topic Re: Smart TV in Electronics

Smart TV

flickerbulb — Tue, 29 Dec 2015 14:40:04 GMT

It looks like my big screen TV is slowly fading away. The picture and sound are messed up and I am looking to buy a Smart TV.

I know Sam's sells a lot of Vizio TVs. Any suggestions on brands and features?

Re: Smart TV

hckynutjohn — Tue, 29 Dec 2015 15:49:50 GMT

Samsung has been #1 in TV manufacturers for 9 years. We have a 37" and a new 65" Curved 4k Smart TV. Our 65" their top-of-the line JS9000 model and pretty much has it all. Our 37" LCD is about 8 years old and not a smart TV.

Stick with brand names you know and you are pretty safe. Features? This depends on what you think you will use and your price range. If you plan on using for the Internet, make sure it has an Internet Browser, not just Apps(i.e. Icons).

That is a good starting point for you. If you have some specific questions, I would be happy to try to answer them, if you post them in this thread.

hckynut(john)

Re: Smart TV

glb613 — Tue, 29 Dec 2015 16:49:38 GMT

@flickerbulb wrote:
It looks like my big screen TV is slowly fading away. The picture and sound are messed up and I am looking to buy a Smart TV.

I know Sam's sells a lot of Vizio TVs. Any suggestions on brands and features?

I have friends with Vizio and they look fine. I've owned Sony and Samsung and both are good.

Re: Smart TV

CamdenCat — Tue, 29 Dec 2015 16:53:49 GMT

I have a Samsung 37" Smart TV and love it. Already for Netflix and Amazon; I have Netflix. When it " goes," I plan on getting the Samsung 4k curved model.

Re: Smart TV

ValuSkr — Tue, 29 Dec 2015 16:59:34 GMT

I'd recommend getting a non-smart digital TV, then adding a smart device (like Roku). There are many good reasons to do so - you can look them up - but a minor justification is that you'd be able to move your Roku to other TV's as your needs require.

Re: Smart TV

flickerbulb — Tue, 29 Dec 2015 18:26:17 GMT

I am interested in getting Netflix and the ability to stream movies.

My current TV is a Sony that I paid a lot of money for and the picture is going, going!

The curved tv sounds cool. I think that in order to get a HD signal, you have to pay extra through the cable company???

Re: Smart TV

momtochloe — Tue, 29 Dec 2015 18:34:34 GMT

I am a big fan of Vizio tv's . . . the one we bought my mom several years ago is still going strong and it was on almost 12 hours a day straight every day. I just replaced my tv with something very shall we say cost effective and it is fine for my needs but if I ever get the chance I would love another Vizio.

Re: Smart TV

ValuSkr — Tue, 29 Dec 2015 18:39:16 GMT

@flickerbulb wrote:

The curved tv sounds cool. I think that in order to get a HD signal, you have to pay extra through the cable company???

You can get an indoor HD antenna, and bypass the cable company altogether. That's what I did. The Mohu (antenna) website will tell you how many and which channels you're likely to receive, depending on the antenna (some are stronger than others). On the other hand, your cable company may offer a basic cable package that includes only over-the-air channels; Verizon FIOS does, it's very cheap. The cable is plugged into your television and your reception is HD if the broadcast is in HD.

Re: Smart TV

chickenbutt — Tue, 29 Dec 2015 18:57:14 GMT

ValuSkr wrote:
I'd recommend getting a non-smart digital TV, then adding a smart device (like Roku). There are many good reasons to do so - you can look them up - but a minor justification is that you'd be able to move your Roku to other TV's as your needs require.

This is my preference as well. I know that electronics seem to be going more into doing everything, including making your coffee and cooking, but I worry about that at this semi-early point. If one thing goes wrong it could take down the whole deal.

Anyway, that's JMHO, FWIW, at this point.

The brands I like are Sony and Toshiba. I also have a couple of little bitty TVs (19") for my desk and kitchen that are Samsung and they've been pretty good. Like Sony and Toshiba, Samsung seems to make good quality electronics.

Re: Smart TV

Mom2Dogs — Tue, 29 Dec 2015 23:44:37 GMT

We recently purchased a new Smart TV...the picture is very good but to me, not my husband, some of the shows look like they are being brodcast live or were taped on a video recorder...if that makes sense. The picture to me is just different. Can you tell me is it just me or is this something about the the Smart TV's?

@hckynutjohn wrote:
Samsung has been #1 in TV manufacturers for 9 years. We have a 37" and a new 65" Curved 4k Smart TV. Our 65" their top-of-the line JS9000 model and pretty much has it all. Our 37" LCD is about 8 years old and not a smart TV.

Stick with brand names you know and you are pretty safe. Features? This depends on what you think you will use and your price range. If you plan on using for the Internet, make sure it has an Internet Browser, not just Apps(i.e. Icons).

That is a good starting point for you. If you have some specific questions, I would be happy to try to answer them, if you post them in this thread.

hckynut(john)

Re: Smart TV

hckynutjohn — Wed, 30 Dec 2015 06:18:34 GMT

Hi momtodogs,

Smart tv sets generally have better components than the others. Sometimes, depending on the source and especially if the Smart tv has a much bigger screen, video can look worse. No matter if video is shown in HD or SD, the "SOURCE" material is still the key. Bad source=Bad reproduction=picture qualty diminished.

My new 4k Smart TV is said to "upgrade anything viewed UP TO NEAR 4k quality". The word NEAR? Not even close with my old eyes, I've watched several True 4k material and the word NEAR? About as near as the planet Earth is to Mars. You have to see true 4k to be able to understand the difference.

Major Networks many times have HD broadcasts that look terrible, to this purist videophile anyways. No TV set can make terrible sources look good. Some Networks use newer and better equipment to film their shows and the end results can be a very different picture seen by the viewer.

Has your husband tried resetting some if the options within the "PICTURE" choices? My set has so many settings it took me lots of"trial and error" to find the best settings. We watch this TV in our South facing/all glass patio room. Needless to say the best settings were there is a lot of ambient light are not the same as if were viewing in a pitch dark room.

hckynut(john)

Re: Smart TV

qbetzforreal — Thu, 31 Dec 2015 03:38:37 GMT

We have a Smart Vizio. We like it. No problems. It has built in wi-fi. No problems with streaming.

Re: Smart TV

milkbone — Thu, 31 Dec 2015 12:33:40 GMT

Research how much your cable provider will allow you to stream, BEFORE they raise your RATES !!!

Watching online is nice BUT LOL

Re: Smart TV

glb613 — Thu, 31 Dec 2015 18:42:09 GMT

@milkbone wrote:
Research how much your cable provider will allow you to stream, BEFORE they raise your RATES !!!

Watching online is nice BUT LOL

It's a lot. I stream and don't come close to the max I'm allowed.

Re: Smart TV

Nuttmeg — Thu, 31 Dec 2015 21:39:34 GMT

@glb613 wrote:
@milkbone wrote:
Research how much your cable provider will allow you to stream, BEFORE they raise your RATES !!!

Watching online is nice BUT LOL
It's a lot. I stream and don't come close to the max I'm allowed.

I stream a lot too. It have never come near the cap.