ILDN is gone

[marty]

Easiest is probably to get RPI's free internet feed to your laptop and connect it by HDMI port to your 75 inch Samsung OLED TV. This being Super Bowl week there are good deals to be had.  Upgrade.

Blasphemy, Samsung uses QLED and is working on a successor containing single LEDs for each pixel (or something like that - it's complicated and I tend to skim tech articles these days as it changes every millisecond). They thumbed their nose at the OLED tech used by Sony and LG.

Which is better?  Discuss. Argue!

[Trotsky]

Easiest is probably to get RPI's free internet feed to your laptop and connect it by HDMI port to your 75 inch Samsung OLED TV. This being Super Bowl week there are good deals to be had.  Upgrade.

In all seriousness, I've longed for a big smart TV for a while.  Is this a good week, or is the week after the SB better?

[Jim Hyla]

Easiest is probably to get RPI's free internet feed to your laptop and connect it by HDMI port to your 75 inch Samsung OLED TV. This being Super Bowl week there are good deals to be had.  Upgrade.

Blasphemy, Samsung uses QLED and is working on a successor containing single LEDs for each pixel (or something like that - it's complicated and I tend to skim tech articles these days as it changes every millisecond). They thumbed their nose at the OLED tech used by Sony and LG.

Which is better?  Discuss. Argue!

MicroLED, or MLED. If, or maybe when, this becomes available in home size screens, it'll be a big deal. It has the blacks of OLED and the brightness of LED.

They have it for huge screens, but haven't yet gotten it scaled down for more reasonable home screen sizes, say 65in. The smaller the screen size, the harder it is to make the small pixels to maintain a 4K. Apple and Sony are also working on the technology.

Personally I can't wait to see it.

Well I guess that's a big lie, I am waiting to see it.

[billhoward]

Easiest is probably to get RPI's free internet feed to your laptop and connect it by HDMI port to your 75 inch Samsung OLED TV. This being Super Bowl week there are good deals to be had.  Upgrade.

In all seriousness, I've longed for a big smart TV for a while.  Is this a good week, or is the week after the SB better?

The best deal is a refurb unit, which almost always means a new unit that came back within 30 days. Full warranty, sometimes even extended. January is a good month to buy, also February, not just because of the Super Bowl but also because there was a lot of holiday buying the two months before.

OLED is currently the best picture now that plasma is gone. It's costly and the screen has a finite lifespan of years. QLED (QLED explainer: https://www.digitaltrends.com/home-theater/how-quantum-dot-lcd-tvs-work/) is different and it's pretty good but it's not OLED. Also sets described as LED are typically LCD screens lit by LED panels.

This year at CES we saw the introduction of 8K TVs at a time when there's barely any 4K content other than streaming. But there's little financial penalty to buying 4K TV. 4K = 3840 x 2160 pixels.

My personal belief: YOu cannot buy too big of a TV. We have 65" in the family room and I wish it was 75-80 inches. Try to wall mount the TV. You can buy good wall mounts for $50-$100 online or in Costco. Amazon Basics HDMI cables work fine. Mount the TV so the middle is at eye level from the sofa, about 27" up from the floor to the bottom of the TV, 43-44" to the middle of the TV. If you spouse or partner says "that looks way too low," you've got it exactly right. Worst case, the bottom of the TV would be at 30" off the floor.

[marty]

Easiest is probably to get RPI's free internet feed to your laptop and connect it by HDMI port to your 75 inch Samsung OLED TV. This being Super Bowl week there are good deals to be had.  Upgrade.

In all seriousness, I've longed for a big smart TV for a while.  Is this a good week, or is the week after the SB better?

OLED is currently the best picture now that plasma is gone. It's costly and the screen has a finite lifespan of years. QLED (QLED explainer: https://www.digitaltrends.com/home-theater/how-quantum-dot-lcd-tvs-work/) is different and it's pretty good but it's not OLED.

One function of (most of) the current QLED sets is that the HDMI input box is connected to the screen by a thin white "wire" which not only brings the video signal to the screen but also the power.  That is, you can mount the screen on the wall without a separate AC power connection leading to it or hidden behind it.

I don't know if any of the OLED sets have this feature.

[Jim Hyla]

Easiest is probably to get RPI's free internet feed to your laptop and connect it by HDMI port to your 75 inch Samsung OLED TV. This being Super Bowl week there are good deals to be had.  Upgrade.

In all seriousness, I've longed for a big smart TV for a while.  Is this a good week, or is the week after the SB better?

OLED is currently the best picture now that plasma is gone. It's costly and the screen has a finite lifespan of years. QLED (QLED explainer: https://www.digitaltrends.com/home-theater/how-quantum-dot-lcd-tvs-work/) is different and it's pretty good but it's not OLED.

One function of (most of) the current QLED sets is that the HDMI input box is connected to the screen by a thin white "wire" which not only brings the video signal to the screen but also the power.  That is, you can mount the screen on the wall without a separate AC power connection leading to it or hidden behind it.

I don't know if any of the OLED sets have this feature.

Samsung's had this feature for some time. I got it back when curved screens were in. I think it's a great feature. All your controls are back with your cable box and receiver, or such.

If they only had OLED. But as I said before, I'm waiting for MicroLED.

