No Stupid Questions

I spent months on Rtings looking up ratings, pricing, checking out tv sub's and i came to the conclusion that you have 2 options.

1. spend $1500+ and get a Sony TV, the model doesn't really matter as they are all better than their counterparts. I wanted MiniLED- but they were about $2,000.

2. Go the budget route and get a Hisense/TCL TV for $600-800 and use the other $1000 you saved for a home theatre system/ 4k player, etc.

LG makes great OLED's, but you do need to be aware of burn in if you watch lots of news channels. Also the pricing is much higher and the technology for Mini LED's is getting much better every year.

Avoid ALL Samsung TV's as they are poorly made and will break quickly like all other samsung products.

I have a TCL 6 series Mini LED and love it. It has Dolby Vision, little glare, and it's bright AF (not sure of the NIT rating). I also have a hisense U75 series mini LED and the picture quality is fantastic. The OS is buggy and it freezes, crashes every month or so. But both my TCL and Hisense have buggy OS's and freeze randomly, just the cost of a cheaper TV.

I didn't have my TCL hooked up to the internet for a couple years and used my computer for everything. Then i realized my computer cannot process 4k with HDR, so i connected them to the internet and set up Plex and they both look fantastic with 4k HDR, HDR10, or Dolby Vision.

Their build in speakers are the worst i have ever heard, even the Hisense with it's supposed 2.1 speaker setup, they both sound horrible and you WILL need a good AV home theatre setup, or at the very least, a good quality soundbar.

I have been happy with my Hisense U8.

The cheapest one with the best picture in the largest size I could fit, from Costco

Whatever RTings recommends.

I was kind of expecting the comments to be the way they are, which is nice.

Preferably a TV with no smart features.

Or just take the cheapest option and never connect it to the internet.

The Dell P5524Q is a 55" conference room monitor. It has no built-in wifi, microphones, camera, or other smart tv bullshit, it's just a big monitor. It just turns on when you turn it on and turns off when you turn it off - it doesn't take 5 minutes to boot up because of the shitty low-grade computer hardware built into it. You can find them on eBay in the US$900 range.

LG OLED for a main tv. Anything less is meh.

Is look for a hospitality TV or some other dumb tv, at least 120hz refresh, excellent contrast, 4k.

I wouldn't get a television. I would get a monitor. No UI. No smart features. Just a black square that had HDMI inputs.

If you really want to watch OTA TV, you can buy box tuners that connect to the HDMI. Usually with DVR capability.

It will cost more. Like.....a LOT more. But thats just what regular TVs used to cost back in the 90s. You wanted a bigscreen tv? $800 then, which would be like $2,000 now. And "big screen" was like 55 inch. Though it was a 4:3 ratio. So 55 inch then wold be more like 70 inch now in a 16:9 ratio.

LG OLED. You can find last year’s models at some price clubs. I’ve seen the 65” C4 for like $1100 which is great.

Sony Bravia. Because I just did this last year. My old TV was also a Bravia, and it lasted about 15 years. One big selling feature for me was that you can set it up as either a smart TV, or a 'basic' TV that doesn't require an Internet connection and doesn't pester you for one.

It would need to be an OLED.

I really like the reviews on this site https://www.rtings.com/

I dont see it mentioned here, but I went with a 75" Spectre earlier this year. I had a 40" Spectre that was given to me third- hand, and I only replaced it because it was too small for the new place I moved into. Spectre doesn't seem to even offer smart TV, and I wanted to support that decision. The only potential downside that you may see is the lack of a 4k offering, but that wasn't something I care about.

I'd buy an HDMI monitor instead of a TV, I guess. Why a new one though? There are tons of super cheap ones at goodwill stores.

There's at least one supplier here in the UK that still sells free-to-air-only dumb TVs. Digital of course, because we turned off analogue TV signals years ago, but no smarter than that. Definitely no Internet connectivity.

If I decided I was going to become a regular TV watcher again, I'd probably get one of those.

