Sub $2000 TV recommendations

Forums › Home Theatre (including HTPC and EPG Collector) › Sub $2000 TV recommendations

Ipv89

141 posts

Master Geek

#277275 5-Oct-2020 12:57

Hey All,

I am in the market for a new TV, I will lily purchase sometime between now and Christmas. I mainly use the TV for watching movies (streamed and Blu-ray) and PS4 gaming. I have pre ordered the PS5 and I am thinking now will be a good time to upgrade. At the moment I have a 5 year old 49in lcd LG tv with a single HDMI input, this can go to the bedroom after an upgrade.

I have taken a look at the OLED 2020 thread however most of the recommendations there are for tv’s in the $2500 - $4000 range. Size wise I would like 65inch but could go as low as 55.

What do you recommend? If not a specific product what should I avoid or be on the lookout for?

TIA

tchart

2379 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

Trusted

#2579492 5-Oct-2020 13:06

I got one of these earlier in the year.

https://www.pbtech.co.nz/product/TVPHS610784/Philips-65PUT6784-65-Premium-4K-HDR-Smart-TV-With

Picture is really good. The smarts are okay (Netflix is nice but the other apps are meh). We mostly just use Chromecast (Ultra) as well as Xbox One S (for 4K gaming and BluRays). Most chromcast apps have remote control pass through which is handy (i.e you can play/pause from the remote).

One thing that swung me towards this is the position of the legs (most 65 inch TVs have legs at the edges which are too wide for my cabinet).

Otherwise I wouldve gone for a TCL like this;

https://www.noelleeming.co.nz/shop/televisions/televisions/ultra-hd-televisions/60-69-uhd-tvs/tcl-65p715-65-p715-4k-led-2020-television/prod190565.html

Batman

Mad Scientist
29760 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#2579550 5-Oct-2020 13:46

my usual advice -

cheapest LCD with the features you need, or OLED

no point buying a "good" LCD tv.

ShinyChrome

1575 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

Trusted

#2579602 5-Oct-2020 14:21

The LG Nano 86 would be the about the only one in your price range that supports HDMI 2.1 for the PS5, but as you may have seen commented a few times, that is far from necessary.

The screen is mediocre for contrast and HDR performance, but unless you are playing a lot of dark games (Resident Evil 7 or the 2/3 remakes are recent examples for me) or wanting good movie performance, it should perform well enough for most games/streaming content. Currently $1899 for the 55" at Noel Leeming.

The 55" X9000H is a bit north of your budget, but would be the best LCD TV in the under $2.5k bracket IMO.

Batman

Mad Scientist
29760 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#2579603 5-Oct-2020 14:27

i see that you mention your budget is sub $2000 and the lowest OLED is $2500 ...

i can tell you that extra $500 is money well spent. even if you bought a 2018/2019 OLED it will absolutely blast everything else off the planet for picture quality.

but if you don't care about picture quality, then get the cheapest LCD as mentioned above

Ipv89

141 posts

Master Geek

#2579611 5-Oct-2020 14:31

Batman:

i see that you mention your budget is sub $2000 and the lowest OLED is $2500 ...

i can tell you that extra $500 is money well spent. even if you bought a 2018/2019 OLED it will absolutely blast everything else off the planet for picture quality.

but if you don't care about picture quality, then get the cheapest LCD as mentioned above

I do care about picture quality, so it looks like I will be looking at "entry level" OLED TV's. Will all OLED TV's be better than an LCD?

ShinyChrome

1575 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

Trusted

#2579635 5-Oct-2020 14:36

Batman:

i see that you mention your budget is sub $2000 and the lowest OLED is $2500 ...

Got a link for that $2500 OLED?

Ipv89:

I do care about picture quality, so it looks like I will be looking at "entry level" OLED TV's. Will all OLED TV's be better than an LCD?

Picture quality, unbeatable. Longevity, questionable. If you can afford to get an OLED TV, hands down go for it. They may not be appropriate for all situations though, as most struggle with getting as bright as a top tier LCD/LED TV and don't handle reflections as well either.

One thing to remember though is that not all LCD/LEDs are made the same and more premium models will approach closer to OLED level picture quality.

