That’s a shame. I’ve had very good experiences with Sony upper mid range/lower high end TVs. Their image processing is second to none IMO, they seem to use more powerful CPUs than a lot of other android TV makers, and their use of AndroidTV means I can trivially customise my TV in a way that I can’t with lots of other brands (strip out ads, basically).
Shit, my oldest daughter moved into a flat with friends when she started uni not long ago, and took my old 2007 42" 1080p Bravia that I bought all those years ago. She hadn’t even been born yet, and it still looks shockingly good.
This is sad news.
The verge is a garbage paywall site now
The worst thing about ‘smart TVs’ is that they advertise so many ‘cool’ features but most of them have less performant processors and less ram than my 2019 budget galaxy a series phone, and that’s very telling, you can’t even use their dog shit built in web browsers since everything becomes outdated after like a week, and the performance is so bad that the expensive Hisense tv my dad bought back in 2020 can’t even load Google properly.
Sony’s modern OLEDs are sick. There are a few between my family, and they have the best processing I’ve seen, they decode massive bluray rips no problem, and native options for a clean ad-free UI.
Why TF aren’t people buying them?
For me, for my use case it’s primarily because of the size TV I want. Mine is going in the basement on a wall where I want the biggest TV I can afford. That means I could get an 83" screen in OLED or a 98-100" QLED. 15" difference is pretty dramatic.
Oh man, you’re missing out on OLED in a basement though. It’s so fantastic for dimly lit evironments that I’d take the smaller size any day, and just sit a little closer. LCDs, on the other hand, look pretty terrible in a really dark room.
The only thing that would make me pause is if you’re trying to squeeze a big family around the TV. In that case, it would make sense to get a bigger one, so everyone can sit farther back without compromised viewing angles.
Probably because they’re quite expensive
TV
2026
Honestly, don’t remember the last time I watched TV
Do you think the only thing TVs are used for is watching traditional terrestrial TV? Lol
I only watch extraterrestrial TV.
It’s the main purpose of them, yes. Define TV to me. I don’t see the point of paying for decoders, smart TV and bunch of other things I’ll never use, much smarter decision is to buy a monitor which focuses on image quality and performance, far more suitable for consoles, Roku, etc.
Commenter above low-key described that OLED as a monitor more than a TV
TVs are fantastic monitors.
It sounds reasonable to not want to pay for basically a small computer inside the TV.
But in practice, its not that expensive of a component. And TV volumes are so high that they’re bigger and cheaper and higher quality than an equivalently priced monitor, anyway.
Hence, while I’m fine with the monitors I have, I’m never buying a “monitor” again. It just makes no financial sense when I can get a 40" 4K TV with 120hz VRR instead, that happens to work fantastically as a streaming box too.
My experience is that they all look terrible up close, for whatever reason. TVs are essentially designed for further-back viewing
is your cell phone battery mostly consumed supporting phone calls
Well, the top killer is Boost, which is a client for Lemmy, sitting at 1/3 battery usage.
I went from Sony, Samsung, and LG to now buying TCL. At under $1000 for a 65", they’re the best option.
Anything under $1500 I’d bet on TCL. Keep in mind TCL manufacturers a great chunk of the worlds LCDs that aren’t just for TCL. Pretty sure they bought LGs LCD plants. Maybe Samsung too.
Their TVs have a lot of dimming zones. Sony I don’t think makes LCDs or OLED panels themselves. At least one line of their TVs use TCL panels already. They buy from others
Here’s a review for the model that came out last year. At this point where’s it’s regularly on “sale” for $1000. TVs are MSRP for like half a year and then the discounts always seem to me to be happening
https://www.rtings.com/tv/reviews/tcl/qm8k
1,680 dimming zones in the 65" model and from what I’ve read, the global models are usually one year behind China. So in 2025 China had TCL TVs with even more dimming zones. 8 years ago sub $1000 65" with array LED backlight zones were like 100-200 zones. OLED were incredibly better and would kill off LCDs when prices came down. The density of dimming zones I think progressed faster than people expected
So TCL has solid image processing while Sony has great image processing but not so much better for me to think it’s worth it. Same with the $1000-2000 mini-led backlit LCDs vs OLED. Yes OLED looks better. Don’t feel like it’s large enough for me to go much higher than a $1000 TV. That’s a reality for home theater brands today. TVs, speakers, receivers/amplifiers, headphones, mics, etc - there’s good stuff at low prices.
