I own this. Awesome TV. I had been using a Pioneer plasma until OLED got cheap enough to replace it. It's the only TV I've seen since Pioneer ceased making those plasmas that even comes close in picture quality.
It's Thursday and I'm feeling like a brain dump / therapy session.. apologies in advance....
So having gone through the HDTV buying cycle with a Samsung c7100 series in the past, this time around I truly believe that picture quality / price is what I (you might?) need to concentrate on - forget the smart functionality, not just a little, ENTIRELY. At least the c7100 picture is pretty good. Not great black levels but still acceptable.
Similar to mobile phones - In the case of the c7100, the "Smart" functionality SUPPORT ended approximately 2 seconds after receiving the TV. Expect no more than 2 years - yet TVs last for maybe a decade and they're pricey, so they're not disposable / regularly upgraded. Today, the smart functions which I thought were a great plus point are basically pointless, plus the skype functionality which really drove me to purchase is dead dead dead.... not exactly Samsung's fault that one, since Skype deprecated tons of devices, but it still sucks since I bought the camera to video conference my family with family overseas - never did work well. Perhaps smart TVs based on the new Android TV platform (vs old Google TV which was.... killed) will be a little better - similar to how Google Nexus devices get longer support than regular vendors?
->>>> One thing's for sure - it's not just about smart support in terms of functionality - now it's also about SECURITY support - you don't want all these intelligent devices in your home getting compromised.
IN FACT, I would rather pay 400 bucks less for a DUMB TV with a great picture, than get it thrown in. Such is my belief that the embedded smart TV features of HDTVs is a broken support model
So point is, smarts get upgraded by the latest Fire TV, XBOX, AppleTV whatever - so focus on the thing that can't be changed - picture quality.
I'm excited to see OLEDs coming down in price and whatever new tech might compete. Until that 65" - 75" comes down to a nice affordable price I'm (somewhat) silently lurking ready to pounce, but here's another point that popped into my head.....
Besides picture quality, I've noticed that input quality can really differ between over the air and cable / Fios. Over the air, when I can get it, is incredibly sharp and vibrant, whereas both Comcast and Fios just don't even come close... am guessing it's a matter of trying to get to down a certain compression point.... just saying.... bit sad that the best picture I get is the one I don't have to pay for.... sigh.
To that end though - really looking forward to seeing what happens with ATSC v3. Wondering if it'll be as good as Freeview HD / Freeview Play in the UK or better. Was back there earlier this year and by God, it's really very impressive in quality, content and functionality. Man I wish I could pay the licence fee and get it over here. (also there's a ton of fantastic UK & world programming that doesn't make it to the US - treble sigh!)...
QUESTION: Wouldn't it be great if cable TV content was truly global and we got to choose, rather than having to consume what the US TV distribution companies wanted to feed us? After all, the internet is kind of here - also BBC / ITV / Channel 4 - am looking at you outside US types here too.... why not offer a pay for service over the internet to global consumers? No more excuses of broadcast rights, territories and copyright - we want to pay the money and do it legally. Free the consumer to let them choose, no matter what country they live in.
Comments & Reviews (11)
phenomenal phailure
It's Thursday and I'm feeling like a brain dump / therapy session.. apologies in advance....
So having gone through the HDTV buying cycle with a Samsung c7100 series in the past, this time around I truly believe that picture quality / price is what I (you might?) need to concentrate on - forget the smart functionality, not just a little, ENTIRELY. At least the c7100 picture is pretty good. Not great black levels but still acceptable.
Similar to mobile phones - In the case of the c7100, the "Smart" functionality SUPPORT ended approximately 2 seconds after receiving the TV. Expect no more than 2 years - yet TVs last for maybe a decade and they're pricey, so they're not disposable / regularly upgraded. Today, the smart functions which I thought were a great plus point are basically pointless, plus the skype functionality which really drove me to purchase is dead dead dead.... not exactly Samsung's fault that one, since Skype deprecated tons of devices, but it still sucks since I bought the camera to video conference my family with family overseas - never did work well. Perhaps smart TVs based on the new Android TV platform (vs old Google TV which was.... killed) will be a little better - similar to how Google Nexus devices get longer support than regular vendors?
->>>> One thing's for sure - it's not just about smart support in terms of functionality - now it's also about SECURITY support - you don't want all these intelligent devices in your home getting compromised.
IN FACT, I would rather pay 400 bucks less for a DUMB TV with a great picture, than get it thrown in. Such is my belief that the embedded smart TV features of HDTVs is a broken support model
So point is, smarts get upgraded by the latest Fire TV, XBOX, AppleTV whatever - so focus on the thing that can't be changed - picture quality.
I'm excited to see OLEDs coming down in price and whatever new tech might compete. Until that 65" - 75" comes down to a nice affordable price I'm (somewhat) silently lurking ready to pounce, but here's another point that popped into my head.....
Besides picture quality, I've noticed that input quality can really differ between over the air and cable / Fios. Over the air, when I can get it, is incredibly sharp and vibrant, whereas both Comcast and Fios just don't even come close... am guessing it's a matter of trying to get to down a certain compression point.... just saying.... bit sad that the best picture I get is the one I don't have to pay for.... sigh.
To that end though - really looking forward to seeing what happens with ATSC v3. Wondering if it'll be as good as Freeview HD / Freeview Play in the UK or better. Was back there earlier this year and by God, it's really very impressive in quality, content and functionality. Man I wish I could pay the licence fee and get it over here. (also there's a ton of fantastic UK & world programming that doesn't make it to the US - treble sigh!)...
QUESTION: Wouldn't it be great if cable TV content was truly global and we got to choose, rather than having to consume what the US TV distribution companies wanted to feed us? After all, the internet is kind of here - also BBC / ITV / Channel 4 - am looking at you outside US types here too.... why not offer a pay for service over the internet to global consumers? No more excuses of broadcast rights, territories and copyright - we want to pay the money and do it legally. Free the consumer to let them choose, no matter what country they live in.
OK back to work people... rant over!
Dingo
Thank you!