| Author | Message | ||
     Ratbuell |
OK, so I'm a luddite when it comes to TV. I don't stream, I don't do Pandora...just plain ol' cable TV. I don't need a billion channels, nor the time-suck they can provide. I lose enough of my life watching NCIS and Top Gear reruns! Anyhoo. I painted my bedroom this weekend and I really like the way it looks (super-deep "spanish tile" maroon), and I need to stop falling asleep in my recliner in the living room so it's time to upgrade the TV in the bedroom and spend more time in there. I have a 32" now, on a wall bracket, and enough room for a 50" (not that I'll go that big...probably). I'm looking at "smart" TVs for the main reason I don't want to get another cable box. Does anyone know - if I feed these things signal through the CATV coax cable, that would normally go into a cable box - will it decode my channels? Or would I only have whatever the streaming services are via the internet service on the coax (or via wifi)? Or is that a question for my cable provider? I have a box on the TV now, but the plan is to put the existing TV (and box) into the guest room, and the new stuff in my bedroom. ...and I'm refusing to let myself measure how much room I have in the living room, to go bigger there on the TV, and put the living room TV in the bedroom...I don't need one THAT big in the bedroom...probably... Besides, I'm a sound guy. I have to leave room in the budget for audio! If I have a nice screen, I'll need a decent sub and some wireless satellite speakers... sigh.... | ||
| Froggy |
Every cable company has its own encryption for the channels, so the only way you can view the content is with a box to decode it, or if your TV supports it, use a CableCard, which works like the SIM card on your phone and lets your TV do the decyption. I don't know any TVs that still have CableCard support. The only other thing I know is to split the coax output from the box and run the line from the box to both TVs, but both TVs would show the same thing. | ||
| Ratbuell |
Gotcha, thanks Frog  I'll look into what my cable co. offers via internet - I may be able to get the three channels I typically center on, through online streaming. All I really need is something to fall asleep to...lol.... | ||
| Britchri10 |
FWIW: my cable company (Comcast) offer wireless TV connection through a Modem. One Modem and several boosters throughout the house and we can watch different channels in each room simultaneously. The Modem gets it's feed from a co-axial cable. YM (& cable provider) MV | ||
| 86129squids |
I pay for internet access ONLY through Spectrum, NO cable TV, digital antenna for the regular networks and local stations. See a commercial, hit mute. We do have Amazon Prime, Netflix, Hulu, running through a Firestick/Kodi. More content than we need- half the time I'll come home and she's on an auxillary ABC/CBS/NBC station watching "All In The Family" or some other ancient sitcom. Wish she'd watch stuff we pay $$$ for. Oh, and I've got just a 32" Vizio flat screen, which is the biggest that'll fit in the entertainment center for now. Big enough, no need for a TV that covers the wall. | ||
| Hootowl |
“no need for a TV that covers the wall” Blasphemy! | ||
| Ourdee |
What you talkin' 'bout Willis?  | ||
| Marksm |
Neener, Neener... sorry, couldn't resist.  | ||
| 86129squids |
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| Aesquire |
Since a decent 27" monitor is about $200 and the 4k 55" tv is about $300 ( at Costco or other big box stores ) that's my setup. 27" monitor for surfing solo, 55" for watching with friends and Xbox. ( the computers are home built... ) Often, I'll have movies or music videos on the big screen while I surf and play solitaire on the smaller. I considered going to a 32" monitor, & probably will the next time one of the 27"s die, but with the big one set up for dual displays, no hurry. | ||
| Aesquire |
As to the original question, a bit of both. Your smart tv functions are usually internet based, ( Amazon, Netflix...) Which is probably wireless. But some cable companies have unencrypted channels that are more or less the broadcast ones, depending on very local rules. There are some local towns that are in valleys that block all modern broadcast signals so the Cable company provides some free channels with no need for a box/modem. Those towns get some broadcast channels, plus some sales channels ( free! Wee! ) and often a farm report. So it depends... | ||
| Fresnobuell |
I have cut the cable with Sling TV. I love the channel delivery and channel selection (although it recently lost NFL Network if it matters to you.) With a relatively fast internet connection, the channel surfing and cloud DVR operation is about as fast as a satellite TV box. The shortcoming is it's Cloud DVR service. It's only 50 hours of storage and occasionally you will lose a recording (or a couple other finicky things.) It's not a deal breaker for me, but I can see where it might be for some. for $45 bucks a month, I saved about $100 from where my directTV was headed after my promos expired. If it was me, I would get a Roku TV and just run the Sling service over the Roku. Roku TVs can be had cheap. | ||
| Fresnobuell |
