Armed Polite Society
Main Forums => The Roundtable => Topic started by: zxcvbob on February 03, 2017, 01:23:49 PM
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I'm looking for a new TV to put in the basement. (replace an old CRT type that hasn't been powered-on in a couple of years) Probably 39" or 40" because I want it to sit on a 28" wide table. Am I right in assuming I won't be able to tell the difference between 720p and 1080p in a screen that size if I'm viewing from about 8 feet away -- and I'm nearsighted?
Obviously I'll get the higher resolution anyway if it's the same price, and the prices do seem to be converging. I'll be hooking an antenna up to this, and a HDMI cable from a laptop computer. Maybe a cheap Bluray player. No cable converter box tho'.
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Can you even get 720s anymore?
I thought they stopped making them a couple of years ago.
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ISTR a plan somewhere on Instructables for a 2x2 LED display. That should get accurate reproduction of most YouTube videos, and keep you from getting bogged down in the minutiae when watching a movie.
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Can you even get 720s anymore?
I thought they stopped making them a couple of years ago.
I was surprised that a *lot* of 32" and 39" TV's are still 720p.
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With manufacturers migrating to UHD/4K, 1020 sets are getting hella cheap. I saw a 65" Sanyo at Wal-Mart over the weekend for $990-ish and 50" sets for under four bills. Stick with 1080p as a minimum.
That being said...
1) Don't worry about resolution so much as refresh rate. A higher-resolution set with a crappy refresh rate will look worst than a pseudo-HD set (720) that has good refresh rates and pixel quality. Get one with at least a 120 Hz refresh rate if your budget can swing it. Otherwise, get a name-brand unit. They will likely have better imaging engines that will make a 60 Hz refresh rate less prone to pixellation and motion jaggies.
2) Get the Blu-Ray player. The only advice I can offer here is that you will eventually need to upgrade the firmware. You might even want to use it for streaming. Who knows. In either case, if you're near a network jack any player will do, all you have to do is plug in and go. If you don't have a handy network jack the be sure the player has included wifi. Be careful here... some makers will call their stuff "wifi enabled", meaning you can get wifi IF you buy their extra dongle. Make sure it say "wifi included" or something similar.
3) There is nothing magical about an HDMI cable. The Monoprice and AmazonBasics units you can get two for ten bucks on Amazon will work exactly as well as the $20-a-pop cables at Best Buy. Same goes for surge protectors. You can get two excellent ISOBAR surge protectors from Amazon for the same price as the ho-hum LOOKITMYPRETTYPACKAGE!! unit at Best Buy.
4) Run to Best Buy or your local electronics warehouse and look at the TVs. It'll blow you mind what you can get these days. Look especially hard in their clearance and open-box section. The last two sets I bought were Best Buy open-box units. One had a little scratch on the bezel which no one but me has ever noticed, the other was returned because it was too big for the customer's entertainment center. A full third off the regular price and still with a perfectly intact factory warranty.
(edit to add)... Aldo be careful about the number of inputs. With the proliferation of home theater systems that switch inputs before they ever reach the TV, manufacturers have started scaling back the number of HDMI inputs. You want at least three. This is running under the presumption that you will have, at some future point, a disc or media player plus some type of cable or streaming service box. This leaves one port free for expansion or for when some family member with a gaming console shows up for the weekend.
I have the previous model to this TV and have been very happy with it, including use with blu-ray and console gaming setups. The only difference is mine was about twice this price when I got it two years ago.
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/sharp-55-class-54-6-diag--led-1080p-smart-hdtv-roku-tv-black/5327500.p?skuId=5327500
Brad
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BetaMax to a CRT. All this new fancy digital stuff loses the soul of the movies.
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Just as a reference point, I picked up a 50" 4k 120hz from mal-wart for $269 recently.
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I have to say I noticed a big difference going from a Sony Aquos 720 to a Samsung 1080. Some of that might have been refresh rate.
It's actually harder for me to tell the difference between 1080 and UHD. Some of that might be my aging eyes.
Is there even that big of a price difference between any 720s still being made and 1080s?
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I'm looking for a new TV to put in the basement. (replace an old CRT type that hasn't been powered-on in a couple of years) Probably 39" or 40" because I want it to sit on a 28" wide table. Am I right in assuming I won't be able to tell the difference between 720p and 1080p in a screen that size if I'm viewing from about 8 feet away -- and I'm nearsighted?
