Looking for the best television for me

LazarusLong

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Hello everyone,

Well, Im here because I want to but a new television and my local Walmart and Target only has old televisions, for some reason. They don’t sell TVs from this year, only TVs from 6 to 8 years ago. Anyone know why they sell such old TVs at Walmart, Best Buy and Target stores?

Anyway, these are the specs I’m looking for and maybe you can help me in my search for a great television for my price range :


-A 2021 to 2022 Television, no only televisions. I got burned twice by Walmart and Target buying old TVs , when I could buy a brand new tv made this year for the same price as the old tv’s.
-My price range : $250 to $300, but willing to go a little higher , like $340
- must have 4K ( and 8k if possible)
-High Dynamic Range
-Bluetooth ( so instead of using a remote control I can navigate my TV with a Bluetooth keyboard, which they actually make by the way, they are small but work very well, my friend has one. I just need a compatible television to go with it)
-3D television
-40” to 43”
-web browser built into the television
-Smart TV
-Gaming Engine( to enhance gaming experience, like with Vizio TVs.

This is quite a bit to ask for , so to narrow it down I mostly want the Bluetooth television, and 40” to 43” screen, and a built in Web browser.

What’s best by the way LED TV, Quantum Dot TV, PlasmaTV , Qled TV, etc.is there any type of TV I’m missing here? Which is generally considered the best in sound and picture quality. Not so much a fan of LED, but I will if it meets my specifications. Not a fan of LED because the LEDs tend to fade and die over time , so your entire screen just has black patches eventually.

So, anyway ...thank you all for your help,
LazarusLong
 
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True HDR TVs start at 48" and up and in the best of sales usually cost at least $1000. Having HDR on a cheaper, or smaller TV is actually a burden, not a boon. This is because they just don't have the means to display it problem free. Sadly, what's worse is there's often no way to disable it, so you get stuck with it even when it looks worse than the SDR version of the same content.

8k is a feature that starts on $2000 TVs usually, and is next to useless on small TVs. 4k is already useless, since you'd need to sit with eyeballs glued to the screen to notice a difference in detail.

3D era ended in 2014-15, no TVs come with 3D now.

Smart TV and game mode are pretty standard features on every TV now.

Web browser I think most models include one, or at least let you download one from the internet after you buy...there might be some obscure no-name branded TVs that don't have one. I also have never seen a browser on Roku TVs.

Bluetooth again you probably want to avoid Roku TVs but it's usually available on other brands.

There's only one type of TV sold at smaller sizes at the moment and that's LCD. LED, QLED etc are marketing and don't mean anything in practice.

My local Walmart and Target already have the new 2021 models on display. TVs follow a yearly release cycle and are released each summer. Upon release their prices are very high until around Black Friday/Holiday sales. Until that point its actually a good idea to try and find last years model at a discount, rather than pay more for this years model.

I haven't seen older models than 2019 in the shops. Some manufacturers carried 2019 lines into 2020 so there may be some of those kicking about, but there's nothing about them that's worse than this years crop!
 
Thanks for the excellent advice :)

As for Bluetooth, which is cool because you can just lie back on your bed and instead of having to use a remote control to navigate, which is annoying to me, they have miniature keyboards which help you move around your screen faster, especially if your tv has a browser. I recently brought one of those small televisions at Walmart ( A Phillips with a Roku built in the tv, it was terrible) Then I bought a Vizio at Walmart again, it’s a good tv but it’s 7 years old, I mean come on....they might as well say “buy this tv its as a million years old.” Buying a good television is a real hassle. My old one just fell slightly down screen forward and when I picked it up the screen was broken, the screens on LCDs must be much more delicate then I thought, because it fell like a feather, I didn’t smash it or anything, it just fell and “BOOM” I started crying because it was a decent Samsung tv. I couldn’t believe it broke so easily. Which brings me to another question that comes to mind, do you know any manufactures that have screens don’t break so easily? Or are they all pretty much the same? You know, just delicate and one must go easy not to tip it over.

I must just have bad luck or something. My local Walmart it’s a horrible store ( there is like stuff all over the floor, just a mess of a store. So I tried Target which was much cleaner looking and didn’t have things falling off the shelves.) The manager at my local Walmart must be some kind of idiot, I have never seen such a badly run store before.

From now on it’s probably best to get advice from people like you and then buy all the things I would like at an online store like Best Buy, Amazon, or Target. Or better yet does anyone know of a good place to buy televisions online? Like Newegg or B&H? Etc., Etc.?

Thanks again Dodgexander.

