Edmunds Members - Cars and Conversations

oldfarmer50 · January 7

Neighbor was probably online bragging that his car was ‘da bomb’ and the AI surveillance picked up on it.

Speaking of bombshells, have you heard that Stellantis is cutting prices by 60% on some old lot queen Ram trucks to get them out of inventory? I’ve seen a few YT gurus predicting price drops but 60% would be something. Would they really do that or is this more clickbait?

stickguy · January 7

if that turns into a cheapo lease could be interesting!

roadburner · January 7

jmonroe1 said:

graphicguy said:

suydam said:
Mine is a 3 year old version of that. Terrific TV.
Price went up $300 at Best Buy Buy on that TV. Costco had the one I really wanted (LG C4 65") for $1,499. But, that went up $200. Super Bowl is the next "big sale" cycle on TVs. So, will just hold out until then.
————————————————
I have a serious question.

Here is the background on this for those that missed it. I bought a $1000 Samsung 55 inch TV a few weeks ago at Best Buy but it’s going back because the sound cuts out every so often.

So, what makes a $1500 TV better than say a $1000 TV? If you’re going to say the picture quality, I have a tale to tell about that.

We had to go to Sam’s yesterday (there is no Costco in my town and I’m not going into the Burgh to join the one there), anyway, as soon as you walk into Sam’s they have all their TV’s on display, so I decided to look at them. I couldn’t tell the difference in picture quality from just about any of them. I’ve pretty much decided I’m going to get an LG, so I honed in on those. For the life of me I couldn’t tell the difference in picture quality between the one that cost $379 (55 inch job) from the one next to it that cost $899 and for that matter the one that cost even more (I can’t remember exactly the price of that one but I know it was over $1000).

Just for grins I went on line and saw that Best Buy has the same $379 TV for 99 cents more so there goes the talk about that TV being made just for Sam’s and it’s cheaper at Sam’s because it’s made cheaper. BTW, Sam’s offers a 3 year warranty on the one I want whereas Best Buy offers the standard 1 year warranty.

I just thought of this, the more expensive TV’s at Sam’s had a 5 year warranty and 1 more HDMI input (I only need 2, one for the TV signal and one for the soundbar) so that would account for some of the price difference but not all of it, or at least I don’t think so. And here may be the best part, the $379 LG TV has a traditional full size battery powered remote vs. the hard to hold solar powered mini remote that the Samsung has. Life can’t get any gooder than that.

My old man eyes may be trying to save me some money. So maybe I should be listening to them or should I say, believe what I’m seeing.

Any thoughts from you whizz kids?

jmonroe

I bought a 75" Sony X950H back in 2021 and a 50" Pioneer Kuro Elite in 2008. I love both of them; they are both teamed up with Rokus as well as Sony BD players. One thing I've never heard someone say is, "I wish I'd bought a smaller TV."
Another thing you need to remember is display TVs are usually running in "Torch Mode"- meaning the brightness, contrast and color saturation are cranked up to make it stand out. Check out rtings.com and techradar.com to get an idea of what reviewers think. That said, if you truly can't tell the difference, buy based on price. reliability, and inputs/outputs required.
I tend to find that you need to be pretty familiar with good displays to be able to notice a significant difference between the really good sets made by LG, Samsung, and Sony. Whichever set you buy, you should be able to find good recommendations online regarding the various picture settings, so you can get the best picture possible.

roadburner · January 7

When I was shopping in 2021, the Chinese sets like Hisense and TCL generated a term know as the "panel lottery"- some displays were great while others suffered from Dirty Screen Effect (DSE) which wrecked the picture quality. My inclination when buying any audio/video equipment -including cabling, surge suppressors, etc., is to spend a bit more and buy quality products.

stickguy · January 7

my daughter and soon to be SIL just got a new TV, turned out to be a Hisense. They seem to like it.

