Upgrading to 4K, need suggestions

[Midway30]

I bought a 2016 Sony 4K model last year which had major bleeding issues. I returned it and reverted back to my 8 year old 52" Samsung LCD which is still holding up. The whole situation left me with a bitter experience with 4K but I'd like to give it another chance.

I want to purchase a 55" 4K with HDR without breaking the bank. I'd like to spend $1,200 or less. Any suggestions? I'm turned off to Sony right now.

Also, what are my options for 4K players?

Thank you in advance.

[Aidenag]

For a 55 inch you could afford a lg oled for that $1200 range when the next big sales happen. Just gotta keep eye out and be ready to move fast on it.

For players the concensus seems to be the sony that doesnt have dolby for affordable player or oppo for one with dolby.

[StingingVelvet]

$1,000ish range for great HDR last year was the Samsung KS8000 and the Vizio P, but this year's Samsung models are not as good in that price range. Vizio P is still around though, and I saw mentions that Sony's lower end models might be better this year. I advise looking through my favorite reviews site, Rtings, which has pretty thorough comparisons. Just remember for UHD you need good HDR, which means 1,000+ nits and great color volume/tone mapping.

[Member-38928]

Originally Posted by StingingVelvet

$1,000ish range for great HDR last year was the Samsung KS8000 and the Vizio P, but this year's Samsung models are not as good in that price range. Vizio P is still around though, and I saw mentions that Sony's lower end models might be better this year. I advise looking through my favorite reviews site, Rtings, which has pretty thorough comparisons.
Just remember for UHD you need good HDR, which means 1,000+ nits and great color volume/tone mapping.

How can a guy be sure a TV he is looking at is 1000+ nits or not?
The Vizio P series sound pretty decent! >> Rtings.com
Edit: And thanks for that tip^ I just spend a few minutes looking thru that website and it looks like a fantastic tool to use for 4K UHD TV shopping!
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Edge lit, back lit, local dimming..... could someone give me a quick lesson on LED backlighting and are there any drawbacks on TVs with local dimming?

[Midway30]

Originally Posted by Aidenag

For a 55 inch you could afford a lg oled for that $1200 range when the next big sales happen. Just gotta keep eye out and be ready to move fast on it.

For players the concensus seems to be the sony that doesnt have dolby for affordable player or oppo for one with dolby.

How can I keep up on sales? Should I just wait until Black Friday?

[Midway30]

Originally Posted by StingingVelvet

$1,000ish range for great HDR last year was the Samsung KS8000 and the Vizio P, but this year's Samsung models are not as good in that price range. Vizio P is still around though, and I saw mentions that Sony's lower end models might be better this year. I advise looking through my favorite reviews site, Rtings, which has pretty thorough comparisons. Just remember for UHD you need good HDR, which means 1,000+ nits and great color volume/tone mapping.

The site recommend the Sony 900E which is currently $1,300.

Anybody have this TV? I'm reluctant to give Sony another chance. I wonder if they fixed their issues from last year's models.

[FantasticMrFox]

Hello guys,

can someone recommend me a region-free 4k Blu-ray Player besides the Oppo 203?
I would love to get the Oppo but over here in Germany the region-free version cost 974 EUR. That's a bit too much for me.

It seems like besides the Oppo there's not much options!? At the moment I use an old Toshiba player with Australian Firmware to watch Region A Blu-rays and I don't own a 4K player yet. I want to stop using multiple players for all the different kind of formats and region codes..

[StingingVelvet]

Originally Posted by bentvalve

Edge lit, back lit, local dimming..... could someone give me a quick lesson on LED backlighting and are there any drawbacks on TVs with local dimming?

Edge lit means the light comes in from the sides of the set. Back lit means there are lights on the back of the set, behind the image. In both cases local dimming is what the set uses to turn "off" lights or "on" lights depending on the content. In other words, when you're seeing a sunshine day all the lights are on, when you're seeing a night scene only the lights are on that need to illuminate the visible parts of the screen. Back lit sets generally have better local dimming. The better the dimming the better the blacks and HDR peak brightness.

The main issue with local dimming is "blooming." What this means is if you have a small bright object in an otherwise dark image, like say the James Bond gun barrel opening, then the lesser the TV the more struggle there is to only illuminate that white dot and not the black area around it. On Rtings you will see they review how much blooming there is in the local dimming section, and advise accordingly. If you insist on watching movies in a pitch dark room with no bias lighting then you will want to pay attention to that section, because obvious blooming can be a real bummer.

Originally Posted by Midway30

The site recommend the Sony 900E which is currently $1,300.

Anybody have this TV? I'm reluctant to give Sony another chance. I wonder if they fixed their issues from last year's models.

I have not used the TV, but looking at Rtings for you I'd say it seems like a solid choice. It has good color volume similar to my set, and it should get a Dolby Vision patch. The only downer I see with that set is the lower peak brightness (850 nits or so), but that should be close enough, especially with Dolby Vision content, to be satisfying. Keep in mind though that those peak numbers require local dimming, which the review says causes noticeable blooming at high settings in a dark room.

[Aidenag]

Originally Posted by Midway30

How can I keep up on sales? Should I just wait until Black Friday?

slickdeals.net, sign up for the site, have keyword alert added for the 55 inch B7 and B7a OLED tv's you will get email notification when a crazy sale occurs. Last week they had a 55 inch B7a drop to like $1500. Come holiday season it will definitely approach your $1,200 range would be my estimate.

