Help needed to pick a TV replacement

BFlynn

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When we bought our first house, my best friend (who I got ALL my tech recommendations from), helped my wife surprise me with a new (one of the last) Plasma TVs.
It was a Samsung PN60F5800.

I loved the TV. I have always been a big plasma fan. I found calibration settings online, set it once, and it was great. The biggest difference I noticed between that and other sets, was watching sports.

My buddy passed away a few years ago, so now I need help on a new TV recommendation.

We just moved and the moving company busted my plasma tv. Apparently, they took the metal stand off, threw it in the box with the tv, and during transport, it shattered the screen. My wife is beside herself, because this was a gift.

I'm not really a tech guy, but I know enough to listen to folks that are smarter than I am about these things.

I also know that with my plasma, during the last season of Game of Thrones, there were a couple of episodes that I thought looked amazing and general consensus was "That was shot so dark I couldn't see it on my tv".

My limited understanding is that OLED technology is the closest thing to plasma as it has the darkest blacks. Am I off there?

General requirements are
  • best picture possible
  • no motion blur watching sports
  • dark blacks so Star Wars looks good.
Price range is $1500-$2500. If a little more money gets a LOT more tv, then that's fine, but I generally stop spending at when I get to the point of diminishing returns.

Thanks in advance for your help, and insight.
 
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LG CX 65 inch but maybe a little over or the 55 inch LG C1 is the newer tv.
 
Thanks. The 2 that keep coming up when I read are the:

LG OLED65CXPUA and Sony A8H.


Not sure I understand the differences.... not sure that I need to. The Sony has gotten good reviews but is 60hz and the LG is 120hz. Im assuming more hz is better. I know my plasma was 600hz. :(
 
Thanks. The 2 that keep coming up when I read are the:

LG OLED65CXPUA and Sony A8H.


Not sure I understand the differences.... not sure that I need to. The Sony has gotten good reviews but is 60hz and the LG is 120hz. Im assuming more hz is better. I know my plasma was 600hz. :(
Pretty sure the A8 will be 120hz, given that it is a OLED and all OLED panels are made by LG.

Generally, I would aim for 65” if you can. @Dodgexander has some great guides on here, best buys as it were, and useful to read through; top tier models are what I would focus on.

The CX is well regarded on here and good price, being a 2020 tv; I have the AG9 which I think is very good, but prob a bit overkill unless you really value the decent built in sound.

Given watching sports is important, I would lean toward Sony myself; but I am a bit biased.
 
Certainly an OLED is the more natural transition from a Plasma, I mean LCD TVs today are still LCD TVs like they were when your buddy recommended your plasma back in the day. Yes technology improves, but the pros and cons are still the same.

Sorry to hear about your friend by the way. RIP.

In terms of which OLED to go for, definitely look at last years 2020 stock like the LG CX or Sony A8 rather than this years stock which has just been released and will be overpriced (LG C1, Sony A80J).

Refresh rates can be misleading, the Sony A8 is certainly not 60hz, but 120hz. All OLED TVs are using the same panel manufactured by LG, so even if it has a Sony badge on the TV, the panel itself is the same. Differences therefore are slight and come in the form of picture processing, features, aesthetics, sound, smart TV and connectivity.

Your Plasma TV also wouldn't have been 600hz. This would be the figure for the backlght drive, and not the actual refresh rate of the TV.

There is a disadvantage to OLED and LCD TV motion compared to Plasma, so it may well take some getting used to. Since they are sample and hold displays they stutter a lot more than Plasma TVs do.

Certainly in terms of motion the Sony A8 will have the edge over the CX. It does shadow detail and upscaling a little better too which is a good reason to favor it for sport over the CX.

On the other hand LG use the best smart system, and have HDMI ports that are V2.1 instead of V2.0 so the LG is a bit more future proof in that respect. If you aren't a gamer though, HDMI version doesn't really matter.

Sadly buying a new TV isn't always what you expect it to be, you do take some steps back to take some steps forward, so its fair to expect some things to look better on your old TV than the new one. This is especially true when watching things like broadcast TV which are quite out of date today. (in the USA 720p is still used for most sport).

A 4k TV also has 4x the pixels of older HD TVs, so more upscaling is required that will make the picture worse if the source quality isn't up to scratch.

They will however more than make up for it when you use the TV to access modern, high quality sources such as UHD and HDR. Typically this means people who buy new TVs tend to veer away from their previous use, using less broadcast TV and more streaming/high quality formats where their new TVs shine.
 
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Certainly an OLED is the more natural transition from a Plasma, I mean LCD TVs today are still LCD TVs like they were when your buddy recommended your plasma back in the day. Yes technology improves, but the pros and cons are still the same.

Sorry to hear about your friend by the way. RIP.

In terms of which OLED to go for, definitely look at last years 2020 stock like the LG CX or Sony A8 rather than this years stock which has just been released and will be overpriced (LG C1, Sony A80J).

Refresh rates can be misleading, the Sony A8 is certainly not 60hz, but 120hz. All OLED TVs are using the same panel manufactured by LG, so even if it has a Sony badge on the TV, the panel itself is the same. Differences therefore are slight and come in the form of picture processing, features, aesthetics, sound, smart TV and connectivity.

Your Plasma TV also wouldn't have been 600hz. This would be the figure for the backlght drive, and not the actual refresh rate of the TV.

