melvin1313
Novice Member
The answer to that question is almost always a resounding yes, especially if you ask my better half, but in this instance I need advice from people more knowledgeable than myself. Late Sunday I found myself in need of a new TV set ASAP. I don't have the budget that a lot of people who frequent an audio/video forum might have, TVs in my house have a very short lifespan. My wife has medical issues that leave her in pain pretty much all the time so she is forced to watch more TV than probably the average American and her frustration with her condition leaves her quick tempered, so remotes have a tendency to turn into screen smashing projectiles. So between the fact that I replace TVs every year or two and her medical bills are pretty crippling on their own I cannot justify spending a ton on a TV.
Sunday turned out to be the demise of my latest set, it was a 58" Samsung that was a Walmart special and dirt cheap, around $400. My wife was not going to wait for a TV to be delivered and I had about an hour before Best Buy closed so I had to come up with something quick. I really liked the fit of the 58" in our family room, but with it being the tail end of Black Friday weekend, pretty much everything cheap was sold out and there wasn't another 58" in stock anywhere nearby. I didn't want to go down to 55" so I decided to up the budget and go with a 65". With limited time to do research I narrowed it down to a Vizio M series (7) Quantum and a TCL 5 series as they both seemed to be the most highly recommended for my price range. I headed to Best Buy, both looked fantastic on display, but the Vizio was on sale for about 50 dollars less so I went with that (m65q7-h1).
Now to my problem, I know I bought a low end TV and can't expect cinema quality but compared to the even lower end TV I replaced, the picture seems considerably worse. I know on a larger screen any imperfections will be magnified but I don't feel like 58" to 65" is such a huge jump to make such a big difference, but maybe I am wrong. The biggest issue I see in in the darks and shadows. If someone in a scene is wearing a dark shirt it is grainy an blocky (technical term) to the point that it is distracting from the rest of the picture. If the scene is outdoors or brightly lit the picture is crystal clear, at least to a prole like myself. Last night we were watching Breaking Bad on Netflix and my wife and I both had a hard time watching due to the picture quality. I know a standard Netflix account is not going to be the best source but we never noticed anything watching the same show from the same source on the Samsung. I have looked up recommendations on the settings and played with all kinds of combinations and nothing seems to help, whereas with the Samsung, once I figured out what soap opera mode was and turned it off I never had to adjust anything.
I know Samsung's reputation for TVs isn't what it used to be, but I am wondering if I made a mistake going to 65" or if I should have bought a different brand or model or I am just missing something I need to do to fix it. I know I was ready to return the Samsung until I figured out the motion enhancement soap opera thing and turned that off, I thought it was awful until that, so I am hoping there is something similar in this scenario.
Any and all help or advice is appreciated! Thanks!
Sunday turned out to be the demise of my latest set, it was a 58" Samsung that was a Walmart special and dirt cheap, around $400. My wife was not going to wait for a TV to be delivered and I had about an hour before Best Buy closed so I had to come up with something quick. I really liked the fit of the 58" in our family room, but with it being the tail end of Black Friday weekend, pretty much everything cheap was sold out and there wasn't another 58" in stock anywhere nearby. I didn't want to go down to 55" so I decided to up the budget and go with a 65". With limited time to do research I narrowed it down to a Vizio M series (7) Quantum and a TCL 5 series as they both seemed to be the most highly recommended for my price range. I headed to Best Buy, both looked fantastic on display, but the Vizio was on sale for about 50 dollars less so I went with that (m65q7-h1).
Now to my problem, I know I bought a low end TV and can't expect cinema quality but compared to the even lower end TV I replaced, the picture seems considerably worse. I know on a larger screen any imperfections will be magnified but I don't feel like 58" to 65" is such a huge jump to make such a big difference, but maybe I am wrong. The biggest issue I see in in the darks and shadows. If someone in a scene is wearing a dark shirt it is grainy an blocky (technical term) to the point that it is distracting from the rest of the picture. If the scene is outdoors or brightly lit the picture is crystal clear, at least to a prole like myself. Last night we were watching Breaking Bad on Netflix and my wife and I both had a hard time watching due to the picture quality. I know a standard Netflix account is not going to be the best source but we never noticed anything watching the same show from the same source on the Samsung. I have looked up recommendations on the settings and played with all kinds of combinations and nothing seems to help, whereas with the Samsung, once I figured out what soap opera mode was and turned it off I never had to adjust anything.
I know Samsung's reputation for TVs isn't what it used to be, but I am wondering if I made a mistake going to 65" or if I should have bought a different brand or model or I am just missing something I need to do to fix it. I know I was ready to return the Samsung until I figured out the motion enhancement soap opera thing and turned that off, I thought it was awful until that, so I am hoping there is something similar in this scenario.
Any and all help or advice is appreciated! Thanks!