Upgrading to 4K, help selecting a TV?

[Rated-G]

I'm ready to upgrade to a 4K TV in preparation for the PS5, and considering I have an Xbox One X already.

My current TV is a Panasonic 50" 3D plasma. (I believe it's the P50ST60) specifically. I really enjoy this TV, I know how to calibrate monitors and am super happy with the picture here. I'm looking for something in the sub $1000 range because I also need to upgrade my home theater along with the TV.

I'm looking for something that's not just good for gaming but movies as well, I don't care at all about the smart functionality because I use an Apple TV instead. I'm looking at the TCL 55" series 6, but I'm unsure of how this brand is. I'm hoping for something that will last as reliably as my current tv has, which is nearing 10 years of near constant use. I'm looking at the TCL because it has decent ratings (though the viewing angle and motion artifacting have me feeling slightly apprehensive).

Do any of you have experience with this tv/brand? Or have suggestions for alternatives in that same price range?

 

[Zombine]

I've stuck with Sony panels for the past 10+ years. Currently I own the X900F and it is a stellar unit. No complaints with lots of great options for calibration.

 

[Kalik]

LG OLED...even a 2019 model at a cheaper price would be great...TCL's are great bang for the buck

 

[Deleted member 39374]

LG C9 or Sony X900

 

[Garrett 2U]

I've had a TCL for a year and loved every second of it. Just make sure it's HDMI 2.1 compliant (6 series is).

 

[Gero]

LG C9

 

[Noisepurge]

Samsung Q90R has been amazing, works great for games and movies. TCL is much cheaper though, but isn't as good for games.

 

[CRIMSON-XIII]

If you want an OLED, i recommend any OLED beyond 2017 and onward in release year. You just want the safety features. Such as pixel refresh, screen saver, screen dim, pixel shift, HUD shift, and other safety features to protect the display.

I'd go for the new LG OLED.

If you want a lesser expensive tv, make sure at least that it has proper HDR and dolby vision so that HDR is maximized now and nextgen!

 

[Dr. Giggles]

Get an LG OLED or TCL 6 series

 

[ss_lemonade]

I don't know if it's a thing with their latest models, but I once read that you had to deal with panel lottery when considering TCL's TVs and it was common to get a bad one with negatives dirty screen effect artifacts and banding.

 

[MP!]

I love my LG B8

DO it

 

[Deleted member 22750]

id say look for HDMI 2.1

you might be able to get a TCL near that price range

 

[HououinKyouma00]

If you want to keep it under $1000 then go with the TCL 6 Series for sure.

I actually just bought the 55" the other day from Best Buy for $549 plus tax. The value of this TV is ridiculous. It was that or the Samsung Q80 for $949, and I couldn't be happier with my choice.

Hell you could get a 65" and still have $250 left over right now. TCL's value for price is amazing. Now obviously get a OLED over the QLED if you want to bump that budget up but hell you could get two 6 series for the price of an OLED.

 

[Polyh3dron]

LG OLED. My E9 is amazing and have no regrets.

you could probably find a 55" B9 for cheap.

 

[Future_TraX]

LG OLED C9.

 

[Nakazato]

I got a B9 and it was great

 

[Deleted member 16908]

Coming from a plasma you'll probably be disappointed by the picture quality of anything other than an OLED. The LG B9 is your cheapest option.

 

[Possum Armada]

Are the 2020 LG OLED's out yet? I have about $3000 to spend and want to get something in a 65 to 75 inch range.

 

[Rated-G]

Oh wow I didn't expect so many responses so quickly! Unfortunately the Samsung Q90R and LG OLEDs are out of my price range at this time.

Sounds like the TCL or a Sony model might be the choice so far.

I really appreciate all of your input! Trying to decide if I should do this now/soon or hold off until closer to the holidays in the hopes I'll have more budget to work with.

Coming from a plasma you'll probably be disappointed by the picture quality of anything other than an OLED. The LG B9 is your cheapest option.

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Ooh good to know. I really do love the plasma quality I just hate how heavy they are and the occasional image retention. OLED does sound so tempting, but at this time I don't think there's one in my price range.

 

[2Blackcats]

LG OLED C9.

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Everyone says C9 but I spent a good while reading articles today and the B9 seems to be nearly indistinguishable from a user point of view.

Sure it has better peak brightness but we're talking a 2% difference.

Why does the C9 always get recommended over the B9? Do people not think the couple hundred dollar difference in price is relevant. Or does the better CPU make some amazing difference that I'm not aware of.

