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For 55-inch and larger screens, LG's 2017 4K OLED TV's are pure eye candy that will make you smile everytime you gaze upon its pixels. The company's revamped B7A series does away with internal Dolby ATMOS decoding for increased affordability but otherwise provides the same display technology found in its more premium designs such as the picture-on-glass E7 and G7 series as well as its most desirable W7 'wallpaper' versions.
Pro tip: If you already know what you want, always do a price check and take advantage of free shipping when available!
Value big screen favorites right now
More excellent deals for gear that I wholeheartedly recommend
Ditching an expensive subscription TV plan (aka cord cutting) doesn't mean you have to give up live programming! Connecting a simple antenna enables any HDTV to receive local HD channels for free in crystal clear digital quality. The all new HD Frequency Cable Cutter is designed and manufactured in the U.S.A. by a talented group of radio engineers and scientists who optimized its design to provide a bit of extra reception oomph! If the old 'rabbit ears' are missing a few local stations, this antenna is a solid upgrade.
Learn about the benefits of 'cutting the cord'!
The BenQ HT2050 is a compact projector that features 1080p resolution, two HDMI ports, VGA, and component video input. The projector's 2,200 ANSI lumens of light output is paired with cinema-grade glass lens that produces a bright clear picture using single-chip DLP technology. The 2050's RGBRGB color wheel helps minimize color-breakup artifacts, and it's built-in 10 Watt speaker makes impromptu setup and use even easier - think movie night or console gaming on a 100-inch screen! The HT2050 is also ISF-certified so it has good picture quality right out of the box and it provides the necessary picture controls to fine tune its imagery to reference quality. The BenQ HT2050 is home theater bargain for affordable big screen HD enjoyment.
Review: LG Portable LED Projector
The three-chip 2016 Sony VPL-HW45ES is perfect for enjoying a colorful and detailed big screen picture, and it won't generate distracting 'rainbow' artifacts like single-chip DLP projectors can when displaying highly-contrasted imagery. I've calibrated the 2015 40ES and the 2016 45ES projectors, and I remain impressed with its quiet operation and bright, detailed picture with superb color and grayscale accuracy. Compared to the 40ES, the 45ES brings a bit more brightness at lower inital pricing. It also carries on great basics like horizontal/vertical lens-shift, 3D support, and a sweet backlit remote. The Sony VPL-HW45ES is a favorite of mine, and its an easy recommendation for great looking 1080p projection technology at an affordable price.
The LG Portable LED Projector (PF1500W) impressed me with its design and functionality. This 1080p projector weights in at 3.3-pounds and features a standard tripod mounting hole for even easier setup and use. My favorite specs of the PF1500 include its LED lamp module that provides up to 10x longer life than regular projector lamp modules and its built-in ATSC digital tuner that had excellent sensitivity for receiving free local HD broadcasts. The PF1500 has WiFi and Ethernet networking for accessing multimedia files over the local network or for enjoying premium streaming apps like Netflix and MLB.tv. The PF1500 offers all of the common input options including two HDMI ports, component video, and composite.
Read my review of the LG PF1500 LED Projector!
Updated May 1, 2016: HDMI 2.0a + 10-bit panel
Long live the Vizio P-Series! Vizio has announced an update to the 2014 P-Series televisions that brought affordable full array local dimming (FALD) backlight technology that improves picture contrast by dynamically controlling light output across individual zones based on video content. The new 2016 Vizio SmartCast P-Series brings many visual improvements including ultra high-definition (UHD) resolution, high dynamic range (HDR), and expanded color support via Dolby Vision.
The new SmartCast TVs include a P-Series Tablet Remote with its 6-inch 1080p screen that promises to make finding the content you want to watch not only easier but less interruptive to the viewing experience. The Android tablet uses its Wi-Fi (over LAN) link to the TV for control, and it can fall back to a direct Bluetooth connection if necessary.