[gkolb]

Originally Posted by StingingVelvet

Edge lit means the light comes in from the sides of the set. Back lit means there are lights on the back of the set, behind the image. In both cases local dimming is what the set uses to turn "off" lights or "on" lights depending on the content. In other words, when you're seeing a sunshine day all the lights are on, when you're seeing a night scene only the lights are on that need to illuminate the visible parts of the screen. Back lit sets generally have better local dimming. The better the dimming the better the blacks and HDR peak brightness.

The main issue with local dimming is "blooming." What this means is if you have a small bright object in an otherwise dark image, like say the James Bond gun barrel opening, then the lesser the TV the more struggle there is to only illuminate that white dot and not the black area around it. On Rtings you will see they review how much blooming there is in the local dimming section, and advise accordingly. If you insist on watching movies in a pitch dark room with no bias lighting then you will want to pay attention to that section, because obvious blooming can be a real bummer.



I have not used the TV, but looking at Rtings for you I'd say it seems like a solid choice. It has good color volume similar to my set, and it should get a Dolby Vision patch. The only downer I see with that set is the lower peak brightness (850 nits or so), but that should be close enough, especially with Dolby Vision content, to be satisfying. Keep in mind though that those peak numbers require local dimming, which the review says causes noticeable blooming at high settings in a dark room.

Velvet is spot on with his analysis of the 900E tv's, however, as far as the 900's go they will NOT get a Dolby Vision update. They don't have the X-1 Extreme chip that is required for the DV update.

[Member-38928]

Both of these are more than I wanted to spend but I think it would be a wise move to ~double my spending limit from ~1K to ~2K.

For starters I would like to know how many nits these 2 put out. (approx is ok)
I have a feeling the Sony is brighter but by how much and are there any other details on these 2 that I need to consider? vv

Sony XBR-X900E-Series 65" vs VIZIO P-Series 65"

Thanks in advance!

[The_Donster]

Originally Posted by bentvalve

Both of these are more than I wanted to spend but I think it would be a wise move to ~double my spending limit from ~1K to ~2K.

For starters I would like to know how many nits these 2 put out. (approx is ok)
I have a feeling the Sony is brighter but by how much and are there any other details on these 2 that I need to consider? vv

Sony XBR-X900E-Series 65" vs VIZIO P-Series 65"

Thanks in advance!

If you have your set on one or the other of these above, I'd go with the Sony over the P Series unless you are a fan of chrome casting instead of a built in tuner. I did research on whatever last years model of the Sony was, Vizio and in the end went with a 65" KS8000. With the exception of credits or certain notifications I don't see much bloom. Although I only stream, watch BD's and game on mine. Good luck.

[DJR662]

Originally Posted by FantasticMrFox

Hello guys,

can someone recommend me a region-free 4k Blu-ray Player besides the Oppo 203?
I would love to get the Oppo but over here in Germany the region-free version cost 974 EUR. That's a bit too much for me.

It seems like besides the Oppo there's not much options!? At the moment I use an old Toshiba player with Australian Firmware to watch Region A Blu-rays and I don't own a 4K player yet. I want to stop using multiple players for all the different kind of formats and region codes..

There are various regionfree UHD players available from The Netherlands, cheapest one is the LG UP970 for 449 Euros.

[Member-38928]

Originally Posted by The_Donster

If you have your set on one or the other of these above, I'd go with the Sony over the P Series unless you are a fan of chrome casting instead of a built in tuner. I did research on whatever last years model of the Sony was, Vizio and in the end went with a 65" KS8000. With the exception of credits or certain notifications I don't see much bloom. Although I only stream, watch BD's and game on mine. Good luck.

Hey thanks a lot!
So today I spent an embarrassing amount of time at http://www.rtings.com/ and a few other websites to try and pick out a new 4K tv.

I had it narrowed down to Vizio's M or P series or Sony's X850E or X900E 65" and so I drove back to Best Buy and looked at them all again. First off Best Buy is pretty bright so doing this comparison there was mostly for bright room performance which is not something I have a need for so I did my best to look them over and choose the one with the best overall PQ. And for the ~4th time the 65" Sony X900E wins, now my best buy does not sell the Vizio P series but they do have the M series and it is nice enough but it came in last place for sure. They have both a 65" and 75" X850E on display and that helped a lot because I was able to get a seriously nice look at the X850E. The results, the X850E had ~better PQ than most anything besides several Samsung QLEDs & LEDs and the LG OLED65B7 but it still is at least ~25+% less than the X900E .....IMO anyways.

I spent a solid hour looking at ~every ~50" plus TV on display and flat out the X900E and the LG OLED65B7A have the best PQ out of every TV in Best Buy but the LG is ~$1000 more and no way is it worth the difference because the X900E is so close! I would say less than ~5% for certain while the X850E is more like ~25-30% away, though a nice chunk of that is due to screen glare.

Still though screen glare aside the X900E truly rivals the OLED , they are very close, the 850 is nice but its not at ~OLED quality... still though I could easily live with the 850. Plus I cannot quite put my finger on it but in a way the X900E beats the OLED65B7A .....I think its about the X900Es brightness.

I have made up my mind and I am 100% confident in my purchase so thanks a lot to everyone who has assisted me! vv

[Show spoiler]And I suppose I have plenty of time to look around a bit more to be sure I made the correct decision. vv