(Also TV shopping)

 

[Deleted member 64241]

Oh wow I didn't expect so many responses so quickly! Unfortunately the Samsung Q90R and LG OLEDs are out of my price range at this time.

Sounds like the TCL or a Sony model might be the choice so far.

I really appreciate all of your input! Trying to decide if I should do this now/soon or hold off until closer to the holidays in the hopes I'll have more budget to work with.

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What's your budget?

 

[HeartlessNobody2134]

I'm rolling with an LG C7 and it's been great.

 

[BarcaTheGreat]

As a big Sony fan myself, go with 900H. It has HDMI 2.1 which you need for PS5 VSR and this model is fairly reasonably priced. Too bad the 950H, the more expensive version doesn't have HDMI 2.1... DAMMIT SONY

 

[Rated-G]

What's your budget?

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I'm looking for something under $1000. I know that can be really limiting, but I had hoped considering my current TV was about $900 that I could find something comparable.

 

[hey it's that dog]

I don't know why you'd buy a new TV for next gen now, before we know exactly what kind of features the consoles will support and which TVs they play nice with.

Also, whatever you buy will probably be a few hundred bucks cheaper after the consoles release.

 

[Euler007]

LG CX. Don't get locked out of hdmi 2.1 for a few hundreds just when the new ones are coming out, six months before next gen.

 

[PowerThroughLov]

As a big Sony fan myself, go with 900H. It has HDMI 2.1 which you need for PS5 VSR and this model is fairly reasonably priced. Too bad the 950H, the more expensive version doesn't have HDMI 2.1... DAMMIT SONY

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Note it seems it only has 1 HDMI 2.1 port, which is a bummer.

 

[Son of Liberty]

I bought an LG C9 last holiday and it was probably the best tech purchase I made in many years, easily worth it.

 

[Rated-G]

I don't know why you'd buy a new TV for next gen now, before we know exactly what kind of features the consoles will support and which TVs they play nice with.

Also, whatever you buy will probably be a few hundred bucks cheaper after the consoles release.

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Mostly because I'm already sitting on 4K capable devices I haven't been able to fully enjoy. I figured I'd be fine researching potential options this early because my current tv got me through two console generations pretty much flawlessly aside from not supporting 4K.

I've kept in mind the timing and everything of course, I just wanted to know what my options were if I wanted to upgrade now

 

[Mozendo]

Girlfriend owns an older TCL televsion (i think 4 series )and it's been great. I don't have any other TVs to compare it to but there were no issues no input lag from my experience and colors seem fine.

 

[Deleted member 64241]

I'm looking for something under $1000. I know that can be really limiting, but I had hoped considering my current TV was about $900 that I could find something comparable.

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The 4 Best TVs Under $1,000 - Spring 2024: Reviews

If you prefer something cheaper or don't need the best of the best, consider the Hisense U8K. It doesn't deliver the same perfect blacks as the LG C3 OLED, but it's available in bigger sizes in this price range, and it's the best 55-inch TV under $1,000.

www.rtings.com

 

[Fabtacular]

Having come from a 50" Panasonic plasma like you, here's my wisdom:

• Unless you are a hard-core AV enthusiast (which you presumably aren't since you're asking Era for TV advice), don't worry about the overall quality of the set. Having superior video quality really only impacts you in one way: You think all your friends' TVs are shitty. Day to day, since you're not doing a side-by-side of your TV to any other TV, you won't get a lot of benefit out of a "great" set versus a "just ok" set.
• Figure out what features are "must have" for you. I'll let everyone else chime in on what you need, but I'd suggest thinking very hard about what really constitutes "must have." Sure, variable refresh rate sounds great. Is it worth stepping up to a class of TV that costs hundreds of dollars more? Maybe not.
• Take $200 of the money you saved above and invest in a decent soundbar, if you don't have one already / don't always use headphones.

After talking all of the above into account, just get the biggest TV you can. There is simply no substitute for square inches. None.

So a good example would be this 75" Samsung for $999 at Costco: https://www.costco.com/samsung-75"-class---8-series---4k-uhd-led-lcd-tv.product.100485972.html

No local dimming, and not great off-angle viewing. But it's a huge TV for not a ton of money, and it handles motion extremely well with low input lag (and has FreeSync VRR).

 

[TotalMackerel]

I have an LG oled b7 and unfortunately I have burn in as of 2 weeks ago. I know many people have had no problem with burn in, but I guess I'm just lucky that way. I'm thinking about picking up a TCL series 6, but I want to see how the Vizios coming out this year turn out. I believe they're supposed to have a lot of good features like HDMI 2.1 and variable refresh rate. If the prices are still competitive, that might be the way I go.

