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Best TV Display for Apple TV

L

liamdillon

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Mar 1, 2009
5
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Manchester
I've been looking at Sony, Samsung, and LG panels which all seem to have good 4K quality displays, but are bundled with various flavours of "Smart TV" interfaces.

Is it possible these days to find an excellent 4K screen with a good in-built EPG but withOUT all the junky smart TV features?

I was originally set on going for Sony, but it appears they now ship with AndroidTV by default (ouch).

Cheers.
 
liamdillon said:
Is it possible these days to find an excellent 4K screen with a good in-built EPG but withOUT all the junky smart TV features?
Click to expand...

You could probably find a low end 1080p set without any smart features, but I would be surprised if any new 4k set could be found without them.
 
liamdillon said:
Is it possible these days to find an excellent 4K screen with a good in-built EPG but withOUT all the junky smart TV features?
Click to expand...
It's unlikely. You don't have to use every feature on a TV set. If you don't need the smart TV functionality then don't use it.
 
The Apple TV (including the current iteration) lacks support for 4K ... so if your concern is just finding a quality screen for your aTV well I'd save your money and ignore anything 4K.
 
liamdillon said:
I've been looking at Sony, Samsung, and LG panels which all seem to have good 4K quality displays, but are bundled with various flavours of "Smart TV" interfaces.

Is it possible these days to find an excellent 4K screen with a good in-built EPG but withOUT all the junky smart TV features?

I was originally set on going for Sony, but it appears they now ship with AndroidTV by default (ouch).

Cheers.
Click to expand...

Android tv is probably going to be leaps and bounds better than most proprietary software found on most smart tvs. As others said, you cannot get a new top of the line set without smart functions. Hopefully these are abandoned and manufactures focus solely on picture quality.

What is your budget? I would suggest looking at OLEDs if that is in your price range and you truly want the best possible picture.
 
As others said, just ignore the "smart" features. It's hard to find a good TV without them these days, since apparently that's one of the feature check boxes that the manufacturers need to check.

Personally, I would recommend to never even connect a TV to the network. Several manufacturers have been caught tracking your viewing habits (in some cases even when you are watching regular broadcast channels) and phoning home. They then sell the information to 3rd parties for advertising purposes. Samsung even went so far as to actually insert ads when you were playing local (!) video files. Perhaps a glimpse into the future of "smart TVs" ...

http://www.cnet.com/news/samsung-smart-tvs-forcing-ads-into-video-streaming-apps/
http://www.howtogeek.com/176392/smart-tvs-are-stupid-why-you-dont-really-want-a-smart-tv/
 
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rkieru said:
The Apple TV (including the current iteration) lacks support for 4K ... so if your concern is just finding a quality screen for your aTV well I'd save your money and ignore anything 4K.
Click to expand...

Personally I don't see any reason to buy a TV without 4K since it is becoming more and more common and prices are reasonable. And the Apple TV will still look great on a 4K TV. Just my thoughts.
 
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In the news today and related to the above:

http://arstechnica.com/security/201...on-vizio-tvs-coughs-up-owners-viewing-habits/

Researchers from security firm Avast found that the Vizio model in their lab broadcasted fingerprints of users' viewing habits, even when owners hadn't consented to a privacy policy displayed during set up. What's more, the researchers uncovered a vulnerability in the smart TV that could act as a potential attack vector for a hacker attempting to access a user's home network.
Click to expand...
 
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DNichter said:
Personally I don't see any reason to buy a TV without 4K since it is becoming more and more common and prices are reasonable. And the Apple TV will still look great on a 4K TV. Just my thoughts.
Click to expand...

A 4K panel makes 720p content look much worse than it does on a 1080p panel. More pixels, has to do more scaling from far less content.

And since most American sports are broadcast in 720p (FOX, ABC, ESPN, NFL Network, most NHL and NBA regionals) moving to a 4K panel can have disastrous consequences.

Wait to get a 4K panel until a major network announces it's jumping in with both feet. Unlike the 3D HDTV scam, 4K can be a giant step backwards in picture quality.

BJ
 
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boltjames said:
A 4K panel makes 720p content look much worse than it does on a 1080p panel. More pixels, has to do more scaling from far less content.

