UHD TV Deals

65" Sony XBR-65X850C is currently on sale at $1799 (everywhere). The 55" version, XBR-55X850C is priced at $1199. There is also a 75" model currently priced just above $3000. This sale runs until the end of this week, from what I've heard. It's a good, very reasonably priced set. Currently less expensive than similar models from competitors like Samsung or LG. The 850C supports 3D (active, glasses not included) and is HDR compatible, not only via streaming, but a recent software update has enabled HDMI 2.0a. This is a 2015 model. There is a new 2016 850D model coming out soon, but it is going to be much more expensive initially and will lack 3D support.

I am getting the 65" version for our living room. Should be here this week!
 
For any UHD TV that I get it will have to have 3D otherwise the wife will not want it. :)
 
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I've been eyeballing another 65" to replace my late burnt one ... same price locally, I loved mine and the 3D really rocked.
Make sure it has HDR compatibility. Very few models at this price point do.
 
I saw that $25,000 84in Sony while wasting some time browsing around Bestbuy between some appointments Friday. It looked amazing in the Magnolia Theater room and I nearly croaked when I saw the price tag.

The prices are coming down, but I think, even though I own a 4K TV, they came out way ahead of the game and in order to sell them, the manufacturers aren't letting people know they need a 4K source in order to get the picture quality they saw in the store. A lot of consumers are under the impression the picture they saw in the showroom is what they'll have when they get home. They don't realize they're looking at a demo picture.

Frankly, I don't see many cable systems picking it up any time soon due to the bandwidth limitations on most cable systems. The quality is amazing, but I can't see spending $25,000 on a TV that will be obsolete in less than 5 years. Can you imagine the hassle of sending an 84 inch TV back to the factory for repairs? And the cost would be astronomical. Most TV repair shops, what there are left of them, have no source for parts. Most people don't even keep the box it came in. Try finding one of those.

I have a friend in the business, and he showed me prices on parts for standard HD TV's, and they are basically throwaways. It doesn't take much in the way of parts to exceed the price of a new TV. I can imagine what the parts for a 4K set would cost. Lots of things to consider when investing in a TV these days.
 
The prices are coming down, but I think, even though I own a 4K TV, they came out way ahead of the game and in order to sell them, the manufacturers aren't letting people know they need a 4K source in order to get the picture quality they saw in the store. A lot of consumers are under the impression the picture they saw in the showroom is what they'll have when they get home. They don't realize they're looking at a demo picture.

Frankly, I don't see many cable systems picking it up any time soon due to the bandwidth limitations on most cable systems. The quality is amazing, but I can't see spending $25,000 on a TV that will be obsolete in less than 5 years. Can you imagine the hassle of sending an 84 inch TV back to the factory for repairs? And the cost would be astronomical. Most TV repair shops, what there are left of them, have no source for parts. Most people don't even keep the box it came in. Try finding one of those.

I have a friend in the business, and he showed me prices on parts for standard HD TV's, and they are basically throwaways. It doesn't take much in the way of parts to exceed the price of a new TV. I can imagine what the parts for a 4K set would cost. Lots of things to consider when investing in a TV these days.

Yeah, it was pretty much the same situation with HDTV 10-15 years ago. It is actually a bit better now, because the streaming services, like Netflix and Amazon are offering 4k content, and that is directly receivable on the TV. DTV and DISH are also offering 4k content, and I expect the cablecos will soon, if they haven't already done so. OTA is trickier because of the need to transition to ATSC 3.0. I get flamed when I mention this, but the FCC has placed stations in a tricky spot because they want the transition, but they also in the process of removing spectrum. This means the stations are going to have issues with simulcasting and end up with a choice of offering ATSC 1 or 3 during the transition. Once they switch to ATSC3, they cut off their large base of HDTV sets.

The cost of repairing a set has been impractical for years now. Nothing new. Back in the 80s, I bought a small CRT bedroom set and opened it up to add a speaker jack. There were about 4 components inside, and each was a sealed unit.
 
Yeah, it was pretty much the same situation with HDTV 10-15 years ago. It is actually a bit better now, because the streaming services, like Netflix and Amazon are offering 4k content, and that is directly receivable on the TV. DTV and DISH are also offering 4k content, and I expect the cablecos will soon, if they haven't already done so. OTA is trickier because of the need to transition to ATSC 3.0. I get flamed when I mention this, but the FCC has placed stations in a tricky spot because they want the transition, but they also in the process of removing spectrum. This means the stations are going to have issues with simulcasting and end up with a choice of offering ATSC 1 or 3 during the transition. Once they switch to ATSC3, they cut off their large base of HDTV sets.

