The gold standard for TV info is rtings, always a good point of reference. If you specifically want a Roku built in, it's going to mainly be TCL TVs, and for 55'' you have the nicer $549 QLED or...
The gold standard for TV info is rtings, always a good point of reference.
If you specifically want a Roku built in, it's going to mainly be TCL TVs, and for 55'' you have the nicer $549 QLED or the more basic $400 one.
I just noticed that your budget is actually quite high. In that case, if Roku isn't a necessity, I would go for one of the top TVs on that rtings list. LG OLED55C1PUB or Samsung QN55QN90AAFXZA TVs...
I just noticed that your budget is actually quite high. In that case, if Roku isn't a necessity, I would go for one of the top TVs on that rtings list.
I have the TCL 6 series. I love it. TCL is actually the 3rd most popular TV manufacturer. Since buying one I have noticed a ton of TCL's in hotels, AirBnBs etc...
I have the TCL 6 series. I love it. TCL is actually the 3rd most popular TV manufacturer. Since buying one I have noticed a ton of TCL's in hotels, AirBnBs etc...
Honestly: Go to the store find the TV that looks the best in your budget. If you have the ability, see how bright it gets and think about if you are happy with that level of brightness where you...
Honestly:
Go to the store
find the TV that looks the best in your budget. If you have the ability, see how bright it gets and think about if you are happy with that level of brightness where you will be putting it at home. Don't forget to adjust for how bright the store is; sometimes they can be shown off in fairly dim areas.
if you want it to look really nice, make sure it says it supports HDR
ignore everything anyone has to say about TVs and display technology.
Alternatively, just buy what Consumer Reports says to buy in your price range. But still ignore what everyone else has to say.
I'm 100% serious about this. The way you perceive a picture is subjective and the most important thing these days is more about how bright it is and how you have your viewing situation set up. Introducing more technical things is going to make you consider more options which will make you less happy about what you select. When you start crawling down that rabbit hole, you'll likely end up spending more money only to result in you heavily scrutinizing the display instead of actually enjoying it.
Consumer reports will rarely throw you too far off course. Their TV calibration guide: https://www.consumerreports.org/mycr/benefits/tv-screen-optimizer
Consumer reports will rarely throw you too far off course.
A few questions: What’s your budget? What country are you in? Do you have a preference on type? (i.e., OLED, LED, etc) What kind of room will you be using it in? Living room with big windows?...
A few questions:
What’s your budget?
What country are you in?
Do you have a preference on type? (i.e., OLED, LED, etc)
What kind of room will you be using it in? Living room with big windows? Darker room?
One thing I’d reconsider is the Roku being built in. That really narrows down your options. It also can’t be upgraded without upgrading the whole television. You can get a good Roku streaming box for an extra $50-$100 depending on your needs.
As @jcdl said, LG OLED is the way to go if you’re willing to spend that kind of money. Until microLED becomes a mass market option, there isn’t really anything that can touch OLED in terms of...
As @jcdl said, LG OLED is the way to go if you’re willing to spend that kind of money. Until microLED becomes a mass market option, there isn’t really anything that can touch OLED in terms of picture quality. They just cost more than non-OLED televisions.
For that price, you can easily get a top of the line one when their on sale; but I’d caution against that and consider the lower end ones, since they are all essentially the same except for minor differences in processing power. Even the lowest end LG OLED will look a lot better than almost any LED/QLED television. You could always put that extra money toward a receiver or sound bar and make the experience even better.
Through a weird set of circumstances, I own two LG OLEDs and they’ve been great so far. They’re the 2018 B series models, which are the mid-tier ones. The most recent versions of those are usually between $1,300 and $1,500.
If you’ve never owned an OLED TV before, just be wary of burn in (especially since you mentioned you’d be using it with a game console). You don’t want the outline of the Destiny HUD showing up while you’re watching a movie.
The LG OLED is a fantastic recommendation in this price range but there are a couple of things to keep in mind for your potential use case: They have lower peak brightness than modern LCDs, so...
The LG OLED is a fantastic recommendation in this price range but there are a couple of things to keep in mind for your potential use case:
They have lower peak brightness than modern LCDs, so they may not be a perfect fit if your living room is super bright, particularly if there will be a window shining directly on it from behind your couch. I keep my OLED in a farily bright room, but the wall behind me has no windows so it works fine.
They are somewhat susceptible to burn-in. Not as bad as old CRTs and plasmas, but it is a thing that you wouldn't see in an LCD.
MicroLED may be the way to go if you're looking for the latest and greatest panel technology for bright rooms. OLED's do indeed have a lower peak brightness so they're not ideal for bright rooms...
MicroLED may be the way to go if you're looking for the latest and greatest panel technology for bright rooms. OLED's do indeed have a lower peak brightness so they're not ideal for bright rooms but that doesn't mean they won't work for you anyway.
Their main advantage is that the per-pixel lighting gives very crisp contrast between light and dark in an image but it doesn't mean much when there's external light sources shining on your TV. In that kind of environment, a little haloing isn't going to be noticed, especially since our eyes are so easily tricked by lighting.
