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Televisions

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1) Figure out what kind of panel you want.
2) Decide if there are any specific features you want/need
3) Find those for the cheapest price.
4) Determine what the best source for your needs is (Likely this is going to be an Amazon Fire Stick on the low end, an Nvidia Shield on the higher end, or a Raspberry Pi for the DIY crowd)

You can usually find a really good panel for a really cheap price from Vizio or TCL. I think TCL recently started making their own panels? So, you might not be getting a lower-binned Samsung/LG panel anymore. TCL also has Roku software built in, if you're looking for a budget option.
As of at least 2018, TCLs top 55" model only had one TV that beat it spec wise. Granted it was a top end LG that had slightly better specs, but for almost $2k cheaper, that TCL was the best value on the market.
 
I had never even heard of TCL until today. (Cnet gave it quite a write-up.) I may just go for that 55".
Edit: There's an open-box model at the Mayfield Best Buy for $464. Very tempting!
 
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Along the lines of TVs, what about sound bars?

I'd like to amp up my sound past the built-in level without spending as much or more than the tv costs on its own...which seems to be the case for a lot of them.

I am wavering between just a simple one to plop at the base of my TV or to get some surround sound going. Anybody recommend anything?

Does one that's bluetooth have any performance issues vs one that is hard-wired in?

My current tv is a Samsun smart tv.
 
Along the lines of TVs, what about sound bars?

I'd like to amp up my sound past the built-in level without spending as much or more than the tv costs on its own...which seems to be the case for a lot of them.

I am wavering between just a simple one to plop at the base of my TV or to get some surround sound going. Anybody recommend anything?

Does one that's bluetooth have any performance issues vs one that is hard-wired in?

My current tv is a Samsun smart tv.
I'll always push for a basic 2.1 setup over a sound bar. If you have the space, find two nice, used bookshelves (or full size) off audiogon along with a subwoofer.

That being said, sound bars have gotten significantly better over the past five years. They went from absolute trash to pretty impressive. A lot of the higher end ones artificially create surround sound by throwing sound at specific angles around the room.

I have no experience actually owning one.
 
I bought a 200 dollar projector during the summer and was blown away by how good they are now. I am thinking about upgrading because I just bought my first house.

Any suggestions? I am not sure I need a 4K one, but a nice one where you get even sharpness and can keystone and all that would be cool. Any suggestions?
 
I bought a 200 dollar projector during the summer and was blown away by how good they are now. I am thinking about upgrading because I just bought my first house.

Any suggestions? I am not sure I need a 4K one, but a nice one where you get even sharpness and can keystone and all that would be cool. Any suggestions?

what are you using for a screen? I've always just used a white wall and put screen money into a better projector. What kind of budget?
 
what are you using for a screen? I've always just used a white wall and put screen money into a better projector. What kind of budget?

I use a cheap screen I bought it's 100 or 120 inches. Works great. I also have some t-shirt material I use to tack up outside. Just knit from a 5 foot roll 7 feet long.

800 dollars or so? Not sure. I would go higher I suppose if it took me into a higher quality bracket.

Just bought a house and there isn't a proper wall in the living room for a screen so I think I need to get a motorized one.

Projector is much easier on my eyes. It's more relaxing
 
I bought a 200 dollar projector during the summer and was blown away by how good they are now. I am thinking about upgrading because I just bought my first house.

Any suggestions? I am not sure I need a 4K one, but a nice one where you get even sharpness and can keystone and all that would be cool. Any suggestions?
Sound and Vision always has pretty good Home Theater reviews:


It's been a long time for me, but there was a great podcast on TWiT called Home Theater Geeks. I have no idea if it's still around, but if it is, you might want to check if they've talked about projectors recently.
 
I use a cheap screen I bought it's 100 or 120 inches. Works great. I also have some t-shirt material I use to tack up outside. Just knit from a 5 foot roll 7 feet long.

800 dollars or so? Not sure. I would go higher I suppose if it took me into a higher quality bracket.

Just bought a house and there isn't a proper wall in the living room for a screen so I think I need to get a motorized one.

Projector is much easier on my eyes. It's more relaxing
I always research things Iike that on avsforum

 
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Update: I bought this one and love it.

VIZIO SB3621n-H8 36” 2.1 Channel Home Theater Surround Sound Bar with Bluetooth – DTS Virtual:X, Wireless Subwoofer, Digital Coaxial, Optical, Display Remote​


The room that it's in is not very large, and this thing fills it extremely well. I used to notice the sub-woofer on the side of the couch, but now it just blends in with the rest of the room.

 
Anybody have experience with hue lights/Ambilights? Not sure if that's the industry term or not, but I'm referring to lights that go behind your TV and extend the coloring of what's going on beyond the screen.

 
So I've been having weird problems with my Samsung smart tv over the last couple months. It wouldn't let me change the volume, it would go up or down then automatically go back to what it was previously set. It's progressively gotten worse and I've been searching for a solution.

Turn out it had something to do with the tv running low on memory. Doing a hard and soft reset would fix it but only temporarily. Today I found a post on a samsung forum that said just to delete the unused app on the TV and now the tv is working perfectly. I had alot of random app when I was trying to get a certain in demand show or content that I never deleted. I really had a bunch of useless apps.

I never thought I could have too many apps on my smart tv. Basically if your smart tv starts acting weird, it makes sense to delete the unused apps to clear some memory up.
 
So I've been having weird problems with my Samsung smart tv over the last couple months. It wouldn't let me change the volume, it would go up or down then automatically go back to what it was previously set. It's progressively gotten worse and I've been searching for a solution.

Turn out it had something to do with the tv running low on memory. Doing a hard and soft reset would fix it but only temporarily. Today I found a post on a samsung forum that said just to delete the unused app on the TV and now the tv is working perfectly. I had alot of random app when I was trying to get a certain in demand show or content that I never deleted. I really had a bunch of useless apps.

I never thought I could have too many apps on my smart tv. Basically if your smart tv starts acting weird, it makes sense to delete the unused apps to clear some memory up.
I posted my issue with my Samsung smart TV earlier in the thread. The older ones were notorious for routing a wire right across a hot point on the board and causing it to burn out. The wifi and Smart Hub haven't worked in years, although I'll occasionally get an update for it.
 

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