Everyone’s competing on value now. There used to always be rumors about a Apple TV (actual TV) and Apple EVs. Never hear about rumors for those anymore. Don’t think the quality difference possibility and profit margins exist to make those appealing anymore for Apple. Sony like Apple is increasingly a services/media company.
Samsung - Tizen sucks. I don’t recall how LG and WebOS looks, but to me Tizen is leagues above Android and Roku in making your TV into a loud billboard. At least Android you can install a different launcher.
I remember when Sony was THE brand, not? Meh
Its funny because all these grand Japanese OEMs like Sony and Panasonic got undercut by Korean rivals like LG and Samsung in the 2000s, which forced Sony to move further into exclusively high priced devices and for many other OEMs to leave the US or global market.
Now TCL and HiSense are undercutting the grand Korean OEMs, which is slowly forcing them out of the low-middle end market.
I upgraded from a 20+ year old Phillips LCD to TCL’s QM8K, and the display technology for being a QLED panel is astounding. It looks 95% like a high quality OLED for a fraction of the cost.
Only downside is Google TV (Junk Android that you have to debloat a bit) and for some reason the TV can’t passthrough Dolby Atmos from app players like Kodi, even though it can do DTS-X just fine. I’m pretty sure the second issue is just a software bug, but TCL has been taking ages to respond. Pass through from an external source works perfectly fine though.
If you’re in the market, I highly recommend seeing it in person at a hardware/electronics store. The side by side comparison is insane.
The only negative thing about my TCL tv is that it’s running Google tv launcher. I replaced that with Projectivy.
We need Graphene for tv!
Absolutly nothing Sony, TCL or any of that garbage will ever be in my home. Or any of the advertising supported TV’s. Nope.
What brand do you use of you don’t mind sharing?
Right? That leaves no TVs. I can’t really think of any TVs that are ad-free, or are guaranteed to be ad free in future.
Personally I’ve been getting android TV boxes and installing a custom (and free) launcher on it, and using SmartTube for ad-free YouTube.
Not your traditional TVs but look and see if you can get some TVs aimed at venues / advertising. I can see an LG IPS display, 98 inch for sub 10k AUD including shipping (98UM5J-B).
Phillips, LG, Samsung and others offer commercial panels without the rubbish that consumer panels are infected with these days.
Not OP but I bought a 45" LG UltraGear gaming “monitor” a while back that’s basically just a TV, no smart anything etc. Right now the only ones I see after a quick search are curved though, mine is flat.
Dammit. I’ve had an LG plasma for the last 15, and it looks like I’ll have to get that Sony well before I’m ready for it.
Where I live, it’s mostly the Korean brands on top and middle-tier, but for the working class they have an insane number of choices from Chinese makers, despite the quality.
I first read it as TLC. You mean the TVs will play nothing but low-grade reality shows?
I avoid Sony purely because they push exclusives on consoles. Totally unrelated but I guess that’s one of the negatives of being a big brand.
I haven’t bought anything from Sony since the root kit fiasco.
They bring a lot of “exclusives” to PC too.
So Sony is now the new RCA. This is a new low for the company. I can’t believe that they are gone just like that.
Well, their TV brand is gone. Their headphones are still the top tier of consumer stuff and price-performance king for studio headphones
Being the best doesn’t mean they’re selling well… I assume you’re meaning 7506s? So yeah they’re awesome yet dirt cheap, I highly doubt they will keep Sony floating in the long term.
The over the ear noise cancelling one’s are amazing as well
Playstation5?
Idk if I used a really bad set of wh1000xm4s but they sucked. Too bassy and muddy. Like more than they should have. I hope their studio headphones are much better in that regard.