The LG OLEDs have a realy good anti-glare coating, so I doubt it would be a bad experience or anything. But if you like a really bright picture relative to your environment, it won't get as bright...
The LG OLEDs have a realy good anti-glare coating, so I doubt it would be a bad experience or anything. But if you like a really bright picture relative to your environment, it won't get as bright as a good LCD.
Here are some points of comparison:
A new LG OLED display will probably do about 700 nits.
There are only a handful of TV-sized LCD fab plants in the world. LG own one of them, so I would usually lean towards their devices. All the LG screens I've seen are nice, even the cheap ones....
There are only a handful of TV-sized LCD fab plants in the world. LG own one of them, so I would usually lean towards their devices. All the LG screens I've seen are nice, even the cheap ones. Sharp own another plant, the rest are Chinese. Not that Chinese-made stuff is necessarily bad, of course. But the point is outside of Sharp and LG devices, you're just buying someone else's panel in a branded box. At least when talking about LCDs.
If you've got the money, LG's OLED panels are unbeatable for image quality. But they're not cheap. Damn they look good though. I wish I had the budget for an OLED. Sony devices are good if you like spending slightly less money, they tend to be nice looking physically and well specced in terms of features, but they're generally LG or Sharp panels underneath.
Samsung's new microLED stuff sounds interesting but I've yet to see one in person. Samsung are generally a safe buy for image quality as well.
Personally, in your situation, I'd decide how much I wanted to spend, then buy whichever 2020 model of TV I liked the look of, as long as it's from one of the big brands - Sony, LG, Samsung, Panasonic or Sharp - and you won't go far wrong. Last year's model is usually a good buy, because they're generally considerably cheaper and improvements are mostly only incremental these days. The weird-brand Chinese stuff is sometimes good and sometimes not and I wouldn't buy any of those without seeing the actual device I was buying in person.
All this comes with the caveat that I don't know anything about TV software because I prefer to keep my screens dumb. I don't think any TV of mine has ever been allowed to connect to my network.
Same. Last time we upgraded our TV we got a 65" LG from an estate sale for like $400. Specifically because it was dumb. It has the option to connect by adding a USB wifi module, but that's never...
I prefer to keep my screens dumb.
Same. Last time we upgraded our TV we got a 65" LG from an estate sale for like $400. Specifically because it was dumb. It has the option to connect by adding a USB wifi module, but that's never going to happen.
Sony uses AndroidTV but it's pretty fully featured. I stay away from Samsung because, invariably, I always end up resenting their software (especially as they introduce ads over time). LG's is...
Sony uses AndroidTV but it's pretty fully featured. I stay away from Samsung because, invariably, I always end up resenting their software (especially as they introduce ads over time). LG's is better but their OS is a bit glitchy. Since Sony seems to be disinterested in delivering their own custom (i.e. underbaked) software UI and let Android handle it, they put more effort into their image processing for the pricepoint. They're pretty competitive, often punching up in terms of image quality.
Check out the Sony Bravia X900H if you want to take advantage of all the newest features of modern consoles. At that price range, you can even get the 65" version since Sony tends to be lower priced than their Samsung and LG equivalents.
Rtings.com for ratings and comparisons. Very helpful, and helped me figure out what I wanted: a 55” Vizio M Series. Fair warning: very few new dumb TVs exist. The ones that do are either low-end,...
Rtings.com for ratings and comparisons. Very helpful, and helped me figure out what I wanted: a 55” Vizio M Series.
Fair warning: very few new dumb TVs exist. The ones that do are either low-end, or commercial display panels that cost more. When setting up my TV, just skipped the sections for the smart features. That’s about the most you can do to avoid smart features, unless you want to buy a projector.
The gold standard for TV info is rtings, always a good point of reference.
If you specifically want a Roku built in, it's going to mainly be TCL TVs, and for 55'' you have the nicer $549 QLED or the more basic $400 one.
I just noticed that your budget is actually quite high. In that case, if Roku isn't a necessity, I would go for one of the top TVs on that rtings list.
LG OLED55C1PUB or Samsung QN55QN90AAFXZA
TVs have come down in price quite a lot, so with that budget for a 55'' TV, you can just get the best available.
I have the TCL 6 series. I love it. TCL is actually the 3rd most popular TV manufacturer. Since buying one I have noticed a ton of TCL's in hotels, AirBnBs etc...
Honestly:
Go to the store
find the TV that looks the best in your budget. If you have the ability, see how bright it gets and think about if you are happy with that level of brightness where you will be putting it at home. Don't forget to adjust for how bright the store is; sometimes they can be shown off in fairly dim areas.
if you want it to look really nice, make sure it says it supports HDR
ignore everything anyone has to say about TVs and display technology.
Alternatively, just buy what Consumer Reports says to buy in your price range. But still ignore what everyone else has to say.