Specs for the new SmartCast P-Series TVs
One item of note missing from the new P-Series compared to most HD/UHD TVs is an ATSC tuner for over-the-air (OTA) digital reception. The single tuner hardware in most TVs is effectively useless without DVR functionality, so the lack of a OTA tuner in this "home theater display" won't be a deal-breaker for most people.
Screen sizes and prices for the new Vizio SmartCast P-Series UHD TVs
Panel type
The Vizio P-Series use VA-type LCD panels for improved contrast with poorer off-axis viewing compared to IPS-type panels. The exception in the P-Series is the 55-inch model that utilizes an IPS-type panel. Also, the P-Series TVs have an LCD refresh rate of 120Hz except for the 50-inch version that operates at 60Hz.
Wide color gamut (WCG)
The 2016 Vizio P-Series achieves its claimed 96% of DCI-P3 color gamut coverage through the use of phosphor-enhanced LEDs - typically blue LEDs coated with green/red (yellow) phosphor material. While this approach is different than the 65-inch R-Series that uses a quantum dot impregnated film for even greater color coverage, it is similar to the 120-inch R-Series' LED technology.
Unfinished business
The P-Series is an incomplete 2016 UHD TV until it receives an update that adds HDMI 2.0a - the update is expected by the end of June. Until then, P-Series owners only have VUDU for experiencing HDR/WCG content in the Dolby Vision format. There is no UHD Blu-ray player support without HDMI 2.0a, and it seems that it goes hand in hand with the P-Series' lack of HDR10 support. Given the connected nature of the P-Series TVs, these issues are expected to be addressed.
Recommendation
My recommendation is to stick with the 65-inch and 75-inch models for the best image quality. The 50-inch model is a 60Hz display and the 55-inch's IPS panel make them the oddballs in Vizio's P-Series lineup.
The new Vizio SmartCast P-Series TVs are available for order on the Vizio website.
Updated March 19, 2016: pricing and specs
Sony has a mature and compelling 4K ecosystem. The company has developed and delivered everything from professional capture equipment with some of the best cameras and edit gear, consumer and commercial content distribution, and great TVs and projectors. For 2016, Sony's best TVs are ready to present today's best sources of ultra-high definition (UHD) entertainment with full fidelity while standing ready for the soon-to-be flood of high dynamic range (HDR) and wide color gamut (WCG) content.
Sony's 2016 premium TV lineup shares some common tech traits including:
Owners regularly bemoaned the instability of Sony's implementation of Android TV on its 2015 televisions, but I do appreciate its look and feel compared to previous user interface (UI) designs. Google Cast makes it simple to share and display content from a mobile device, Mac/PC, or Chromebook on the big screen.
2016 XBR TVs
The Sony XBR-X930D Series and XBR-X940D TV feature ultra-thin bezel designs and clean cable management options - they want to make sure it looks good on its stand or hung on a wall. The X930D TVs include screen sizes of 55-inches and 65-inches while the X940D is only available in a 75-inch size. These TVs can accept and process HDR video signals with increased brightness, contrast, and color saturation compared to any previous Sony television. One differentiator between the X930D TVs and the X940D is in the implementation of the Slim Backlight Drive system - the X930Ds utilizes an edge-lit LED backlight with dual light guide plates to provide greater light output and granularity of its local dimming capabilities, and the X940D features full array local dimming. The X940D's full array backlight should provide improved contrast and brightness compared to the X930D TVs, and the 940's full array should also provide better off-axis contrast performance as well.
XBR-X850D Series
The Sony XBR-X850D features more screen size options (55-inches, 65-inches, 75-inches, and 85-inches), and it should prove to be a good balance of price and capabilities for an HDR-compatible UHD TV. The X850D TVs are edge-lit without local dimming capabilities, so I'm tempering my off-axis viewing expectations regarding brightness and picture contrast. However, with Android TV also powering the X850D, it may become a popular option for budget-minded videophiles shopping for a smart TV.