Oh yeah, for local channels I have a big ass OTA antennae I installed in the attic. You can purchase a AirTV box to integrate the OTA channels in into the Sling guide (very nice). Then when you pick Dr. Phil on Channel 24, the AirTV box switches over to the antennae. It also allows you to stream the OTA channels to multiple TVs in the house (to any TV setup for Sling.) If you don't want to mess with the AirTV box, then you can always run the OTA feed directly into the TV(s). The downside is you have to switch inputs if you want to look at OTA channels. | ||
| Ourdee |
I found this 65" for $400. I had to do it. | ||
| Ourdee |
Michael, Funny stuff. Small screen is usually running the feed from a cinema camera on the front of the house. | ||
| Ratbuell |
Yeah, I took measurements...I can fit a 50 in the bedroom corner without moving the wall mount (it's in a stud now...and I *just* painted the room....). And they're stupid-cheap. Wow. So now to determine how much is hype, and how much the specs actually make one brand better than another. I'm liking an LG - UN50 4k UHD. Nice specs, good size for my space, great price... Oh....and NOTHING from China. Period. I won't even buy a $7 band for my smart watch, if its from China. LG looks to be USA? More research... | ||
| Hootowl |
https://www.techwalla.com/articles/list-of-televis ions-that-are-made-in-america AFAIK, no panels are made in usa. The TVs made here are assembled from foreign panels. | ||
| Ratbuell |
Interesting. I thought I saw "LG-USA" in one of the ads. I'll do some more searching. You're right, lots of brands are "assembled" here. Looks like I won't be able to avoid Chinese components...but I can try to steer the profits to a US company I guess. | ||
| Zac4mac |
Pretty sure LG is South Korea. I got a 37” Aquos from Sears for $2,500 in 2005, it’s in the bedroom. Picked up a refurbished Visio 60” for $800 a year ago. I like it.  It lives in the living room. Friggin’ movie theee-ate-errr. Z | ||
| Marksm |
FWIW, I have a smart TV from 2013. They've already stopped updating the software/firmware. So we hooked a Roku to it. When it needs replacing we'll just get a decent sized dumb TV and hook the Roku to it. Can't browse the internet with it but we rarely did anyway. | ||
| Ourdee |
I just use this 65" as a monitor for my computer. It's 4k. | ||
| Rick_a |
I don't know about smart TV's...but I like using them for watching internet videos and such. I just got an all region LG Blu-ray player so I can watch Anime series sold in Europe and Japan that are a fortune to purchase in North America syndicated formats. You can buy some players and hack them but info on which ones is sketchy. The girlfriend just upgraded to a bigger Samsung TV and we're moving into a bigger house next month...and wants a bigger TV still...  | ||
| Pwnzor |
Pretty sure LG is South Korea. Lucky Goldstar is a South Korean company formed by the convergence of Lak Hui Chemical Industrial Corp and GoldStar Co. Ltd. in 1983 You may now return to your regularly scheduled programming. | ||
| Whisperstealth |
From my experience I prefer Samsungs. I've had my 60" mounted in my living room for six years now. It's been rock solid. The Samsung soundbar system is nice as well. My blueray, and phone are both Samsung. I have a brand new 55" Samsung that has been sitting in it's box for months now waiting to be put up in my bedroom. It was reimbursement for a similar tv I loaned one of my brothers that was destroyed in a house fire. I need to change out some furniture and do some rearranging before I can mount it up... | ||
| Rick_a |
I got us a Vizio soundbar with subwoofer. According to a guy in the know, they're supposed to be among the longest lived of the type. The previous version I had was great with music, but kinda sucked for spoken word when watching movies...it had to be turned up a little high. The newer one is excellent in all respects, and even has a nicer remote. | ||
| Pwnzor |
Vizio TV's at my house. They just work and look great. | ||
| Froggy |
You probably did, just like you see BMW USA on their commercials. Megacorps like LG have HQs around the globe. Yea, everything is made in China, if you want an American TV I got a Zenith here made in '87 you can have. | ||
| Tootal |
I just got a 55" Sony. It's made in Japan. Everything else is South Korean or China. | ||
| Cupcake_mike |
I bought a westinghouse flat screen for cheap several years ago, you had to take the back panel off to attach the wall bracket, in doing so I noticed every component inside it said "sony". This was when a 32" flat screen from westinghouse was $400 and a 32" from sony was $800. Have had it for over a decade, still works like the day we brought it home. | ||
| Tootal |
I have to say, I replaced a 55" rear projection HD TV from 2002 that I paid $3200.00 for!! It died 2 weeks BEFORE my 5 year warranty was up. When does that ever happen!? They fixed it and it lasted many more years until it died again. Thanks to YouTube I was able to buy a $32.00 kit and watch a video on what to remove and solder back in. It lasted many more years. This last time I was able to fix it for a few days and it would go out again. At this point I called it dead, hence the new Sony. It's amazing how cheap you can get a television these days and how much smaller they are! | ||
| Ourdee |
The amount of flat screen per dollar is amazing. |
