# Buying a 4K TV - Need help



## thyname (May 10, 2015)

So, my 7 years old 55" tv in my living room died. Time to get a new one.

Naturally, I am looking at the 4K tv. Yes, I know, there is not much content out there, but might as well make it future-proof.

Browsing the net it seems like some of the features that I would need to get to really make it future-proof are:

1 - HDMI 2.0a - mostly for the future launch of Blu-Ray 4K players and/or Directv boxes
2 - HDR (possibly, but not a huge need, correct me if I am wrong)
3 - HEVC Decoding
4 - HDCP 2.2

Unfortunately, it has been difficult for me to search for TVs that include these feature from a search function point of view through major sites (BestBuy, Amazon, Costco, etc.)

Any advice for as to what features are a must and what TV to buy? I am trying to get a 60-65 inch TV costing approximately $1,500, I would not mind paying up to $2K if really necessary 

Thank you!


----------



## MysteryMan (May 17, 2010)

Go to Crutchfield. They have the best product descriptions and specifications.


----------



## Christopher Gould (Jan 14, 2007)

If you could stay with 55"

http://www.samsung.com/us/video/tvs/UN55JS8500FXZA

Their is a 65" but that over the 2k budget

If you have to have 60"

http://www.samsung.com/us/video/tvs/UN60JS7000FXZA

Samsung has either the mini or one connect box which you can buy to upgrade the box. My 2014 tv now has most of the features of a 2015. Of course it doesn't upgrade the panel.
Looks like you may not get the one connect with the 7000.


----------



## thyname (May 10, 2015)

Christopher Gould said:


> If you could stay with 55"
> 
> http://www.samsung.com/us/video/tvs/UN55JS8500FXZA
> 
> ...


Thanks!

How do you tell whether the two Samsung tvs have all the specs I mentioned, or you just know? I looked at the link and there was nothing in there.

The second one is in my budget, but it does not appear onNetflix website as compatible with their 4K library.

55" would be OK with regular HD for me, but I have read that I would need 60" or larger to tell the 4K difference from my 9 feet viewing distance.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


----------



## toobs (Oct 10, 2012)

You will never regret at going bigger. I have a 4k Vizio 60" and I like it. As for Netflix is 4k, I have not heard any 4k tv of not being compatible.


----------



## Jhon69 (Mar 28, 2006)

thyname said:


> So, my 7 years old 55" tv in my living room died. Time to get a new one.
> 
> Naturally, I am looking at the 4K tv. Yes, I know, there is not much content out there, but might as well make it future-proof.
> 
> ...


There are several 4K UHDTV reviews at www.rtings.com

Good Luck!


----------



## Jhon69 (Mar 28, 2006)

toobs said:


> You will never regret at going bigger. I have a 4k Vizio 60" and I like it. As for Netflix is 4k, I have not heard any 4k tv of not being compatible.


My 55" Vizio 4K UHDTV cannot get Netflix 4K programming because my AT&T Elite DSL is only 6Mbps down.

I hear that to stream 4K first have a 4K UHDTV,second have at least internet speed of 20 to 25 Mbps down.

If anyone is able to stream 4K programming using less than 20Mbps down please let us know.

The only way I have been able to view 4K on my UHDTV has been with a Demo program through a thumb drive.

I also bought a Sony 4K upconverting Blu ray player on sale at Best Buy that does a great job of upconverting my 1080p movies.


----------



## toobs (Oct 10, 2012)

It sounds like you need more bandwidth. I have 100Mbps and 4k on Netflix and Amazon streams just fine. You are missing out from 4k. Upgrade your bandwidth. Some still argue that they cannot see a difference from 2160 vs. 1080. Unless you have a hard time at seeing, you can tell a difference.


----------



## Jhon69 (Mar 28, 2006)

toobs said:


> It sounds like you need more bandwidth. I have 100Mbps and 4k on Netflix and Amazon streams just fine. You are missing out from 4k. Upgrade your bandwidth. Some still argue that they cannot see a difference from 2160 vs. 1080. Unless you have a hard time at seeing, you can tell a difference.


It truly would be nice if I could upgrade my bandwith but unfortunately I have no option to upgrade to,I should be happy with what I have because we do not live in a large city and the town we do live near we are 5 miles out from town.

Guess we are ones who are unable to get the faster technology because we live in the country.


----------



## Christopher Gould (Jan 14, 2007)

I can get 4k with a 20mbps dsl I average test 18.5mbps and I have read you can do it as low as 15mbps.