I like to stick with established, in theory higher quality names. But JMonroe is probably typical of the majority of buyers, that really don't need (or would appreciate) going to the higher line model, as long as you are shopping in the "modern" technology line (OLED, or whatever that would be now). This should get you a really nice picture, and plenty of features. If you are just watching cable (or streaming now) mostly shows, and not using high end digital media players or high end gaming, the fancier sets are just going to be overkill.

ab348 · January 8

Gamers can be weird outliers. The other day I watched a YT video about a fellow who is really into older-tech games of the '80s and '90s who discovered and tracked down what is perhaps the only existing 43" Sony Trinitron tube set from the late '80s. The thing weighs something like 440 lbs and is unsurprisingly huge. Sony made only a few and when new it reportedly cost $40K. He discovered it in Osaka and with connections he created had it shipped to him at huge expense and effort. It still worked, with some issues, and he set it up in his parents garage to play what I would consider Atari-quality games (that is something I know nothing about, but they were very crude-looking).

venture · January 8

ab348 said:
Gamers can be weird outliers. The other day I watched a YT video about a fellow who is really into older-tech games of the '80s and '90s who discovered and tracked down what is perhaps the only existing 43" Sony Trinitron tube set from the late '80s. The thing weighs something like 440 lbs and is unsurprisingly huge. Sony made only a few and when new it reportedly cost $40K. He discovered it in Osaka and with connections he created had it shipped to him at huge expense and effort. It still worked, with some issues, and he set it up in his parents garage to play what I would consider Atari-quality games (that is something I know nothing about, but they were very crude-looking).

"he set it up in his parents garage" probably tells you most of what you want to know about him.

tjc78 · January 8

Retro gamers 100% prefer old tube TVs, especially older Sony Trinitrons as they were the best.

My stepdad had a 35” Sony tube that was HD. Beast of a set and had a truly amazing picture with HD content.

My stepbrother who is an avid gamer took it and made it the centerpiece of his retro rig. I’d assume he still has it.

Kirstie_H · January 8

graphicguy said:

Can't think of anything I need. Food is stocked up. Brought in some dried logs from the back yard for the fireplace. Made a TP run to Costco last week, so all good there.

Won't get above freezing this week. So, given I need nothing, guess I'll stay indoors for a bit.

@graphicguy - does this belong to you?

kyfdx · January 8

Our last tube TV was a 36" Sony. In a silver cabinet that sat on a matching swivel base. The TV alone was about 250 lbs.

corvette · January 8

I think 36" was the largest "common" tube set due to the weight and due to larger ones not being able to fit through standard doors. The projectors in old-school rear projector TVs (not the newer DLP ones) also used to "drop" to allow them to be maneuvered.

houdini1 · January 8

jmonroe1 said:

graphicguy said:

suydam said:
Mine is a 3 year old version of that. Terrific TV.
Price went up $300 at Best Buy Buy on that TV. Costco had the one I really wanted (LG C4 65") for $1,499. But, that went up $200. Super Bowl is the next "big sale" cycle on TVs. So, will just hold out until then.
————————————————
I have a serious question.

Here is the background on this for those that missed it. I bought a $1000 Samsung 55 inch TV a few weeks ago at Best Buy but it’s going back because the sound cuts out every so often.

So, what makes a $1500 TV better than say a $1000 TV? If you’re going to say the picture quality, I have a tale to tell about that.

We had to go to Sam’s yesterday (there is no Costco in my town and I’m not going into the Burgh to join the one there), anyway, as soon as you walk into Sam’s they have all their TV’s on display, so I decided to look at them. I couldn’t tell the difference in picture quality from just about any of them. I’ve pretty much decided I’m going to get an LG, so I honed in on those. For the life of me I couldn’t tell the difference in picture quality between the one that cost $379 (55 inch job) from the one next to it that cost $899 and for that matter the one that cost even more (I can’t remember exactly the price of that one but I know it was over $1000).

Just for grins I went on line and saw that Best Buy has the same $379 TV for 99 cents more so there goes the talk about that TV being made just for Sam’s and it’s cheaper at Sam’s because it’s made cheaper. BTW, Sam’s offers a 3 year warranty on the one I want whereas Best Buy offers the standard 1 year warranty.

I just thought of this, the more expensive TV’s at Sam’s had a 5 year warranty and 1 more HDMI input (I only need 2, one for the TV signal and one for the soundbar) so that would account for some of the price difference but not all of it, or at least I don’t think so. And here may be the best part, the $379 LG TV has a traditional full size battery powered remote vs. the hard to hold solar powered mini remote that the Samsung has. Life can’t get any gooder than that.

