recs on shopping for a TV

[rory breaker]

OLED is the largest leap in visual tech in years. Huge difference. In case its a question, not hype, legit.

[guitarguy316]

Originally Posted by m378

Doh - a little too late. I ended up picking this up yesterday:

Hisense 55" Class (54.6" Diag.) - LED - 2160p - Smart - 4K Ultra HD TV with High Dynamic Range Multi 55H8C - Best Buy

I literally walked around Best Buy for over an hour staring blankly at tv's. The sales guy talked me into the Hisense even though I have never heard of it. It apparently uses a Sharp panel, and has a 4 year parts and labor warranty.

It was $499 yesterday. Totally overkill for what we need, we really just watch cable. We don't even own a Blu Ray player. I did stream some 4k content though and it's definitely impressive.

Take it back today and get the Samsung. Same price.

[tylerSC]

Originally Posted by guitarguy316

Samsung 55" Class (54.6" Diag.) - LED - 2160p - Smart - 4K Ultra HD TV Black UN55KU6290FXZA - Best Buy

I think target had another $50-100 off recently with in store app.

If you weren't looking for budget the best 2016 LCD tv is the ks8000. The Sony z series is nice but more expensive than anything else. At those prices if you want top of the line, go with a 2016 LG OLED...best there is.

I absolutely agree. The KS8000 Samsung is a very good LED and the best bang for the buck when priced at $999 for the 55 inch. And the 60 inch was also very reasonably priced during the holiday sales. The black levels are very good and reach plasma levels, and the colors really pop. Nice Smart remote and separate connection box for cable box, BluRay, audio, and other devices. And the antenna tuner is very good for TV reception. The side angle viewing has improved over recent years and is not too bad. But the straight on picture is excellent.

The LG OLED is exceptional and does not suffer poor viewing angles, and has the best black levels. OLED is a different panel technology than LED, which is a type of LCD panel. Still a bit pricey, but often on sale. The OLEDs are only made by LG, but later this year Sony will be introducing a OLED model using the LG panel. Which may prove to be the best display this year, as Sony generally has better video processing than LG.

But the new QLED models from Samsung this year hold promise with excellent colors and good blacks from a quantom dot technology. And an apparent breakthrough to significantly upgrade side angle viewing.

But if you can find a good closeout price on any of the 2016 4K LED models from Samsung, Sony, or LG, that would be the best choice currently in terms of price. The Samsungs are my preference, but if side angle viewing is a major concern, then choose an LG IPS panel. But the black levels on IPS are not as good as the VA from Samsung. That is the tradeoff.