Smart TV, Dumb TV, 1080p, 4K, curved, straight, HELP!

[capngeo]

Not for the boat, but for the house... went
TV shopping and all I got was a headache. Can any of you techy members sort out the clutter?

[a64pilot]

1080 I or P is resolution, same for 4K, except 4K is much higher, not important at all in smaller screens, becomes more important the bigger the screen, if your going 50"+ I would go for 4K for sure, assuming your eyes are good enough to tell the difference.
Smart means internet connected, no Roku box required, its built in.
I don't know about curved, maybe more gimmick?

However I will say this about TV's, they are like Stereos, you have to go listen / look for yourself, ideally different TV's, same signal. You will find often that lower spec TV's may actually give a better picture, and it is ALL about the picture.
I have never seen a TV with decent sound, it's just not possible, the drivers have to be too small to fit into the TV

https://www.cnet.com/news/tv-resolut...they-all-mean/


Out of that article, this is the most important part, at the end of course

Here's where we remind you that more pixels doesn't necessarily mean a better picture. There are other aspects of picture quality, such as contrast and color, that are far more important than resolution. That said, if you're buying a new midrange or high-end TV, it will probably be UHD anyway.


When I come back to a house, I will do another Home Theater with a projector.
15 yrs ago I had a 120" diagonal screen on the wall, you just cannot beat a Home Theater

[Shrew]

Smart TV: Are you going to browse the internet? If not, you don't really need smart TV

Curved TV:

PRO's:
Slight Improvement in Immersion; Depth is enhanced; Wider field of view;
Superior contrast

Con's:
Reflections are exaggerated; Viewing angle limitations;
Ideal picture quality only comes from dead center; Terrible for hanging;
Size matters too much; They’re expensive.

1080p vs 4k: Quality of Definition

1080p = High Definition (HD) Resolution: 1920 x 1080 pixels
4k = Ultra High Definition (UHD) Resolution: 3840 x 2160 pixels

[RobertLeask]

I couldn't find a thread about multisystem tvs for international cruising, this seems like a good place to ask: things seem to have become even more confusing since the advent of hdtv. I'm shopping for a new tv for the boat, one thing I've learned is that they are not.created equal when it comes to pulling in weak signals. The RCA I have now is not good for that. On other sites I've read that the best are LG, Sony and Samsung. A.more sensitive tv can sometimes pull in more than twice as many channels as less sensitive sets, according to people who know these things.

I'm planning to cross the Atlantic this year and doubt if the RCA would work outside North America anyway. So now you need a set that can receive PALand its variants, and NTSC, and I gather that the standards for digital tv are not international either. I'm wondering if anyone here has a tv that has worked in England, Europe, Bermuda etc? Is it possible to buy one that will work everwhere, Australia, Asia, South Africa, etc? I've cruised to those places before and found that my PAL tuner worked in some places but not all. Can you find a tv that will really work everywhere?

[a64pilot]

Way back, it was PAL or NTSC, there was no both and that was for TVs, VCR's Video cameras everything.
I do not know now though.

[Pelagic]

Originally Posted by capngeo

Not for the boat, but for the house... went
TV shopping and all I got was a headache. Can any of you techy members sort out the clutter?

Smart TV's also offer you a multifunction display for your Smart Phone, if you use one.

If not Everything from your laptop/pad can also wirelessly be shared on the smart TV to show the Family.
We both use Samsung smart phones so our Calendars/planners /photos can be synced and shared wirelessly thru the Samsung dedicated screen mirroring on Samsung smart TV's

More here
http://www.samsung.com/ie/support/skp/faq/1057791

[capngeo]

I don't plan to "surf" on the TV.. I have a laptop for that. BUT My understanding is that if you want to cut the cable, you can still get a decent TV programming selection from the internet. At my current home, I pay $200+ a month for just about nothing more than I can get off the air. Thanks to the close proximity of my office (and it's internet connection), and Unbiquity, I should have no problem getting internet to the house. I already beam it 2.5 miles to the boat with a 50mb connection, the new house is only 900' from the office

