Widescreen/HD TV; your take on it

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Both articles reflect the turmoil, outsourcing, brandname abandonment/licensing. About 4 years ago, one of the last remaining repair shops told me Samsung makes almost all the panels and associated electronics, no matter whose name is on the set.

I'd go back and ask them about now, but they went out of business shortly after that. The Sony store has TWO technicians! One was working on a tube audio set. It's a family/legacy business.

I offered to GIVE them the old Emerson that was still working and a known/easy fix. No deal. You can't GIVE tube sets to ANYone. Not Goodwill, not Salivation Army, not even the Mexicans who used to come through periodically and pickup ANYthing, hoping to make one good one out of 5 bad ones. THAT'S turmoil.
 
CRT TV sets----The appliance dumpster at the dump site where I take my trash was LOADED with them!!!And would bet they would still work.Just that--NO ONE WANTS THEM!!!They want that new curved screen 4K HD LCD-LED backlit flatscreen set!!!Yes 4 K is impressive-but you are only limited to those demo clips shown on the set at the store.Movie theaters are starting to upgrade their projectors for 4K.Formerly--2K.And new projectors to be laser lit.No matter what set you buy today--there is a weak link in all of them----The CHEAP electrolytic caps used in their power supply board.These fail frequently-causing the owner to junk a relatively new set and buy another one-the cycle of the cheap electrolytic caps repeats---No more Sprague or Mallery or Nichicon caps in stuff now-some unknown cheap Chinese caps!And sadly when these caps fail--takes out other parts,too.When I buy a new TV quickly take it out of the "blowtorch" display mode to the cinema-smooth mode--MUCH better.And you can do this at the store,too so you can see what the set truely looks like.I so wish stores would dim the lighting in the TV display area-then you can truely tell how good the TV is rather than being washed out by store lights.You don't look at your TV at home with glaring lights??Another thought--if you adjust the set to the "cinema" or "movie" mode you may be able to skip that store setup that you have to PAY for!
 
The junk caps were starting to plague Dell as I was on my way out. They knew they were junk but that's just what they wanted. So obviously no need for a quality audit engineer. Could have gone to Boeing or some such but one needs to be invited there. It's who you know....

The Sony CRT had 4 or 5 picture modes. I just fixed the default one and never changed it. I mean like, right is right, right?

The HD Sony has them too. They ship with all too exaggerated. There's one that drives the panel well into clipping. Think if you sit close enough you get a sunburn.
 
Of the approximately one billion sets they tested this year, yours isn't one of them. Here's the closest I could find. Don't know if these settings apply to your model, but it might be fun to try them out. Their recommendations really improved the picture on my two 32" LG's. The only change I made was to dim the picture a bit on the set in my bedroom. The room is usually completely dark when I watch in there and the picture just seemed too bright. The living room (where the other set resides) has more ambient light and the prescribed settings are perfect.

I don't expect these LCD televisions to last as long as our old CRT's, but they are sure a lot easier to pick up and move around, LOL. Mine weigh only about 12 pounds each. Am also getting spoiled by the quality of HD. Can't imagine how detailed UHD must be.

Sony Bravia KDL32R500C

Picture Mode: Custom
Contrast (Picture): 95
Brightness: 53
Gamma: 0
Color: 52
Tint: 0
Sharpness: 0
Color Temperature: Warm
Backlight: 6
Aspect Ratio: Full (Display Area= +1)
Miscellaneous: CineMotion= Auto
 
I will be curious about the longevity of the latest LCD TV's. Most all of the computer monitor failures I have seen/repaired have almost always been due to the florescent back light or its inverter board. With the latest crop of LED back lit models I would wager that their longevity may well have increased.

The newest LED models are running at ~100w draw (or less) even for the 60" models. This makes a difference in the internal temperature levels which cause premature capacitor aging etc. Of course the manufacturers then make the panel about 1/2" thick and remove the vents so perhaps the internal temps may stay higher.

I have a Ham friend here in town that owns a Panasonic repair center. They do lots of repairs on the older flat panel TV's. So they are still fixable. There is a neat company in the area here called Shop Jimmy that sells recycled PC board assemblies for flat panel TV's and monitors.