----------



## Christopher Gould (Jan 14, 2007)

thyname said:


> Thanks!
> 
> How do you tell whether the two Samsung tvs have all the specs I mentioned, or you just know? I looked at the link and there was nothing in there.
> 
> ...


I doubt Netflix keeps that list up to date very well.

1 and 4 are pretty much standard on 2015 tvs 
2 hdr is listed for the 7000 series in the upper right corner and the higher model too
3 I'm assuming if it's doing 4k it's got hevc 265


----------



## thyname (May 10, 2015)

Update:

I went to Best Buy and came back with the 65" Sony X850C.

I watched a bunch of units and talked with three reps (regular BB reps and a Magnolia one). I found it hard to justify the $500 higher price on Samsung JS8500. Besides, I bought a 10% BB coupon (movers coupon for $2.41 on eBay) which worked great and lowered my price to $1,800!

I calibrated it using instructions from rtings.com as their default settings were way too vivid. So far I am happy, Jets @ Dallas looked amazing last night. 65" is awesome (I sit 9.5 feet in front of the new tv). Tried Netflix 4K titles, Blacklist, Narcos, House of cards, And can definitely see the 4K difference albeit with a much less "wow" factor than when buying my first HD set over 11 years ago.

One issue that I have is that I cannot get to play Amazon UHD / 4K library no matter what I tried. Regular HD streams just fine. I get a weird license_error message. Any ideas?

I had a couple of questions:

1 - what other apps / services / products are out ther for UHD and HDR content? The Sony media player is way too expensive for me.

2 - what do I do with my old tv? It is a 55" LED Samsung purchased in summer of 2008. It still works but the picture had gone haywire (doubling, lines, etc.). Any places to bring it in exchange for a bit of money?


----------



## Jhon69 (Mar 28, 2006)

thyname said:


> Update:
> 
> I went to Best Buy and came back with the 65" Sony X850C.
> 
> ...


Best Buy has a Sony BDP-S6500 4K 3D upconverting Bluray player on sale last week and this week also for $99.

It does a great job of upconverting my 1080p Bluray movies to 4K on my Vizio 4K UHDTV.

I would believe if my Vizio has it your Sony should have it,an app called Ultraflix it has free 4K programs and you can rent 4K movies.

There are also programs on You Tube in 4K my Vizio can't do those programs because of the V9 codec,but your Sony should.

You should have other app programs for 4K also available on your Sony.

For the Amazon problem you may find an answer on the AVS forums.Good Luck!


----------



## thyname (May 10, 2015)

Thanks Jhon!

I did a search on AVS forums on the Amazon 4K streaming issue and could not find anything. Do you mind pointing me in the right post please?


----------



## Jhon69 (Mar 28, 2006)

thyname said:


> Thanks Jhon!
> 
> I did a search on AVS forums on the Amazon 4K streaming issue and could not find anything. Do you mind pointing me in the right post please?


http://www.avsforum.com/forum/166-lcd-flat-panel-displays/1985298-sony-2015-xbr-55x850c-xbr-65x850c-xbr-75x850c-owners-club-230.html


----------



## toobs (Oct 10, 2012)

I'm very jealous that you got a nice tv at a good price. Congrats!


----------



## thyname (May 10, 2015)

Jhon69 said:


> http://www.avsforum.com/forum/166-lcd-flat-panel-displays/1985298-sony-2015-xbr-55x850c-xbr-65x850c-xbr-75x850c-owners-club-230.html


Thank you for posting the link to the thread. Great info in there, I have bookmarked the page.

It seems like the problem with the Amazon UHD content has not been solved yet. I'll probably just wait, instead of wasting time with the clueless reps


----------



## thyname (May 10, 2015)

toobs said:


> I'm very jealous that you got a nice tv at a good price. Congrats!


Thanks! I am happy with the price, and being a BB Elite Plus member, I can price match it for three months, if the price falls further. It is to early to tell whether I am happy with the quality, but I know I am happy with the price.


----------



## thyname (May 10, 2015)

thyname said:


> Thank you for posting the link to the thread. Great info in there, I have bookmarked the page.
> 
> It seems like the problem with the Amazon UHD content has not been solved yet. I'll probably just wait, instead of wasting time with the clueless reps


Amazon UHD content is now working for my Sony X850C. The HDR content looks amazing - there is definitely HDR capabilities with my set - very easy to tell the difference (4K vs. 4K & HDR). I was watching Man in the High Castle, and could definitely see the pronounced colors, deep blacks and the details, as the dark/light division is really good.


----------