I know you asked for TV recommendations, but, if your friend is open to other ideas, they could also look into home theater projectors. I got a super cheap projector on sale a few years ago and being able to watch TV and movies on a 150 inch screen is absolutely bitchin'. I later upgraded to a higher quality projector cause the cheap one crapped out after about a year (and replacement bulbs were impossible to find due to the supply chain issues during early covid). Spent about the same amount on the high quality projector that I would have spent on a much smaller TV.

Though there's obviously drawbacks to projectors:

• They generate a lot of heat. In the hottest months of the year, I don't like turning it on
• You will initially blind yourself a lot by accidentally looking at it when it's turned on. After blinding yourself a dozen or so times you'll develop the muscle memory to avoid it.
• You gotta replace the bulbs periodically, but they last for thousands of hours. My current bulb has about 5000 hours on it and still doesn't need to be replaced.
• Contrast is really weak compared to a TV. Need to close the curtains and not let sunlight into the room if you want to be able to see the picture clearly
• Need a big surface to project the picture onto, ideally a screen, but a blank wall works just fine.

When we moved into our house a few years ago, I saw there was an elevated alcove in the living room with a big, blank wall on the opposite side of the room. I knew right then that it would be perfect for a projector.

Movie night kicks ass. Every re-watch of Lord of the Rings is like watching it in the theater again. And Superbowl Sundays are epic on the big screen.

I have an Epson 2250 and it's worked nicely these past few years.

LG or Samsung, but the model matters too. If you’re on a budget, there are some solid TCL options

Assuming that the goal is to never connect it to the internet and plug in another device with HDMI.

Ooh, this sounds like you may be interested in Commercial TVs? I heard those are the closest you can get to a dumb TV. I haven't dived deeper than that though.

Any one have experience with commercial TVs?

Samsung Commercial TVs: https://www.samsung.com/us/business/displays/commercial-tvs/

This one even calls out that it's not smart:

Samsung HU600F Non-Smart Hospitality TV with Pro:Idiom for Set Top Box Deployments

I really like my LG G4 OLED, best television I’ve ever had and reviews are great.

Since I use a PC with a TV and ignore the "smart" infestures entirely and never connect to the internet unless I become aware of a bug fix that concerns the displayed picture, it doesn't matter much to me. I just compare panel quality on the fly with my phone while out buying one and check for any deal breakers like a high failure rate or something. I'd look for microLED /w an adequate amount of dimming zones, HDR1000, VRR Freesync, and 120hz. The last two times I went during winter holidays and bought heavily discounted clearance last year's models 75" panels. Won't again until it breaks. Edit: LG currently but I have no brand loyalty.

For sure, never ever connect it to the internet.

Samsung equipment is pretty good, and to some degree the larger companies subsidize the cost of the TV with the assumption that you'll connect it and give them data to sell. So while a large monitor might be more expensive, there's a reason why. Unless your friend actually gets over the air TV stations, consider a large monitor, then Samsung and LG.

It would also need speakers (I recommend plug in kind) but I really like my Epson 3200 projector: Bright enough to use in the day, my screen is 120", and there's no "smart" garbage.

If you want an actual TV, look at commercial displays instead of stuff from big box stores: They will be more expensive, but won't have any of the junky ad ridden stuff.

LG, the quality is really great, just have a few issues with CEC on my Nvidia Shield Pro.

I bought a hisense tv last year, you can run advtv to cripple its ability to phone home and disable stuff, then install projectivy launcher to bypass all the other bullshit.

Sony also was an option for that.

well first I'd take an extension cord to goodwill

That friend needs to be more specific, they didn't even give you resolution or screen size preferences? What kind of friend does that?

Sony 8

Excellent picture quality. I’ll never connect it to the internet. No usage for the smart side of it but the image quality is awesome!

Not a Vizio and not a Samsung.

Not Vizio because their customer support is terrible and the firmware updates they push render older televisions slow as dog shit and require customer service intervention to undo.

Not Samsung because their panels are so fucking blue that it scalds your eyes.

Probably not an LG because their webOS interface is dogshit.

So I guess a Sony Bravia because it can be used as a dumb TV or worst case like a TCL or something. I just use my cell phone Wi-Fi as its Wi-Fi setup and then change the Wi-Fi SSID so that it gets to talk once and then never again.