 

[kingPaPi]

I have an LG oled b7 and unfortunately I have burn in as of 2 weeks ago. I know many people have had no problem with burn in, but I guess I'm just lucky that way. I'm thinking about picking up a TCL series 6, but I want to see how the Vizios coming out this year turn out. I believe they're supposed to have a lot of good features like HDMI 2.1 and variable refresh rate. If the prices are still competitive, that might be the way I go.

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I have a b7 also and got burn in from playing black ops 4 blackout mode.

Fell asleep while playing one day and my tv didn't turn off for some reason, and the fire in the lobby burned into the screen.

Had the tv for two years and played a ton of games on it before that happened.

 

[Kingpin Rogers]

As far as I know everyone suggests to wait until more HDMI 2.1 tv's are available as that's the best way to futureproof your purchase if you're buying it with the next gen consoles in mind. The only tv that I know of that's kinda affordable with 2.1 right now are the LG B9 and C9, I'm sure there's others that I'm just not aware of though.

 

[Rated-G]

Having come from a 50" Panasonic plasma like you, here's my wisdom:

• Unless you are a hard-core AV enthusiast (which you presumably aren't since you're asking Era for TV advice), don't worry about the overall quality of the set. Having superior video quality really only impacts you in one way: You think all your friends' TVs are shitty. Day to day, since you're not doing a side-by-side of your TV to any other TV, you won't get a lot of benefit out of a "great" set versus a "just ok" set.
• Figure out what features are "must have" for you. I'll let everyone else chime in on what you need, but I'd suggest thinking very hard about what really constitutes "must have." Sure, variable refresh rate sounds great. Is it worth stepping up to a class of TV that costs hundreds of dollars more? Maybe not.
• Take $200 of the money you saved above and invest in a decent soundbar, if you don't have one already / don't always use headphones.

After talking all of the above into account, just get the biggest TV you can. There is simply no substitute for square inches. None.

So a good example would be this 75" Samsung for $999 at Costco: https://www.costco.com/samsung-75"-class---8-series---4k-uhd-led-lcd-tv.product.100485972.html

No local dimming, and not great off-angle viewing. But it's a huge TV for not a ton of money, and it handles motion extremely well with low input lag (and has FreeSync VRR).

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This isn't the only place I've asked for advice on this, but it's the only one that seems to take gaming into consideration which makes it valuable for me. Otherwise, yeah I'm usually silently wishing my friend's would let me calibrate their TVs (at least they let me turn off motion smoothing).

The main things I'm looking for are good color accuracy, decent HDR presentation, good low light viewing, and low input lag when calibrated. Since I'm new to 4K and HDR I'm not sure what else I need to consider. I know I need hdmi 2.1 or better, HDR 10 and Dolby Vision support, at the very least.

Part of the reason I have the budget is because I'm also upgrading my sound system. I don't use headphones, and sound bars never quite hit the quality level I want. I currently have a 5.1 surround sound system with an A/V receiver and powered subwoofer, but I need a new one that supports 4K and HDR pass through, and I'm going for Dolby Atmos support, and already locked down my choices for that equipment.

Because of my space I'm limited to the 50-60" range. I'd love to be able to go as big as possible but my space is smaller, and I'm really comfortable with 50" at optimal viewing distance.

Once I have the space for it I definitely would like something in the 75-80" range and can relegate whatever I'm getting here soon to my bedroom lol. Thank you for the suggestions!

 

[TotalMackerel]

I have a b7 also and got burn in from playing black ops 4 blackout mode.

Fell asleep while playing one day and my tv didn't turn off for some reason, and the fire in the lobby burned into the screen.

Had the tv for two years and played a ton of games on it before that happened.

Click to shrink...

I feel your pain.

 

[Rated-G]

As far as I know everyone suggests to wait until more HDMI 2.1 tv's are available as that's the best way to futureproof your purchase if you're buying it with the next gen consoles in mind. The only tv that I know of that's kinda affordable with 2.1 right now are the LG B9 and C9, I'm sure there's others that I'm just not aware of though.

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Yeah this is looking more like a "wait" situation. The TCL is attractive because it seems to review relatively well and the 6 series reportedly has HDMI 2.1. I think I'm just really stir crazy right now working from home and wanting some kind of change, so finally upgrading my living room experience feels very enticing at the moment.

 

[Shoichi]

If you need one now the LG C9 is still really good even though it's an "old"(2019) model

 

[UltimateHigh]

TCL 6 series supports hdmi 2.1?