And since most American sports are broadcast in 720p (FOX, ABC, ESPN, NFL Network, most NHL and NBA regionals) moving to a 4K panel can have disastrous consequences.

Wait to get a 4K panel until a major network announces it's jumping in with both feet. Unlike the 3D HDTV scam, 4K can be a giant step backwards in picture quality.

BJ
Click to expand...

Good to know. I had no idea. I look at my buddies 4K TV and everything on it looks great, better than my 1080p. Maybe I need to have my eyes checked.
 
DNichter said:
Good to know. I had no idea. I look at my buddies 4K TV and everything on it looks great, better than my 1080p. Maybe I need to have my eyes checked.
Click to expand...

The thing is, when most people have you over and show off their new equipment they're going to put their best source material in. I doubt he was pumping 720p sports content into the 4K panel to show off it's brilliance.

Now, there are some 4K HDTV's that do an amazing job of upscaling 720p to 4K resolution but those are not cheap and not that prevalent.

Next time you're in a Best Buy or another TV store, ask them to push some basic Cable signal into a 4K HDTV and toggle between 1080p and 720p broadcasts as that's the only true test of what you're signing up for. Additionally, make sure to sit at the same viewing distance you are now; 4K HDTV looks great when you're standing like 2 feet in front of it, you can't see a big difference at the typical 8-14 feet.

BJ
 
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boltjames said:
The thing is, when most people have you over and show off their new equipment they're going to put their best source material in. I doubt he was pumping 720p sports content into the 4K panel to show off it's brilliance.

Now, there are some 4K HDTV's that do an amazing job of upscaling 720p to 4K resolution but those are not cheap and not that prevalent.

Next time you're in a Best Buy or another TV store, ask them to push some basic Cable signal into a 4K HDTV and toggle between 1080p and 720p broadcasts as that's the only true test of what you're signing up for. Additionally, make sure to sit at the same viewing distance you are now; 4K HDTV looks great when you're standing like 2 feet in front of it, you can't see a big difference at the typical 8-14 feet.

BJ
Click to expand...

Haha no, my buddy has no idea what 4K is, let alone 4K content. He just wanted the best option out there so I helped him pick out a good one. I think we were actually watching HBO or something, and then put on his PS4 for a little. Everything looked great. I will definitely be looking into a 4K set in the future, but I don't see the point just yet until the content becomes more easily available. Once 4K is consumer ready (streaming services), I will make the jump and upgrade my current TV's. I just didn't see the point in getting any TV right now as they aren't much of an upgrade from what's been out for years, aside for making that future proof purchase of moving to 4K.
 
boltjames said:
A 4K panel makes 720p content look much worse than it does on a 1080p panel. More pixels, has to do more scaling from far less content.

And since most American sports are broadcast in 720p (FOX, ABC, ESPN, NFL Network, most NHL and NBA regionals) moving to a 4K panel can have disastrous consequences.

Wait to get a 4K panel until a major network announces it's jumping in with both feet. Unlike the 3D HDTV scam, 4K can be a giant step backwards in picture quality.

BJ
Click to expand...

From personal experience, I will disagree. Most of the 4K sets have really good upscalers and you cannot notice a difference at all. Sure SD will look horrid, but any HD source will look the same on a good 4K set.
 
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mattopotamus said:
From personal experience, I will disagree. Most of the 4K sets have really good upscalers and you cannot notice a difference at all. Sure SD will look horrid, but any HD source will look the same on a good 4K set.
Click to expand...

I'd go along with this too. My Philips UHD TV is only 42", so hardly the size you'd really notice the UHD difference, but it up scales all HD (720-1080) content very well. Struggles with SD, but fortunately I don't have to watch much of it. The limited 4K available that it can display looks fantastic, as does 1080p 3D material which can make full use of the 4K display.
 
Crazy Badger said:
I'd go along with this too. My Philips UHD TV is only 42", so hardly the size you'd really notice the UHD difference, but it up scales all HD (720-1080) content very well. Struggles with SD, but fortunately I don't have to watch much of it. The limited 4K available that it can display looks fantastic, as does 1080p 3D material which can make full use of the 4K display.
Click to expand...

