Btw, you don’t have to look at the exact model you might be considering on Costco.com or via amazon. You’ll see pretty quickly the price jumps between classes of models. Biggest things influencing price are screen size and resolution. Some TVs are curved; I don’t get those.

Anyway, just use the trip to the brick and mortar store to get an idea of what specs and features are most important to you..also differences between the various manufacturers. I used to be a big Sony fan but now prefer Samsung.

Also....I’ve never bought a tv yet that I wasn’t disappointed with the picture initially whe I got it home. I’ve always ended up tweaking settings like color, brightness, backlighting to get a picture that I found pleasing.

I think going forward you will watch TV more and more on mobile devices than on a stationary big screen. To buy a TV, the functional focus should be on using that big screen with computers. For that reason, go for 4K ultra high resolution — you will need that ultra high resolution to display legible text when using that big screen for computing. The TV function will be fine for just about any 4K TV you buy. Good luck and have fun shopping.

quote:

Originally posted by wtg:
I used to be a big Sony fan but now prefer Samsung.

Interesting. I've always been a Sony fan, I'd have to look at the Samsungs.

The Wirecutter recommends a particular Vizio model as the best they've seen. I generally trust the Wirecutter, and both of our Sonys are a decade or more old but I'm probably not in the market for a new television if I want to stay married.

Ax, hmmm, that’s something to think about. We never hook our computers up to the tv, but if we were going to start doing that, ultimate would matter more.

If we have a smart tv, would we want to do that? Or maybe the question is, with a smart tv, would we use the net on the tv enough that the resolution would mater? Hmmm.

Quirt, I check the Wirecutter, those Visio they recommend are like $700-1000. Were definitely not going to spend that kind of money right now.

So then the question would be, if whether we should wait and get that class of tv, or bump up the budget a small amount, or stick with dirt cheap. Time to go to a store and have a look. Also I’ll share these pints with Mr. SK and see what he thinks.

P.S.

quote:

Originally posted by QuirtEvans:
but I'm probably not in the market for a new television if I want to stay married.

If you go the costco route, you'll need to buy a membership - $55 or $60 for the cheapest one. That may eat up any savings you realize and is probably not worth it unless you are going to shop there for other things. I believe they will let you cancel your membership and refund you for any unused part though, so I guess you could buy the membership then cancel if you really aren't going to shop there. (or shhhh don't tell anyone but I'm happy to share my membership number if you just want to order online.)

That said, last summer, I bought a super cheapola "TCL" brand smart tv at walmart. I think it was like $110 for a 40" TV. We were going away to an airbnb that did not have a TV and I just wanted to have something for the kids to watch for that week (we have a family tradition of streaming back episodes of forensic files in the evenings while on vacation - don't ask!)

I pretty much expected it to be total crap, but it turned out to be a surprisingly nice TV. We're using it in our bedroom now. I don't know if I'd want it as the only TV in the house if I was really really into TV, but for streaming netflix and such, it's pretty awesome and was so easy to set up.

quote:

Originally posted by ShiroKuro:
Ax, hmmm, that’s something to think about. We never hook our computers up to the tv, but if we were going to start doing that, ultimate would matter more.

If we have a smart tv, would we want to do that? Or maybe the question is, with a smart tv, would we use the net on the tv enough that the resolution would mater? Hmmm.

Quirt, I check the Wirecutter, those Visio they recommend are like $700-1000. Were definitely not going to spend that kind of money right now.

So then the question would be, if whether we should wait and get that class of tv, or bump up the budget a small amount, or stick with dirt cheap. Time to go to a store and have a look. Also I’ll share these pints with Mr. SK and see what he thinks.

As a follow-up to what Lisa posted, the Wirecutter's budget pick is the TCL 5-series. They link it to the Amazon sales page for that television, but the one they recommend is 55 inches, which is bigger than you said you were looking at. The same Amazon page includes the other sizes for the 5-series as options. The 43-inch model is $260.