Robert's Favorite Home Theater Gear
This article will be updated as new information becomes available
Updated March 31, 2016: availability and 3D
Samsung introduced its premium SUHD line of televisions in 2015 that improved the image quality of previous designs with technology to enhance color, increase brightness, and to provide a better-optimized interface for a screen with more than 8-million pixels. Today, Samsung Electronics introduces a flagship TV and Blu-ray player that seek to deliver a best-in-class viewing experience for the maturing ultra-high definition (UHD) video format.
The Samsung KS9500 SUHD TV series is the successor to the simply stunning JS9500 that continues to wow our eyes. The design of the KS9500 (pictured above) retains the elegant Y-shaped matte-finished metal base stand, but the screen perched upon it now features a unique "bezel-less curved design" that keeps a viewer's attention firmly on those new pixels. While the top and sides of the KS9500's frame are indeed nearly imperceptible when viewed from the front, the bottom edge is just wide enough to center a Samsung badge.
Interesting specs for the KS9500 include:
One item conspicuously missing from Samsung's 2016 premium TVs is support for viewing 3D content - the general lack of popularity of this feature and cost savings are the most likely reasons for its abandonment.
The KS9500's enhanced 10-bit panel is aiming for a "1000-nit minimum" of light output - a significant increase compared to Samsung's 2015 edge-lit TVs. This performance is achieved through improved efficiency of the blue LEDs in its backlight unit (BLU) as well as the ability for that light to more easily penetrate the color-enhancing quantum dot-impregnated film. For more information about quantum dot technology, please see this helpful article. These are impressive brightness claims that a Samsung representative said were obtained when displaying a 10% window - I was pressed to measure ~900-nits on the 2015 JS9500 when displaying a smaller, less challenging 2% window.
The Ultra Black technology of the KS9500 is a "moth's eye" layer of film that features nano-scale patterns made of up structures smaller than the wavelength of visible light. This surface structure mimics the characteristics of a moth's eye and enables the screen surface to prevent strong sources of external light from creating harsh reflections. Sharp Electronics has made impressive demonstrations of moth's eye tech since at least 2012, and anything that can help an LCD minimize glare and reflection will improve perceived picture quality and display efficiency.
Curved screen TV designs are about as polarizing of a home theater topic as I've encountered in recent years. Samsung will continue to utilize curved LCDs for its premium offerings. However, it is slightly reducing the radius of the curve for screen sizes 55-inches and larger. The KS9500 Series is available in screen sizes of 55-inches and 65-inches.
2016 Vizio SmartCast P-Series TVs
Review: Samsung's Best 2015 TV
Under the hood, Samsung's TIZEN operating system (OS) has received some upgrades and a new look.
Paired with a new Samsung Smart Control remote that increases the robustness of its universal control features and offers a simplified setup through connected device detection, the 2016 Smart Hub requires less digging to get at frequently viewed content and apps. Other features of the refreshed interface include:
I appreciated seeing some 2014 and 2015 Samsung UHD TVs receive the PlayStation Now update as it finally delivers a quality gaming experience without the need for console hardware - just add a controller. And live UHD sports streaming via NeuLion?!? I'll take some of that!
Review: A Great Bluetooth Speaker
The era of the Ultra HD Blu-ray Player has arrived. The Samsung UBD-K8500 is an ideal match for a TV like the company's KS9500. The K8500 is HDR compatible and content will be encoded to take advantage of the gigantic Rec.2020 color space (that a TV will conform to its hardware capabilities.) A prototype unit I previewed featured dual HDMI ports - the additional port for audio-only output to a compatible AV receiver. Visually-speaking, the HDR demo video previewed was a scene from A Million Ways to Die in the West, and the combination of a staggeringly high bitrate, HDR visuals, and wide color gamut were pure eye candy. Twentieth Century Fox, Sony Pictures, and Warner Brothers have all announced plans to release dozens of Ultra HD Blu-ray titles in 2016. The UBD-K8500 is available now.
