Impression of TVs on display question

[maniacalpha1-1]

So, in the market for a good new TV, and my question is, obviously when you go to Best Buy and look at the TVs on display, things like the Samsungs that are $1300 plus look both brighter and impossibly smoother than most of the others. Now, the smoother part, that undoubtedly has to do with the higher quality, but the brighter looking screen, does that have anything to do with the way they are set up, or is that a legit representation of what you get when you get it home? ie if it looks a bit dark on display, that's what you get at home too?

 

[purbeast0]

99% of TV's at display rooms are setup completely wrong and they jack the brightness all the way up. And I don't know if it's due to this, but most people who aren't knowledgeable about correct colors on displays think that brighter === better but that isn't the case at all. What you want over brightness is correct colors. It can be very hard to tell this kind of stuff at stores when you see rows and rows of TV's all calibrated wrong sitting right next to eachother.

I'd suggest picking out some TV's you like so far and doing more research on AVS and other comparison sites.

As for the "smoothness" you are referring to, are you referring to the "soap opera effect" that is on by default on many of these new TV's? I personally hate it and it would be the first thing I would turn off if I got a new TV (still rocking panasonic plasma). I'd say that all modern TV's come with this setting as well so if you see it on one TV and not another, chances are it's on the other TV just turned off.

 

[maniacalpha1-1]

99% of TV's at display rooms are setup completely wrong and they jack the brightness all the way up. And I don't know if it's due to this, but most people who aren't knowledgeable about correct colors on displays think that brighter === better but that isn't the case at all. What you want over brightness is correct colors. It can be very hard to tell this kind of stuff at stores when you see rows and rows of TV's all calibrated wrong sitting right next to eachother.

I'd suggest picking out some TV's you like so far and doing more research on AVS and other comparison sites.

As for the "smoothness" you are referring to, are you referring to the "soap opera effect" that is on by default on many of these new TV's? I personally hate it and it would be the first thing I would turn off if I got a new TV (still rocking panasonic plasma). I'd say that all modern TV's come with this setting as well so if you see it on one TV and not another, chances are it's on the other TV just turned off.

I'm really not sure if it's the soap opera effect or not, it's usually those high end $1500+ Samsungs and LGs that Best Buy has set up showing some kind of cityscape view, and it somehow makes the view look like it's even better than if you were actually standing there.

I've been comparing TVs on the Rtings site, thus far it seems like only those in the $1000-ish area and higher get all green ratings from them, and to get it in the 55" or higher range makes those models even more -

 

[purbeast0]

I'm really not sure if it's the soap opera effect or not, it's usually those high end $1500+ Samsungs and LGs that Best Buy has set up showing some kind of cityscape view, and it somehow makes the view look like it's even better than if you were actually standing there.

I've been comparing TVs on the Rtings site, thus far it seems like only those in the $1000-ish area and higher get all green ratings from them, and to get it in the 55" or higher range makes those models even more -

It's probably just 4k that looks that way if I had to guess, maybe with the soap opera effect turned on too.

 

[UsandThem]

We just recently bought our first 4k TV, and a lot has changed since we bought our 1080P TV that the new one replaced. I tried going to local stores (Target, Best Buy, Costco, Sam's Club), but like others have already said, they crank the brightness up or run manufacturer created content that makes it look superior than just running a TV signal.

I ended up using this site quite a bit to gather a general list of possible choices (https://www.rtings.com/tv), and then I went back to the local stores to see them in person. Most places want to sell a TV, so they will hook it up to other devices like a 4k Blueray player if you ask, or even let change the colors with the remote. If they act like this is a problem, go someplace else where they don't.

In the end, we ended up getting a 65" LG from Sam's Club. I liked the Vizio M series one they had there a little bit better, but the wife liked the LG. Happy wife, happy life.

You can then read user reviews on the TVs they recommend at the various retailers to get a pretty accurate idea of the pros/cons on each TV.

 

[DaveSimmons]

I bought the extra-fancy LG OLED 4K last year, and watched my first blu-ray with the factory settings. It was way too bright and had that hyper-real "shot on video" or "soap opera" look because of the digital image processing (edge enhancement and other tricks).

I found a decent calibration guide online, turned the image processing off and the brightness down, and film looked like film again.

OLED and Plasma (RIP) offer inky blacks and the best image quality, but cost twice as much and you have to be more careful about burn-in.

 

[cmdrdredd]

I'm really not sure if it's the soap opera effect or not, it's usually those high end $1500+ Samsungs and LGs that Best Buy has set up showing some kind of cityscape view, and it somehow makes the view look like it's even better than if you were actually standing there.

I've been comparing TVs on the Rtings site, thus far it seems like only those in the $1000-ish area and higher get all green ratings from them, and to get it in the 55" or higher range makes those models even more -

Most TVs these days have two modes, Demo mode and Home mode. The store turns on demo mode which cranks the brightness, turns on vivid mode or something similar, and also turns on motion interpolation. The motion interpolation will create the impression of it being smoother. There is nothing accurate about the picture on a display TV at the store unless it's been dialed in at more of a dedicated theater store.

Also if they are playing HDR content on the TVs on display it can look brighter and exaggerated. This is on purpose as the HDR demo content is color graded during production to look more exaggerated and have more pop. Really flashy HDR content can look almost 3D at times. This is to show the potential contrast and detail that can be achieved with 4k HDR video.

 

[lenjack]

In the store, the sets are set to "torch" mode. Much too bright and bluish white, with color and contrast all the way up. This is not natural or realistic.

 

[killster1]

99% of TV's at display rooms are setup completely wrong and they jack the brightness all the way up. And I don't know if it's due to this, but most people who aren't knowledgeable about correct colors on displays think that brighter === better but that isn't the case at all. What you want over brightness is correct colors. It can be very hard to tell this kind of stuff at stores when you see rows and rows of TV's all calibrated wrong sitting right next to eachother.

I'd suggest picking out some TV's you like so far and doing more research on AVS and other comparison sites.

As for the "smoothness" you are referring to, are you referring to the "soap opera effect" that is on by default on many of these new TV's? I personally hate it and it would be the first thing I would turn off if I got a new TV (still rocking panasonic plasma). I'd say that all modern TV's come with this setting as well so if you see it on one TV and not another, chances are it's on the other TV just turned off.

well one reason the brightness might be jacked up is to see in the shadows! i know my pc monitor looks very bright compared to the plasma.. gaming and seeing in shadows very important, tho i dont play games much anymore so i guess i can tweak it back.

 

[sdifox]

well one reason the brightness might be jacked up is to see in the shadows! i know my pc monitor looks very bright compared to the plasma.. gaming and seeing in shadows very important, tho i dont play games much anymore so i guess i can tweak it back.

You push briteness, you lose contrast.

 

[Mike64]

well one reason the brightness might be jacked up is to see in the shadows!

That, and the fact that except in dedicated "home theater" display rooms, store lighting is generally very bright - certainly much brighter than in people's homes - and more often than not lighted with daylight-type fluorescent bulbs. If the TVs were set to normal mode and color-adjusted for the usually warmer room lighting in most people's homes, they'd look even worse/stranger than they do already.