NFR First new TV in 15 years.... dang!

[Josh]

We've had the same TV for a long time. ~15 years as best as we can count. An old 43" Vizio LCD. It's chugged along, survived two toddlers and multiple pets. But was starting to get a little long in the tooth. Sometimes turning it on took a couple tries. The screen wasn't bright enough for our living room. And it couldn't interface with the nice Sonos soundbar I'd bought for it the other year.

But still, we put off spending money on replacing something that technically worked. And there's something cool about getting 15+ years out of something nobody expects to last that long. Plus, while my wife does watch Netflix/Hulu/etc in the evening and I will put the hawks game on sometimes, we mostly just consume content through our computers. But there have been some sales this month and we talked ourselves into a new TCL 65" TV. Reviews were good and the price was right.

And I gotta say... dang! 65" isn't even a huge TV these days. I know many of you probably have something bigger. But the screen quality improvement, the built in google operating system allowing apps without a Roku or AppleTV type external box, the seamless integration with my soundbar/sonos-system, the LACK OF THICK BEZELS. It's honestly pretty cool. I watched the Kraken game last night and even using apple TV to stream a rando sketchy website from my computer was very nice. Using ESPN+ to watch the Canucks game via the ESPN app was even more outstanding.

Anyway, seems like a good purchase. Looking forward to the Hawks game this weekend and I've got a few movies that I might actually sit down and watch now.

For anyone who cares, This is the model I got TCL 65" Q7 QLED 4K:



https://amzn.to/3S8pYTU

Amazon has a really good price right now ($635 from Amazon itself, $609 from a 3rd party seller, as I type this) and I see that Best Buy has the same. Costco has the also well reviewed last-year's version (R635) for a similar price.

 

[troutstalker]

Congrats! Looks like it has really good picture quality.

 

[Evan B]

You got it because of DK Metcalf didn't you

 

[Josh]

You got it because of DK Metcalf didn't you

He threw a penalty flag tantrum in my heart.

 

[Northern]

I'm in a similar boat with our older tv. Do these new models typically have bluetooth? It would be really nice to be able to use headphones

 

[Evan B]

Picked up new TVs for both living rooms last year and went to Video Only in person. Well, in-person certainly is an experience... one that'll make you spend more money.

Don't do a side-by-side with an OLED if you aren't ready to bust out your wallet. But ordering a QLED online? You'll be 100% happy with it and should probably go that route

At least I got a lot more credit card points out of it

 

[Josh]

I'm in a similar boat with our older tv. Do these new models typically have bluetooth? It would be really nice to be able to use headphones

In theory, yes. Here's the instructions from TCL for mine:

TCL | America’s Fastest Growing TV Brand

Already one of the World's best-selling TV brands, TCL (The Creative Life) is now one of the fastest growing consumer electronics brands in North America. Founded over 30 years ago, TCL prides itself on delivering more to consumers with high quality products featuring stylish design and the...

support.tcl.com

I haven't tried it yet. But I can test it out this evening.

 

[ffb]

TV's seem to be about the only thing that is recession proof. They keep getting bigger and cheaper. I keep waiting for my 60" 1080p VIZIO to die that I bought 10 years ago, but it is being stubborn. I have a newer 55" 4k TCL in my spare room that blows our main TV out of the water and it was their budget model. Mini-LED is getting up there with the OLEDs in picture, but cheaper and without the burn in risk.

 

[EB590]

Tvs are kind of like fly rods it's hard to buy a terrible one right now.

Buy yea, OLEDs are legit. I went from a Vizio 60 to an LG OLED 65 and there's a big difference.

The TCLs are great I have a couple.

 

[Wadin' Boot]

NHL is a show about men with mullets skating on a frozen wading pool while wearing costumes. Sometimes these men climb over a perimeter wall. Now and then they fight, while a net pen with no prisoners or fish is guarded by a person in a large Minecraft costume. Now, at least for the benefit of those with wonderful screen TVS, the NHL appears to have introduced what they call a "puck" to liven the whole spectacle up . The puck is a black disk of angry humors that seems to levitate of its own volition and travel at great speeds. The motives of the skaters actions are now a little clearer. They appear to chase this puck with terrific fervor, sometimes slapping at this thing with what can only be described as "ice canes." It appears the goal is to entice this puck into the netted prison. When the puck enters the prison the skaters often raise their "ice canes" in the air, emerge from an awkward hunched over stance, stand up almost straight, and show a gap-toothed smile. That smile is much appreciated in the crowds watching who appear to be mainly pale Canadians with similar dentition.

