Submitted 6 months ago by otter@lemmy.ca to nostupidquestions@lemmy.world
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.
That’s a tough one, I’ve had the same TV since I was 4 (17 now). It’s probably exactly what your friend is looking for (no internet connection, has ports for HDMI, SCART, and the red-white-yellow cables), but it’s pretty old so I don’t imagine it’s being sold anymore.
If you really like to watch television, the you can’t go wrong with the Carnivalé.
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.
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.
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.
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
Which soundbar or AV system did you end up going with?
I personally don’t like soundbars so i go with an AV setup with 5.1 speakers for now. I got my AV recievers on nextdoor, craigslist, ebay, etc. I get them used because people constantly upgrade and i was able to get really nice Onkyo, Denon, and Pioneer AV receivers for under $80 each. Then i got REALLY lucky and found some Definitive Technology studio monitors at goodwill for $5 each and a center KLH platinum center speaker for $4. I found my other surround speakers in my attic from past friends and they are Sony or Bose. But best buy open box and outlet stores are your best bet for subwoofers and front speakers as they can be 30-40% off and still new with warranty. Monolith/Monoprice also makes some decent quality speakers and i love mine.
I have been happy with my Hisense U8.
The cheapest one with the best picture in the largest size I could fit, from Costco
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.
Whatever RTings recommends.
Since I use a PC with a TV and ignore the "smart" infestures entirely and never connect to the internet unless I become aware of a bug fix that concerns the displayed picture, it doesn't matter much to me. I just compare panel quality on the fly with my phone while out buying one and check for any deal breakers like a high failure rate or something. I'd look for microLED /w an adequate amount of dimming zones, HDR1000, VRR Freesync, and 120hz. The last two times I went during winter holidays and bought heavily discounted clearance last year's models 75" panels. Won't again until it breaks. Edit: LG currently but I have no brand loyalty.
It would also need speakers (I recommend plug in kind) but I really like my Epson 3200 projector: Bright enough to use in the day, my screen is 120", and there's no "smart" garbage.
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 apart tv, but here are examples perplexity.ai/…/i-m-looking-for-dumb-tvs-A8yqzSZK…
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).
I would probably be trying to pick something with at least 120hz now.
There's at least one supplier here in the UK that still sells free-to-air-only dumb TVs. Digital of course, because we turned off analogue TV signals years ago, but no smarter than that. Definitely no Internet connectivity.
If I decided I was going to become a regular TV watcher again, I'd probably get one of those.
IDK, but whatever it will be won’t have smart features and also will have all the output ports.
It would need to be an OLED.
I really like the reviews on this site 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.
well first I'd take an extension cord to goodwill
That friend needs to be more specific, they didn't even give you resolution or screen size preferences? What kind of friend does that?
If it’s going to be a glorified display then simply get a non-smart tv designed for marketing.
I really like my LG G4 OLED, best television I’ve ever had and reviews are great.
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.
I know you asked for TV recommendations, but, if your friend is open to other ideas, they could also look into home theater projectors. I got a super cheap projector on sale a few years ago and being able to watch TV and movies on a 150 inch screen is absolutely bitchin’. I later upgraded to a higher quality projector cause the cheap one crapped out after about a year (and replacement bulbs were impossible to find due to the supply chain issues during early covid). Spent about the same amount on the high quality projector that I would have spent on a much smaller TV.
Though there’s obviously drawbacks to projectors:
When we moved into our house a few years ago, I saw there was an elevated alcove in the living room with a big, blank wall on the opposite side of the room. I knew right then that it would be perfect for a projector.
Movie night kicks ass. Every re-watch of Lord of the Rings is like watching it in the theater again. And Superbowl Sundays are epic on the big screen.
I have an Epson 2250 and it’s worked nicely these past few years.
If you get a brighter projector, you could probably view it in daylight pretty well. I have an Epson 3200 and it was a massive jump up from my old Viewsonic 8200.
I need to look into one when our TV craps out. Our house is always super dim because of the roof overhang, so a projector would probably work really well.
What’s the goal of the tv? Budget?
Want the best quality picture? Want the highest refresh rate for gaming? Anything beyond just displaying a moving picture?
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.
This looks absolutely terrible to use as a tv. 350nits brightness alone makes it unusable. No HDR, only 60hz, terrible contrast too.
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.
Vintage Brionvega Cubo 15 off ebay and wire it to take 110V
I’ve only bought cheap TVs, because that’s what was available to me.
A year or so ago I got a big Samsung at an estate auction. It’s older than all my other TVs, but much better than all of them.
There may be higher quality or better value brands, but I can confirm that Samsung makes a nice TV.
Sony bravia proper oh you can, TCL otherwise.
dickalan@lemmy.world 6 months ago
A LGOLED and then a Apple TV box so it never has to connect to the Internet