The cost of repairing a set has been impractical for years now. Nothing new. Back in the 80s, I bought a small CRT bedroom set and opened it up to add a speaker jack. There were about 4 components inside, and each was a sealed unit.

I live 8 miles from civilization, and the only source of internet at our place is a wireless service that sucks at best. There was a small cable company here at one time, but when they were forced to go digital, the chose to shut it down rather than spend the money. It was actually an orphaned system that eventually landed the lap of Time-Warner through some sort of deal with a larger cable company in the area and wasn't of much interest to any of them. We can't get DSL here, no cable internet and the bandwidth on the wireless service isn't sufficient to handle HD much less UHD.

When we moved here, I needed 4 lines for the business, and the phone company had a hard time giving up 2 due to the condition of the phone lines in the area. I checked with the engineers at Frontier a while back and was told they would have to do at least 4 1/2 miles of new line construction just to get DSL out here and it would most likely end up being 6mbps at best. I'd be happy right now to get 3mbps. I canceled NetFlix because we just don't get enough bandwidth on wireless and it's just too unreliable.

I'd love to have 4K service, but I am almost 62 years old and I don't see it coming in my lifetime. Maybe the next inhabitant of our property will have better luck. :)
 
This means the stations are going to have issues with simulcasting and end up with a choice of offering ATSC 1 or 3 during the transition. Once they switch to ATSC3, they cut off their large base of HDTV sets.

.
This is the primary reason that ATSC 3.0 will not be here for at least 10 - 15 years. Current TV sets cannot tune a ATSC 3.0 signal and as of yet there are no ATSC 3.0 tuners. There is not even a ATSC 3.0 standard yet. The new head of the FCC will put a hold on this nonsense. ATSC 3.0 is putting the cart WAY in front of the horse.
 
The new head of the FCC will put a hold on this nonsense.
The new head of the FCC will be operating under the same federal mandate as the departing FCC chair; to implement a higher efficiency modulation scheme.

Your theories on ATSC 3.0 seem to be based a lot on not paying attention to what is going on.
 
The new head of the FCC will be operating under the same federal mandate as the departing FCC chair; to implement a higher efficiency modulation scheme.

Your theories on ATSC 3.0 seem to be based a lot on not paying attention to what is going on.
An article from 12/20/2016
http://www.tvtechnology.com/resources/0006/atsc-30-and-mvpds/280015
Everyone involved with examining how cable systems will retransmit broadcast nextgen ATSC 3.0 signals concurs on one point, although they say it in different ways: “It’s too early.” “Still pretty vague.” “Will evolve over time.” “A problem that won’t exist soon.”
After a meeting of S27 members in New York last month, a broadcast technology executive in attendance characterized the situation as “still very early.”

“Each group is scoping out what to deal with,” he said, citing broadcasters’ concerns about how to convert signals from 3.0 to a variety of cable and satellite environments. “The big problems are just beginning to be discussed.”

There is no timetable for S37’s agenda or decisions/recommendations.

As ATSC 3.0 evolves, broadcasters envision using it for many interactive as well as non-video services, most of which fall far beyond traditional cable retransmission agreements. Many analysts expect a long transition period since 3.0 is not backward-compatible, and hence current TV receivers will not be able to pick up signals.
 
What the gubmint mandates has surprisingly little to do with what the industry wants, needs or think they can pull off. All the feds want is more bandwidth for wireless broadband Internet.

ATSC 3.0, while not complete, has been submitted to the FCC for conventional broadcast use. Of course that's really a topic for an ATSC 3.0 thread.

We shouldn't wish to hold up h.265 waiting for cable and DBS to figure out how to implement some of the value-added broadcast stuff.
 
This thread hasn't been updated in quite awhile so figured I would bump. Any deals for 4KHDR sets in the mid level? I am not interested in spending the big bucks for LG OLED and am looking around the 65" size. I see TCL is a newcomer and seems to be getting some great reviews especially taking price into account. Any opinions TCL vs Vizio vs Samsung?
 
For many, buying UHD HDR now is probably jumping the gun (unless you really need to replace something). Waiting for the HDR standards to settle out could avoid having to upgrade soon. Assuming that the standard that everyone arrives at can (and will) be delivered in firmware is probably folly. At my last count, I saw five different HDR standards. CES revealed very little in terms of new home TV technology or even the direction it is heading.

TCL is by no means a newcomer to televisions. The company was founded in 1985 and is reported to be the second largest producer of televisions in the world (after Samsung).

Here's a rundown on the brand names from Consumer Reports (including which are licensed):

TV Brands Aren't Always What They Seem
 
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