The TV Deals and Recommendations Thread

[lasimmon]

I'm thinking really hard about going with the Vizio M Series 70" from Costco..

[HiTempguy1]

The TCL 65" is back in stock on Amazon.ca

If you wanted one, better buy it quick. Still ~$1250 though which I think is too pricey for the quality.

[Kavy]

I think with the Vizio M coming in at 999 that’s a better value.

[rx7boi]

Was away during Black Friday but gonna keep an eye on that Vizio M65 during Boxing Day.

The M70 looks awesome too but I can't justify the 50% price increase for 5" more screen space as of current website non-sale price.

If I were incllined to splurge on a bigger TV, between the M70 and the E75, is it too big of a sacrifice in picture quality to go with the larger TV?

[Kavy]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

Was away during Black Friday but gonna keep an eye on that Vizio M65 during Boxing Day.

The M70 looks awesome too but I can't justify the 50% price increase for 5" more screen space as of current website non-sale price.

If I were incllined to splurge on a bigger TV, between the M70 and the E75, is it too big of a sacrifice in picture quality to go with the larger TV?

Depends on the source material. The M does HDR better (but not as good as the P or PQ) and has considerably better black levels and motion handling. If you are watching sports or lots of movies I would get the M. If it’s regular tv or bright room watching you won’t notice the black level or motion differences as much.

Bottom line I would take a better smaller tv then a larger tv especially when it comes to a 70” which is already huge.

[HiTempguy1]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

I think with the Vizio M coming in at 999 that’s a better value.

That's why I bought it Objectively though, the TCL is "better" in regards to performance. But 25% more money better? Not to me.

A 65" TV is pretty damn big as it is rx7boi. Let alone a 75" , 1080p, minimum recommended viewing distance is 10 feet, and honestly, at 10' from my head to the TV, I really don't want to be any closer with my 65" as it is.

[rage2]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

Bottom line I would take a better smaller tv then a larger tv especially when it comes to a 70” which is already huge.

With HDR, I'm almost ready to agree with this. My 82" Samsung has pretty average HDR, and I find myself watching more often on the 65" Vizio which blows it away in terms of HDR performance. If/when I upgrade to the PQ65, I'm going to hate watching movies on anything less.

@Mitsu3000gt has always been horny over projectors, is it game over for projectors when it comes to HDR? Even theaters are now struggling to hit the specific brightness levels that directors want, especially when TVs start delivering the higher end of brightness that DolbyVision supports. Last month I watched Infinity War 4K HDR in a custom theater with a $30k Sony 4K HDR projector and was disappointed. Even a Vizio M produced better localized brightness in scenes in comparison.

[sabad66]

Throwing it out there, but i'm in the market for a used 70" or larger 4K TV. Ideally not older than 2 years. If anyone has upgraded and wants to get rid of their 'old' TV, PM me with what you have and i'll consider it.

[HiTempguy1]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

especially when TVs start delivering the higher end of brightness that DolbyVision supports.

I doubt it's actually doing anything, but it appears the Sony blu ray player I picked up is doing some upscaling and possibly additional HDR work in the background on 1080p blu rays. It says Dolby Vision is being output, but that's probably just the setting and that requirements are met for DV to work, not that it is actually doing anything. Needless to say, they looking downright awesome on the TV regardless.

It's pretty bad though, I can see myself upgrading in a year to get the best of the best. Once you go to a proper setup, its hard to go back

[rx7boi]

@rage2 and @HiTempguy1

Any love for Samsung? My current TV is Samsung and has served me pretty well for the past 5 years.

Visions has several like the NU6900, NU7300, and NU8500 series. The last two are curved screens which I still do not get what benefit they provide.

[Mitsu3000gt]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

With HDR, I'm almost ready to agree with this. My 82" Samsung has pretty average HDR, and I find myself watching more often on the 65" Vizio which blows it away in terms of HDR performance. If/when I upgrade to the PQ65, I'm going to hate watching movies on anything less.

@Mitsu3000gt has always been horny over projectors, is it game over for projectors when it comes to HDR? Even theaters are now struggling to hit the specific brightness levels that directors want, especially when TVs start delivering the higher end of brightness that DolbyVision supports. Last month I watched Infinity War 4K HDR in a custom theater with a $30k Sony 4K HDR projector and was disappointed. Even a Vizio M produced better localized brightness in scenes in comparison.