Signed, your personal Amazon shopper

Thanks Quirt and Lisa!

Ok Mr. SK likes Ax’s argument in favor of getting a 4K. The TCL series has a 43” for about $240 so that’s only a little more than the Toshiba HD.

Re Costco, thanks fo the offer Lisa! We were thinking we’d het a membership if we were going to start shopping there for other things and using the delivery option. So it wouldn’t be for just the tv. But we do have these points with Amazon, so that’s the argument for buying from amazon.

Either way, we’ll post back after we go and look at some in person.

There are a million different ways to stream, and the frustrating thing is that each option seems to have some of what you want, but not all. My daughter has been using Hulu and likes it--this if you want regular TV channels. You can stream a lot via Amazon prime, ditto with Netflix.

You don't need to "hook up" a smart TV to your computer. Smart TVs have the ability to connect to your wireless network and they can receive things like Hulu, Amazon Prime, Netflix directly (most come with those apps already bundled, but not all, so make sure you get one that does). But if you want to stream from your actual computer screen, you will need to either hook up with an HDMI cord or get some sort of casting ability. If you have an apple, their casting thingy (AirPort, I think?) works great with apple's iTV (but I think they're changing that). There are other options, like Chromecast, that aren't as good, IMO.

I research this stuff once every two years when they jack up my internet/cable bill, then I call the company and complain and they reduce the cost enough that it's not worth it to transition. Rinse, repeat.

There are a LOT of options, and they're changing every day. Unless you're a big TV hound, get something that meets most of your needs. Unless you want to get multiple apps (Roku and iTV and Chromecast, etc.) you won't find something that gives you everything.

Fun fact: Apple, Amazon and Chromecast are fighting each other over this. You'll find that some channels aren't available to be streamed over iTV, others aren't available to be streamed over Chromecast. Roku/Hulu etc., don't seem to have those limitations (but you pay a monthly subscription for those).

Good luck, I was never able to find something that seemed worth switching from cable. At least, not this time....

Nina, we just got fiber optic cable, so we cut the cord and canceled our DISH subscription.

We got YouTube TV instead. It has almost every channel we’d want from cable, including local channels (except the NFL channel, but I’ll cope). And YouTube TV will save anything you tell it to save for nine months, no volume limit. So, no need for a TIVO.

And, overall, cheaper.

The TCL on Amazon is also free returns, so it's a no risk proposition.

quote:

Originally posted by QuirtEvans:
Nina, we just got fiber optic cable, so we cut the cord and canceled our DISH subscription.

We got YouTube TV instead. It has almost every channel we’d want from cable, including local channels (except the NFL channel, but I’ll cope). And YouTube TV will save anything you tell it to save for nine months, no volume limit. So, no need for a TIVO.

And, overall, cheaper.

Interesting. I'll check it out. But no NFL? Not sure I could cope. I *think* you can buy it as an independent add-in, but I'm not sure.

Soccer, football, and other sports require a large screen, the larger the better.
GO BIG!!

quote:

Originally posted by Nina:

quote:

Originally posted by QuirtEvans:
Nina, we just got fiber optic cable, so we cut the cord and canceled our DISH subscription.

We got YouTube TV instead. It has almost every channel we’d want from cable, including local channels (except the NFL channel, but I’ll cope). And YouTube TV will save anything you tell it to save for nine months, no volume limit. So, no need for a TIVO.

And, overall, cheaper.

Interesting. I'll check it out. But no NFL? Not sure I could cope. I *think* you can buy it as an independent add-in, but I'm not sure.

If you can, I'm not aware of it. And I tried to check.

However, remember, it's something like six games per year (an average of less than one a week) on the NFL channel. Most games are on local television, or ESPN. Sometimes, even Amazon Prime.

This is all super helpful y’al!!

Mr SK wants to ask: so should we just plan on getting 4K rather than HD? If that’s the best option, we’ll forget about the Toshiba and consider the TCL.