Electronics

[Mindy D]

I'm looking at a Samsung. Interested in the 2017 4K models UNK629, price around $900 at Amazon and more expensive Square Trade warranty, because reviewers keep saying they get an amazing picture even though they aren't watching 4K programming.

I'm also interested in the curved 2016 Model  K6250 (LED Smart TV). Very good price, under $500, at both Sam's Club and Amazon (Walmart charges three hundred more than Sam's Club for this TV!). It's not 4K, but the price is much more affordable.

There's also a different TV available, that I haven't researched.Samsung 50" Class M530D Series - Smart LED TV - 1080p, 120MR - UN50M530D - Sam's Club.

I'll be buying  a Square Trade Warranty for as long as I can get one for.

Both my newest TVs didn't last. My LG, which was not expensive, just died, and lasted 2.5 years. Repairs cost as much as the TV. My prior set was a very expensive SONY. Luckily, I had bought an extended warranty through Brandsmart, a local Florida retailer, or I would have paid $850 just for the part. The TV lasted about four years before the light engine went. The replacement light engine lasted three years. 

Your thoughts and experiences are appreciated.

[I am still oxox]

We bought a Sony Vizio in Summer 2016, it was a close out on their website to was under 500 for a 40" HD smart tv, it is a great set

[gardenman]

I got the 55" Amazon Fire TV on Prime Day for $399 and I love it. It's a 4K HDTV with tons of smart features. If you check out Best Buy and other sites you'll find quite a few very well reviewed 55" 4K sets at and around the $400 mark these days.

[Mindy D]

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@gardenman wrote:

I got the 55" Amazon Fire TV on Prime Day for $399 and I love it. It's a 4K HDTV with tons of smart features. If you check out Best Buy and other sites you'll find quite a few very well reviewed 55" 4K sets at and around the $400 mark these days.

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Is the picture much better than LED pictures, even if not watching 4K programming? What brand were you replacing? Did the older set last longer than four years?

[gardenman]

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@Mindy D wrote:

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@gardenman wrote:

I got the 55" Amazon Fire TV on Prime Day for $399 and I love it. It's a 4K HDTV with tons of smart features. If you check out Best Buy and other sites you'll find quite a few very well reviewed 55" 4K sets at and around the $400 mark these days.

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Is the picture much better than LED pictures, even if not watching 4K programming? What brand were you replacing? Did the older set last longer than four years?

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My old set was a 40" Samsung that's still working fine and is over seven years old now. The Samsung uses the old fluorescent back-lighting instead of LED back-lighting so it isn't as energy efficient and I wanted a bigger picture for the football season along with more smart features as the old TV had none. I considered buying a FIre TV set top box to add to a conventional 4K HDTV but the price would have been higher than buying the 55" Fire TV on Prime Day. I went into Prime Day planning to get one or the other depending on the price, and the 55" Fire TV for $399 made it an easy choice.

Is the picture much better even if not watching 4K programming? Yes, but as is often the case, it depends on certain factors. There's electronics and software inside all 4K sets that upscale the picture (essentially filling in the blanks with their best guess on what should be there that's often very, very good) but from 'typical' viewing distances you don't see much of an improvement. It's only when you get closer to the screen that you really see a difference. A 4K set will let you sit closer to the screen for a more immersive experience with less noticeable degradation in the image quality. On 4K programming you can almost crawl into the set, the picture quality is so good.

The 4K sets are rapidly becoming the norm and the price difference between them and conventional sets has largely disappeared. Best Buy has multiple 55" 4K sets on sale this week at or around the $400 mark which is quite impressive. (When I bought my 40" Samsung I paid over $600 for it and a year or two earlier a nearly identical Samsung would have cost over $1400, so the price of HDTV's have consistently trended downwards with more features being added and the price falling. 

Just a personal note on image quality. I find that pretty much any and every HDTV on the market gives you a really good picture these days. I've gone higher end with the Samsung and lower end with RCA and Element, and all of them have had very, very good, and comparable image quality. Modern HDTV's are often assembled in much the same way as computers, with outside providers providing the screen, power supply, internal circuitry and the name on the box merely assembling all of the components and plopping their name on the finished product. You may get the exact same components in both a high end 'name' set and a lower end, lesser known name set. There are companies like Hisense, TCL, and Element that may be lesser known names here, but are well known internationally that deliver very good performance. 

[NickNack]

I have two Samsung TV's and am extremely happy with them.  I bought the second one a couple of years ago to replace a Sony.  I much prefer the Samsung over the Sony.  Neither of my TV's are 4K.

[hckynut]

We have 2 4k Samsung tv sets. One is a 40" for the master bedroom, it is the newer of the 2. Not sure of the model number, but it has all the newest features in regards to having the best components for the best picture quality, including the Pro HDR.

Other is a 65" curved 4k bought a couple years ago. Model JS9000. Didn't go with top model, JS9500, because too much $$$ and not much more I needed or wanted with our tv set.

Not familiar with the models you mentioned so can only say this. Samsung has been the #1 manufacturer in tv sets for 10 years running, and there must be a reason. Have many Samsung audio and video components, again, for a good reason.

I personally went with 4k on our smaller set because of the vast difference between picture detail in 1080p and 4k. These sets also have better components that allow upconversion to lower resolution programming. Like High Definition, it took many a long time to get on board, now most can't stand watching shows in SD. The 4k is even a bigger detail improvement and will be around for some time in the future.

I never buy extended warranties and I have owned hundreds of electronic components going back to the mid 1950's. Haven't ever regretted my decisions.

hckynut(john)