So since this is console thread now (based on all this controller talk), what is everyone's opinion on TVs? The wife and I have been saving to get a BIG new one (60-75 inch) and know very little about what makes them "good" at that range. Don't worry, I'll still be keeping it glorious since I have a PC in the living room as a media machine and to play all the couch co-op games. I think we were looking at the LG 65" but not completely sold. Since I have a PC sitting right next to the TV, the whole "smart- TV" thing is a complete waste.
I used to sell TVs years ago and knew just about everything about the market. Then I quit and erased most of it from my memory because I hated it.
I'd say just for general information, brand trumps everything.
Samsung: Best brand out there right now. Vibrant screens, better contrast, non-muddled colors, etc. The gimmicky software driven higher refresh rates are also the best out there compared to the competition. I'd argue they aren't a gimmick on Samsung, I used to put old Disney movies on the top of the line ones and crank the motion rate to max and compare and it was night and day. The animation went from being choppy to buttery smooth. Samsung knows what they're doing.
Sony: Second best, but I have a handful of quibbles with them. Generally I never liked the construction quality compared to Samsung and LG, didn't like most of the stands (flimsy, stupid designs on everything but the top of the line TVs), etc. The picture quality is excellent like Samsung, but top of the line Samsung looks a hell of a lot better than top of the line Sony. Software refresh rate software is garbage too, from what I've seen. Certain models are basically PS3s though, I think, and hook up with PSN to play downloaded games, so that's a neat feature (you'd have to look into it, I forget how it works exactly).
LG: Arguably in the top three, but I've never been a fan of LG. They have some crazy high end stuff, but from low to high I've never been a fan of the picture quality. At a glance LG displays are really vibrant, but they also have very muddled colors and lower contrast/detail. Set side by side with a Samsung or Sony, the difference is pretty clear (even OLEDs suffer from this from what I've seen). That said, they're still decent and they have some good deals here and there. The construction quality is also pretty good and most of them feel like pretty quality TVs, I just have never been a fan because of the subpar picture.
Vizio: I don't know quite as much about these as others (my store didn't stock Vizio for some reason, even though we carried Sony), but last I knew, they're Sony's bargain brand. If you want a cheap 4K, Vizios are probably your best option. I've heard people hate on Vizios, but my family had one for close to a decade that never really had any issues. Picture seems to be a little more washed out and not as vibrant as the top companies from what I've seen, but they're probably the top of the cheaper brands.
Toshiba: I'm not sure what Toshiba is even doing these days, but I've always been a fan. Nothing special, just a middle of the road sort of company without super high end stuff, but good quality, good picture, etc. I've had a little 32" Toshiba for years and it's served me well.
RCA, Element, etc: Just don't. You may luck out and a cheapie TV may last for you, but these break more than you could ever imagine. We got these returned on a daily basis broken out of the box or within a month. The picture is shit, they break, it's just all around crap. These brands sucker you in with ridiculously low prices for a reason. I used to straight up tell customers how often they broke to steer them away from wasting their money. Managers would have chewed my head off for doing so, but I couldn't morally sell garbage like that, lol.
Curved TV's are a gimmick (some people say they have better viewing angles...but shenanigans. Even LG stopped making them. Wouldn't be surprised if Samsung is next.)
They're not really a gimmick, but they're sort of pointless. I will say that if you have a large room with seating arranged far to the sides of your TV area, the viewing angle is actually far better from side angles. Whenever we'd put stuff on to watch in the department while we worked (Maui doesn't exactly have a booming TVs sales market), we'd always put it on the biggest curved Samsung and you could make out the picture/subtitles from a near peripheral angle to the display. Curved works, but there's not much of a point to it in most cases, and you're typically spending a few hundred bucks more to get it.
Consoles: What are people's general thoughts on XBONEs? I've been toying with the idea of getting one in the living room (where our 4K TV is) when the Scorpios come out (I'm expecting the S models will drop in price then to ~ $200). It seems like a cheap way to get a 4K Blu-Ray player as well as play the occasional console-exclusive title. Is there anything about these that makes them better than PS4s in the long run? I like the idea that MS has taken the time and trouble to make their new consoles backwards-compatible with the 360, which is something that Sony could apparently give two halves of a rat's ass about. Buying a new Sony console would require me to rebuy a lot of things if I want to play them on the PS4, which seems a bit asinine. Sony does tend to have better exclusives IMO (I like the Uncharted and God of War series), and I could probably swap stuff with my PS4-owning brother if I got one of them, but I also like (in some ways) that MS seems to be making moves to make it easier to cross-game on PCs and consoles. What are y'all experiences in these areas?
As far as gaming and graphics goes, there's not much difference between the two. It's console plebbery, they're running cheapie hardware, typically running games at 30fps, you know the drill. Xbone has backwards compatibility like you mentioned, and they also give out a handful of free games every month (including some pretty great 360 titles), which is pretty cool. Sony has become kind of an asshole company who doesn't listen to their player base at all. Even the Wii U is backwards compatible, Sony just straight up didn't bother with backwards compatibility because they'd rather you buy shit again on PSN.
It pretty much comes down to backward compatibility, exclusives, and the 4K drive. As far as exclusives go, Sony wins a bit there, but barely. Uncharted has run its course, God of War is hardly a reason to buy a PS4, and the old classics like Spyro and Crash have all but faded into obscurity. PS4 has some cooler weeb games if you're into that sort of thing, but besides that there aren't many worthwhile exclusives on either Xbone or PS4 these days (Halo has turned to crap more or less as well). Nintendo retains its crown as the weak gimmick console company, but they're got the best exclusives by a wide margin. Honestly Nintendo consoles are the only ones worth buying for exclusives.
I'd lean towards the Xbone, honestly. PS4 just doesn't have a lot going for it in comparison.
g2a