[a64pilot]

Depends on your data useage, many cable companies restrict you to 500 GB, which sounds like a whole lot, until you start streaming TV.
Just me, but Satellite is better for TV, put a KVH on the boat and $5 more a month for another receiver fee and you have Satellite on the boat too, that moves with the boat and even works when under way.
If you want to stream TV with an internet connection, you need something to connect to the internet of course, and one way is a Roku box, however the Smart TV I have on the boat has the Roku built in, which means it can get Netflix, Amazon and others without any other box. So if you think streaming is even a remote possibility, I'd go for a Smart TV, they are usually not all that much more money.

But yes, if you have "free" internet, by all means toss the cable and stream

[capt-couillon]

Just sayin...

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by capngeo

I don't plan to "surf" on the TV.. I have a laptop for that. BUT My understanding is that if you want to cut the cable, you can still get a decent TV programming selection from the internet. At my current home, I pay $200+ a month for just about nothing more than I can get off the air. Thanks to the close proximity of my office (and it's internet connection), and Unbiquity, I should have no problem getting internet to the house. I already beam it 2.5 miles to the boat with a 50mb connection, the new house is only 900' from the office

I broke the TV antenna socket in my boat TV and can't say I've missed it much.

There are at least three ways to connect a smart phone or laptop to your regular old non-smart TV, so that you can stream different kinds of content to it.

I don't really watch TV anyway so maybe my experience is not all that relevant. But I sure prefer watching what I want when I want to, by doing it on the Internet, rather than waiting for it to be broadcast.

A big caveat to this is you need a good data connection to make this work, for which you preferably do not pay by the megabyte.

[Tkeeth]

I would never buy a smart TV. See the lawsuit against visio? Anyway, they get "out of date" 4K is cheaper now, and might not be a bad idea, however, there isn't alot of programming that can take advantage of the higher resolution just yet, I fell into 3-D back when, and never used it. Get a regular 1080 I or P or a 4K, whichever you choose, make sure it has 3 HDMI connections and put a roku on it and a netgear push to tv (for your smartphone or laptop to connect). the 3rd can be for sat/cable box or blueray players. ...Free advice, worth what ya paid.

[Suijin]

Originally Posted by capngeo

I don't plan to "surf" on the TV.. I have a laptop for that. BUT My understanding is that if you want to cut the cable, you can still get a decent TV programming selection from the internet. At my current home, I pay $200+ a month for just about nothing more than I can get off the air. Thanks to the close proximity of my office (and it's internet connection), and Unbiquity, I should have no problem getting internet to the house. I already beam it 2.5 miles to the boat with a 50mb connection, the new house is only 900' from the office

A smart tv makes it easy to get Netflix, amazon prime etc on your tv, and makes cutting the cable easier. I would honestly just go to Costco and buy the size you want that's smart and forget all the other bells and whistles, particularly if it's already an improvement on what you have. It's easy to spend a lot more for the latest and greatest with only incremental improvements in functionality.

[Tkeeth]

A Rku, Amazon Stick, Apple TV, anything is better than a smart TV. Smart TV costs more and you loose it all when it breaks. A secondary device generally has a better interface, more options, easier to use. I have Prime, Netflix, Hulu, cinemax, and showtime all for about $60 and move my Roku wherever I am, hotel, boat, house etc. I cut the cable 5 years ago.

[LoudMusic]

My opinions:

Curved is a gimmick
3D is a gimmick
Smart is good if you use Netflix, Hulu, etc, otherwise it's a gimmick
4k is a gimmick, 1080p is good enough
Get the biggest you can fit in the space

[barnakiel]

Curved works best with a sextant, also with candles and some good wine.

Then again, flat seems to be popular in Vatican and when you want a gf that can run well and snorkel without a 60 lbs diving belt.

b.