[marty]

Easiest is probably to get RPI's free internet feed to your laptop and connect it by HDMI port to your 75 inch Samsung OLED TV. This being Super Bowl week there are good deals to be had.  Upgrade.

In all seriousness, I've longed for a big smart TV for a while.  Is this a good week, or is the week after the SB better?

OLED is currently the best picture now that plasma is gone. It's costly and the screen has a finite lifespan of years. QLED (QLED explainer: https://www.digitaltrends.com/home-theater/how-quantum-dot-lcd-tvs-work/) is different and it's pretty good but it's not OLED.

One function of (most of) the current QLED sets is that the HDMI input box is connected to the screen by a thin white "wire" which not only brings the video signal to the screen but also the power.  That is, you can mount the screen on the wall without a separate AC power connection leading to it or hidden behind it.

I don't know if any of the OLED sets have this feature.

Samsung's had this feature for some time. I got it back when curved screens were in. I think it's a great feature. All your controls are back with your cable box and receiver, or such.

If they only had OLED. But as I said before, I'm waiting for MicroLED.

This year I believe they added the power function to the cable. The 2017 models that I looked at (7 series) needed a separate AC power source in addition to the cable.

[billhoward]

For all the time one spends watching TV and paying for cable, it's worth hiding the cables. Most of our TVs look like this: an AC outlet box (you can also get them recessed if you have a flat-to-the-wall TV mount, not one that pulls out and swivels as this one days; and a wall plate for the HDMI cable, plus (not here) TV-to-receiver/amplifier audio out for, say, Roku if it's on your TV. An AV installer should be able to do this all for less than $200, including running a remote sensor so you can put the cable box in a chest or closet. Some installers will balk at moving / extending an AC line if they're not licensed electricians and others just do it anyway.

By code, high and low voltage wires should be in separate boxes. It can be in a two-gane outlet box if it's got a divider in the mmiddle.

[marty]

For all the time one spends watching TV and paying for cable, it's worth hiding the cables. Most of our TVs look like this: an AC outlet box (you can also get them recessed if you have a flat-to-the-wall TV mount, not one that pulls out and swivels as this one days; and a wall plate for the HDMI cable, plus (not here) TV-to-receiver/amplifier audio out for, say, Roku if it's on your TV. An AV installer should be able to do this all for less than $200, including running a remote sensor so you can put the cable box in a chest or closet. Some installers will balk at moving / extending an AC line if they're not licensed electricians and others just do it anyway.

By code, high and low voltage wires should be in separate boxes. It can be in a two-gane outlet box if it's got a divider in the mmiddle.

All true.

However my ROKU box was happy when hooked to my Denon AVR and my old Samsung.  The new QLED model caused problems for the ROKU which could be fixed by navigating the settings.  But this was not a permanent fix and after some soul searching I threw in the towel in my fight with the menus.  I simply plugged the ROKU into the outboard TV box instead of the AVR.

This was easier than plugging the ROKU cable into the back of a TV and cheaper than buying a replacement for the Denon

[nshapiro]

I'm thinking about buying a color tv soon.

[Trotsky]

I'm thinking about buying a color tv soon.

I'd give the technology some time to mature.

[RichH]

I'm thinking about buying a color tv soon.

I'd give the technology some time to mature.

Most rinks still don't paint solid red lines for those of us who aren't early-adopters of color TV.

https://uni-watch.com/2009/10/21/seeing-red-in-all-its-wide-variety/

[Jeff Hopkins '82]

I'm thinking about buying a color tv soon.

I'd give the technology some time to mature.

Most rinks still don't paint solid red lines for those of us who aren't early-adopters of color TV.

https://uni-watch.com/2009/10/21/seeing-red-in-all-its-wide-variety/

I never knew that was the reason.

[mas1969]

Give them a chance to fuck it up.

Ya gotta believe.

Here's my post from yesterday on the Football thread:

I watched the game on ESPN+ and it seemed that there were many commercial breaks. According to box scores, the SHU game ran for 3:10 and last week's Yale game ran 3:15. In contrast, the first two games on IDN last year, Colgate and Bucknell, ran for 2:41 and 2:36, respectively. Presumably, the many and lengthy commercials accounted for the extra 34 minutes per game. I hope that this trend doesn't continue into hockey season as annoying commercial timeouts affect the flow of the game and provide a break for less well conditioned teams, not to mention that fans will get home later.

Well we are getting the commercial breaks and it is extending the playing time of the games and it is breaking up the game flow.  I would like to think that Cornell and the other Ivy teams are at least getting a piece of the commercial dollars.  It has not improved the fan experience by any stretch of the imagination (just ask people that tried to watch Cornell-Penn B-Ball the other day).  Under the current system, the women's games come on during the National Anthem and shut down while the teams are shaking hands -- under the previous system, there was always a pre-game show.  Frankly, I am not impressed with ESPN+ and I think the people that made the decision to go with it owe the fans an explanation.

I would like to see a reciprocity system in place so that when a Cornell team plays away at a non-Ivy opponent, say in the CHA or WCHA, that we get to watch the game through our subscription service without having to pay a fee for the game, that when they play in our barn, their fans see the game as well without having to subscribe or pay a single-game fee.

[TimV]

"NO!!! It should ALL be free!  STOP ATHLETIC INEQUALITY NOW."
 
Signed
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez