UPDATED: For those who watch TV, what's your budget for a new TV?

bmo88 · October 2015

Well, our TV of 5 years that we bought on clearance for a great deal died on us. Well, it kind of died. The color wheel went out on it, so it flickers and the image colors are off. We research it and it's about $200 to replace the color wheel for this TV model and you have to solder it in place (we do not own a soldering kit). So, it looks like we will have to replace the TV.

Personally, I would be happy buying a $200-$300 TV. However, DH is an avid sports fan and really wants a quality TV that will last a while. We do watch a fair amount of tv shows, Netflix and movies. Rather than going out a lot, we are homebodies and enjoy watching tv. It's not the best habit, but we do it. So I am trying to be reasonable with him about a budget.

In his perfect world, we would drop $2,000 on a new TV. While we could afford it, we will not be spending anywhere near that much. My thoughts are $1,000 or less, ideally $700-$900. That gets us in the quality range so it lasts, and it's up to date with a fair amount of tech upgrades.That also allows for a 55''-60'' TV that he wants. Buying at Costco also gives it a 5 year warranty. I still think it's too much, but willing to compromise since it's 1) DH's birthday this month and he really want its and 2) we will get our use out of it.

For those that watch TV, what is your budget for a TV? (if you don't watch tv and cut the cord, that's all fine and dandy, but no bashing please).

dragonstarjk · October 2015

We aren't huge TV watchers and when we do watch, its usually on a laptop or tablet. That being said, we do have a 32" Samsung that we bought about 10 years ago that we can plug our other devices into if we want to get the 'TV' experience.

I'm not even sure we would replace it if it died. However, if we did, I'd imagine our budget would be maybe $800-$1000? I actually have no idea about TV prices these days. The 32" was $900 and that was back when it was considered top of the line. Now it's like an antique

I probably wouldn't want to spend more than $1,000 even if we used it more regularly.

simplyelise · October 2015

I watch a fair amount of tv. I love movies and yeah, while we're paying of debt, netflix and sports are our main entertainment. We have free cable, so even more of a reason to enjoy it over going to a bar or movie theater. But our current tv is the one I bought in 2008 and it's maybe 32in and off-brand. I can't fathom having a 5 foot big tv.

Just looking around amazon, there are a bajillion options for the size tv you're looking for that are in the $500-700 range. I don't know, even loving tv, I can't imagine that the extra $500-1500 would make a significant difference in the viewing quality (because the $500-700 tvs are name brand, high-res, LED already). So with your situation, the 5-700 is probably what I'd compromise at.

As for our budget, our tv has started buzzing and showing a blurry line at the top when it has to display certain colors, so it might be on it's way out. I think if it did go out we'd shoot for $300 or less for a replacement. While we're paying off debt, we're just not going to spend much on wants.

bmo88 · October 2015

dragonstarjk: TV prices are ridiculous these days! We went to Costco today and I was baffled by how much you can easily spend on a TV. There were a fair amount in the $500-$800 range, but they were 1080p. I don't know what that mean, but DH says it's "older" technology. I don't care because a TV is a TV to me, but he is stubborn about the 4K HD options.

simplyelise · October 2015

Everything I've read about 4k is that it's mostly a gimmick*. Do you guys have enough room to sit far enough back from the screen? Those things are massive.

How close are you guys to debt freedom? Maybe a compromise option is a cheaper tv now and then the dream tv as a celebration at the end of the journey.

*ETA: esp. since very little content is produced at this resolution, so most of what you're watching is 1080p anyway.

bmo88 · October 2015

simplyelise: Hmm...interesting, I haven't read much on the difference between 1080p and 4k, DH has been doing the research.

Our coach is about 8ft away from the TV and our previous TV was 65 inches (which was massive). We bought that one for $750 5 years ago on clearance (regular $1800) because the store was closing down.

We are about 15 months from debt freedom, so it wouldn't make much since to buy a $300-$600 TV now and then turn around buy a much more expensive one in a year and a half. We can cash flow the purchase. We could realistically eliminate all our debt in 10 months, but we are maximizing retirement contributions, building up bigger savings for TTC and traveling before kids.

ETA: Just read some articles and it appears that 4k is not a gimmick so much as it isn't widely available at the moment. It compared it to Blu-Ray when it became available. That when it was introduced, very few were produced, but now it's widely available.

als1982 · October 2015

I bought a 55" in 2011 for $600. There's no way I would spend any more than that.

simplyelise · October 2015

I was thinking a 250-300 tv now that maybe you move to a bedroom or basement when you upgrade. Or maybe give to a family member who's moving into a first place. But yeah, I mean obviously you guys can afford it if you want it.

I was saying it's somewhat of a gimmick because you have such diminishing returns at that level of resolutions. I saw the Hobbit on a mega big screen at an advanced frames per second 3d showing. It was supposed to be the next wave of high res tech and it just sucked. Because your eyes can only absorb so much definition or so many frames.

csuave · October 2015

I have no idea but we are probably similar to you in wanting something with good technology and a larger size. I'll be interested to know what you get since we may buy a new TV within the next year. It will be good to know how much to budget for it.

bmo88 · October 2015

als1982: Surprisingly, depending on the TV you consider, $600 doesn't go far. I know it sounds ridiculous saying that. For a 1080p TV, which I would be fine with, is hard to find at 55 inches for less than $600.

JoanE2012 · October 2015

We bought our last tv a couple years ago. DH really wanted a 50" 4k tv, and since he rarely buys himself anything, I didn't mind. I think it cost us around $1,400.

BlueBirdMB · October 2015

I'm HORRIFIED at the price of TVs. It seems like not that much improves technology wise, yet the prices never drop and they justify it because of very small technological improvements or improvements that are totally gimmicky (4k). Apparently the demand must be very high.

We are going to need a new TV soon and my budget is $600-$700. I think it's asinine to spend more than that. I also think it's asinine to have a crazy huge TV. We have a 50 inch that DH had before we met, but when we buy a new one, we're going a size smaller. It will fit in the space a little better and I just don't understand the point of a large TV. We watch a fair amount of TV, but I can see the picture just the same on a smaller screen vs a larger screen.

But in general, I think spending large amounts of money on technology is a waste. It all breaks or becomes outdated so quickly and it bothers me contributing too much to our throw away society. I know DH would drop $1500 on a TV if I was ok with that, but there is no. freaking. way.

AprilZ81 · October 2015

We spent $1,500 on a new 75" LED tv (yes, seventy-five inches) back in May. We did not get a 4k tv, because right now there isn't enough programing in that platform to make the large cost worth it. We "settled" on a smart tv that can stream Netflix and other content without going through another device.

We watch a lot of tv, sports especially and our living room is so big that our 55" tv looked too small (first world problems for sure). So the picture and refresh rate was important to us. We bought a Samsung and we love it.

You should be able to get a really good tv (but maybe not 4k/3D) for less than $1,000. Again, there isn't a lot of true 4k programming out there and while 3D can provide a slightly better picture at the size we were looking at and the distance we sit from the tv our eyes wouldn't have noticed the difference.

vlagrl29 · October 2015

It's been a long time since we've bought a TV. I bought my very first 32 inch flat screen back in 2008 for around $800 and I was happy with that. I"m sure they are cheaper now. I would say I would be comfortable spending $500-$800 on a TV again.

bmo88 · October 2015

Thanks for the input everyone!

AprilZ81: Our previous TV was a 65 inch and our living room is quite large. So it will be an adjustment for sure. We are looking at the 55, maybe the 60 depending on the overall price. A first world problem for sure.

We are considering a 55 inch curved 4k tv for $1,170 at Costco or a 60 inch 4k for $1,200. It's just above budget, but I may make the compromise with DH since it's his b-day this month and he is asking that the TV be his gift.

hoffse · October 2015

I know it's the fall and that equals college sports, but since it is October I would be super inclined to hold out at least until black friday.

That's really the only time of year you can be certain to score a TV on sale, short of just running into a random deal. And Costco does put their TVs on sale during black friday.

I know it's your H's birthday, but see if he's willing to get his gift a month late to potentially save a few hundred bucks. If none of the black friday ads have the TV you want, then you can go ahead and pay full price. But I would at least hold out and see what is offered. That seems like a reasonable compromise to me.

abrewer5 · October 2015

Depending on features I would spend between $1000-1500 on a TV. It would have to be bigger than 60", good HD quality, and definitely have Wi-Fi capabilities so that I could stream Netflix or youtube thru the TV. My H is a big toy junkie and he loves his TV and home theatre. I can't imagine he'd settle for less than 60" now.

