Ready For A New TV, Almost!

[indianafrank]

My 500 square foot family room is finally remodeled. After 2 months of installing tongue and groove pine on ceiling and walls it's ready for a new TV. But I don’t wanna spend the kind of money they charge for TV’s today. I walked into Best Buy, looked at the prices, and turned around and walked out.
Damn, I have three TV’s from 30 years ago that still work. They probably cost me $300 total. Now they want $350 for one 40 inch TV.
The salesman at Best Buy says. “But your getting a “Smart” TV.”
“What the hell is a Smart TV?” I asked.
“You can surf the net with it?” The kid says.
“But I don’t wanna surf the net with my TV. That’s what I do with my laptop.”
“But you can get Netflicks, play games, and listen to music with it.”
Geez. Buying a TV today is like buying a cell phone. I just wanna talk on my phone. I don’t want to take pictures, movies, surf the net, or text with it.
The world is moving way too fast for me.

 

[derfatdutchman]

I know what you mean, when our old TV died it was an eye opener.

 

[stickframer]

The world is moving way too fast for me.

Ain't that the truth.

 

[davet]

Lots of things that I miss from back in the day but TV's and phones ain't on that list. I've got a 40" in the shop just for the PlayStation, another thing I don't miss, 80's video games. But I have to say there's more I miss than newer stuff I'd rather have.

 

[hakchuma]

Smart tv = shit u don't need on a tv. Tech is going to out pace that stupid tv so fast.

 

[ssjones]

I was of the same mind but succumbed and about an HD tv two years ago. HD shows, particularly sports still amaze me, getting that kind of picture sitting in your living room.

 

[yaddy306]

Indiana Frank, I completely disagree with you on cost vs. Value of televisions in years past compared to today.
In 1972 we bought a TV for $400. A 21 inch colour tv.

According to inflation calculators, that TV would cost $2230 today.

But $2230 today doesn't get you a 21 inch piece of crap with thirteen channels and rabbit ears. $2230 gets you a 65 inch high definition LED TV. If you want a 21 incher, it would probably cost $100-150 (ie. about $26 in 1972 dollars).

 

[cortezattic]

Also consider that those old cathode ray tube TVs consume a lot more electricity than flat screen technology.

 

[jpmcwjr]

Actually, you can get a good quality 4K set for around $2000. There are 4 times the number of pixels than a regular TV. The catch is, there's little content available now, but it shows HD broadcasts perfectly. You'd be ahead of the curve!

 

[jvnshr]

Smart TVs are amazing, is there a video on youtube you want to show someone while watching TV? Just click play on TV on your phone + you can watch thousands of movies online.

 

[andrew]

First, a 40 inch is way too small, it may seem good at first but you'll want to go bigger. Second, 720 vs 1080 you can't really tell the difference unless they're side by side and you're watching a blue ray. I got a 51 inch plasma for under 500$ and that's in Canada. For 450$ you should be able to easily get at least a 50 inch 1080, don't bother with a smart tv, it ups the price dramatically and really isn't all that worth it. You can simply hook up a laptop to a tv and get all of those features. Pretty much all HD tv is only in 720 also, 4k they don't even have the ability to broadcast it in yet.

 

[jvnshr]

And I don't even bother finding the remote control, I can just use an iphone/ipad to operate the TV. I love smart TVs. Better than your dad asking you to go to change the channel manually by turning the knob.

 

[iamn8]

Also a smart tv allows you to stream data from your laptop/PC/Mac to the tv. I don't know of anyone who actually surfs on their tv. It's the POV and interactive capacity of being your network that makes it useful. And I agree, go 55in at least or don't bother.

 

[jvnshr]

Also a smart tv allows you to stream data from your laptop/PC/Mac to the tv.

Right, forgot that one, streaming may be a pain in the butt sometimes though, I just use external HDD for watching movies that I have downloaded.

 

[iamn8]

<p>Unless, of course, you use a Mac and an AppleTV

 

[jkrug]

I thought the same thing but after I got used to navigating through all the functions it's pretty dang cool. Love it now. ::

 

[newbroom]

I 'cut the cable' long ago and had been using rabbit ears,conversion boxes and cathode tv sets but when I saw an HDTV LED on sale for under $200.00 I thought, "what the heck?"

I had replaced the rabbit ears with a mohu and that had made some improvement in reception, maybe a newer TV would function better in the digital environment?

I kept the old tv for quite awhile thinking it might have value, but finally canned it. It weighed about 10x as much as its replacement! Reception was improved with the newer technology. I get about 10 'good' stations including 2 that show old movies and 2 that show old tv shows, CBS, and depending on the weather and the astrological situation, all sorts of stuff. I did one of those scans for available channels and got back a list of over 50..more than half of those are religious channels!...on some days I can get about 20 religious channels.

It's pretty weird scrolling through and seeing so many earnest fellows telling me what the bible says.

I use an HDMI cable from my laptop (and play whatever I 'stream') to my tv.

My ISP connection speed isn't great, but I can watch youtube, Amazon Prime movies and tv shows, and lots of stuff that way.

 

[dochudson]

One word.. Amazon (best prices, best selection, no tax, free ship and excellent service)
40 will seem big at first.. But, go 55 or so in the long run you will be glad you did. Don't get sucked in on 3-d, or curved screen.
Samsung LCD will give you an outstanding picture at a reasonable cost.

 

[jpmcwjr]

Unless in a financial pinch, getting a 4K aka "UHD" TV now will give you a better picture on existing HD broadcasts and give you a leg up once 4K broadcasting and BRDs are in place.

 

[jackswilling]

I'm waiting for the 4Ks to drop and price and for content to be widely available. I'm not into "Beta" buying.