My old man eyes may be trying to save me some money. So maybe I should be listening to them or should I say, believe what I’m seeing.

Any thoughts from you whizz kids?

jmonroe

I can't tell the diff. either. I'd buy the cheapest one with the big remote. A few years ago when I was in the market, some of the cheaper ones did not have a tuner on the theory you could use the tuner on your cable box. If they are still doing this I would steer clear of those. I think Vizio did this a lot.

kyfdx · January 8

Well.. I didn't die from over an hour of shoveling on Monday, so thinking about digging out the mailbox and fire hydrant, today. More snow predicted on Friday. Maybe, I can leave this earth, by the time the week is over..

sda · January 8

No beer?

graphicguy · January 8

roadburner said:
We drove over to church to help take down the Christmas decorations. All the local roads were clear. The driveway is clear and we have plenty of firewood in case of a power loss.

Was just reading about how to plug in my refrigerator and lamps to my EV6 to give me light and keep my food from spoiling. Not needed right now. But, I now have a way to get power when the house has none.

ab348 · January 8

kyfdx said:
Our last tube TV was a 36" Sony. In a silver cabinet that sat on a matching swivel base. The TV alone was about 250 lbs.

In either the brochure or the manual for the 440-lb Sony, there was a warning to check the floor before placing it in the desired location to ensure it could withstand the weight. This jumbo Sony came with its own custom platform, but no swivel.

stickguy · January 8

Put the food in the snowbanks. It will be fine.

graphicguy · January 8

jmonroe1 said:

graphicguy said:

suydam said:
Mine is a 3 year old version of that. Terrific TV.
Price went up $300 at Best Buy Buy on that TV. Costco had the one I really wanted (LG C4 65") for $1,499. But, that went up $200. Super Bowl is the next "big sale" cycle on TVs. So, will just hold out until then.
————————————————
I have a serious question.

Here is the background on this for those that missed it. I bought a $1000 Samsung 55 inch TV a few weeks ago at Best Buy but it’s going back because the sound cuts out every so often.

So, what makes a $1500 TV better than say a $1000 TV? If you’re going to say the picture quality, I have a tale to tell about that.

We had to go to Sam’s yesterday (there is no Costco in my town and I’m not going into the Burgh to join the one there), anyway, as soon as you walk into Sam’s they have all their TV’s on display, so I decided to look at them. I couldn’t tell the difference in picture quality from just about any of them. I’ve pretty much decided I’m going to get an LG, so I honed in on those. For the life of me I couldn’t tell the difference in picture quality between the one that cost $379 (55 inch job) from the one next to it that cost $899 and for that matter the one that cost even more (I can’t remember exactly the price of that one but I know it was over $1000).

Just for grins I went on line and saw that Best Buy has the same $379 TV for 99 cents more so there goes the talk about that TV being made just for Sam’s and it’s cheaper at Sam’s because it’s made cheaper. BTW, Sam’s offers a 3 year warranty on the one I want whereas Best Buy offers the standard 1 year warranty.

I just thought of this, the more expensive TV’s at Sam’s had a 5 year warranty and 1 more HDMI input (I only need 2, one for the TV signal and one for the soundbar) so that would account for some of the price difference but not all of it, or at least I don’t think so. And here may be the best part, the $379 LG TV has a traditional full size battery powered remote vs. the hard to hold solar powered mini remote that the Samsung has. Life can’t get any gooder than that.

My old man eyes may be trying to save me some money. So maybe I should be listening to them or should I say, believe what I’m seeing.

Any thoughts from you whizz kids?

jmonroe

Lots to unpack, but since you asked.....the better TVs have better image processing, no color blooming (colors that tend to bleed out of the edges of images displayed). OLED TVs have less (no?) black "crush" (where blacks aren't really black, but dark gray). Fast moving images (like sports) do not "jitter" (where it looks like the scene of a ball being thrown has drop out of frames). Could go on, but those are just some of the differences.

But, if you are happy with the pic you see in the stores, save some money and buy the less expensive TVs. Side note....there's usually a setting in the set up menu that the stores crank up to max (max brightness, max color, max contrast) that look fine in a well lit store, but would look terrible with the same settings in your living room.

