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Help with TV selection/purchase sister thread

S

simas

Senior member
Very similar requirements as with MaxDepth thread nearly

- Want at least 55" but no more than 60-65"
- Cheap as possible, no more than $1200
- As much of the current (2016) goodies as possible like HDR
- don't care about sound because I have an AV receiver (which I'm updating to have something HDCP 2.2 compliant)
- It's going to be wall mounted to keep my little ones from banging into it.

differences/questions
1. is there such thing as 'stupid' as in non-smart TV anymore? I do not want additional hardware (wifi, etc) , TV based applications ,etc as I expect to change appliances connecting to TV much more frequently than TV itself (TV stays until it dies)

The less complicated the system is , the less can break/go wrong.

2. anything else I should be thinking about ?
 
If you want 4K HDR, it will be somewhat limited by your price range.

I'm not sure Vizio are the greatest for reliability, but I will note that you can get a Vizio 55" P Series for $1235 ($1300 - 5% discount).

Their M Series (with more limited HDR support) is $1188 at 60" and $950 at 55".

At those price points, if I were to buy a Vizio, I'd take the 55" P Series.

They have no Smart Apps at all, but come with built in Google Cast, which works with apps on your phone or tablet, or you can use their included stock Android tablet (1080p on the P Series and 720p on the M Series). That means there are no apps to update, but you can still stream Netflix and YouTube etc. directly on the TV.
 
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simas said:
Thank you

How important is HDR (which I assume is this https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-dynamic-range_rendering) in current TV?
Click to expand...
That link isn't really an appropriate explanation for HDR in a TV.

http://www.trustedreviews.com/opinions/hdr-tv-high-dynamic-television-explained

The two standards (yes two, and they compete against each other to an extent) are HDR10 and Dolby Vision.

HDR10 is required by all UHD Blu-ray players, with Dolby Vision as an option, but no current players support Dolby Vision.

OTOH, Dolby Vision has more info and potentially can be better, but also has the ability to scale down to lower end TVs, which is partially why you'll see Dolby Vision on lower mid end TVs and not HDR10 which tends to be limited to the higher end (even though a higher end TV with Dolby Vision might even be better in some situations than the same TV with HDR10).

There are some discs out now with HDR10. There are no discs out yet with Dolby Vision, but it should be noted that Star Wars: The Force Awakens' mastering has just been completed in Dolby Vision for home.

OTOH, streaming 4K solutions like VUDU and Netflix will support both, but prefer Dolby Vision.

Vizio will support both on their P Series, and only Dolby Vision on their M Series. Samsung only supports HDR10. LG will support both on some TVs.

Does your sister need it? I dunno. She's going to have to answer that, but if I were spending $1200 on a 55"-65" TV, I'd want it. If the budget were lower though, I'd forget about HDR.
 
Vizio or LG is you want HDR so you get support for both. I wouldn't get a different brand if HDR is important.

Not sure why previous poster states Vizio has no 'smart apps' they do. M and P class comes with them and they work great (using a 2015 M-series myself).

Vizio is REALLY good right now for bang-for-the-buck. Find another full array in the same price range...you won't. 🙂
 
I would caution you on the 2016 TVs. I've noticed that many are dropping the tuners. I guess to slim down the physical profile as much as possible. So unless you are going to always have it connected to cable or satellite, you will need to purchase a tuner.

I've cut the cable cord since 2004 and I've projected saving nearly $12K.
 
exar333 said:
Vizio or LG is you want HDR so you get support for both. I wouldn't get a different brand if HDR is important.

Not sure why previous poster states Vizio has no 'smart apps' they do. M and P class comes with them and they work great (using a 2015 M-series myself).

Vizio is REALLY good right now for bang-for-the-buck. Find another full array in the same price range...you won't. 🙂
Click to expand...

No smart apps built into the 2016 Vizio M & P Series TVs at all. It's 100% casting. Furthermore, for the E Series, they are also missing smart apps, and just have casting. The E Series doesn't come with a free tablet though, so you just use your own tablet or phone (iOS or Android).

image-a.jpg


BTW, I consider this an advantage, since smart apps have a habit of becoming unsupported after a few years. For example, the YouTube app in my Sony Blu-ray player is now completely unusable. When I launch it, it just stays it's no longer supported.