Robert's Favorite Home Theater Gear
This article will be updated as new information becomes available
Highlights: 2016 Sharp LCDs feature curved screens, local dimming, and quantum color
Sharp's TV business in the Americas has been acquired by Chinese TV manufacturer Hisense, and Sharp's 2016 TV lineup may represent the last "pure" offering from the company before the brand takes new direction. That said, Sharp's best 2016 televisions will offer the latest in picture quality enhancements and advanced multimedia capabilities.
A new UI
Sharp's 2016 HD and ultra-high definition (UHD) televisions have received a user interface (UI) make over that makes better use of higher screen resolutions. The result appears to provide a cleaner look that finally does away with the clunky retro-looking menus of past designs.
Ideally, the clean interface presented above extends to all sub-menus for a consistent presentation.
The Flagship - AQUOS N9000 Series
The Sharp N9000 series UHD TVs feature the company's SPECTROS quantum dot technology for producing chromatically-rich white light that enables improved brightness efficiency and color saturation. The N9000 series also marks the first time the company has offered HDR compatibility in both flat and curved screen design options.
Other N9000 series features include:
The 65-inch Sharp AQUOS N9000U (LC-65N9000U - pictured above) is the company's first curved screen TV offering, and the addition of full array local dimming (FALD) should enable brightness and contrast on par with similarly spec'd premium LCD televisions like the Samsung JS9500 (read review). Good FALD isn't cheap or easy to do, but the resulting improvement in picture contrast makes it my favorite LCD feature. The 65-inch N9000U is expected to ship early-to-mid 2016 with a price of $3000 (MSRP).
If you are not a fan of curved TV screens, then the 70-inch Sharp AQUOS N9100 (LC-70N9100U - pictured above) gives you all of the same picture performance and features of the curved N9000 in a flat screen design. The 70-inch N9100U is expected to ship early-to-mid 2016 with price of $3300 (MSRP).
Sharp AQUOS N8000 Series
Bringing more value to increasingly popular large UHD screen sizes, the Sharp AQUOS N8000 series televisions will feature fewer zones of local dimming compared to the company's flagship N9000 series while providing similar core specs and compatibility with HDR video sources. The N8000 (pictured below) achieves its wide color gamut (WCG) support through the use of optimized color filters and polarizers, and I'll be curious to see how the TV's color gamut coverage compares to other LCDs using quantum dot or phosphor-enhanced LED backlight systems. The 70-inch Sharp AQUOS N8100U (LC-70N8100U) has an MSRP of $2300 and is styled similarly to the N9100 pictured above.
The N8100 features a full array local dimming backlight system while its larger sibling, the 75-inch Sharp AQUOS N8000U (LC-75N8000U - pictured above) is edge-lit with local dimming capabilities. The Sharp LC-75N8000U has an MSRP of $3000.
Sharp AQUOS N7000 Series
Sharp's N7000 series of UHD TVs is also HDR-ready but sacrifices wide color gamut support to be an even better value. The N7000 series features similar wireless networking, CPU power, sound, and multimedia support as Sharp's premium models. However, only the larger 70-inch Sharp AQUOS N7100U (LC-70N7100U) will feature full array local dimming while the smaller sized Sharp AQUOS N7000U series (pictured below) lack hardware local dimming altogether.
MSRP pricing for the Sharp AQUOS N7000 series TVs is as follows:
Review: Great Portable BT Speaker
Sharp N6000 Series
Rounding out Sharp's 2016 UHD TV offerings is the N6000 series. This series delivers many of the same base features of Sharp's premium 2016 TVs including an 8-core CPU, wireless networking, and apps. The N6000 TVs are also compatible with HDR-encoded content albeit without the wide color gamut or local dimming capabilities of more expensive models. The big deal here is attractive pricing for mid-sized UHD resolution LCDs.
Robert's Favorite Home Theater Gear
This article will be updated as new information becomes available