A friend is looking for one and I don’t know what to recommend.
Assuming that the goal is to never connect it to the internet and plug in another device with HDMI.
I spent months on Rtings looking up ratings, pricing, checking out tv sub’s and i came to the conclusion that you have 2 options.
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spend $1500+ and get a Sony TV, the model doesn’t really matter as they are all better than their counterparts. I wanted MiniLED- but they were about $2,000.
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Go the budget route and get a Hisense/TCL TV for $600-800 and use the other $1000 you saved for a home theatre system/ 4k player, etc.
LG makes great OLED’s, but you do need to be aware of burn in if you watch lots of news channels. Also the pricing is much higher and the technology for Mini LED’s is getting much better every year.
Avoid ALL Samsung TV’s as they are poorly made and will break quickly like all other samsung products.
I have a TCL 6 series Mini LED and love it. It has Dolby Vision, little glare, and it’s bright AF (not sure of the NIT rating). I also have a hisense U75 series mini LED and the picture quality is fantastic. The OS is buggy and it freezes, crashes every month or so. But both my TCL and Hisense have buggy OS’s and freeze randomly, just the cost of a cheaper TV.
I didn’t have my TCL hooked up to the internet for a couple years and used my computer for everything. Then i realized my computer cannot process 4k with HDR, so i connected them to the internet and set up Plex and they both look fantastic with 4k HDR, HDR10, or Dolby Vision.
Their build in speakers are the worst i have ever heard, even the Hisense with it’s supposed 2.1 speaker setup, they both sound horrible and you WILL need a good AV home theatre setup, or at the very least, a good quality soundbar.
This is very detailed and helpful, thank you
If you have some more time, which soundbar or AV system did you end up going with?
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I have been happy with my Hisense U8.
The cheapest one with the best picture in the largest size I could fit, from Costco
Whatever RTings recommends.
I was kind of expecting the comments to be the way they are, which is nice.
Preferably a TV with no smart features.
Or just take the cheapest option and never connect it to the internet.
The Dell P5524Q is a 55" conference room monitor. It has no built-in wifi, microphones, camera, or other smart tv bullshit, it’s just a big monitor. It just turns on when you turn it on and turns off when you turn it off - it doesn’t take 5 minutes to boot up because of the shitty low-grade computer hardware built into it. You can find them on eBay in the US$900 range.
900 for a 55 in TV seems really high doesn’t it?
Yeah monitors typically cost more than the equivalent TV as it’ll have more features.
Almost 2 decades ago I paid close to that for a 50" plasma TV as one of my first big purchases after I got my first job.
Of course this isn’t a direct 1:1 comparison, they’re different display technologies, TVs these days have a 4k if not 8k resolution when that one I bought was 720p, there’s been almost 20 years of advancement driving costs down, and 20 years of inflation driving them up, etc.
So I don’t even know where to begin trying to fairly compare the relative costs of those 2 TVs
But back then tv manufacturers also weren’t getting paid to include apps, and put a button on their remotes to launch Amazon prime, or show me ads, or anything of the sort. Their only revenue stream was me buying the tv.
Well you can get a smart TV of that size for $300 or less. Which you can always just not hook up to the Internet, still have to deal with a crappy operating system but I don’t think that’s worth $600 to avoid really. Also elsewhere in this thread there’s a link to a Samsung non-smart TV of that size for 600 so I really think 900 is too much.
LG OLED for a main tv. Anything less is meh.
Seriously. I’ve had an LG B7 for many years now and it’s amazing. It’s not internet connected and I don’t use any of the built in apps. Straight up display.
The first time a pitch black scene came on and my room likewise went pitch black was something else. No going back from OLED after that.
I think that’s the same OLED I have. B7 or C7. It’s starting to band on red, but I got at least… 7 (?) years out of it, and the bands are only mildly annoying. Similarly, I have never connected it to the internet, and don’t use any of the apps.
It’s not very bright, but I’ll take that over washed out or blotchy blacks. I’ll shop for a used OLED like this when I’m ready.
I wouldn’t get a television. I would get a monitor. No UI. No smart features. Just a black square that had HDMI inputs.
If you really want to watch OTA TV, you can buy box tuners that connect to the HDMI. Usually with DVR capability.
It will cost more. Like…a LOT more. But thats just what regular TVs used to cost back in the 90s. You wanted a bigscreen tv? $800 then, which would be like $2,000 now. And “big screen” was like 55 inch. Though it was a 4:3 ratio. So 55 inch then wold be more like 70 inch now in a 16:9 ratio.
Honestly, same with me. I’d go for a CRT TV, though, and play old video games through that (or just connect a PC to a smaller monitor that’s manageable).
Is look for a hospitality TV or some other dumb tv, at least 120hz refresh, excellent contrast, 4k.
Can you even find these anymore?
Yeah. The AI search engine is dumb and included at least 1 smart tv, but here are examples https://www.perplexity.ai/search/i-m-looking-for-dumb-tvs-A8yqzSZKQ7ipW8MSOrkmGg
Or there’s this list
LG OLED. You can find last year’s models at some price clubs. I’ve seen the 65” C4 for like $1100 which is great.
Sony Bravia. Because I just did this last year. My old TV was also a Bravia, and it lasted about 15 years. One big selling feature for me was that you can set it up as either a smart TV, or a ‘basic’ TV that doesn’t require an Internet connection and doesn’t pester you for one.
It would need to be an OLED.
I really like the reviews on this site https://www.rtings.com/
I dont see it mentioned here, but I went with a 75" Spectre earlier this year. I had a 40" Spectre that was given to me third- hand, and I only replaced it because it was too small for the new place I moved into. Spectre doesn’t seem to even offer smart TV, and I wanted to support that decision. The only potential downside that you may see is the lack of a 4k offering, but that wasn’t something I care about.
I’d buy an HDMI monitor instead of a TV, I guess. Why a new one though? There are tons of super cheap ones at goodwill stores.
Does anyone make a 65"+ monitor though?
Yes, most major brands. They’re often used in meeting rooms, lobbies, and public places (places you don’t want pop-up ads that you aren’t already being paid for). Not to mention that you can get LED video walls that are modular and snap together.
A monitor that size is way more expensive than a TV though.
That’s because TVs subsidize the price with their spyware. But it’s pretty easy to not connect it to the Internet.
Also economies of scale. They will sell 10.000 TVs for every commercial display.
Web search says absolutely yes. Affordable ones? IDK, you’ll have to check.
100%. if ever i buy another display thingy it’d be a beamer though
LG or Samsung, but the model matters too. If you’re on a budget, there are some solid TCL options
I am very done with Samsung’s smart tv OS.