Vizio's approach will no longer be an advantage though if Google ever releases a 4K Chromecast with HDR support though. Because once they do, ALL TVs will have effectively the same interface as Vizio does now. All you have to do is buy a Chromecast and plug it in.

MaxDepth said:
I would caution you on the 2016 TVs. I've noticed that many are dropping the tuners. I guess to slim down the physical profile as much as possible. So unless you are going to always have it connected to cable or satellite, you will need to purchase a tuner.

I've cut the cable cord since 2004 and I've projected saving nearly $12K.
Click to expand...
Only a very small percentage of TV viewers actually use the tuner.

BTW, I went without cable for years before I finally gave in and got a cable subscription. It was just too annoying at the time using OTA. And these days even if I did cut the cord (I want to but my wife doesn't), I still wouldn't bother with a tuner. I'd just watch my shows online instead via the iOS apps from the broadcasters.
 
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Thank you for all of the new information. also, for the records , the 'sister thread' was referring for another current thread discussing TV purchase - no actual sibling sister is involved in any decisions, this is me buying for myself.

Is there a good site to look at Vizio reviews and ideally side by side comparisons? The manufacturer states
D series - 1080p TV
E series - 2160p TV (4k)
M series - E series + HDR
P series - M series + "Ultra Color Spectrum" (whatever it is)
Reference series - P + 5.1 audio built in

Is that directionally correct? what is UCS and does it worth the additional premium?
Thank you
 
"I would caution you on the 2016 TVs. I've noticed that many are dropping the tuners. I guess to slim down the physical profile as much as possible. So unless you are going to always have it connected to cable or satellite, you will need to purchase a tuner.
"

Thank you. I went HDHR from SiliconDust (network based tuner) many years ago and have not had cable/satellite/paid programming other than Netflix for over a decade. My intent is to use NVidia shield consoles as PC game streaming, Kodi local media + Netflix playback. if that works with Vizio TVs, that is all I need at this point.
 
simas said:
Thank you for all of the new information. also, for the records , the 'sister thread' was referring for another current thread discussing TV purchase - no actual sibling sister is involved in any decisions, this is me buying for myself.

Is there a good site to look at Vizio reviews and ideally side by side comparisons? The manufacturer states
D series - 1080p TV
E series - 2160p TV (4k)
M series - E series + HDR
P series - M series + "Ultra Color Spectrum" (whatever it is)
Reference series - P + 5.1 audio built in

Is that directionally correct? what is UCS and does it worth the additional premium?
Thank you
Click to expand...
D. Don't bother. Low end 1080p.
E: 1080p + tuner, or else 2160p and no tuner. No HDR. Casting but no free tablet.
M: 2160p plus Dolby Vision, but no HDR10. No wide colour gamut. Casting with free 720p tablet.
P: 2160p plus Dolby Vision and HDR10, and wide colour gamut. Casting with free 1080p tablet.
Reference: Don't bother.

Out of these, the M and P make the most sense IMO, unless you're looking at going really cheap.
 
Since you want HDR I'd get the P series. You want both formats available, otherwise I'd get the larger M series.
 
Eug said:
D. Don't bother. Low end 1080p.
E: 1080p + tuner, or else 2160p and no tuner. No HDR. Casting but no free tablet.
M: 2160p plus Dolby Vision, but no HDR10. No wide colour gamut. Casting with free 720p tablet.
P: 2160p plus Dolby Vision and HDR10, and wide colour gamut. Casting with free 1080p tablet.
Reference: Don't bother.

Out of these, the M and P make the most sense IMO, unless you're looking at going really cheap.
Click to expand...

Caveat on the P series. The HDR10 update has not yet released. It's promised for this year, I assume sometime in the summer but nobody really knows for sure. So I wouldn't buy it expecting to have access to Amazon Prime HDR stuff (Amazon doesn't do Dolby Vision)and use the new UHD Blu-Ray player on it right away as there are no Dolby Vision players at this time(if that was some consideration at all).
 
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