P.S. I’m willing to go up to the $300 to $350, possibly more if you can help me find one that has Bluetooth and all the specs I listed in my first post, as I mentioned in my original post. My price range of $250 to $300 is most likely too low for all the extras specs I mentioned. So if that gets me more out of my television let me know. Also feel free to post pictures of relevant televisions with specifications. That would be a massive help. I haven’t finished reading the rules yet, so if that’s agains policy here, just ignore what I said about pics and specs.
 
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I guess I’m just looking for a few recommendations, if anyone has any, it would be a big help to me. My price range now between $300 to $350.
If you can buy 2022 TVs in advance let me know. If not let me now Of all the 2021 TVs you can think of in my price range and has at least most of my specifications listed in my first thread.

Thanks
 
2022 TVs won't be out until May-June next year, we've only just had the 2021 models come out, and most of those are still expensive.

I'd consider in your shoes picking up a Samsung or LG like the Samsung 43AU8000 or 43UP7560 if you want the newest models. They will be on the expensive side currently so expect to pay between 50-100 more now than to wait for Black Friday sales.

To potentially save money on a 2020 model, replace AU with TU for Samsung, and UP with UN for LG.

Samsung have better picture quality in dark conditions, and viewing only directly in front of the TV.
LG are better for viewing from a variety of positions, and viewing with lights on, or during the day.

You really won't want to go lower than the models I've suggested in price or you start to lose features on your list. For example; the cheaper LG 43UP7000 does not have Bluetooth.
 
Awesome !thanks Dodgexander.

My previous tv broke just recently, going mad from lack of tv ( literally withdrawal symptoms from lack of the tv, no joke. I felt all weird, was extremely bored, even a little discombobulated. So that’s why I went so fast to buy a tv, any tv, but by doing so it I ended up with horrible televisions.

On Black Friday do you think I could get a good deal on the TVs you mentioned? Like 50% off? Or any tv for that matter? Is that true what you said about 2022 televisions not coming out until next year around May/June?

Best
 
Not sure it will be as much as 50% but TVs that sell for 500 now may get reduced to 300 or even less come the sales.
You can see last years deals here:

Target had TVs down to 250, although you may end up going for the model up from those if you wan Bluetooth this year.

Good thing is the deals tend to be posted earlier than the day itself, gives you time to compare in time for when the price drops happen.

Yes TV's are released on a yearly cycle each year, usually around May-June. So 2022 models won't be out until then.

Don't be tricked by Vizio btw, they are known to sell TVs as next years models when in fact they are this years.
 
Sorry I didn’t get back to you sooner, I just wanted to thank you Dodgexander. You educated me so much, at least now I know what to look for. I mean jeeez, there are soooooo many TVs and it’s hard finding the right one for me, don’t know if you can relate , but it can be a pain when you got a life and you keep getting bad TVs or just really old TVs(one of mine, the Vizio, was broken , had pixels that where dying, I’ve got good vision and they turned green the dots/pixels , whatever, lol, and are about to go black and die, and once that starts I was told it’s like dominos it’s like one pixel after another they start to die and before you know it you have patches of black on your screen. The other TV I got was a Phillips and was so terrible I returned it, it was one of those really small TVs. Not to mention the TVs I bought were six to seven years old, it was unbelievable. I assumed they may be a little old, but not from like the early 2000s . Why do they keep TVs that are so old and sell them to unsuspecting customers like me? Must be a capitalist trick to make more money, like a bait and switch or something? I bought mine from the store of Walmart, not the website, but at my cruddy neighborhood Walmart ,lol, and they were both really old like that.

Anyway I really appreciate you taking your good time and going out of your way for me like that. I think I’m going to buy online, despite the possibility of it being broken in transit. Do they pack those boxes good enough for shipping do you know? Or could they do better?

Do you , or anyone, had trouble buying TVs online...like have you gotten broken ones in the mail? Because I know for a fact( I used to work at UPS) that they just throw the TVs around like they are a baseball or something, it’s no wonder your TV would break in transit. Or maybe you guys and gals got lucking buying TVs online and/ or offline , which would be my dream not to have something go wrong a third time. Your awesome man, thanks again. Returning my badly broken pixel ( dots ) back to Walmart tomorrow. This time I’m going to my farther away Target and Best Buy and if I cant find anything you recommended, I’ll probably end up buying online. Fingers crossed.

Best
 
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Oh, I almost forgot what did you mean by “replace AU with TU for Samsung, and UP with UN for LG.” What’s AU and TU mean? I probably know what it means but I just can’t think what AU and TU means at the moment. I think you mean the money translation rate right?
 
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Oh, I almost forgot what did you mean by “replace AU with TU for Samsung, and UP with UN for LG.” What’s AU and TU mean? I probably know what it means but I just can’t think what AU and TU means at the moment. I think you mean the money translation rate right?
The letter is the release year so AU is 2021 and TU is 2020.
For LG UP is 2021 and UN 2020.