I'm sticking with OLEDs as I shop. Have ruled out Sony OLED. I generally love Sony TVs, but they are more expensive than their LG and Samsung counterparts for no discernible benefit.

Looking at Samsung S90D-95D models and LG C4-G4 models right now. I have an Amazon business account for my little eBay side gig I buy and sell from. Using it, I can get some pretty good prices on TVs from Amazon.

kyfdx · January 8

stickguy said:
Put the food in the snowbanks. It will be fine.

No lies told, there.. Freezing will be the only issue

tjc78 · January 8

@kyfdx said:
Our last tube TV was a 36" Sony. In a silver cabinet that sat on a matching swivel base. The TV alone was about 250 lbs.

This had the same matching stand.

It was similar to this.

graphicguy · January 8

Was out running around in the EV6 yesterday. As you guys reported, main roads are fine. Secondary roads are a little dicey. The two motor AWD system in the EV6 did great all the way around.

kyfdx · January 8

@tjc78 Yep, that looks like it.

tjc78 · January 8

You are all gonna laugh at me but I still have a 65” Sony XBR LCD projection TV in the basement with matching stand. That thing has a plate glass front and is a monster.

I debated moving it in 2020 but the movers didn’t charge any extra so I took it. We don’t use it much - my kids sometimes will game on it or watch YouTube

It must be 20 years old now as it doesn’t have an HDMI port and I needed an adaptor box to connect the Roku to the DVI input.

Picture is still respectable if not a bit darker than new TVs. It will stay down there until it dies.

tjc78 · January 8

@graphicguy said:
Was out running around in the EV6 yesterday. As you guys reported, main roads are fine. Secondary roads are a little dicey. The two motor AWD system in the EV6 did great all the way around.

I went out in the slippery stuff and totally forgot to put the truck in 4 Auto. It did just fine.

corvette · January 8

I was proud of one of my adjusters yesterday--I wouldn't have been as nice:

Insured: "We didn't even know it was a complaint."
Adjuster: "The first sentence of the letter you received says 'a complaint has been filed against you...'"

oldfarmer50 · January 8

kyfdx said:
Our last tube TV was a 36" Sony. In a silver cabinet that sat on a matching swivel base. The TV alone was about 250 lbs.

I had one like that in a beautiful oak cabinet. I kept it long after it was obsolete but it was the dragging it around (needed a pickup truck) to get repaired that finally convinced me to switch. 😥

oldfarmer50 · January 8

stickguy said:
Put the food in the snowbanks. It will be fine.

Until the critters find it.

cdnpinhead · January 8

kyfdx said:
Well.. I didn't die from over an hour of shoveling on Monday, so thinking about digging out the mailbox and fire hydrant, today. More snow predicted on Friday. Maybe, I can leave this earth, by the time the week is over..

Just pace yourself. That's how I got this accomplished a few years ago:

stickguy · January 8

@oldfarmer50 said:
Until the critters find it.

Well the logical way to do it is put it in a cooler.

Kirstie_H · January 8

graphicguy said:

Looking at Samsung S90D-95D models and LG C4-G4 models right now. I have an Amazon business account for my little eBay side gig I buy and sell from. Using it, I can get some pretty good prices on TVs from Amazon.

We're pretty annoyed with the Samsung TV right now. Half the time, it won't load Amazon Prime. It's also just TOO smart - it's got some feature where it auto-detects peripherals that are connected to it, until it decides it's not going to do that. We've had numerous re-starts to try to get it to detect a gaming console. Next TV, we'll be avoiding anything with that feature.

tjc78 · January 8

I hate the built in Samsung “smart” interface. I’m considering throwing a Roku stick on mine.

qbrozen · January 8

@tjc78 said:
I hate the built in Samsung “smart” interface. I’m considering throwing a Roku stick on mine.

