22:

That's a good point.

OTOH future proofing electronics purchases seems to be working less and less well recently, especially when you end up buying first generation hardware (which 4k TVs still are). Another thing to consider is that if you run any sort of home theater system, you have to make sure that it supports the appropriate HDMI standards (IIRC 1.4), otherwise you'll end up having to upgrade that one as well.

I would like to recommend you consider not locating the TV over the fireplace. When I had mine there I really had to look up to see it. It was not at a natural viewing level for my furniture. I suggest you stare at a picture over the fireplace for the length of time it takes to watch your favorite program and see how it works. And try it from a couple places and seating types. I don't think I would ever put a TV over the fireplace again. Of course, a TV the size you are considering may be different.

Here is what I've done. I've gone to the local electronics house and test viewed all of the TV's out there and then compared the pricing to what I can find online and order from there. for me at least, I've found the ratings Vs. real life just never seemed to match up. For instance, they often rank Sony high and I really don't like their picture.

I second the above the fireplace comment. It is not a natural viewing angle and sitting in a normal chair will lead to an unnatural neck angle.

As for 4K itself, It does make for a better picture quality even without true 4K content. Even if it doesn't become the long term standard, you should still benefit from a sharper picture.

Given that my 1080p LCD set far exceeds the resolution of that which is provided via cable, it will be a long time before I even start to consider "4K", but then I just retired my last CRT, a honking 32-incher that must have weighed 150 lbs.

You techies go spend your hard-earned money. I'll wait.

Yeah, unlike my cars, we tend to keep our TV a long time. My wife and I have been together for 17+ years and we've had 2 family room TVs to date, with our first being the one she already had when we met. I agree that the picture quality of a 4K is better than an HD TV even when the broadcast isn't 4K. Prices on 4K seem to have come down enough where it's worth the leap to get it. A year or two ago, I'd have never considered it. But a 65" 4K is now in reach for under $1k, it's worth the consideration.

Our fireplace isn't all that high, so while it won't be the perfect viewing angle, it won't be awful. One good thing is that the fireplace wall faces into the kitchen, which is where my wife and I are a lot anyway. So when we're standing in the kitchen getting stuff done for the kids, it'll be easier to see. Either way, it's what the wife wants, as she wants to get rid of the giant cabinet thing the current TV sits on. It's freakin' huge, like over 6' wide.

bmw88rider wrote: Here is what I've done. I've gone to the local electronics house and test viewed all of the TV's out there and then compared the pricing to what I can find online and order from there. for me at least, I've found the ratings Vs. real life just never seemed to match up. For instance, they often rank Sony high and I really don't like their picture. I second the above the fireplace comment. It is not a natural viewing angle and sitting in a normal chair will lead to an unnatural neck angle. As for 4K itself, It does make for a better picture quality even without true 4K content. Even if it doesn't become the long term standard, you should still benefit from a sharper picture.

This is all 100% incorrect. Hell, it is 150% incorrect. Don't listen to anything in this post for the love of god.

CNET and AVForums. Go there for reviews. These are professionals, doing ratings based on their professional opinion. I've never been disappointed in CNET. DO NOT GO ANYWHERE LOCAL OR BIG BOX AND ASK QUESTIONS. THEY KNOW NOTHING EXCEPT THE SALES PITCH.

Also, stores are designed to favour TV's with higher profit margins. They get better feeds (or the only feed), proper lighting, proper calibration, better viewing height/distance etc etc.

Fact is, Vizio is a huge bang for the buck. Hard to go wrong.

My picks after several months of research (twice over):
Value - Vizio
Image Quality - Sony XBR (or big bucks - LG OLED)

I wound up with a Sony XBR850C

What's the opinion on Samsung TVs? I have a several 28"-32" Samsung computer monitors and love them to pieces. Are the larger Samsung TVs as good?

FWIW, I've got a Vizio LCD and a Samsung Plasma. Happy with both.

I guess we have different opinions HiTempGuy.

There are certain things you can tell regardless of the feed and the store presentation. I'm not going to spend $1000 on something that I'm not looking at first. Plus you can look at the models at different stores and see if one is hyped up or not. Of course I narrow the field down based on some of the reviews, but I always look at them in person too.

Just because they are experts doesn't mean their tastes match mine.

Just remember "Experts" chose the such classics as the 97 Malibu, 2000 Lincoln LS, and 99 Chrysler 300M as the car of the year too.

I used the rtings.com "suggested settings" for my newer samsung (not 4K so not really relevant). It made everything look like it was filmed on an overcast day through haze. Now I'm not saying I didn't make a mistake or something (I don't think I did), but if they are testing TVs with those settings, the whole thing is immediately suspect.