New UHD TV

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Geektastic

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Topic # 160408 5-Jan-2015 23:12

She Who Must Be Obeyed has conceded that we may be well served by replacing our 9 year old Samsung plasma.

As ever the world of TV's is complex. She likes the Samsung curved ones. I am not convinced (the brief look I had the images was a bit pale and lacked punch, but that may well be just the way the shop had it set) and I favoured the big Sony non-curved.

Budget circa $5k max, size circa 60-70 inch, to be wall mounted and used with Blu Ray, Sky, Apple TV.

What's the GZ crowd source recommendation?

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Reply # 1208872 5-Jan-2015 23:22

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I'm with you on the curved sets. Seems a bit of a fairly pointless gimmick to me. Not worth paying a premium to get.

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Reply # 1208874 5-Jan-2015 23:25

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have a read up on the responses in my thread from before Christmas. Might be better to wait for new OLED this calendar year if that's your budget.

http://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?forumid=34&topicid=157294

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Geektastic

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Reply # 1208878 5-Jan-2015 23:42

Regs: have a read up on the responses in my thread from before Christmas. Might be better to wait for new OLED this calendar year if that's your budget.

http://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?forumid=34&topicid=157294

Thanks.

I do wish the model numbers were better designed to assist customers. "Can I have a VT4500VT994RES please" "Do you mean the VT4300VT994RES or the VT5000VT994RES, sir?" "Errr....."

For example, your TV is referred to as a VT60. Yet no list of TV's I can find has that actual designation.

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Reply # 1208881 6-Jan-2015 00:05

Geektastic:
Regs: have a read up on the responses in my thread from before Christmas. Might be better to wait for new OLED this calendar year if that's your budget.

http://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?forumid=34&topicid=157294

Thanks.

I do wish the model numbers were better designed to assist customers. "Can I have a VT4500VT994RES please" "Do you mean the VT4300VT994RES or the VT5000VT994RES, sir?" "Errr....."

For example, your TV is referred to as a VT60. Yet no list of TV's I can find has that actual designation.

This is basically my one (mine is the TH-P55VT60Z (Z for NZ, not A for Aus, I think)) - part of the P (plasma) 55 (inch) VT60 series: http://www.panasonic.com/au/consumer/tvs-projectors/plasma-tvs/th-p55vt60a.html

Don't know if any more are around. I'm sure the new OLEDs will be awesome, I just couldn't wait that long!

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mattwnz

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Reply # 1208882 6-Jan-2015 00:14

I would be somewhat wary of buying a UHD TV as apparently the standards still haven't been finalised, so potentially you may get some equipment that may not be compatible in the future if the TV is to another standard. Curved is a waste of time IMO too, unless you are close to it. I can see benefits for computer monitors, or TVs which you are sitting close to, but that is all. OLED is really going to be the future I think with TVs, with far better contrast and deeper blacks. I would buy a cheaper LCD/LED one now, and put the money towards an OLED in a few years, as I don't think the technology vs the cost is there yet.

NZSpides

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Reply # 1208900 6-Jan-2015 06:33

We replaced our old Sony plasma about 4 years ago, it did well at 7 years on the wall, but just one day died.
Anyhow, the current Samsung 46" LED backlit LCD is still working ok, but I'm quietly waiting for the day it fails and I can convince the wife to go much bigger (60+) now that we have the wall space...

I also have seen the new curved displays and see no reason for the curve unless you are using it as a monitor.
I won't be getting one unless that's the only thing you can purchase.

The UHD displays are nice, but until there is a way for us to get UHD content in NZ it seems a little pointless.
We watch most things on our HD TV at 720p because I mostly use the Apple TV 2 (720p) to display content, the freeview receiver hardly gets used.
Occasionally we will watch Blue rays on the playstation, but mostly its 720p.

Geektastic

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Reply # 1208922 6-Jan-2015 07:51

Harvey Norman have a curved OLED from LG at $4500 for a 55 inch in their sale.

Geektastic

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Reply # 1208926 6-Jan-2015 07:59

Wife not convinced by LG as a brand, which won't assist their case....!