Most projectors are currently incapable of doing HDR as well as TVs because by nature of their design they cannot really locally dim. It is the one thing they cannot do better than TV's, aside from OLED which are pretty well the best at everything except size and maximum brightness. Laser projectors can be made to locally dim, but they are far from mainstream at the moment - that may end up being the 'workaround' as lasers also solve problems like bulb life. Google actually has a patent for a local dimming laser projector as well.

"Wallpaper" OLEDs might eventually kill the projector market, but cost will have to come down in orders of magnitude along with significant size increases.

If you're really into HDR content but were building a home theater, you would have to weigh that against having a 100-120"++ screen. Personally I would not put a tiny (relative) TV in a home theater for better HDR. If the room was small and the screen was going to be the same size, then sure.

Traditional movie theaters have pretty horrible IQ, I wouldn't compare anything to that. That's not why people go to movie theaters though, so they don't have to be good - they just have to be big and loud and be showing a movie you can't get anywhere else.

The biggest reason why projectors are so exciting, IMHO, is not only can you pick your screen size, but I can't think of many other electronics that have closed the cost/performance gap as much as they have - a $500 projector today is better than some $60-100K+ projectors of not very long ago at all. The technology trickle-down is faster than just about anything else I can think of in the HT world. The general attraction to a projector for the average buyer is that for $3-5K you can have image quality as good as the best Plasmas had on a screen size of your choice. If you can't dedicate a room to it though, it's pointless, so for most people they are not the right choice. It's very situation and setup dependent.

[rage2]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

Most projectors are currently incapable of doing HDR as well as TVs because by nature of their design they cannot really locally dim. It is the one thing they cannot do better than TV's, aside from OLED which are pretty well the best at everything except size and maximum brightness. Laser projectors can be made to locally dim, but they are far from mainstream at the moment - that may end up being the 'workaround' as lasers also solve problems like bulb life. Google actually has a patent for a local dimming laser projector as well.

Yea, this is a $30k Sony laser 4k HDR projector that I watched. It's nowhere close to even LED, let alone OLED, which was surprising to me. Didn't realize that HDR isn't really possible with projectors.

[Mitsu3000gt]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

Yea, this is a $30k Sony laser 4k HDR projector that I watched. It's nowhere close to even LED, let alone OLED, which was surprising to me. Didn't realize that HDR isn't really possible with projectors.

I don't know exactly what model your friend had (Sony has a few laser models), but to my knowledge no current Sony laser projectors can do any kind of real local dimming which is almost certainly why HDR looks better on your TV. Just due to the nature of how a (typical) projector works, you aren't going to get local dimming anywhere near the level you can get with a full array back light, or OLED where each individual pixel can be turned on/off providing an essentially perfect contrast ratio. A projector light source has to shine on the entire image chip, so to dim or brighten the image it's all or nothing. Some projectors have motorized irises which try to half-ass the effect with 'dynamic contrast' but that's been around for a long time and it's really not the same.

OLED is the best at pretty well everything, but size/cost is obviously a major issue. The really good OLED's are $15K-20K for only 77" and Sony sells a 100" for $80K which is still quite a ways away from many popular projector screen sizes. If you're really into HDR though, a projector is simply not a good choice, at least currently. I'd take a good OLED up until the size/cost ratio became ridiculous - after that a projector is pretty well the only option anyway and good ones are cheaper than ever right now. The problem in TV land is you need economies of scale for cheap prices, and giant special-order TV's just aren't that popular. They also weigh several hundred pounds and don't fit through an average doorway haha. You can get up to 82-85" or so in LCD and stay under $10K but that is still way above the average budget.

[rage2]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

@rage2 and @HiTempguy1

Any love for Samsung? My current TV is Samsung and has served me pretty well for the past 5 years.

Visions has several like the NU6900, NU7300, and NU8500 series. The last two are curved screens which I still do not get what benefit they provide.

Missed this one. My big complaint with Samsung is that they refuses to license Dolby Vision so it only supports HDR10. While DV has the ability to define brightness levels that nobody can hit at all today, DV also has meta data on scenes and specific targeting for brightness that HDR10 doesn't have, so even with the levels of brightness we have today DV movies still looks better especially when transitioning between scenes with very differing lighting requirements.

This makes it so that a Vizio M or P playing a DV movie outperform a Samsung QLED that's only able to play the base HDR10 data.

