Checklist for buying a television

[3rdeye]

I'm in the market for a new TV. I've tried to educate myself, however it's a challenging task.

Is there a good resource that outlines features, specs, or technologies to consider when purchasing a TV? I've read that HDR is worthwhile, and that black levels and wide color gamut are important too. Ideally, shortcomings like ABL or uniformity issues would be listed as well. But it would be great to see everything nearly outlined to help those who aren't aware of all of the features theses TVs possess.

Secondly, I JUST read an article stating that ATSC 3.0 will enable broadcasters to deliver regular TV in 4K, but that 4K TVs will need an ATSC 3.0-compatible tuner, which today’s 4K sets lack. I think having a resource that outlines how industry decisions impact current products would be helpful for someone to decide if they want to buy a certain type of product now or wait until the technology matures.

As someone getting familiarized with this, a comprehensive guide that addressees these issues would be really helpful. Looking forward to the feedback.



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[NINaudio]

It is getting increasingly harder and harder to find a 1080p set new as manufacturers are switching most of their production to 4k sets. So I wouldn't concern myself with that, just look at 4k sets

You should definitely be looking into a set that can do HDR, that is in my opinion even more important than having 4k. And make sure it has the latest HDMI spec.

I'm not sure that the tuners should be an issue for you either, as the tuners are usually not in TV's anymore, but rather in your cable box.

 

[panteragstk]

I'm in the market for a new TV. I've tried to educate myself, however it's a challenging task.

Is there a good resource that outlines features, specs, or technologies to consider when purchasing a TV? I've read that HDR is worthwhile, and that black levels and wide color gamut are important too. Ideally, shortcomings like ABL or uniformity issues would be listed as well. But it would be great to see everything nearly outlined to help those who aren't aware of all of the features theses TVs possess.

Secondly, I JUST read an article stating that ATSC 3.0 will enable broadcasters to deliver regular TV in 4K, but that 4K TVs will need an ATSC 3.0-compatible tuner, which today’s 4K sets lack. I think having a resource that outlines how industry decisions impact current products would be helpful for someone to decide if they want to buy a certain type of product now or wait until the technology matures.

As someone getting familiarized with this, a comprehensive guide that addressees these issues would be really helpful. Looking forward to the feedback.



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http://www.rtings.com/ Have fun. There is a lot to learn about displays and different video formats.

I'd also read this thread as we go into detail about different aspects of TVs.

 

[3rdeye]

http://www.rtings.com/ Have fun. There is a lot to learn about displays and different video formats.

I'd also read this thread as we go into detail about different aspects of TVs.

I knew about rtings but not that thread. Thanks so much. There's just so many options that I want a formal checklist to make it easier.

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[panteragstk]

I knew about rtings but not that thread. Thanks so much. There's just so many options that I want a formal checklist to make it easier.

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Like you use your ears with speakers, use your eyes with a TV. I could go into all the things that can detract from your viewing experience, but if the picture looks good to you, then watch and be happy.

My checklist for a new TV would include:

Dolby Vision
HDR10
4K (just that is the new standard, 1080p TVs will cease to exist in new models soon)
Ability to handle BT.709 and BT.2020 color.
HLG (Hybrid log gamma) is a thing that exists, but not sure if anything uses it yet.
Low input lag
Low motion artifacts
1000+ nit maximum brightness after calibration
lowest nit for black screen as possible
Color uniformity across the screen
Color accuracy after calibration
top tier brand
failure rate

There is more, but those are what I'd look at if I were buying a TV. Price directly effects each of those aspects to an extent.

 

[3rdeye]

Like you use your ears with speakers, use your eyes with a TV. I could go into all the things that can detract from your viewing experience, but if the picture looks good to you, then watch and be happy.

My checklist for a new TV would include:

Dolby Vision
HDR10
4K (just that is the new standard, 1080p TVs will cease to exist in new models soon)
Ability to handle BT.709 and BT.2020 color.
HLG (Hybrid log gamma) is a thing that exists, but not sure if anything uses it yet.
Low input lag
Low motion artifacts
1000+ nit maximum brightness after calibration
lowest nit for black screen as possible
Color uniformity across the screen
Color accuracy after calibration
top tier brand
failure rate

There is more, but those are what I'd look at if I were buying a TV. Price directly effects each of those aspects to an extent.

Thanks for this!

I have some questions. I've heard of HDR but not HDR10. How did you know about this latest version. I would have hated to have bought a TV without it being the most up to date version....so I would like to know how you were aware of that.

Never heard of BT.709 or BT.2020 color at all. That along with HLG, maximum brightness levels and few others, it seems like there are a lot of aspects that I haven't even heard of. How do you know about this laundry list or TV offerings and benchmarks to look for? I wouldn't have even known these to incorporate these into a decision because I didn't know many of them exist...and as someone who wants to make an educated purchase, this really concerns me.

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[panteragstk]

Thanks for this!

I have some questions. I've heard of HDR but not HDR10. How did you know about this latest version. I would have hated to have bought a TV without it being the most up to date version....so I would like to know how you were aware of that.

Never heard of BT.709 or BT.2020 color at all. That along with HLG, maximum brightness levels and few others, it seems like there are a lot of aspects that I haven't even heard of. How do you know about this laundry list or TV offerings and benchmarks to look for? I wouldn't have even known these to incorporate these into a decision because I didn't know many of them exist...and as someone who wants to make an educated purchase, this really concerns me.

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Once upon a time I was an AV salesman. I try to keep up with most current tech. Lots of reading.

 

[3rdeye]

Once upon a time I was an AV salesman. I try to keep up with most current tech. Lots of reading.

PLEASE share what you read to stay current. I need resources bad!

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[panteragstk]

PLEASE share what you read to stay current. I need resources bad!

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https://hdguru.com is a good resource. Used to be better.

You can also just put some of the terms I used in Google or wikipedia to get detailed info.