wco81 wrote: Sun Feb 16, 2025 4:01 pm
I’ve personally never seen TCL TVs.
They’ve made some waves in recent years touting mini LED TVs with thousands of zones which may make the picture quality competitive with OLeD.
But those TVs would be more in the $1500-2000 and above range.
Costco has a great return policy so you can try it. At least they used to have a general policy.
For gaming though you might check reviews, see what they measure for response times in gaming modes.
I got a TCL a few years ago from Costco, 55 inch and it's the best tv i've ever owned. It was I think around $250 as well.
But it had roku tv installed which was great. Now I see TCL is going with google or fire tv - which I've heard has a much slower processing time than the roku.
But i'm only getting it for PS5 so i won't use the fire tv feature much.
Costco also had a bunch of other tv's under 300. LG, Samsung, Toshiba, Hisense brands.55 inch tv's look so small today.
I think LG is suppose to be one of the industry leaders? they had a 50 inch for $280 but boy did it looks so small compared to even 5 years ago.
I haven't really looked at the low end models so I can't say how they compare.
Yeah I've heard of complaints about Google TV being sluggish even on mid-price (over $1000) Sony TVs because they use cheap Mediatek processors.
One thing to consider is that a lot of TVs don't have the fastest HDMI 2.1 ports, so they may lag with some game consoles. Maybe not the PS5 but maybe PS5 Pro and definitely future consoles.
The performance and number of HDMI ports is directly linked to the kind of processors they use in the TVs. Even the top of the line Sony OD-OLED TVs have like 2 HDMI 2.1 ports.
wco81 wrote: Sun Feb 16, 2025 4:26 pm
I haven't really looked at the low end models so I can't say how they compare.
Yeah I've heard of complaints about Google TV being sluggish even on mid-price (over $1000) Sony TVs because they use cheap Mediatek processors.
One thing to consider is that a lot of TVs don't have the fastest HDMI 2.1 ports, so they may lag with some game consoles. Maybe not the PS5 but maybe PS5 Pro and definitely future consoles.
The performance and number of HDMI ports is directly linked to the kind of processors they use in the TVs. Even the top of the line Sony OD-OLED TVs have like 2 HDMI 2.1 ports.
when i was shopping i was noticing some ports had 2.1 and 2.0. wasn't sure what that was. I won't get ps pro but it sounds like you're saying 2.0 will be ok for regular PS5.
Lancer wrote: Mon Jun 23, 2025 1:22 am
getting rid of youtube tv. increased monthly cost plus i don't watch it much other than local news channels.
any good cheaper alternatives that have come up the last few months that have local news channels?
I'm happy with MLB TV + Prime + Hulu/Disney/HBO . I also like Tubi for movies which is free. I dont think I'll get netflix again.
update - looks like my roku channel as all the local news channels on there. I think i'm good now!
If you want live sports, there aren't many better choices.
I think the only channel missing from YTTV may be MLB TV and NHL channel.
Otherwise, Comcast here wants $106 to have a package which includes NBA TV. I noticed NFL Network also tends to be on higher tier packages and of course Red Zone is usually an add on.
Direct TV Stream has more expensive packages, Sling TV is missing a lot of channels.
Then you have this uncertain landscape for regional sports channels in many markets.
Now, you have to get specific streaming services like Amazon or Peacock or maybe even Netflix to access all the NFL.
Lancer wrote: Mon Jun 23, 2025 1:22 am
getting rid of youtube tv. increased monthly cost plus i don't watch it much other than local news channels.
any good cheaper alternatives that have come up the last few months that have local news channels?
I'm happy with MLB TV + Prime + Hulu/Disney/HBO . I also like Tubi for movies which is free. I dont think I'll get netflix again.
update - looks like my roku channel as all the local news channels on there. I think i'm good now!
If you want live sports, there aren't many better choices.
I think the only channel missing from YTTV may be MLB TV and NHL channel.
Otherwise, Comcast here wants $106 to have a package which includes NBA TV. I noticed NFL Network also tends to be on higher tier packages and of course Red Zone is usually an add on.
Direct TV Stream has more expensive packages, Sling TV is missing a lot of channels.
Then you have this uncertain landscape for regional sports channels in many markets.
Now, you have to get specific streaming services like Amazon or Peacock or maybe even Netflix to access all the NFL.
i was shopping around and found some new services i never heard of like FUBO. Sling seems cheap but then I read the fine print that their cheap price is only for the first 3 months. After that it's almost as expensive as youtubetv. I also read hulu offers local channels and i checked but it only has local ABC news.
i'll see how it goes with no service and if i'm ok with it. Maybe when NFL rolls around I'll really miss it for the local network games
You could also find a friend in your area and split the cost of Directv Streaming. I don't believe they have a limit on the number of tv streams you can watch at one time.. I have YTTV that I share with my brother-in-law. He lives right up the street. And then I have access to my parent's DTV account so I can watch the Cardinals and Blues games.
I tested the roku tv feed vs the youtube tv feed for the local news channel.
It was great. the roku tv stream was only like 20 seconds behind the youtube tv feed.
I think this will work fine. I may miss the national news channels like maybe CNN especially in times like these where there is conflict in the world. hopefully no more world emergencies going forward.