It's hard to have a conversation because we all have different "before" points (what HDTV's we're using now) and different "after" points (what 4K HDTV's we're demo'ing in retail stores).

What I can tell you strictly from my own experience is that I currently own a 55" Sony XBR LED 1080p HD panel that is an absolutely stellar 100/100 for 1080p content and what I'd call a 95/100 for 720p content over Verizon FiOS which is generally thought to be the best producer of HD content from a resolution/quality standpoint.

When I go to Best Buy and see that same FiOS signal pumped through 4K panels from Samsung or LG and put on a 720p football broadcast on FOX or ESPN I see a significant amount of screen-door and motion blur, it's unacceptable to me.

So....if your current HDTV isn't as fabulous as mine and the 4K panel you're looking at has better upscaling than what you're used to then I can see how you might think the 4K panel is "just as good as the 1080p panel" for 720p native content. But, trust me, it isn't. Any 2016 model 1080p panel from a reputable maker's high-end line will produce a much better 720p experience. It's physics. There are simply millions fewer pixels that the TV has to fake to get 720p to fill up a 1080p display.

To the OP: Avoid 4K panels. Get the very best 1080p panel you can that has best-in-class upscaling and run with that for the next 5+ years. 4K content is at least that far away when it comes to NFL, NHL, MLB, NBA, NCAA, etc.

BJ
 
boltjames said:
It's hard to have a conversation because we all have different "before" points (what HDTV's we're using now) and different "after" points (what 4K HDTV's we're demo'ing in retail stores).

What I can tell you strictly from my own experience is that I currently own a 55" Sony XBR LED 1080p HD panel that is an absolutely stellar 100/100 for 1080p content and what I'd call a 95/100 for 720p content over Verizon FiOS which is generally thought to be the best producer of HD content from a resolution/quality standpoint.

When I go to Best Buy and see that same FiOS signal pumped through 4K panels from Samsung or LG and put on a 720p football broadcast on FOX or ESPN I see a significant amount of screen-door and motion blur, it's unacceptable to me.

So....if your current HDTV isn't as fabulous as mine and the 4K panel you're looking at has better upscaling than what you're used to then I can see how you might think the 4K panel is "just as good as the 1080p panel" for 720p native content. But, trust me, it isn't. Any 2016 model 1080p panel from a reputable maker's high-end line will produce a much better 720p experience. It's physics. There are simply millions fewer pixels that the TV has to fake to get 720p to fill up a 1080p display.

To the OP: Avoid 4K panels. Get the very best 1080p panel you can that has best-in-class upscaling and run with that for the next 5+ years. 4K content is at least that far away when it comes to NFL, NHL, MLB, NBA, NCAA, etc.

BJ
Click to expand...

Take the picture in store with a grain of salt.
 
Thanks a lot for all your help, guys. Some really interesting points here. Will take a look at the options you've suggested.
 
OP:what TV did you get?

I just bought a Sony XBR65X810C at BestBuy and the one I got is defective.
I'm going to return it and look to get a replacement maybe even upgrading to the 850C that has 3D.

Unfortunately it has Android TV, I declined all their terms and conditions and no signing in any of their accounts. It's a little buggy and slow unresponsive to the remote requests, it seems they had released several software updates in the last couple of months.

It does have Amazon, Netflix and YouTube for some 4K content, as well as many other Sony options.

I'm not only using it for AppleTV but also works well in sync with the PS4 and has a good number of inputs and optical audio out to have my old onkyo receiver still rocking.

Nice though I can also access my WD cloud.

Some reviews for your reference:
http://www.rtings.com/tv/reviews/sony/x810c?uxtv=6764

http://www.rtings.com/tv/reviews/sony/x850c?uxtv=6764

In the rtings site you can get nice reviews plus then check in Amazon as well as in BestBuy for comparison the key features: refresh rate and viewing angle, as contrast etc

They have some alternative models as recommendations at the bottom of each review based on the size as any key feature application you are interested like the room ambient and so on.

If I get a replacement that actually doesn't suffer any defect I will recommend any of these, in the mean time be very mindful that the 1080p models out there are almost the same price as a brand new 4K model out there.
 
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