(https://armedpolitesociety.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.avsforum.com%2Fcontent%2Ftype%2F61%2Fid%2F41412%2Fwidth%2F600%2Fheight%2F376&hash=12a5ae2ad2adf52929bef1c0f4f31a258b90b5c1)
With a 40" and 8' away, according to this image you should be able to see 1080p just fine, even giving you a 1 step penalty for being near-sighted.
Then again, this one would have you being right on the edge for 1080p being 'worth it'.
(https://www.avforums.com/image.php?imageparameters=editorial/products/38c56aa3af5093a6cc7282bb9bf5eee8_0.jpg|500|1|0)
(https://armedpolitesociety.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fs3.carltonbale.com%2Fresolution_chart.png&hash=60bce04e29263e3d6cd7d90b11defa5289ecb793)
This one (http://carltonbale.com/1080p-does-matter/) puts you in 720p range.
Obviously I'll get the higher resolution anyway if it's the same price, and the prices do seem to be converging. I'll be hooking an antenna up to this, and a HDMI cable from a laptop computer. Maybe a cheap Bluray player. No cable converter box tho'.
Given that you're hooking a computer up to it, I wouldn't assume that you're going to always be 8' away from it, and as long as the expense isn't much, go on ahead and get the higher resolution.
You can get a 40" 1080P TV for ~$200 off amazon right now (I'm not going to have you spending big bucks for replacing a TV that you haven't turned on in ages). A 4k TV would be $400 on the cheap end. A refurbished 720P screen would be $170. I'd pay the $30 for new and 1080P.
My recommendation: Go for the 1080P. Hell, $320 gets you a 48" 1080P screen, and my price tracker says that if you're willing to wait for it to be on special, you can get it for $270 (https://www.amazon.com/TCL-48FD2700-48-Inch-1080p-Model/dp/B0108PI7WE/).
edit: If nothing else, you never know when your primary TV will break and you end up hauling that one upstairs until you replace it.
Hell, what's your upstairs TV? Will it fit down there? Maybe upgrade your primary viewing device and demote the current one?
Oh yeah, and most TVs today can be attached to standard VESA mounts, which means that you don't need a stand - a wall mount might suit you better. Easier to get it to the proper height that way.
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I have to say I noticed a big difference going from a Sony Aquos 720 to a Samsung 1080.
Considering that Sharp makes the Aquos, I wonder if you brought it home in your Ford Suburban or Toyota Pathfinder? =D
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Considering that Sharp makes the Aquos, I wonder if you brought it home in your Ford Suburban or Toyota Pathfinder? =D
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79YUknp1T7I
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I stopped by Costco on the way home today; they have a Samsung 40 inch "Ultra HD" smart TV for $289. It's actually cheaper than one just like it but only 1080p. And it has a pedestal rather than little feet way out at the edges, so it will fit on my table. Haven't bought it yet, but I'm pretty close. It's more than I wanted to spend, but only by about $50.
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And it has a pedestal rather than little feet way out at the edges, so it will fit on my table.
Those little feet are driving me crazy. I'm looking around at 60-65" TVs, and all the newest Samsungs have those feet now. The only decent place for my TV doesn't let me VESA mount, so I need a stand, and the spread on those feet are too wide for my current stand, and if I get a wider stand, it also won't fit in my TV area. The 65" and larger Samsungs let you move the feet to "inner" mount points, but even those are pretty wide apart.
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Someone gave that Samsung TV a terrible review for off-axis viewing. Said it grays-out if you are not *directly* in front of it. I'll have to check it out on the display model, but that's kind of a deal-killer.
I did a search on VESA TV feet and there are all kinds of stands available for $20 to $35. So a too-wide base might not be a big problem afterall.
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Keep an eye out on Woot.
They often have TV deals.
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I did a search on VESA TV feet and there are all kinds of stands available for $20 to $35. So a too-wide base might not be a big problem afterall.
Hey, that's a good tip! I didn't even know those existed.
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Check Monoprice for stands. They often have some good deals on quality stuff, and their service is quite good. I often get delivery a day or two before it's expected.
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1080 hands down.
We just got a 4k 60" for $500 at Wal Mart. People were commenting on how good the picture was at the superbowl party.