MikeB4

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Reply # 1208928 6-Jan-2015 08:08

I prefer Panasonic VT series their lower series suffer a bit. LG's WebOS is horrible. Samsung's are OK but their screens have an odd pinkish tint to them. As for curved they are OK if sit close a and directly in front, move to the side and it deteriorates fast, I think curved is just a selling gimmick to try and be the next best thing but in reality brings nothing useful.

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Reply # 1208988 6-Jan-2015 09:51

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$4500 for 55 inch is pushing it a bit. After doing a ton of research, I decided against 4K, because the 'experts' all said you can't see the difference from a normal viewing distance. I went into town every day for more than a week just looking at TVs and taking notes. In the end I went with Panasonic because the picture was good, and the feature set outstanding.

I got a 60AS700, but I very soon started to think I could have gone bigger. It's a big room, and while the 60 inch looks like a good fit, it is in no way obtrusive, and I'd quite like it to have been at least a bit obtrusive. For some reason, there's a big jump in width/height dimensions going from 60 to 65 inch, with the latter being some five inches wider. In my case that would have pushed the Rega ELA speakers each side of the TV, right to the edge of the space they are in.

Incidentally, after the normal haggling mainly between HN and NL, I paid $2300 from NL, but HN had it for $1999 on Boxing day. C'est la vie

Trevor Dennis
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Reply # 1208989 6-Jan-2015 09:56

Wait for TV's that utilize quantum dot technology in 2015. It should be cheaper than the OLED screens and still look better than the current range of LCD screens.

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Reply # 1208990 6-Jan-2015 09:57

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My advice is to bring in a Bluray or DVD of your choice and play it on the TV(s) you're interested in.

Those fancy 4K demo loops are nice to look at, but have no bearing in the real world of your lounge at home.

Whatifthespacekeyhadneverbeeninvented?

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Reply # 1209002 6-Jan-2015 10:11

Geektastic: Harvey Norman have a curved OLED from LG at $4500 for a 55 inch in their sale.

It is not UHD is it?
But that OLED picture is very nice (oh those blacks!) - I'd have it over a UHD right now.

I got advise from one of the buyers for a chain of stores, he recommended staying away from Samsung, going for Panasonic, Sony or LG as their screen tech is better - He said Samsungs are built with cheaper technology (this is the higher end UHD LEDS). Can't remember exactly what it was but he demonstrated it by pushing on the screen of the Samsung vs the others - the Samsung did the whole colour distortion thing (like your laptop screen does if you poke it). I do not know if this was a 'salesmans' trick or indicative of poorer/cheaper tech.

I have a Samsung LED and am very happy with it. Samsung SmartHub is also the best supported Smart TV in NZ.

NzBeagle

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Reply # 1209003 6-Jan-2015 10:11

UHD is a big drawcard, just for the fact you're getting more pixels, but as other have said, is there a need? Some would say once you've seen good 4k source you'll know it's worth it, but with good Full HD source, i'm still impressed with the picture quality on my sets, so much so that I find it hard to justify the spend. However, like 3D, it seems a lot of the high end range are going to be 4k included.

As for curved, the ones I've looked at need to be direct in front to get maximum picture quality (?), where sitting off centre it won't be as impressive. As someone mentioned, great for a monitor, intended for a single viewer. I do think OLED performs better from more angles on a curved screen, but I'm still not convinced I "NEED" a curved TV.

With the criteria you've mentioned, you could go for the biggest screen you've specified, 70", and check out the options, probably 3,5-4,0 depending on your preference. Using the Full HD, or less, sources you've mentioned, then Full HD will cost you about half the UHD models at the same size. While 'smart' features can be attractive in store, you're probably better off continuing to use your Apple TV for anything that the TV can't do itself easily anyhow.

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Reply # 1209069 6-Jan-2015 11:20

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I saw on youtube warning people not buy as Netflix and other providers are 10bit chip but all UHD are 8bit chip. Even with Samsung extra future UHD is only software based.

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