I'm 100% serious about this. The way you perceive a picture is subjective and the most important thing these days is more about how bright it is and how you have your viewing situation set up. Introducing more technical things is going to make you consider more options which will make you less happy about what you select. When you start crawling down that rabbit hole, you'll likely end up spending more money only to result in you heavily scrutinizing the display instead of actually enjoying it.
Consumer reports will rarely throw you too far off course.
Their TV calibration guide:
https://www.consumerreports.org/mycr/benefits/tv-screen-optimizer
A few questions:
One thing I’d reconsider is the Roku being built in. That really narrows down your options. It also can’t be upgraded without upgrading the whole television. You can get a good Roku streaming box for an extra $50-$100 depending on your needs.
As @jcdl said, LG OLED is the way to go if you’re willing to spend that kind of money. Until microLED becomes a mass market option, there isn’t really anything that can touch OLED in terms of picture quality. They just cost more than non-OLED televisions.
For that price, you can easily get a top of the line one when their on sale; but I’d caution against that and consider the lower end ones, since they are all essentially the same except for minor differences in processing power. Even the lowest end LG OLED will look a lot better than almost any LED/QLED television. You could always put that extra money toward a receiver or sound bar and make the experience even better.
Through a weird set of circumstances, I own two LG OLEDs and they’ve been great so far. They’re the 2018 B series models, which are the mid-tier ones. The most recent versions of those are usually between $1,300 and $1,500.
If you’ve never owned an OLED TV before, just be wary of burn in (especially since you mentioned you’d be using it with a game console). You don’t want the outline of the Destiny HUD showing up while you’re watching a movie.
The LG OLED is a fantastic recommendation in this price range but there are a couple of things to keep in mind for your potential use case:
MicroLED may be the way to go if you're looking for the latest and greatest panel technology for bright rooms. OLED's do indeed have a lower peak brightness so they're not ideal for bright rooms but that doesn't mean they won't work for you anyway.
Their main advantage is that the per-pixel lighting gives very crisp contrast between light and dark in an image but it doesn't mean much when there's external light sources shining on your TV. In that kind of environment, a little haloing isn't going to be noticed, especially since our eyes are so easily tricked by lighting.
The LG OLEDs have a realy good anti-glare coating, so I doubt it would be a bad experience or anything. But if you like a really bright picture relative to your environment, it won't get as bright as a good LCD.
Here are some points of comparison:
In that price range, an LG OLED is a no brainer.
There are only a handful of TV-sized LCD fab plants in the world. LG own one of them, so I would usually lean towards their devices. All the LG screens I've seen are nice, even the cheap ones. Sharp own another plant, the rest are Chinese. Not that Chinese-made stuff is necessarily bad, of course. But the point is outside of Sharp and LG devices, you're just buying someone else's panel in a branded box. At least when talking about LCDs.
If you've got the money, LG's OLED panels are unbeatable for image quality. But they're not cheap. Damn they look good though. I wish I had the budget for an OLED. Sony devices are good if you like spending slightly less money, they tend to be nice looking physically and well specced in terms of features, but they're generally LG or Sharp panels underneath.
Samsung's new microLED stuff sounds interesting but I've yet to see one in person. Samsung are generally a safe buy for image quality as well.
Personally, in your situation, I'd decide how much I wanted to spend, then buy whichever 2020 model of TV I liked the look of, as long as it's from one of the big brands - Sony, LG, Samsung, Panasonic or Sharp - and you won't go far wrong. Last year's model is usually a good buy, because they're generally considerably cheaper and improvements are mostly only incremental these days. The weird-brand Chinese stuff is sometimes good and sometimes not and I wouldn't buy any of those without seeing the actual device I was buying in person.
All this comes with the caveat that I don't know anything about TV software because I prefer to keep my screens dumb. I don't think any TV of mine has ever been allowed to connect to my network.
Same. Last time we upgraded our TV we got a 65" LG from an estate sale for like $400. Specifically because it was dumb. It has the option to connect by adding a USB wifi module, but that's never going to happen.
Sony uses AndroidTV but it's pretty fully featured. I stay away from Samsung because, invariably, I always end up resenting their software (especially as they introduce ads over time). LG's is better but their OS is a bit glitchy. Since Sony seems to be disinterested in delivering their own custom (i.e. underbaked) software UI and let Android handle it, they put more effort into their image processing for the pricepoint. They're pretty competitive, often punching up in terms of image quality.
Check out the Sony Bravia X900H if you want to take advantage of all the newest features of modern consoles. At that price range, you can even get the 65" version since Sony tends to be lower priced than their Samsung and LG equivalents.
Rtings.com for ratings and comparisons. Very helpful, and helped me figure out what I wanted: a 55” Vizio M Series.
Fair warning: very few new dumb TVs exist. The ones that do are either low-end, or commercial display panels that cost more. When setting up my TV, just skipped the sections for the smart features. That’s about the most you can do to avoid smart features, unless you want to buy a projector.
Show me one human who is not technologically overwhelmed.