Purchased 40" monitor, need a bit of advice

[Muse]

Blah...personally hate cheap monitors...Avera, TCL.....I barely like the Samsung....love higher end, black levels, higher hertz, no light bleed, etc. Of course the price is difficult to swallow.

OK, what exactly do you like?

The black levels on my TCL aren't incredible but they seem in the ballpark with what I get from my PJ, an Epson 8700U, which has quite a reputation for deep blacks. But it isn't black it's just a pretty dark gray. I watched some cartoonish cinema the other day on the TCL and the blacks look OK in that context.

There is darkening at the corners. I notice this looking at a uniform screen, white, blue, whatever. In ordinary use I wouldn't have noticed it, unless I thought to look for it maybe.

I hear the Samsungs aren't really better (or even as good as) my TCL.

So, what is seriously better?

I read a thread here on OLED displays the other day, didn't know what they are. Super black levels, but there's a big downside worrying about longevity. And there's the cost, of course.

 

[Muse]

Costco offers free technical support and automatically doubles the warranty to 2 years for any TV purchased at Costco. My nephew wanted a TV for his bedroom for Christmas so I bought him the 50" TCL 4k Roku TV as Christmas present and he loves it. The built in Roku is nice and for $300, I thought the TV was a bargain. I'm thinking about buying one for my bedroom.

Yeah, everybody likes/loves the Roku on the TCL TVs. I'm totally new to it. The FF/REW/PAUSE feature isn't talked about in the reviews but to me it's a premium feature. That 49" TCL for $300 looks like a great price point to me. It would fit on my kitchen table, but 43" doesn't strike me as small for a display there.

Didn't know about Costco doubling the warranty. I will ask about that. That's additional reason to buy a TV there. I have a mind to pick up the TCL 43S403 there next week on my biweekly Costco run.

 

[Muse]

How mich time have you wasted on Walmart already?

Believe it or not, Walmart's customer service can be pretty responsive and positive. It's a wacky place, no question.

 

[Muse]

I just bought a "43 Vizio from Walmart.com for $149, it was advertised as refurb but when I got it the factory box was unopened. IMO manufactures will list end of life products as refurbs just as a means of blowing them out. in this case Vizio's new "43 is a 4K model, possibly they did not want tthe older, (but substantially cheaper) model competing with new offerings. In your case, if the 2016 specs are the same as 2017 specs then you got what you paid for, I understand that you would prefer the '17 model but it's not going to be valued any differently as far as what it's worth since it's an appliance, not an auto.

The specs aren't really the same. Part of the specs is the dimensions and the 2016 model, while having the same screen dimensions (I presume) has far wider bezels, so it's bigger overall, making it a relatively bad match in the room that would accommodate it.

I do have a mind to visit Best Buy and look over their returns/refurbs or whatever they call the marked down open box stuff I imagine I'll see there. They could have the TCL I want at a killer price. If not, I'll just pick up one at Costco later in the day, it's my plan. Walmart's a long drive, I'm not going there just to look at their returns.

 

[Muse]

How mich time have you wasted on Walmart already?

The irony of all this is that buying a TV these days (if you get really into it and educate yourself) is much less a waste of time than watching a TV! Check this:

 

[ponyo]

Yeah, everybody likes/loves the Roku on the TCL TVs. I'm totally new to it. The FF/REW/PAUSE feature isn't talked about in the reviews but to me it's a premium feature. That 49" TCL for $300 looks like a great price point to me. It would fit on my kitchen table, but 43" doesn't strike me as small for a display there.

Didn't know about Costco doubling the warranty. I will ask about that. That's additional reason to buy a TV there. I have a mind to pick up the TCL 43S403 there next week on my biweekly Costco run.

https://www.costco.com/concierge.html

 

[13Gigatons]

OK, what exactly do you like?

The black levels on my TCL aren't incredible but they seem in the ballpark with what I get from my PJ, an Epson 8700U, which has quite a reputation for deep blacks. But it isn't black it's just a pretty dark gray. I watched some cartoonish cinema the other day on the TCL and the blacks look OK in that context.

There is darkening at the corners. I notice this looking at a uniform screen, white, blue, whatever. In ordinary use I wouldn't have noticed it, unless I thought to look for it maybe.

I hear the Samsungs aren't really better (or even as good as) my TCL.

So, what is seriously better?

I read a thread here on OLED displays the other day, didn't know what they are. Super black levels, but there's a big downside worrying about longevity. And there's the cost, of course.

The Samsung is definitely better. The black level is very good but it's not perfect. I would prefer a 38" to 40" size. Also 144hz refresh rate. Wide Color Space. No Light bleed whatsoever and great viewing angles. Also it needs to have Display port.

Hopefully OLED comes down in price and reduces the image burn in problem. It would make a great Desktop Monitor.

 

[Capt Caveman]

Muse threads always deliver the laughs!!

 

[Zeze]

I had 36" HDTV as my monitor back in... 2007?

It was too big, your eyes have to dart around everywhere. I played CS:S and it was awful.

 

[Muse]

The Samsung is definitely better. The black level is very good but it's not perfect. I would prefer a 38" to 40" size. Also 144hz refresh rate. Wide Color Space. No Light bleed whatsoever and great viewing angles. Also it needs to have Display port.

Hopefully OLED comes down in price and reduces the image burn in problem. It would make a great Desktop Monitor.

There are several different Samsung 40" 4K displays, right? Do they all support those features? One thing that is lacking in the Sony 40" 4K displays I have investigated (online) is any audio out that isn't S/PDIF. I could work around that of course, but the only component I have IIRC that supports it is my Kenwood VR-6070 A/V receiver I bought 16 years ago and I don't normally even use it in my home theater for video. I would prefer a TV/monitor with a headphone jack or RCA jack stereo output.

 

[Muse]

Muse threads always deliver the laughs!!

Not sure how to take that.