Regarding delivery I've seen some horror stories of deliveries from all places, luckily for me the company Best Buy chose to deliver to me locally (Central Michigan) seemed very good. If you end up with one damaged in transit you'll certainly know about it straight away, so it will be on them to fix the problem for you.

Probably depends on your local contracted haulage company used, with smaller TVs its generally not as much of a worry because they weigh so little. I have to say I had my heart in my mouth when I saw the delivery guy carry my 65" to my door on his shoulder...accidents do happen I guess!

One thing you could perhaps do is store pickup, if you're worried about delivery? Small TVs should easily fit in even smaller cars with the seats put down.. only thing is you need to transport them standing up, its not a good idea to go over bumps with TVs laid down, especially front down.

Regarding that old Philips, there are a lot of manufacturers that don't really have the same ventures now to in the past. The Philips of years back is not the same as Philips today, and generally they neglect the American market. When you buy a TV like that now, you are just buying a TV made by someone else with a Philips bad on top..
Sometimes with low end TVs they aren't refreshed every year, but you have to go for the very very cheap ones to see those kind of models.

Its worth spending a bit of extra money to avoid those cheap cheap TVs.

Happy to help, and good luck with your next TV, sounds like you deserve to finally get a good-un!
 
Forgot to mention this by the way, I have seen this TV all over the internet whenever I search for TVs that fit my criteria, but since you seem like an engineer or a very , very tech savvy person, I wanted your thoughts on it. Think it may be worth it? It seems to be what I’m looking for and it’s in my price range ( $250 to $500 ). But I’m hesitant because the TV seems to find me instead of me finding the TV. Almost like there is some computer algorithm that wants to trick me in another bait and switch. Of course maybe I just found the right tv for me...or not. In any case your really intelligent about this stuff and I could use your opinion.

Truth be told besides the televisions you mentioned it’s hard to find TVs with Bluetooth. At least this one is cheap , but caveat emptor. But the reviews on Amazon.com seem good.

Toshiba 43LF421U21 43-inch Smart HD 1080p TV - Fire TV, Released 2020​


Of course Toshiba isn’t on the Top 3 TVs like Samsung is. I think the Top 3 televisions are Sony , Samsung and I forgot the third.

Thanks again and Best to you. That all. I’m going shopping tomorrow to Target and Best Buy, but. Where I live they are very small stores, they are not the Mega-Walmart’s, Mega-Targets or the Mega Best-Buy’s, they are just the regular ones. Man, my luck stinks. I bet your Best Buy is a Mega-Best Buy, which have considerably more televisions. Mine are really small and so messy. Anyway that’s all for now. I’ll let you know how things go and I will check back in to see if you think the tv I meantioned above is any good.
 
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This Forum is predominantly aimed at the UK and European consumers. The stores you quote do not exist here.
 
AVSforum.com is the US equivalent site :)
 
This Forum is predominantly aimed at the UK and European consumers. The stores you quote do not exist here.
AVSforum.com is the US equivalent site :)
I think Steve wants the forum to be worldwide, so we're not supposed to refer people to AVS.

@LazarusLong I'm not sure who owns the Toshiba badge in the US, but they don't make their own TVs any more. This is just another TV like the Philips you had that has a Toshiba badge on the front, but isn't the same quality as the TVs they made 10 years ago when they still were running their TV business.

Sadly this rebadge thing has got a bit out of control, similar to cars business will buy a 'badge' instead of a business and sell their TVs under that badge. More than likely this Toshiba is Hisense made, and probably even worse than their own TVs.

If you don't want to go for Samsung/LG then Hisense TVs are also decent, I don't think their smart TV isn't up to the same level as Samsung and LG, but they certainly fulfill your requirements otherwise. Just make sure you check the specs before you buy because some of the very cheapest sets don't have Bluetooth built in. Because of this you'll probably need to spend a bit more to tick all the boxes you want.
 
Ok thanks a lot. I appreciate everything you all have done for me here. I’ll try a US site from this day forward , but I got all the help I need here anyway so thanks.

AVSForum looks ok , seems a bit more technical though, but I’m sure I can find a American site fitted to my needs with a quick google search. Even though this isn’t American it’s still an awesome site just so you know.

A special thanks go out to Dodgexander for all your help.

Take care
 
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Am I alone in thinking we may have been victim to a clever and entertaining send-up? 🤔
 
Am I alone in thinking we may have been victim to a clever and entertaining send-up? 🤔
No, not at all. We, as mods have been told to remove posts sending people to AVS, this after all is a rival community/business. The idea from the top up is we want to attract as many people here as we can, and if that includes Americans from AVS then the more the merrier!
 

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