TV brands difference?

[WhiteNoise]

I like Samsung and Sony a lot. I've owned many TVs from them and they always last longer than I need them to. I own 1 Sony, 1 Toshiba, 3 TCL, 2 Samsung, 1 Vizio, and 1 LG right now. All of them being used, most of them for many years. The LG is the most recent. The Toshiba and Vizio are over 10 years old, the Sony is 8 years old and both Samsungs are 5 and 6 years old and the 3 TCLs range from 6 months to 2 years old. All of them work as the day I bought them.

I'm not sure how long TCL will last but for the price, you could do a lot worse.

/edit I'll add this too, I bought a Samsung Series 7 LED DLP 61" TV in 2009, and in 2016 I gave it to my Wife's brother. It is still going strong.

 

[JrRacinFan]

for watching films from the NAS, and rarely for watching the regular tv channels?

Only thing I can think is that if your media is encoded in 4K and you have a 2k tv **shrugs** Maybe an ATSC 3.0 Nextgen tuner?

 

[nomdeplume]

Is there any point in updating the tv when it's primarily being used for watching films from the NAS, and rarely for watching the regular tv channels?
I couldn't even find any entry in the options to check for updates. Maybe it can only be updated through Google play? If that's the case, screw it, because I am not logging in that damn account from a device that has absolutely no privacy controls, adblocks or whatever. I'm not paranoid, but I'm not giving Google anymore personal information than necessary.

Reality of it is buying a smart tv to not to use the smart functionality.

No accounts, no permissions granted, update it through a USB stick and never ever under any circumstance allow it access to internet. The game is finding something that doesn't tie base functionality into online verification/registration that must be constantly active. After that you set about doing what you can in settings to turn off crapware or at least remove it from active sight.

OR... you absolutely cannot live without every subscription service and app that can possibly enrich your life.

 

[Octopuss]

That's how I intend to run it. I connected it to the internet once to see if there were any firmware updates, but anything else, hell no.

 

[Athlonite]

Well, then you don't need HDR. You probably don't even need 4k, since downloaded video is just smudgy mess. So anything really will do.
Still, I'd rather get a 2nd hand Sony or LG over any of the brands you mentioned (Sharp used to be good, I haven't followed them in a while).

LOL stop downloading little rips than anything over 10GB is sharp as

TCL make great budget TV's and if you're not looking for the latest and greatest I'm pretty sure you should be able to find models from last year discounted

I'm still a Sony guy deep in the heart, my parents' 1080p TV is a Bravia from 2014 that I ordered for them and it's still going strong. The only thing that it needed was an external box for modern HEVC decoding on TV channels.

Ha LOL I have the same TV still works fine but have lost some functionality with firmware updates over the years like the TV on demand apps for local FTA channels this works well on it for streaming movies to it from my PC https://www.neowin.net/software/universal-media-server-1310/

 

[kapone32]

Hisense. I bought my first unit for $500 Canadian 4K TV from Tiger Direct. That should tell you how old that is why I got another Hisense U7G that is a Mini LED 4K TV that supports every feature on Disney +. I was given $500 for a budget for new hardware for my Company and I got the Gigiabyte FV43U and have been smiling like a kid in a Toys R us since. Evey Game looks so vibrant.