Batman

Mad Scientist
29760 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#2579638 5-Oct-2020 14:42

Ipv89:

Batman:

i see that you mention your budget is sub $2000 and the lowest OLED is $2500 ...

i can tell you that extra $500 is money well spent. even if you bought a 2018/2019 OLED it will absolutely blast everything else off the planet for picture quality.

but if you don't care about picture quality, then get the cheapest LCD as mentioned above

I do care about picture quality, so it looks like I will be looking at "entry level" OLED TV's. Will all OLED TV's be better than an LCD?

entry level OLED from these brands will. i can't say for other brands

LG Panasonic Sony

i was in the "nah I don't need an OLED" camp for a few years (you can see my posts going back a few years if you can find them lol). then I bought an 12 month old LG C8. Which you'd consider entry level. I can't even look at an LCD tv now, it's just all wrong. The OLED is what you want. note: OLED don't do well in a super bright room ... but still better than LCD, but they won't blow your brains off in a super bright room

Equinox IT

Cloud spending continues to surge globally, but most organisations haven’t made the changes necessary to maximise the value and cost-efficiency benefits of their cloud investments. Download the whitepaper From Overspend to Advantage now.

Batman

Mad Scientist
29760 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#2579640 5-Oct-2020 14:48

if you were in palmerstonnorth ... https://www.trademe.co.nz/electronics-photography/tvs/led/more-than-60/listing-2807370468.htm

waqasmk

19 posts

Geek

#2580404 7-Oct-2020 00:19

In same boat as you. F8500 plasma stopped working probably just a fuse due to power surge at home but i guess time to upgrade.

Looking for a 65". Had short listed TCL P715, Sony X80h and LG Nano80 which were on sale at noel leeming recently but then found out about full array diming and seems like big difference in blacks on TVs that have them.

Only problem is TVs with Full array are well over 2k and almost same price as Oled. Not sure if now is the right time to pull the trigger or wait till boxing or black friday sales. One thing i noticed though is not many TV review websites that have exhaustive list of TVs and their specs.

Will probably research abit more and see what the best 65" option would be in my budget.

Ipv89

141 posts

Master Geek

#2580445 7-Oct-2020 07:46

waqasmk:

In same boat as you. F8500 plasma stopped working probably just a fuse due to power surge at home but i guess time to upgrade.

Looking for a 65". Had short listed TCL P715, Sony X80h and LG Nano80 which were on sale at noel leeming recently but then found out about full array diming and seems like big difference in blacks on TVs that have them.

Only problem is TVs with Full array are well over 2k and almost same price as Oled. Not sure if now is the right time to pull the trigger or wait till boxing or black friday sales. One thing i noticed though is not many TV review websites that have exhaustive list of TVs and their specs.

Will probably research abit more and see what the best 65" option would be in my budget.

Ill keep you posted on what I find! as nice as OLED is I think ill likely go for an LED due to $$ available to spend on a TV. My other half also doesn't see why I would spend more then $1000 haha

ShinyChrome

1575 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

Trusted

#2580474 7-Oct-2020 08:55

At this point, if you can hold off until Black Friday, then I would just wait it out. The prices from the various sales last week were pretty good, but I think they will just get better as we head towards the end of the year, as well as the XSX/PS5 release dates. I'm hoping now that the LG B series OLEDs are being sold outside of Harvey Norman, they will be a bit more competitive in price this year.

If you are going the LCD route, then hopefully the some of the decent VA panel + FALD backlight + HDMI 2.1 models (Sony X900H, Samsung X80T+) will be in the sub-$3k bracket by the end of the year for the 65", low $2k for the 55". Unfortunately NZ doesn't get the really decent mid-range heroes, like the Vizio or TCL models available in the states.

I would be wary of buying a second-hand OLED though, unless you can verify condition and running hours, or are getting it at a good enough discount to outweigh taking on the risk. Burn-in prevention has gotten better each year, and so far most OEMs seem to have been quite generous with fixing any related issues, even outside of warranty. One salesperson even told me that they have no way of knowing if you have purchased an ex-demo model, which should get the exact same warranty from purchase as a new one.

bfginger

1267 posts

Uber Geek

#2580875 7-Oct-2020 19:39

If you go from an F8500 to a low end LCD like the TCL or low contrast IPS Sony as above you may be disappointed. Few LG LCDs have been worth buying and while I don't know what that particular model is like I know prior edge lit LG white pixel IPSes have been a hard pass.

If you're really set on a 65" that's at least as good as your plasma you'll be spending alot of money on an OLED or top end LCD so you may want to wait for the discounting in late November.

If you must have something big, affordable, acceptable quality and now, the 58" Panasonic 58HX700Z is on sale for $1288. FALD VA is going to cost more and I would be considering OLEDs too in that price range.

I personally would want to fix the Samsung plasma if it was mine. With older Samsungs it's nearly always their power boards.

Batman

Mad Scientist
29760 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#2580887 7-Oct-2020 19:58

i remember going from Plasma to LCD - yes it was extremely horrible