The left part of the screen of my parent’s Samsung TV have seriously blackened recently, so they are thinking of buying a new TV. We probably bought this like 6 years ago maybe, but I absolutely do NOT want to buy a Samsung again (6 years is just planned obsolescence reliability + their OS didn’t let me remove the bloatware in any way or shape of form)
Which brand has been the most reliable for you, and also have you been able to remove the bloatware from your TV via dev mode or with a different method?
Instead of a specific brand, I looked at what open box / display models the local places had available. I ended up with a Samsung model that was marked 70% off MSRP.
The operating system is probably not great but it’s connected to a Nvidia Shield so I’ve never interacted with the OS beyond the initial setup.
I’d say this kind of decision has more to do with the user interface being easily navigable for your parents and what their technical proficiency is rather than trying to pick a television that might last a decade or more.
Oh that’s a great tactic. How easy do you find open box TVs in local shops?
A few of the larger electronics retailers here have open box sections on their websites. I called several smaller ones, but due to their size they either didn’t have model units at all or only had one or two. One place I went to found they had some returned televisions in the back that they’d never put back on the sales floor, but being effectively brand new they only offered a ten percent reduction.
The website listings were ideal because as made it less arduous to compare specifications. In my case I was rather particular about certain technical details, so it might be simpler for someone that cares less about colour uniformity or input lag for example.
That said, I’ve now remembered that once I’d narrowed it down from a couple dozen options to three televisions, the deciding factor was nothing technical but instead it was the only user interface factor that I do see: it turns on and off with an animation reminiscent of old tube television. I’m not looking forward to replacing it because I find this power on visual so funny with a modern screen.
It might be handy for you to check out rtings accelerated longevity tests and see if you can find those models at a discount. I make use of their tests pretty often.
Just don’t buy OLED and it won’t darken, if you buy OLED get ready to replace the extensive TV every 5 years no matter what brand you buy.
As for removing bloatware I have no idea since my TV is from around 2010 and I only use it connected to the computer, but you can always just get a raspberry pi and install kodi on it and use the TV as a normal dumb TV. It’s also good for your privacy.
Sounds like the OP has a backlight failure though? That’s a non oled failure.
I just buy the cheapest piece of garbage possible and expect to replace it every couple of years. I hate the implications for the environment, but in many product categories it is a fools errand to try to buy quality.
Not sure it’s what you’re looking for but we use a computer screen to watch stuff (DVD and, back when we subscribed to those, streaming services). To be clear, we don’t have a tv and have not had any for over 25 years as we don’t watch TV (but we probably could watch it on the computer screen if we wanted to by hooking some USB converter thingy to it; sorry I’m really not an expert in those questions).
Our last screen (from Dell) lasted 18 years before we had to replace it… The ‘new’ one, unsurprisingly, is also from Dell but I don’t expect it to last as long, if we get 10 years out of it we will consider this good enough.
Not sure it’s what you’re looking for but we use a computer screen to watch stuff
While I agree, options for very large computer monitors are quite limited. If you’re using a large room, you’re going to have a hard time finding a computer monitor that’s as large as television displays.
You can use a projector, but that has its own set of drawbacks, like fan noise and limited brightness and contrast, which one typically mitigates by keeping the room darker. Those may or may not matter to you. Flip side is that you can enjoy a very large display area with a projector, if you want.
Unfortunately, I think we’re trapped in planned obsolescence. I’ve been taking the approach of looking at cost as a primary driver.
The difference between a crappy 4K tv and a quality 4K tv is hard for me to distinguish in most cases. Especially, if they’re not side by side.
Let’s say I set my max price at $550.
You can find a cheap brand Onn or TCL in a 70” range size. If you go smaller you’ll likely find “better” brands.
I don’t think there’s much that makes one brand better than others. 5-7 years is probably max life of anything you’ll buy today. Unless you’re willing to open it up and start trying to find the bad capacitors and re solder to the board.
Rule #1. The tv never connects to internet Rule #2. Rule #1 never gets broken Rule #3. Use another device to play signal (fire stick, Apple TV, cable box, Xbox, PlayStation, pc, etc) Rule #4. Use a sound system not the tv speakers. Go big with surround systems or don’t. Anything is better than tv speakers. I’ve used a 2.1 setup for decades. A soundbar with sub is simple to setup and use.
I’ve heard Roku is one to potential avoid now as I’ve heard they may require Internet connection on setup of some new tvs.
A good tv has an acceptable picture, size, and plays a video source.
It’s important to consider whether a tv is even desirable anymore. Everyone has their own personal devices to stream, gaming systems have monitors, etc: I rarely use the big screen anymore. If I needed to replace it, I’d give serious consideration to NOT
I bought an LG in 2014 and it lasted ~10 years before the backlight died. I bought a new LG that has a bunch of smart features but I’ve never connected it to the Internet, and it’s largely stayed out of my way and not been annoying.
So I guess LG has been good for me.
And what’s your experience with the newer LG TV? Can you delete it’s bloatware apps?
I don’t think it has any apps by default, or if it did I removed them. I just plugged in an Android TV and that seems to be working just fine.
But the TV itself isn’t connected to the Internet and it doesn’t bug me to connect and the default is just a nice background image without pestering me.
Panasonic. Bought current Panasonic TV a few years ago based on the strength of our previous one. Brilliant picture quality on both. Never connected to the interpipes
And what is your experience with default bloatware apps? Can you remove them?
Unfortunately, Panasonic stopped selling TVs in the US.
Panasonic dumb plasma is going on 14 years. We’re hopeful we can get about 6-10 out of it.
Oh yeah we have a Panasonic plasma TV as well, and it still works. That’s a beast for sure
Somehow I’ve had the same Vizio for over 10 years now. Still works great.
I basically never hear anything about Vizio. Is this an USA only thing?
Maybe? Not sure. I’m in the USA and we have em.
I just replaced my ten year old Vizio …… with a Vizio. The old one still works great but I wanted the new features. I upgraded to OLED, higher resolution, higher refresh rate, better automation: 10 years worth of incremental improvements. Even the apps were still reasonably responsive.
I used to care about reliability. I used to care about specs, but a dominating criteria now is how annoying the ads and and surveillance are. I don’t use the apps, but There’s not really any way to get away from it.
I have an old Firestick that i stream from, so it’ll be a much better experience when I find something less shitty to replace that
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The screens Sony uses are Samsung or LG but just against a premium price.
My Samsung dumb TV is still going strong after about 10 years but the slightly newer “smart” TV is already looking dodgy and I hate the software on it.
No idea, but my 15 year old Sony seems to be hanging on just fine.
LG has been great but protip - don’t use the built in “smart” features as they seem to get outdated faster than the panel. Get an external device such as an Nvidia Shield, Google TV, Apple TV.
LG, my grandma’s LG Flatscreen CRT is older than me, it is about 23 years old, works like a charm, very loud stereo speakers, ports and all important buttons in the front easily accessible, usable even without the remote thanks to the front buttons all clearly labelled
That’s CRT though, not exactly the same as new flat screens. CRT were all much more reliable.
Also brands are hard to decide since so many of them design shit to fail now. There is a Samsung washer that used two types of metals in the drum, metals that when touching dissolve each other basically, galvanic corrosion. It was literally designed to break prematurely.
None, go by a decent monitor as big as you can and use that instead, or a decent LED projector if you’re so inclined (going that way myself, since my lamp projector ate the last bulb I bought). Actual TVs are trash and just awful to use.