Attached photo is from a recent repair I did on an 8 year old Toshiba 42" LCD TV. TV was totally dead. Photos shows the main power supply board dislocated and being inspected by Kalli the electronic wonder cat. She knew it was an open R40 fusible resistor while I was still suspecting the capacitors... TV is back on the wall hauling the mail once again.

Personally I can't watch SD anymore unless I'd really far from the TV or if it is small. Big screen TVs of the past always bothered me too. I will take smaller and tack sharp over big and mushy any day. Some people think that size is all that matters. I see this at the astronomy events too where people are observing Mars at 300x and it's just a big orange fuzzy ball. It looks so much better at 150x and tack sharp.

As for buying a new TV it would be an LED back lit LCD and it would have to be a 4K (price point is good now). Only brands I would consider are Samsung, Sony or Panasonic (maybe LG). It is true that a majority of the parts are sourced from a couple companies, but I won't make a major purchase from a company that I have never heard of. I'm also perceptive enough to catch when a name is being "whore'ed" about, like seeing an RCA or Zenith TV today... Humor at its best!

kb0nes-2015120110470401071_1.jpg
 
S-h-h-h DAD, don't jinx it.

The 500 is the model-year successor to the 420. I'm partial to 420 if you know what I mean. The biggest difference is that one or more features migrated to the smaller screen from the larger the year before.

They left 'contrast' at 95/100? And color temp 'warm'??? Well that's about par for Consumer's these days. Why I let my longterm subscription lapse 10 years ago.

Yes, we (Dell) had mounting failures of laptop CFL backlights. They were also very uneven, as the actual light source was a bar horizontally across the screen. Pritmuch a non-issue, I know of no current TV model still using CFL. Without even getting into the CFL colorimetry issues.

Though LED colorimetry isn't 'exactly' right. HBO broadcasts color bars late night. The transitions-- perhaps most significant-- are near perfect. The yellows are slanted toward orange. Well if you had to pick a place in the gamut to put errors, it would be making yellows closer to orange/fleshtone. Unless what you were looking at was ACTUALLY yellow, in which case it wouldn't be. But with the colortemp set to 'warm' you wouldn't know one way or the other. Because 'warm' is plus yellow-orange and minus blue. That's how this stuff works.

It's also why they give you the choice. Because not everybody sees things the same way, and even when they CAN they may choose NOT to. However, a Sony at contrast 95 is wrong, whether it's CRT, LCD, or XYZ. That's the store-display (marketing) default. You know, 'marketing'. As in, making you think something that isn't true is, but as-worded can't be prosecuted by the FTC. As in, "Billy Mays here".
 
>I will be curious about the longevity of the latest LCD TV's. Most all of the computer monitor failures I have seen/repaired have almost always been due to the florescent back light or its inverter board. With the latest crop of LED back lit models I would wager that their longevity may well have increased.

I'm curious, too.

Although in my cynical moments--24/7 most of the time now--I wonder if they haven't found ways of cheapening something so the overall lifespan remains as appalling as ever. If the set doesn't wear out quickly, we won't toss it--and, more importantly--buy a new set, keeping the wheels of industry busy spinning round and round.
 
I'm still happy with my over ten year old 42 inch Vizio LCD flat screen. My only complaint, really, is that the remote control swaps the location of the volume and channel buttons... volume is on the right... I've seen other Asian sourced electronics use that positioning, so it may be a cultural thing.

 

The advantage to the Visio is that it's not ultra thin like more modern flat panels. This means there's more room in the "cabinet" for decent speakers and sound. In fact, while I have hooked it up to a sound system and external speakers in the past, for the last five years of so I just use the built-in speakers and they work just fine. Of course they don't reproduce multi-channel sound but what the hey. The Visio also has a full complement of inputs, everything from two HDMI inputs to coax, composite, component, and optical audio. I use one of the HDMI inputs for the Blu-ray player, and the other one for a Chromecast gadget (which is wonderful,by the way). It's a 1080p set, by the way, which was one of my requirements at the time.