CuriousKiddosMama · October 2015

Wow, I think your dh is crazy to be hinest! $2k on a TV is insane.
We were able to buy our last tv on Black Friday (which I know isn't an option for you) but we got a 60ish inch smart tv for like $600 at walmart. And that is the most we have ever spent on a TV. Once you get past a certain $$$ amount, I really don't see a difference in the TV quality.

jtmh2012 · October 2015

I think I would aim for $1000 give or take a few hundred and at this point at least 1080p capable. I don't think 4k is a gimmick, but right now there's just not any content out there for it and by the time there is, you'll probably want a new TV anyway. As for 3D, too many competing standards right now. I'd let the dust settle on that one for right now until some definite standard comes out.

As for the $1000 TVs being "old", you're really just looking at last year's model most times. I bought a $1800 47" TV and the next year that TV was selling for $1000. These days you could probably get it for less if they were still selling it. At $2000, you're really just paying the "omg, gotta have new thing" fee.

KAdams767 · October 2015

Well, I mean, if you can afford it and both agree and want it, you should get what you want. But...there's no way I would ever spend $2,000 on a TV, nor would I ever get a 55-60" screen. I honestly can't even fathom that, and we watch our TV a fair amount, especially in the colder months when we watch hockey and movies a lot. But we have one TV, it is under 40" (I think it's 37") and we paid $600 for it 5 years ago. It is definitely not the newest technology, but the picture looks great to me and it works perfectly.

Erikan73 · October 2015

Our big tv I think we spent about $900 I think for for 55" tv. We love it and watch it all the time and now we are working on more date nights at home to watch movies on our Amazon Fire Stick and enjoy a bottle of wine. So having a nice tv is important. Smart TV's were just coming out when we got that TV so we skipped that option. It's a Sony and we've had it for 4 years now and not a single problem with it.

Now we just got a new TV for the Man Cave, couldn't tell you the brand. My husband got a package deal from Dell when we got our new laptop. This one is a smart TV which is a great feature if you use netflix or hulu. Helps to reduce the wires. Since the price for Laptop & TV were combined, I don't know how much it was.

But to be honest, you can get a cheap TV at walmart or you can go spend a lot at Best Buy. What I would recommend is figure out first what size you want, what features you want (like do you want a smart TV), and then check out reviews for different brands. Like many products, sometimes you get what you pay for. My parents had a SONY tv for almost 20 years and I think had it repaired once, maybe twice over that time frame. So that's why I didn't mind spending the money on it because theirs lasted them so long. I've heard a few horrer stories from people that get "that great price" only to have the tv break on them in less then 2 years because they got some never heard of brand that didn't have a good reputation for reliability.

formerlyGDaisy09 · October 2015

We don't have cable, but we do watch lots of Netflix and H is a bit of a movie buff, so the entertainment equipment is something important to us.

I actually subscribe to Consumer Reports, and have used it a lot when deciding what baby products to buy, but also have used it to get reviews on things like appliances and electronics. I generally go with one of their "best buy" deals that I think is determined as a function of cost and the CR rating.

We're shopping for a 50-60" TV to go in our new basement space (and Santa might get H one of those sound bars so he can really nerd-out with his movies). We're looking at a 55" LG right now that's priced about $600 (CR best buy...rated very good to excellent in all catgories but motion blur (from what I can tell you have to spend $1500+ to get a "good" rating in that category on a 55") and sound quality (we plan on a seperate sound system so the TV's system almost doesn't matter). I don't think the smart-TV features are quite there yet, at least enough that I'm willing to spend several thousand dollars on it.

bmo88 · October 2015

curiouskiddosmama: haha, l don't know if you read my entire post, but l said in a perfect world he would spend $2,000. We will not be spending anywhere near that. Even though he loves technology, he is reasonable. We will likely purchase in the $1,000 range, which is not unreasonable for TVs when it’s not black Friday.