I can’t praise the Amazon firetv cube enough. It works amazingly well and is very fast compared to my Roku devices and even the firestick and firetv (actually built into the tv) we have.

kyfdx · January 8

oldfarmer50 said:

kyfdx said:
Our last tube TV was a 36" Sony. In a silver cabinet that sat on a matching swivel base. The TV alone was about 250 lbs.
I had one like that in a beautiful oak cabinet. I kept it long after it was obsolete but it was the dragging it around (needed a pickup truck) to get repaired that finally convinced me to switch. 😥

Yup.. had a 32" in the tall wood cabinet, before the other one. All one piece. It was a bear, as well.

kyfdx · January 8

Driving out of my street, saw a guy with a big pickup truck, snow blowing a neighbor's driveway and sidewalk. Asked him if he had time to do mine. (I only had about 40% of the driveway left, plus some serious snowplow banks around the end of the driveway)

He came down and looked at it.. said, sure. How much? $35.

I didn't have him do the sidewalk by the street, as that would be the sidewalk to nowhere.

Took him about 15-20 minutes. Fire hydrant, mailbox and massive snowplow berm are all clear, plus the 40% of driveway I didn't shovel on Monday. Gave him $50, and we were all happy.

ab348 · January 8

Some of this stuff about TV picture quality is very similar to the old audiophile days when people went in endless (and expensive) searches for The One True Sound. The Perfect Picture is out there somewhere I suppose but finding it can get expensive. And I don't know if my old eyes could tell. The big box el-cheapo price leader stuff is fairly easy to tell from the better ones, but much of the higher-end stuff seems very close.

I am not in the market for a new set right now but it looks like Roku has lost a number of manufacturers and is now selling sets of their own. My TCLs are Roku TVs but the new TCLs are all Google TVs, which I know nothing about.

tjc78 · January 8

My Sony is an Android/Google TV. Better interface than Samsung but Roku and Fire TV are better.

@qbrozen
Thanks for the recommendation

driver100 · January 8

graphicguy said:

roadburner said:
We drove over to church to help take down the Christmas decorations. All the local roads were clear. The driveway is clear and we have plenty of firewood in case of a power loss.
Was just reading about how to plug in my refrigerator and lamps to my EV6 to give me light and keep my food from spoiling. Not needed right now. But, I now have a way to get power when the house has none.

Just wondering, what if you use up all the power from the EV6 and then you realize you have to drive somewhere? Not being a smart [non-permissible content removed], really wondering.

driver100 · January 8

cdnpinhead said:

kyfdx said:
Well.. I didn't die from over an hour of shoveling on Monday, so thinking about digging out the mailbox and fire hydrant, today. More snow predicted on Friday. Maybe, I can leave this earth, by the time the week is over..
Just pace yourself. That's how I got this accomplished a few years ago:

Thanks, even though it is only 55F in the Tampa area today you made me feel grateful to be here. Also I can get Publix Moose Tracks ice cream.

imidazol97 · January 8

@Kirstie_H said:
We're pretty annoyed with the Samsung TV right now. Half the time, it won't load Amazon Prime. It's also just TOO smart - it's got some feature where it auto-detects peripherals that are connected to it, until it decides it's not going to do that. We've had numerous re-starts to try to get it to detect a gaming console. Next TV, we'll be avoiding anything with that feature.

Are the restarts hot resets? Samsung had me pull the plug with the set On. I think I waited a couple minutes, then restarted tv and the problem was fixed.

jmonroe1 · January 8

Thanks everyone for your input with my TV questions. I appreciate your help.

Here’s my plan:

I have to return the Samsung (model no. QN55S85DAEXZA that has the sound problem) that I paid $1000 for before the Best Buy return period lapses which is next week. The price of that TV is now $1300. So I guess it really was on sale. Here’s my dilemma, I’d like to get the LG C4 Series (Model OLED55C4 PUA) but it’s also not on sale like it was before Christmas. The price for it now is $1400. I doubt they’ll let me have the LG for its Christmas price since it’s now gone up in price too, even if I’m willing to pay the difference in the Christmas price, but I’ll ask. So, I’ll just make the return and ask the techs at Best Buy to show/convince me why I should spend more money than what my eyes can discern from the models on display. If noting else, I’ll have more time to think this through.

Spending more money doesn’t bother me. The 55 inch Samsung i bought in 2012 cost $2000 and is still fine. It’s in the office now. Back then I could easily see the difference between it and other TV’s on display. It was an LED (I don’t think OLED’s were out yet) but it was a 3-D job too. I never used that feature. I thought the grandkids would get a kick out of it but never could get them all together due to one thing or another (spots and stuff) and to be honest, I never really tried all that hard either. I’m not sorry I spent the money because like I said the picture was terrific. Also, like I said, in 2012 the picture looked pretty good to me in the store compared to what I can differentiate today.

