Are High-End Monitors Still Worth It? (1 Viewer)

[ManW_TheUncool]

Guess I might get one of these (smaller) M Series Vizios for the livingroom too sometime after finally moving the HT to a dedicated room come spring... although we're currently leaning against keeping any TV at all in the livingroom. Might only keep a stereo setup there -- possibly leaving my old Vandies along w/ old, midfi-ish Yamaha AVR there though not sure what best to use for source.

But yeah, does seem like not worthwhile spending top $ for highend display (unless price/budget is no object/concern at all), which was why I decided not to go for a JVC PJ and settled for an Epson 5050UB (at least) for the next several years, which is allowing me to better upgrade the audio side instead...

Of course, the Epson PJ is still fairly expensive (even after the excellent discount I got), but seems unavoidable for its feature set revolving around lens capability -- seems one aspect of the tech that doesn't scale down much in cost/pricing over time probably because it's largely mechanical (and optical), less electronic/digital...

_Man_

 

[JohnRice]

Well, like I think I said earlier, I had expected I would get an OLED to replace the plasma. It wasn't even a question in my mind, but when I started second guessing that, I created this thread to get additional feedback. I was going to spend $1.5K minimum for a 55" OLED, but ended up getting a 65" P Series and a 55" M Series for the living room for less than that. I'm fully aware of the differences and the limitations of the Vizio sets. In particular, the off-axis image is bad, but that makes no difference for me. The P Series is still the best TV I've ever owned, by a significant margin. I'll spend more premium for audio gear that I expect to be able to use for decades, but TVs don't last that long. Maybe these will last ten years or more, but I can't count on that.

 

[Clinton McClure]

There is no guide for live OTA television broadcasts. Unless it's buried so far that nobody could ever find it. It never even occurred to me to check, because every TV I've ever seen with a digital HD tuner in it had a guide of some sort.

BTW, I did get a 65" P Series for the HT. Big improvement over the plasma. No comparison, in fact.

John - Is yours a 2020 or 2021 model? I'm probably going to end up getting a Vizio P series to replace my plasma and am waffling on whether to spend $1300 + tax for a 2021 model or $1079 + tax for the 2020 model on closeout.

 

[Clinton McClure]

Disregard my above post. I just found the 2021 model (P65Q9-J01) 65" P Series online at Walmart for under $1000 so I went ahead and impulse bought it. Should be delivered by Friday. I'm already getting excited and I know I won't be able to sleep all week.

 

[Clinton McClure]

Disregard both of my above posts. After watching a couple of videos by @TheFOMO , I cancelled my Walmart order for the 2021 Vizio P series and ordered a 65" Hisense U8G from Best Buy for the same price. I also get to pick it up from my local store Thursday afternoon instead of it being delivered Friday.

 

[Scott Merryfield]

I picked up a 55-inch Vizio M-Series for our South Carolina condo last spring to replace an old 40-ish inch plasma set that came with the condo. I wanted a 65-inch set, but there were none in stock locally at that time. I plan on eventually upgrading to a 65-inch set there and moving the 55-inch display to the master bedroom, but that will wait awhile. We've spent enough on the place this year since upgrading from a different condo in January. My wallet needs a break.

 

[Clinton McClure]

Despite me requesting a cancellation of my Walmart order within 20 minutes of placing it, they still shipped the Vizio the next day. FedEx and signature required which doesn’t work well since wifey works graveyard and sleeps during the day so the chances of her hearing the doorbell while asleep or even answering the door if she hears the doorbell are pretty slim. I tried unsuccessfully to get the tv diverted to a safe pickup location (Walgreens, Dollar General, etc…) but the box was too big and I couldn’t do it. I also requested it be held at the local FedEx depot across town and was told they couldn’t do that either.

While I was driving home from work this afternoon, I received a text from FedEx that my package had been delivered. Strange that I didn’t hear anything from my wife. When I got home and started to pull into the driveway, I could see a giant Vizio box leaning up against the garage. It was out in the open and clearly visible from the street. Not only did the driver leave it out like that, he delivered it without obtaining a signature (my wife didn’t even know FedEx had been by), and there was a hole the size of a grapefruit in the back of the box. I shined my flashlight in the hole and it looked like the back of the tv took a solid hit from a forklift or something.

I couldn’t be too upset by that, though, because I was going to return the Vizio anyway so I loaded it in the suv, drove to Walmart and got my money back. After that, I went to Best Buy and picked up the Hisense I ordered Monday. It’s still boxed and standing in the theater. I’m hopeful that I won’t be so tired after work tomorrow that I can’t swap out my old plasma for this.

Pics to follow.

 

[Clinton McClure]

With wifey’s help, I swapped out the plasma for the 4K display. According to Panasonic, the plasma weighs 76lbs but it feels more like 200 when lifting it off the tv stand it’s VESA mounted to and the new display only weighs a paltry 53lbs but, in the shipping container, feels a LOT heavier. I know this because I had to unload it from the back of my wife’s SUV and push it through the garage, laundry room, kitchen, living room, and into the theater. Luckily, only the theater had carpet and the rest of the way was concrete and ceramic tile.

I’m not using it for gaming so I guess I connected the hdmi cable to the correct port (4k@60Hz).

I’m currently taking a dinner break before running the setup and testing it out but I do have an initial thought that is blowing my mind right now. Not only am I going from 720p to 4K, I’m also going from 50” to 65”… a 70% jump in display size. When I get back home, I’ll play with it for a bit and probably give my initial thoughts tomorrow.