 

[krusty]

NHL is a show about men with mullets skating on a frozen wading pool while wearing costumes. Sometimes these men climb over a perimeter wall. Now and then they fight, while a net pen with no prisoners or fish is guarded by a person in a large Minecraft costume. Now, at least for the benefit of those with wonderful screen TVS, the NHL appears to have introduced what they call a "puck" to liven the whole spectacle up . The puck is a black disk of angry humors that seems to levitate of its own volition and travel at great speeds. The motives of the skaters actions are now a little clearer. They appear to chase this puck with terrific fervor, sometimes slapping at this thing with what can only be described as "ice canes." It appears the goal is to entice this puck into the netted prison. When the puck enters the prison the skaters often raise their "ice canes" in the air, emerge from an awkward hunched over stance, stand up almost straight, and show a gap-toothed smile. That smile is much appreciated in the crowds watching who appear to be mainly pale Canadians with similar dentition.

Can create much the same phenomena with a few cats and a laser pen.

 

[RCF]

NHL is a show about men with mullets skating on a frozen wading pool while wearing costumes. Sometimes these men climb over a perimeter wall. Now and then they fight, while a net pen with no prisoners or fish is guarded by a person in a large Minecraft costume. Now, at least for the benefit of those with wonderful screen TVS, the NHL appears to have introduced what they call a "puck" to liven the whole spectacle up . The puck is a black disk of angry humors that seems to levitate of its own volition and travel at great speeds. The motives of the skaters actions are now a little clearer. They appear to chase this puck with terrific fervor, sometimes slapping at this thing with what can only be described as "ice canes." It appears the goal is to entice this puck into the netted prison. When the puck enters the prison the skaters often raise their "ice canes" in the air, emerge from an awkward hunched over stance, stand up almost straight, and show a gap-toothed smile. That smile is much appreciated in the crowds watching who appear to be mainly pale Canadians with similar dentition.

Having fun with AI and posting a hockey related subject in a thread about TV's?

 

[Josh]

All sports are kinda dumb if you think about them too much or too seriously.

Like many of the most enjoyable parts of this world, they are meant to be lighthearted affairs. Things that you can care about with absolutely no consequence to your everyday life.

Especially on a nice new TV.

 

[Clean Willy]

Yeah just brought this home two days ago and WOW what a difference from our old Vizio. Small living room so no need for a 65". What I liked about the OLED was that it can be viewed at an angle with no loss of quality as we sometimes squeeze the whole fam into this small space and somebody (never me...) ends up sitting off to the side.

 

[iveofione]

I have a '23 model TCL 65'' that I bought on sale for $368! It is simply an astounding value and has an excellent picture despite being the 'budget' model. I watch a lot of classical music videos played through a Sony soundbar and couldn't ask for much more in terms of sound or visual quality.

In February I was visiting a friend in Vancouver that had a $3,000 TV with a $1,200 sound bar. In August he visited and was blown away by the quality of my budget setup, assuming that the TV alone was at least $1,000. I'm sure his is better but unless I could see them side by side I really can't tell the difference. I grew up with a 12'' black and white TV with a poor signal and lots of snow so I am probably less critical than someone obsessed by the latest electronic wizardly. Big, bold, bright and sharp works for me. TCL checks all the boxes at a very attractive price, they seem to have moved to the head of the class in the manufacture of affordable but high quality TV's.

 

[Wadin' Boot]

All sports are kinda dumb if you think about them too much or too seriously.

Like many of the most enjoyable parts of this world, they are meant to be lighthearted affairs. Things that you can care about with absolutely no consequence to your everyday life.

Especially on a nice new TV.

This is true. We had a black and white until 1982, man my brother and I would watch all kinds of sport on that thing, including hockey.

 

[krusty]

All sports are kinda dumb if you think about them too much or too seriously.

Like many of the most enjoyable parts of this world, they are meant to be lighthearted affairs. Things that you can care about with absolutely no consequence to your everyday life.

Especially on a nice new TV.

Completely agree, though I spent decades working around silly people who took 'their' teams' successes or failures to the extent it actually affected their emotional well-being.

And they'd get quite upset when they'd crow how "we won" and I'd respond "No, they won and you watched".

 

[SurfnFish]

the Hisense ULED's at Costco are excellent for the price, have their 55" models in the bedrooms. Very fast OS...

 

[RCF]

I feel so out of step with my 55" plasma TV. At the time it was state of the art and LCDs did not compare. Glad I waited.

 

[Wanative]

NHL is a show about men with mullets skating on a frozen wading pool while wearing costumes. Sometimes these men climb over a perimeter wall. Now and then they fight, while a net pen with no prisoners or fish is guarded by a person in a large Minecraft costume. Now, at least for the benefit of those with wonderful screen TVS, the NHL appears to have introduced what they call a "puck" to liven the whole spectacle up . The puck is a black disk of angry humors that seems to levitate of its own volition and travel at great speeds. The motives of the skaters actions are now a little clearer. They appear to chase this puck with terrific fervor, sometimes slapping at this thing with what can only be described as "ice canes." It appears the goal is to entice this puck into the netted prison. When the puck enters the prison the skaters often raise their "ice canes" in the air, emerge from an awkward hunched over stance, stand up almost straight, and show a gap-toothed smile. That smile is much appreciated in the crowds watching who appear to be mainly pale Canadians with similar dentition.

That's why I love NHL hockey.