Spending more money is not an issue, in fact, I have a few more dollars today than I did back then but I never was one to spend more money than I had to for anything. If I liked something I bought it, within reason of course.

If somehow I end up getting a less expensive TV, I’ll just use that savings for my next car. Nobody in here is going to fault me for that, right?

jmonroe

stickguy · January 8

see if you can find the same model number advertised elsewhere for cheaper and get them to price match.

and as silly as it sounds, check online. Sometimes the store price and the website price are different.

roadburner · January 8

It’s easier for me to understand that differences in picture quality are often more difficult to detect than it is with respect to sound quality- I guess because there are so many abysmal sound sources out there that decent sound quality is seldom heard.
Although I do remember my FIL saying that he thought DVDs were just an attempt to get people to buy new products. He had decent eyesight and was not senile, but he claimed SD VHS picture quality looked perfectly fine to him…

stickguy · January 8

the level of the bar matters. when basic is above what the best was not that long ago, it's hard for most normal users to justify paying big for the fancy stuff.

in car terms, if you have a Corvette with a performance package the performance levels are so absurdly high that very few people are going to ever use the extra capacity of the top end model.

snakeweasel · January 8

stickguy said:
Put the food in the snowbanks. It will be fine.

Around here if you do it all you would be doing is feeding the critters.

Edited to add: I guess I wasn't the first one to think that.

stickguy · January 8

I didn't mean to just throw it out there loose!

jmonroe1 · January 8

I returned the Samsung TV that had the sound problem. No problem at all doing that but I came home empty handed because, just as I thought, Best Buy could not give me the Christmas sale price on the LG. So, I’m going to wait for a sale.

However, their TV guru was more than helpful and willing to spend at least 30 minutes (the store was practically empty) showing me the differences in brands and what you get for the higher prices. He made adjustments showing me the differences in black levels and brightness of the better OLED’s compared to the less expensive OLED’s units. When he slowed it down like he did, even my old eyes could see the difference. He said streaming would provide even better viewing than the standard cable box. I never heard that before. I’ve never tried steaming but I will when I decide to get the LG C4 series when it hopefully drops in price for the Super Bowl sales.

I’m now back to my 2012 LED Samsung that was brought down from the office to its old home in the family room again. It still looks good to me hooked up to the cable box.

FWIW, the guru said if I got a new sound bar (the Samsung I have now has to be 15 years old, I’d hear a dramatic improvement in sound due to newer technology used today). He showed me a $300 Samsung sound bar and it did sound pretty good, the $500 job sounded even better but I don’t think I’ll spend that much on a sound bar but I could twist my arm, I guess. I don’t want my ears to become totally spoiled all at once, (@roadburner, I know you’d spend even more). He said he prefers the Samsung sound bars over the LG’s.

All in all it was worth the education.

jmonroe

jmonroe1 · January 8

stickguy said:
I didn't mean to just throw it out there loose!

————————————————
Some folks need it spelled out…syllable by syllable. Like separate the salami from the milk.

jmonroe

xwesx · January 8

corvette said:
I think 36" was the largest "common" tube set due to the weight and due to larger ones not being able to fit through standard doors. The projectors in old-school rear projector TVs (not the newer DLP ones) also used to "drop" to allow them to be maneuvered.

Yes. This is what I had. Manufactured in 1997, purchased in 2000, and used until my wife made me get ride of it in 2015. At that time, it was still in perfect working order, but I couldn't give it away. I tried for about three months. Then, I took it to the electronics recycler.

stickguy · January 8

I love the Samsung sound bar we got for the new house. Works seamlessly with the Samsung tv. And vastly better than the built in tiny speakers!

venture · January 9

jmonroe1 said:

stickguy said:
I didn't mean to just throw it out there loose!
————————————————
Some folks need it spelled out…syllable by syllable. Like separate the salami from the milk.

jmonroe

I wish I could have "liked" that a few hundred times.

Edmunds Members - Cars and Conversations

Comments

Helpful Tools

Most popular vehicles

Your Privacy