[Kavy]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

Missed this one. My big complaint with Samsung is that they refuses to license Dolby Vision so it only supports HDR10. While DV has the ability to define brightness levels that nobody can hit at all today, DV also has meta data on scenes and specific targeting for brightness that HDR10 doesn't have, so even with the levels of brightness we have today DV movies still looks better especially when transitioning between scenes with very differing lighting requirements.

This makes it so that a Vizio M or P playing a DV movie outperform a Samsung QLED that's only able to play the base HDR10 data.

I could not agree with this more.

[rx7boi]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

Missed this one. My big complaint with Samsung is that they refuses to license Dolby Vision so it only supports HDR10. While DV has the ability to define brightness levels that nobody can hit at all today, DV also has meta data on scenes and specific targeting for brightness that HDR10 doesn't have, so even with the levels of brightness we have today DV movies still looks better especially when transitioning between scenes with very differing lighting requirements.

This makes it so that a Vizio M or P playing a DV movie outperform a Samsung QLED that's only able to play the base HDR10 data.

Ah okay, thanks for this. You are so well versed in this kind of stuff and I had no idea that TV technology could be that complex.

I was reading a bit more on rtings about the E and M series and the M has better local dimming and HDR (as previously mentioned in this thread). The M had better a review but the scores only seemed to be marginally better.

I had plans to scope out the M65 for Boxing Day/Week but saw today that Costco currently has the E70-F3 on sale for $1069 which seems to be a pretty good deal.

https://www.costco.ca/Vizio-E70-F3-E...100431813.html

I don't know if it makes a difference but I mostly watch downloaded movies by connecting my laptop via HDMI. I don't watch movies in the dark and prefer my living room to be decently lit.

Edit: went downstairs to measure 65" and 70" which I hadn't done yet and are pretty darned big haha.

[ShermanEF9]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

The TCL 65" is back in stock on Amazon.ca

If you wanted one, better buy it quick. Still ~$1250 though which I think is too pricey for the quality.

Great TV, i picked mine up in the states on black friday for 525 after conversion. i'd MAYBE pay 1250 for it, but it would definitely be the upper limit, especially given the heavy discounts available across the border at the time.

[HiTempguy1]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

I don't know if it makes a difference but I mostly watch downloaded movies by connecting my laptop via HDMI. I don't watch movies in the dark and prefer my living room to be decently lit.

You need a pretty recent gpu in your laptop to output HDR. If you are running integrated graphics, it probably won't do HDR, let alone Dolby Vision.

Getting the M-series, in my opinion, is a choice to actively pursue dolby vision (now that I've seen it in action). But you need to buy proper equipment, proper blu rays/streaming services, and in general be picky enough to go through the hoops needed. You'd also need proper, paid for (or cracked) blu ray software that supports DV.

The M-series is a good TV at a great price for the size. But if you aren't doing Dolby Vision, and can fit the 70... I'd probably grab the E70.

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

Great TV, i picked mine up in the states on black friday for 525 after conversion. i'd MAYBE pay 1250 for it, but it would definitely be the upper limit, especially given the heavy discounts available across the border at the time.

Mother f&$ker

That's an insane deal, good job! Did you have it shipped to the border or were you down south already?

[rx7boi]

That's definitely way more effort than I would care to go through for my "home theater" experience.

I literally download YIFY movies on my Ultrabook (integrated gpu) and connect it to the TV. Other than that, I frequently watch Netflix or Prime Video which I understand offers some flicks in Dolby Vision?

Will I be able to take advantage of Dolby Vision if I go with the E series instead of M/P, albeit with lower quality?

Edit: Nvm, read the rtings review again and it says E series has Dolby Vision input.

[88CRX]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

Ah okay, thanks for this. You are so well versed in this kind of stuff and I had no idea that TV technology could be that complex.

I was reading a bit more on rtings about the E and M series and the M has better local dimming and HDR (as previously mentioned in this thread). The M had better a review but the scores only seemed to be marginally better.

I had plans to scope out the M65 for Boxing Day/Week but saw today that Costco currently has the E70-F3 on sale for $1069 which seems to be a pretty good deal.

https://www.costco.ca/Vizio-E70-F3-E...100431813.html

I don't know if it makes a difference but I mostly watch downloaded movies by connecting my laptop via HDMI. I don't watch movies in the dark and prefer my living room to be decently lit.

Edit: went downstairs to measure 65" and 70" which I hadn't done yet and are pretty darned big haha.

I think I'm going to pull the trigger on that E70 as well... I'm half blind already and its going in a super bright bonus room. Figure a slightly worse 70" is better then a slight better 65", cause size matters.