Best Value in Smart TV's 2016/2017

jeepinmatt

jeepinmatt

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I feel like there's a fairly recent thread on this but I can't find it. My parents are ready to replace their 40" Sony LCD with something newer. Looking in the 40-47" range (not sure if they make 44", but that would be perfect for their room). They don't have young, sharp eyes, so don't need the latest and greatest, but something reasonably future proof would be good. What are the buzzwords these days? Target price is probably $500-700, though cheaper is better, but they're willing to spend a little more if it's worth it. Current sales are a plus, as they will likely buy in the next couple of days.
 
Probably Vizio E50-D1

Be careful with the E-series Vizios, though. They're all different. The E-65u-D3 is the same as the 50, and can be had for $850.
 
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LG's EULA is ... uh... excessive. You might be able to opt out and use a Fire or Roku instead.

Also, no sense in buying a 4k set in anything that small. Aside from the content availability question, your eye won't be able to distinguish the difference.

I wouldn't expect a great picture out of any of those linked, though.
 
GubNi said:
Get a dumb TV and a roku. Eventually they will stop making updates for the smart function of your TV and then it will become a dumb TV.
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This is an excellent point. The built-in Pandora function on our receiver keeps crapping out because of updates to Pandora's software. Then you have to wait for the manufacturer to issue updated firmware to fix the issue.
 
GubNi said:
Get a dumb TV and a roku. Eventually they will stop making updates for the smart function of your TV and then it will become a dumb TV.
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Bingo. Don't worry about the "smartness" of the TV aside from basic cabling inputs/outputs etc. You'll be way more "future proof" using an external device like a Roku than any built-in "smart" stuff on the TV.
 
This is for my parents. They have enough difficulty with 1 remote. With their current setup of a TV, DirecTV box, Bluray player, surround sound, and chromecast, they never use the chromecast, only have surround sound but no TV speakers, and have to call me every time they want to watch a movie. Consolidating as much as possible is of tremendous value, even if it craps out in 3-5 years.
 
jeepinmatt said:
This is for my parents. They have enough difficulty with 1 remote. With their current setup of a TV, DirecTV box, Bluray player, surround sound, and chromecast, they never use the chromecast, only have surround sound but no TV speakers, and have to call me every time they want to watch a movie. Consolidating as much as possible is of tremendous value, even if it craps out in 3-5 years.
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Thats actually why I'd suggest using a Roku or something else as the central "brain" of the thing.
The problem is you're never going to find a TV that really includes all possible apps/services etc is a way that is easy to access everything AND remains that way as things change. Even if you can now, as mention in 3 years it's pretty much guaranteed to not be future-proof or even supported later.
The conflict comes in w/ too many devices wanting to be the "smarts" of the system. Better to let one really smart box do it all.
I don't know if Roku is the most comprehensive these days, may be something better, but I know we do 95% of our watching through it. We even watch live TV through it via USTVNow. All the other things connected to our TV are for extras like a PC, old Wii, Xbox, etc.
If the concern is too many remotes, just get a good universal remote like a Harmony. The programming is super easy and you can make any key do anything so if there's just some subset of buttons they want to use, just set those. I must say when we first got our Roku I was baffled by the fact that the Roku remote only has like 4 buttons total (plus directionals) but really that's all you need. Nice and simple.

The other option would be to just get a Xbox and a subscription to Playstation Live...
 
I'd stay away from the smart tvs as the cards in all of them suck and a media player or blue ray player can be had for cheap. I am fond of LG tvs but that's just an opinion.
 
 
jeepinmatt said:
Consolidating as much as possible is of tremendous value, even if it craps out in 3-5 years.
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Then expect a phone call every time the Netflix app quits working for a week at a time, or the firmware update fails, etc.
 
shawn said:
The vizeo is not a television. It's a monitor.
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Just a note on this - the "TV" in our bedroom is a monitor with a Roku stick in it.

These days literally the only difference between a television and a monitor is that TVs have a lot more inputs, and only some monitors have built in speakers.
 
RatLabGuy said:
These days literally the only difference between a television and a monitor is that TVs have a lot more inputs, and only some monitors have built in speakers.
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No, I meant that TVs have TV tuners for receiving and decoding television signals. Monitors do not.
 
Samsung smart tv. I've had 3 vizio and 5 Samsung between me and my immediate family. There's no comparison in picture quality between the two.
 
DSM Turbos said:
Last time I remember Kodi had issues with me being in the US. I'll have to try it again.
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Don't know about Kodi, but the Roku app doesn't seem to care.

There are plenty of other plugins on Kodi to get live TV, you don't need USTVNow...
 
CarolinaHD said:
I've had 3 vizio and 5 Samsung between me and my immediate family. There's no comparison in picture quality between the two.
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This. Samsung picture quality is shit.
 
Yeah I'm not sure why some are i love with Samsung. Everything but their highest end product is pretty weak.

Still rocking 5 Panasonic Plasmas.....my next purchase will be an O-LED unless a new technology comes out.
 
Ron said:
Still rocking 5 Panasonic Plasmas.....my next purchase will be an O-LED unless a new technology comes out.
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Still happy w/ the 5 year old Panny plasma sitting in the LR as our everyday TV.
 
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