 

I've been tempted to "upgrade" to a larger, LED lit display, but really can't justify the expense. The Vizio is mounted above the living room fireplace. It's a location that I've heard some women disparage, they generally say "it's a guy thing", but I like it there better than a mirror or painting. I have a friend who has a later, different model Vizio, which I don't care for as much because it has fewer inputs, limited adjustments, and overall a cheaper look.

 

I've also got a couple of small Samsung panels. One I'm using for my computer monitor. The other one sits in the bedroom but is rarely used. Also a 32" LED 720p Westinghouse in the "study". These have tinny sound, and for two of them I use small external speakers to amp it up.

 

I'm a bit bemused by the latest "advances" in flat panel TV's. LED backlight is all well and good. But curved screens? Really? 3D? really? Not sure yet about the 4k. Blu-ray/1080 seems good enough to me.

 

If you're close enough to a major urban center, try over-the-air TV broadcast reception. Most stations offer high def signals, like 1080i, which often beat typical cable and satellite signals in terms of quality. Best of all, it's free.
 
Curved Screen = Curved-assed gimmick

There is really zero advantage to having a curved screen except perhaps for reducing ambient light reflections for a very small seating area.

I am fully convinced that this was done entirely as a ploy by the manufacturers to attempt to force another "upgrade movement" to spur sales. When we made the DTV changeover these manufacturers had the good fortune of basically replacing 75% of the TV's in the field over a short span. Sales were through the roof! But then after everyone had switched over sales slowed drastically. So then voila we have 4K, something that is cool, but way before its time and too soon. People were unswayed by a 4K upgrade since there is very little content at this point. How about if we curve the screen? I have known of people that got off the couch to open their wallet for that...

As for the manufactures _intentionally_ building in a reduced lifespan into a product? I'll call paranoia on that, I just don't believe that it is done intentionally. On the other hand, consumer pressure to make everything we buy be dirt inexpensive, that I KNOW reduces the lifespan of most everything we buy. Remember the pain of poor quality lives on long after the joy of low price has faded.
 
>The Vizio is mounted above the living room fireplace. It's a location that I've heard some women disparage, they generally say "it's a guy thing", but I like it there better than a mirror or painting.

I think it must be more than a "guy thing." I'm PRETTY sure the last time I was in my father's house, they had a TV above the fireplace, and his current wife would have had the last word on TV placement. For that matter, I get the feeling she has the last word on any/all issues, but that's another story. Although this was a long time ago.

More recently, I think I've seen photos and the like with a TV above the mantel. One woman in the last month was telling me about her TV above the mantel.

All this said, I personally don't like the look of the TV above the mantel. Not sure entirely why. Although a large part is surely that it tends to emphasize the TV more than I like. My ideal, I think, is actually to have the TV hidden.

Although I might cave if I were doing an audio system setup with speakers on either side of the fireplace, and wanted that system to also handle TV sound.
 
I read an article that said if you buy a 4K television now, you should worry that it will last long enough for when 4K broadcasting becomes a reality. It may fail before that happens. Last year 3D televisions were hot. This year they are not. Why? Not enough content on the market to warrant the pricing. And it doesn't look like producers are in a hurry to rush more 3D content to market anytime soon.

I remember when flat screen televisions first came out. The manufacturers were saying that a flat panel should last 250,000 hours without any problems. That's about 25 years in real time. But they didn't mention that other parts may go first.
Real world experience is different now.

Most places will no longer accept CRT televisons as donations. So the the only choice we have to get rid of our 225lb Sony is to take it to a electronics recycling center, and pay them $20 to take it in.
 
Kalli has awesome coloring, Phil.

Rick-- They recommended setting the contrast on my LG at 100! What is the 'Gamma' setting about?
Aside: I'm slipping; it took longer than it should have to catch your 420 reference.[this post was last edited: 12/2/2015-19:26]
 
>I read an article that said if you buy a 4K television now, you should worry that it will last long enough for when 4K broadcasting becomes a reality. It may fail before that happens.

Good point. And another point: prices on technology tend to drop in time, and those sets will probably be a lot cheaper if/when the broadcasting begins.