There is a disadvantage to OLED and LCD TV motion compared to Plasma, so it may well take some getting used to. Since they are sample and hold displays they stutter a lot more than Plasma TVs do.

Certainly in terms of motion the Sony A8 will have the edge over the CX. It does shadow detail and upscaling a little better too which is a good reason to favor it for sport over the CX.

On the other hand LG use the best smart system, and have HDMI ports that are V2.1 instead of V2.0 so the LG is a bit more future proof in that respect. If you aren't a gamer though, HDMI version doesn't really matter.

Sadly buying a new TV isn't always what you expect it to be, you do take some steps back to take some steps forward, so its fair to expect some things to look better on your old TV than the new one. This is especially true when watching things like broadcast TV which are quite out of date today. (in the USA 720p is still used for most sport).

A 4k TV also has 4x the pixels of older HD TVs, so more upscaling is required that will make the picture worse if the source quality isn't up to scratch.

They will however more than make up for it when you use the TV to access modern, high quality sources such as UHD and HDR. Typically this means people who buy new TVs tend to veer away from their previous use, using less broadcast TV and more streaming/high quality formats where their new TVs shine.
Appreciate all the info! And y'all taking the time to respond

In my soul, future proofing isn't as important as backwards compatibility.

We looked at the Sony A8, Lg CX and Gx today.

The GX WAS super thin but the store guy said it could ONLY by wall mounted. I think we'll wall mount the TV, but my wife wants the option to not wall mount it.

I think we're going to go with the Sony.

I'll search the forum, but i hope there are recommended calibration settings.

I used to use plasmatvbuyingguide.com for my calibration settings, and they always were spot on. But I don't think that site has been updated since 2014
 
Recommended settings are somewhat a thing of the past, out of the box accuracy is very good on all the TVs you are considering, so its really just a matter of choosing the correct preset.

Motion settings are a personal thing, and there's no correct setting. So you should have a play with them and see what you like best.

Copying advance settings from a different TV could result in the picture being worse. Things have moved on (luckily!) from the days of where people would key in every setting from another calibrated TV!
 
Recommended settings are somewhat a thing of the past, out of the box accuracy is very good on all the TVs you are considering, so its really just a matter of choosing the correct preset.

Motion settings are a personal thing, and there's no correct setting. So you should have a play with them and see what you like best.

Copying advance settings from a different TV could result in the picture being worse. Things have moved on (luckily!) from the days of where people would key in every setting from another calibrated TV!
Thanks! That's easy enough.

I have no useful AV type wisdom I can really share.... but if anyone needs BBQ tips, hit me up.
 
Certainly an OLED is the more natural transition from a Plasma, I mean LCD TVs today are still LCD TVs like they were when your buddy recommended your plasma back in the day. Yes technology improves, but the pros and cons are still the same.

Sorry to hear about your friend by the way. RIP.

In terms of which OLED to go for, definitely look at last years 2020 stock like the LG CX or Sony A8 rather than this years stock which has just been released and will be overpriced (LG C1, Sony A80J).

Refresh rates can be misleading, the Sony A8 is certainly not 60hz, but 120hz. All OLED TVs are using the same panel manufactured by LG, so even if it has a Sony badge on the TV, the panel itself is the same. Differences therefore are slight and come in the form of picture processing, features, aesthetics, sound, smart TV and connectivity.

Your Plasma TV also wouldn't have been 600hz. This would be the figure for the backlght drive, and not the actual refresh rate of the TV.

There is a disadvantage to OLED and LCD TV motion compared to Plasma, so it may well take some getting used to. Since they are sample and hold displays they stutter a lot more than Plasma TVs do.

Certainly in terms of motion the Sony A8 will have the edge over the CX. It does shadow detail and upscaling a little better too which is a good reason to favor it for sport over the CX.

On the other hand LG use the best smart system, and have HDMI ports that are V2.1 instead of V2.0 so the LG is a bit more future proof in that respect. If you aren't a gamer though, HDMI version doesn't really matter.

Sadly buying a new TV isn't always what you expect it to be, you do take some steps back to take some steps forward, so its fair to expect some things to look better on your old TV than the new one. This is especially true when watching things like broadcast TV which are quite out of date today. (in the USA 720p is still used for most sport).

A 4k TV also has 4x the pixels of older HD TVs, so more upscaling is required that will make the picture worse if the source quality isn't up to scratch.

They will however more than make up for it when you use the TV to access modern, high quality sources such as UHD and HDR. Typically this means people who buy new TVs tend to veer away from their previous use, using less broadcast TV and more streaming/high quality formats where their new TVs shine.
The 4x resolution / upscaling issues make sense. We've cut the cord, so all of our inputs are digital streaming......

until I hook up the VCR and watch versions of Star Wars and Indiana Jones that we taped off network tv in the 80s.

Is there any value in parting out this old PN60F5800? I'm happy to donate parts to anyone that needs them to keep their plasma ticking.
 
Is there any value in parting out this old PN60F5800? I'm happy to donate parts to anyone that needs them to keep their plasma ticking.
There might be. I've seen listings on eBay where people have dissembled each part (power supply, T-Con Board, Mainboard, Power Board and panel and sold them on separately.
 
I mean, I'd just give them away, if anyone here could use them. Is there an appropriate place to post?
 
Avsforum.com would be your best bet if in the US.
Most posters here are in the U.K. or Europe
 

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