 

[dookeh]

Upgraded my panasonic v10 plasma to an lg b9 oled last year. Zero regrets. And I loved that plasma.

 

[Bradford]

If you are moving from Plasma you should absolutely get an OLED. The black levels will make you sad on pretty much anything else. LG B/C series is the best choice if you can swing it

 

[MadMike]

It's going to max out your budget, but hold out for a good deal on an LG OLED. I got an X900E a couple years ago, and while it's a great LED model, I'm wishing I had gotten the OLED instead. It's really that much better.

 

[chadskin]

Get an LG B9/C9 now and upgrade your AVR/sound equipment later in the year once AVRs with HDMI 2.1 start hitting the market.

 

[Dreamwriter]

I got a new TV a few months ago to replace one that died. One thing I can tell you, go for 55" - just because, there are far more options than if you go for 49 or 50" (which is what I did); TV manufacturers seem to be phasing out the 50" models.

For me, personally I placed highest priority on HDR and budget, so I got a Samsung QLED Q70R. The LG C9 in roughly that price range has much better black levels due to OLED, but the Samsung has much brighter HDR while still having decent black levels with the different zones. And I'm loving it, Thor's lightning in the first Avengers movie, and the sparks in the night-time battle between Thor and Iron Man, are just amazingly bright.

Not sure I would agree with waiting for HDMI 2.1, that's kinda pointless unless you are buying a TV with the actual features 2.1 enables: 4k/120hz, 8k/60hz, VRR (which is basically GSync/FreeSync). HDMI 2.1 in a TV isn't really future-proofing because it usually can't add new functionality later.

 

[gozu]

If you need one now the LG C9 is still really good even though it's an "old"(2019) model

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yes and it has hdmi 2.1 support.

 

[curtismyhero]

Get an LG B9/C9 now and upgrade your AVR/sound equipment later in the year once AVRs with HDMI 2.1 start hitting the market.

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I think this is probably the best advice that can be given. I purchased the LG C9 last year and have been absolutely floored at how amazing this TV is. Understanding that price is a big factor, I can recommend giving greentoe a whirl to see what pricing options you may have (note: I'm a bit unfamiliar with the rules when it comes to website recommendations so I will encourage you to check the website out directly for details with how it works. Feel free to message me with any questions, I can personally speak to it's validity as I have made purchases from the site directly in the past).

With AVRs, you'll absolutely want to wait for the roll out of HDMI 2.1 I paired my LG C9 with the Samsung Q90R soundbar and can tell you upfront that not having both products be 1:1 can be an absolutely pain. Hope this insight helps!

 

[Mathieran]

I feel your pain. I want to buy a tv now because I have the money for it, but it sounds like it would be prudent to hang on until the next gen consoles are fully revealed and the 2020 models of tvs are out.

I might just wait until the fall to buy one.

 

[chadskin]

I feel your pain. I want to buy a tv now because I have the money for it, but it sounds like it would be prudent to hang on until the next gen consoles are fully revealed and the 2020 models of tvs are out.

I might just wait until the fall to buy one.

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FWIW, the 2020 LG OLEDs are out already (BX/CX) but they don't look like much of an upgrade over the B9/C9:

In essence LG CX is closer to LG C9 than it is to representing another step forward. LG C9 already delivered some of the best picture quality, HDR or otherwise, that you can find in a TV. New features like Filmmaker Mode, Dolby Vision IQ and FreeSync are welcomed additions but do not represent important steps (and some were even included in last year's models). The new 48-inch size is probably the biggest news here.

Seen from another perspective you could say that LG CX and C9 are actually a little ahead of their time. Few competitors offer the HDMI 2.1 features found in LG CX (and C9) and we expect its market price to once again be lower than OLED TVs from competing brands. Its strength will grow with time as next-gen game consoles and players arrive - why would you not opt for a TV model with HDMI 2.1 and a more attractive price if you are a gamer in the market for a new OLED TV? The replacement cycle for TVs is on average 6-8 years so there is a good chance that the benefits of HDMI 2.1 will be relevant to you for more than just console gaming later on.

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LG CX OLED review

LG CX is the successor to LG C9. In addition to HDMI 2.1 and webOS, LG CX features Filmmaker Mode, HGiG, three VRR systems & more

www.flatpanelshd.com

 

[ascii42]

Note it seems it only has 1 HDMI 2.1 port, which is a bummer.

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https://www.sony.com/electronics/televisions/xbr-x900h-series/specifications

Two, according to this. Though, only the 75" specs are listed at the moment, I think the other sizes will be the same in this regard.

• 4K120(for HDMI3/4)/eARC/ALLM

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