 

[Peter McM]

With wifey’s help, I swapped out the plasma for the 4K display. According to Panasonic, the plasma weighs 76lbs but it feels more like 200 when lifting it off the tv stand it’s VESA mounted to and the new display only weighs a paltry 53lbs but, in the shipping container, feels a LOT heavier. I know this because I had to unload it from the back of my wife’s SUV and push it through the garage, laundry room, kitchen, living room, and into the theater. Luckily, only the theater had carpet and the rest of the way was concrete and ceramic tile.

I’m not using it for gaming so I guess I connected the hdmi cable to the correct port (4k@60Hz).

I’m currently taking a dinner break before running the setup and testing it out but I do have an initial thought that is blowing my mind right now. Not only am I going from 720p to 4K, I’m also going from 50” to 65”… a 70% jump in display size. When I get back home, I’ll play with it for a bit and probably give my initial thoughts tomorrow.

Hi, Clinton. I'm about to swap out my 11 year old Mitsubishi DLP. After much time reading reviews and consumer feedback, I'm honing in on the Hisense U8G. I'm anxious to hear what you think of it. The only few consistent negatives I read are ghosting and stutter, but most never mention these issues, instead raving about this oft-overlooked brand model being near OLED quality without the price tag. Looking forward to (hopefully) having my decision further reassured.

 

[Clinton McClure]

Hi, Clinton. I'm about to swap out my 11 year old Mitsubishi DLP. After much time reading reviews and consumer feedback, I'm honing in on the Hisense U8G. I'm anxious to hear what you think of it. The only few consistent negatives I read are ghosting and stutter, but most never mention these issues, instead raving about this oft-overlooked brand model being near OLED quality without the price tag. Looking forward to (hopefully) having my decision further reassured.

Hi Peter. Below is my summary from another thread:

“This year’s U8G (specifically the 65” variety) has terrible motion issues, even after the latest firmware and TCON “update” and all motion enhancements turned off. Still shots look exceptional but everything else is a step back from what I’m used to with a 12 year old plasma display. I don’t play any games on it and I only use it for movies and streaming a few select tv shows.

To watch any content with normal screen brightness, you either have to endure really bad stutter / judder or whatever it’s called when there are any panning shots or action is happening in front of a light or white background, or you have to enable motion smoothing and deal with the soap opera effect. You can use the Film motion setting which mostly takes away the SOE and makes movies look more like what they should but most of your close-up shots of actors talking and moving seem to look like shifting sand… always just a bit blurry. The only fix I’ve found is to enable Filmmaker Mode which, aside from disabling all noise reduction and motion enhancements like I did right out of the box anyway, apparently re-enables Motion Clearness (black frame insertion) to lower backlight flicker. This helps tremendously but cuts the max brightness from 1500 nits to 100 nits, producing a very dark image with crushed blacks. It’s ok in a completely dark room but if you have any ambient light, it can be a bit hard to watch. Honestly, it’s the only way I’m able to watch anything on it with any satisfaction.”

Overall, I’m not as impressed with the Hisense as I thought I would be.

 

[JohnRice]

This helps tremendously but cuts the max brightness from 1500 nits to 100 nits

100? Is that a typo? 100 sounds unusable.

 

[Clinton McClure]

100? Is that a typo? 100 sounds unusable.

Apparently filmmaker mode sets peak brightness to 100 nits for SDR content and HDR is supposed to be brighter, however, I haven’t read an actual number for it and I honestly can’t tell a difference in brightness between the two on the Hisense. Unless your room is completely dark, the picture is almost too dark to watch.

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

Well, that's a major bummer then. Since you bought it from Best Buy in Nov, you probably do have the option to return it (and go for something else) due to their extended holiday return/exchange policy, no?

No idea what would be better in your ballpark, but maybe the competing Vizio you originally considered? And is the issue actually limited to the 65" model (and not vary from unit to unit)?

_Man_

 

[Clinton McClure]

Well, that's a major bummer then. Since you bought it from Best Buy in Nov, you probably do have the option to return it (and go for something else) due to their extended holiday return/exchange policy, no?

No idea what would be better in your ballpark, but maybe the competing Vizio you originally considered? And is the issue actually limited to the 65" model (and not vary from unit to unit)?

_Man_

I don’t know if Best Buy would take it back since I no longer have the box or packing material. I also haven’t been home much during the past few weeks so my time with this display has still been very limited.

I’m not saying the display is completely unwatchable, I just learned that I have to really lower my expectations going from Plasma to QLED / ULED, not just with black levels, but with overall picture quality. The plasma was a 9 out of 10 (only because it was a 720p display). The Hisense is a 10 on still HD images but only a 7 at best when anything on screen moves.

 

[JohnRice]

My Vizio blows away the plasma it replaced in every conceivable way.

 

[Scott Merryfield]

My Vizio blows away the plasma it replaced in every conceivable way.

I bought Vizio M-Series displays to replace both a Samsung DLP and a Panasonic plasma, and in both cases the Vizio provides a far superior picture.

 

[JohnRice]

I bought Vizio M-Series displays to replace both a Samsung DLP and a Panasonic plasma, and in both cases the Vizio provides a far superior picture.

Yes, I got both M and P series, and even the M easily bests the plasma, and it doesn’t heat up the house.

 

[Clinton McClure]

I have two smaller Vizio Ms and both of them are great. Maybe I should return the Hisense if they’ll let me and go for a Vizio P or another M for the theater.

 

[JohnRice]

I have two smaller Vizio Ms and both of them are great. Maybe I should return the Hisense if they’ll let me and go for a Vizio P or another M for the theater.

The weakness of the Vizios is their peripheral image is terrible. As long as you are at less than about a 20 degree angle they’re great, but it deteriorates after that.