Part of me likes the idea of buying stuff that will last a really long time. But this strategy seems impractical with most--if not all--electronics. Future technology support may never be needed. The item may break, anyway. Even high end items may break, and no longer have service support. And many things will be plain obsolete one way or another in a relatively short time.
 
>Most places will no longer accept CRT televisons as donations. So the the only choice we have to get rid of our 225lb Sony is to take it to a electronics recycling center, and pay them $20 to take it in.

One option some like: take a nice drive along a country road late one night. And...mysteriously...the TV set goes with the driver for the ride, but does not return...

In my area, Goodwill takes TV sets. What can't be sold gets recycled. I think they partner with some program to do this. IIRC there was a time when they didn't take CRT sets. At least, not officially. People who worked there said that TVs and monitors had a way of mysteriously appearing overnight by the store doors...
 
I have a flat screen that will only pick up locals thru my rooftop antenna with the amplifier in a digital converter box but does satellite fine, except satellite programming is far from the best. I have a battery tv that is useless now as it has to have a digital conversion box. Alot of help if the power is out now. I wish they just left analog that you could use when you wanted to.
 
Allen,

If the statement of a "4K TV not lasting long enough for there to be 4K broadcasting" means over the air broadcasting then it may likely be true.

At this time I don't see it being overly likely that 4K will be coming to an antenna near you anytime soon. We just had to make a big change that obsoleted all the existing TVs and people are still smarting from that. Couple in the insane data rates needed for 4K and it may be a tight squeeze into the RF spectrum as we know it now. If the new 4K broadcast standard would obsolete the old 1080 then there is no way it will fly.

I still say I personally wouldn't buy a non-4K TV today. The price points are quite reasonable and content will be (is already) available, it just won't be over the air. It will all be via internet download onto a media server. Even a BluRay disc isn't big enough for more then about a 1/2 hour 4K show... Of course you can upconvert existing 1080HD to 4K (yes I realize it is making up data) but it does have a slightly finer look to it even if its synthetic. In any case between new Internet technologies and data compression algorithms, one day we may even stream 4K without a pre-buffering.

The brand name 4K TV's are going for less then $800 for a 55" now. Heck a year ago we were paying that for a 1080 model! The statement seems like some unfounded scare tactic from someone trying to talk (themselves maybe) out of needing an upgrade lol. And for the record I wouldn't consider ditching a good 1080 TV for a 4k at this point.

The 3D TV thing died the death that I expected it would. And I'm not convinced it was totally lack of content. I think people didn't like the inconvenience of wearing the glasses, the dimmer/distorted image quality and the generally odd 3D experience. A quality 2D picture is pretty damn engaging. My last browse through Best Buy showed very little promotion of 3D technology. Good riddance!
 
 
Upon unpacking my plasma panel 13 years ago and running a DVD, some VHS, and tuning-in some broadcast cable channels, I was disappointed in the picture quality.  Played with the settings but couldn't get it to a level I expected should be possible.  Did some research and bought bought a tune-up DVD, Avia Guide to Home Theater.  Made a huge difference.  The adjusted picture doesn't POP like a store display ... it has a more natural appearance, like the real world when I look around the room or out a window.
 
recycling

Unless it's changed Best Buy was taking any old electronics you'd bring in, 3 at a time, for free. I did it when we bought this house and moved. Took in quite a few CRT monitors and TV's, never a problem or charge but this was back in 2012 in the late summer.
They even give store credit on some things still good enough and new enough to be wanted.
I bought my first 34" CRT HDTV in 2005 for 1225 and still have it and still looks great.
I have upgraded to a couple of Sony led sets that actually look nice enough to make me happy. My big one is a 50" ex645 and smaller one is a 42" family got us for Xmas right after I bought this house so the 34" Toshiba was retired to sisters room and eventually She'll get the 42 when we decide we're strong enough to move the monster.
I used to repair TV's for resale but don't bother anymore, used sets aren't worth anything so not worth my time or the storage space.
I want a 4k TV eventually, preferably a OLED set but I've seen quite a few led ones that still look real good.
 

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