Now may be the time for that HDR OLED you have been waiting for
A couple of weeks ago I was in Costco drooling over the LG OLED65B7A as I had for the Last many visits. Then I noticed the price drop to $2299 and was ready to pounce. And after I saw that there were 4 more behind the display I decided to go home and see if it was on sale for less anywhere else. After searching my usual places the best I found was $2499. So I went back the next day only to discover that all 5 including the display were gone. I called the other store and they were out as well. At this point I could get one from Amazon or Bestbuy for $2499 but knew that a deal was out there. This morning I looked at the sale email from Frys to find that they had the LG OLED65E7P which has picture on glass (just pretty clothing), better sound and Dolby ATMOS for $2499. Well I didn't wait and bought one from my tablet and picked it up after breakfast. Both of these models are from 2017 and there is no game changing difference between them and the new 2018 models. So I paid $1400 less than the $3999 being asked for the new model and what the 2017s went for last year. You need the promo code to get the sale price. Now my dilemma of do I get a 55 OLED or a 65 regular 4K tv is over with the best outcome.
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I'm still milking a last generation plasma screen I got in 2012. I gawk at 4K TV's all the time but probably won't be in the market a bit longer. LG's WebOS smart TV platform is fantastic and their remote on higher end models is pretty fantastic. Great integration with cable boxes, love the pointer and scroll wheel, it's a great design. Personally I like their IPS "Nano Cell" panels, I think they look great, not OLED great, but for half the money you get all the HDR support you can want, great off angle viewing, certain models actually have a decent Harmon sound system built into them, that isn't to say it replaces better audio but in certain rooms it may be adequate for the experience you want to deliver. OLED is fantastic but the price premium is prohibitive for me yet.
Massdrop is another location to find deals even better than this on these OLEDs.
They're moving at (relatively) firesale prices because 2nd-gen OLEDs and MicroLED are coming.
I have been under the impression that 2017 was the beginning of the next gen OLED and MicroLED is what Samsung is doling out as their QLED TVs. The current oleds are quite a bit brighter, have less jitter and much improved hdr over the previous years. These are simply old stock that did not sell due to a bad consumer economy for luxury goods. Early Summer is when I usually shop electronics as the old has to go to bring in the new.
NOT TO MENTION THE REAL COOL STUFF LIKE HUGE OLEDS AND ULTRA THIN WILL BE STRATOSPHERIC IN PRICE.
At this point I'm just seeing how long my widescreen HD CRT will last for the lulz.
I decided not to make the OLED jump this cycle. Also passed on the QLED, as the quality bump to price bump wasn't tight enough for me.
I was, however, able to bump the budget after an unexpected influx of cash, so I went with the 65" MU9000 (IT'S SO THIN!) Samsung, and it's lovely.
Eventually, this one will go to the basement to supplant one of the 1080p 55" units attached to the XBoxen and an OLED will take its place.
I haven't been in the market for a TV since I bought my LED Sony 64 inch back in 2011. Is it possible to buy a modern TV that doesn't have internet of things nonsense in it? Just shoot me if I ever spend $2,500+ on a TV that has to download a firmware update when I first hook it up and serves me ads through the menu system.
My TV was the last gen Sony display that was just "dumb". No wifi, no software updates. Plug things into it and see the output. It was replaced by those terrible google TV things that Sony put out, and the rest is history.
Never connect it to the internet in the first place.
I've been researching tvs in the hopes of upgrading soon. From everything I'm finding dumb tvs do not really exist any more. Everything will have some form of os and internet connectivity option. I'd you truly want dumb, your best bet would be a projector.
That said there are some smart tvs that seem better than others. I'm currently leaning towards something running Android TV; most/all current Sonys do. https://rtings.com/ had incredibly good TV reviews and even includes a rating and description of any ads included in the OS on smart TVs.
I'd actually love to see a manufacturer sell dumb displays to cut down on the software bloat. Maybe make firmware updates available via usb when needed but nothing else. You don't know how many conversations I've had with people I help trying to explain how their smart TV platform is no longer supported and that they need to go grab a Roku if they don't want their experience to suck. They always assume it's a wireless internet issue, it never is, so I must explain how your Vizio TV running the Yahoo smart TV app store blows, Panasonic, yeah, they gave your software the middle finger nearly two years ago,... I'd rather not integrate it into the TV's software and just go grab a Roku and swap inputs. The Roku TV's I've used are not bad and I have faith they will deliver software updates for a long time, everyone else is hit or miss, constantly changing and tweaking their platform or abandoning it altogether. LG seems pretty consistent with their WebOS platform so I think that is pretty safe. Samsung has several different versions of their Smart Hub all going and they all are so so at best... Don't get me started on the horrible mess that are Sony Android TV's.... That platform is bloated garbage, an absolute disaster and everything a TV shouldn't be. Want adds shoved down your throat, buy a Sony Android TV. I actually think selling displays with no internal tuner or software would be a huge benefit, give me four HDMI inputs running the latest spec, maybe a couple USB ports, actually make them smart charging so I can plug whatever stick or dongle without running and separate charger and I've got all the inputs I need. Kill analog video inputs, kill coax, kill internal tuners, kill bloated, half assed smart TV platforms. The last one won't happen because that is how they all differentiate themselves in the market.
It took me about 10 minutes to run the setup except the wifi. I like to wait a day or so till I do that part so I can just enjoy the tv. So far this is my second LG and i really like the way they do things. My 2013 LG is now in another room and has only done a couple of updates since new. The only reason I ever connect to the internet is for access to material. And after the last few appliances and current phone I am about done with Samsung. And if I am not mistaken, aren't the Visio M series just displays?
Vizio changes their mind yearly. They were on the Yahoo app store a few years back, they got off that. I think in 2015 they released TV that sold with tablets instead of standard remotes with the intent of using that as a dedicated screen casting device. I'm usually a big fan of a paradigm buster, but this approach was a disaster. Nothing like depending on a remote that needs to be constantly charged. Then they decided, okay, we won't build in smart TV software but include a chromecast. I kinda liked this aproach but... market confusion, isn't this supposed to be a smart TV... so they spent a ton of money to offer free mail in remote replacements that add a home button that launches some of the more used apps right from the TV instead. Vizio tried like hell to offer something different but electronics consumers are about 99% stupid about what they are buying so it's just too difficult to do anything in between. Either you make a dumb display, or a Smart TV with app support built in, anything in between is too confusing for electronics consumers.