Maybe it’s just because I’m an audio engineer so I was able to EQ them to my taste, but I love my WH-1000XM4 cans. But yeah, their studio cans are both top tier and dirt cheap. MDR-7506, they’re like $80 and generally sound like a million bucks because they’re used in basically every single recording studio as reference headphones.
Seems like they’re closer to $110 these days
Makes sense, inflation and tariffs
That’s how I eqed the set I borrowed. I had no eq in Deezer and it was a downloaded flac. It still wasn’t great but better than stock.
I have mine set like this. Clear bass can be adjusted further down, just depends on personal taste. 400Hz is the boomy, buttery part of the range so if there’s too much boxy-ness you can turn that down judiciously. Keep in mind most musical pitch lives there too, though.
My preferences are towards a relatively flat sound so my setting reflects that
I’ll try it again. They’re not mine so I didn’t get too much time with them. But the mids are indeed lacking.
https://www.soundguys.com/monoprice-bt-600anc-review-52955/ Monoprice BT-600ANC review
That’s my current pair if you want to see a frequency response chart.
Maybe. My current set is a tired pair of Monoprice BT600ANC. I found that the high end of the xm4 lacking compared to the bt600anc. Noise canceling was about the same level as the 600anc.
I had a TCL phone for a bit about 10 years ago and it was the hottest piece of garbage I had ever touched in my life
They’ve really worked to turn that around with their TVs. They’re entry level still sure, but for the price it’s hard to beat and their quality control on them has taken a big step up.
Their tvs are cheap because of all the ad and Spyware.
You mean the stuff every TV has these days? I also never hook mine to the internet so not really a problem. I haven’t seen a single ad in the year I’ve had mine
You can still get dumb tvs.
Edit: Yall. They are not hard to find. Please do a search of them. They can even be delivered right to your doorstep.
Yes they are hard to find. They are few and far between and cost over twice the price.
If you have a link or can tell me what store to walk in and get a dumb TV with even half the quality of my current TV I will take it. I could only find business displays which were all stuck at 60hz or had a color spectrum and contrast so bad my ten year old laptop IPS screen beat them.
Well I suspect the quality is not going to be up to your standard, but this is the one I have in my living room, and I think it’s perfectly fine. But if you just can’t live without 120hz or whatever, then I guess you’re stuck.
Walmart used to have a variety of these, now they’re down to one. All my TVs are either 10+ years old or Sceptre and therefore are all dumb. But I don’t have a purist bone in my body when it comes to AV stuff.
It’s not a bad TV. And if it was just watching movies or something I definitely wouldn’t care about 120hz, but it’s just so much better for gaming.
I’m not a purist, like I said I’m rocking a TCL which is low end, but I’ve come to appreciate some level of specs I can’t go back on.
You literally just linked me a 60hz business display. The thing I said was the only thing I could find and ruled out…
That is over twice the price with low specs. You argument is invalid.
I would LOVE to know how!
I’m not the OP, but I have this one in my living room… 50", $232.
Thrift
LOL
What disgusting cope. Don’t you have any self-respect?
Just because you can work around the abuse doesn’t mean they aren’t abusing you.
Edit: people like the commenter above are actively making the world worse by normalizing and even excusing abusive corporate practices. I apologize for nothing!
Dude, touch grass and calm down. You’re putting a lot of words in my mouth and completely missing the point which is why you’re getting down voted.
I’ve pushed back on “smart” TVs so much. My point was if your issue with TCL is the ads you should rightfully have issues with every TV. They’re all shoving ads, they’re all analysing watched content. This isn’t a TCL specific thing at all was my only point.
Also disconnecting from internet is a direct way of fighting back against that abuse. You’re not giving them those analytics or ad space. Sure you can choose to not buy any TV but I clearly keep overestimating people’s intelligence and didn’t think I needed to spell out every possible option in a quick comment.
Fuck I hate the braindead keyboard warriors the internet has enabled.
Quantity control :D
You saw nothing! ＼(°o°)／ Ever since I added my Welsh keyboard my autocorrect just doesn’t even try anymore on my phone.
Hehe no worries. I’m just here thinking about TCL yeeting more tv’s when one doesn’t work.
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