KAdams767: 55 to 60’ is also a pretty common size, we used to have a 65 inch, so it’s technically a down grade. Also, if you bought a TV five years and paid $600 for a 37’’, if you account for inflation, you would probably pay closer to $800+ today, so not far from what we are spending.

formerlyGDaisy09: Are you purchasing a 1080p TV? Just curious because I like that price quite a bit. Though LG’s have rated lower than the Samsungs and Vizio’s we are considering, so it’s a matter of convincing DH (I could care less).

hoffse: I am trying to convince DH to wait until Black Friday, but he thinks it’s so far away and crazy to wait 2 months with no TV. We are watching things on a laptop now, but it’s driving him crazy. Costco does have a 30 day price match guarantee, so I wonder if they would honor a Black Friday price if we bought at the end of this month….probably not, but I may ask.

Erikan73: I agree on being leery about "great prices," I think with diligent research and then the Costco set up (5 year warranty), we feel a little more comfortable making a larger purchase.

In the end, DH hasn’t bought anything this year (even though he wants a PS4), so it’s like his one chance to splurge. So if we stay under around $1,000, I would be fine with that. I would love to spend less, but DH is pretty persistent and his request isn’t unreasonable.

KAdams767 · October 2015

bmo88 said:

KAdams767: 55 to 60’ is also a pretty common size, we used to have a 65 inch, so it’s technically a down grade. Also, if you bought a TV five years and paid $600 for a 37’’, if you account for inflation, you would probably pay closer to $800+ today, so not far from what we are spending.

I understand it is common, but I would still never do it. I am absolutely not in the camp that something smaller than 65" is a downgrade, lol. I don't really subscribe to the "bigger is better" theory on consumer goods.

And just for giggles, I just went to the Best Buy website and it looks like I can get a comparable TV to what I have for well under $500 now. That would be fine for me. It's just personal preference. Roughly $500-$600, at any point in time, is my price limit on a TV.

formerlyGDaisy09 · October 2015

bmo88 said:

formerlyGDaisy09: Are you purchasing a 1080p TV? Just curious because I like that price quite a bit. Though LG’s have rated lower than the Samsungs and Vizio’s we are considering, so it’s a matter of convincing DH (I could care less).

the one we're looking at is a 1080p. I was surprised that the LG was listed as one of CR's best buys (another reason I'm happy to subscribe to the service). last time we shopped for TVs ~5 years ago, samsungs were the way to go. Truth be known, there are several Samsungs and Vizios that are rated higher than this particular LG, but the price likely takes them out of the running for CR's best buy status. like I said, the two categories this TV seemed to be lacking in are categories that either we're not going to be able to afford something with a better rating, or something that we're bypassing anyways.

bmo88 · October 2015

KAdams767: Oh I agree bigger is not necessarily better, it's just DH's preference. Yes, you can definitely find cheaper TVs, but I will say, you will see a quality difference at a certain point (not just in visuals, but how long they last). We bought a $350 40 inch tv LG for our bedroom two years ago and it is crapping out. It was cheap, so it's definitely possible to find them.

Just different preferences for different people.

bmo88 · October 2015

formerlyGDaisy09: We haven't looked at the 1080p category since DH is opposed to it, I am only somewhat familiar with ratings in the 4k category. As I said before, I would be perfectly happy with a 1080p (price and quality), but alas, he is a stubborn one.

smerka · October 2015

We spent about $1,200 on a tv and my son proceeded to throw something at it and crack the screen. We then got a $600 tv. I watch a LOT of tv and I honestly can not tell the difference. We knew we were going to get a Blu-ray player so we did not get a smart tv.

julieanne912 · October 2015

bmo88 said:

Thanks for the input everyone!

AprilZ81: Our previous TV was a 65 inch and our living room is quite large. So it will be an adjustment for sure. We are looking at the 55, maybe the 60 depending on the overall price. A first world problem for sure.

We are considering a 55 inch curved 4k tv for $1,170 at Costco or a 60 inch 4k for $1,200. It's just above budget, but I may make the compromise with DH since it's his b-day this month and he is asking that the TV be his gift.

Just wanted to chime in to say that our neighbor bought a curved TV... huge one, and they don't like it at all because it's hard to see it from their dining area, due to the curve.

For us, we're waiting for the Samsung 65" 4K's to get under $2,000, then we'll start considering it. H is a techy guy and wants the newer technology, but agrees that it's good to wait til all the other technology will keep up with it. We have state of the art wiring and a "brain" in the basement for all of our technology, so we're all ready to go on our end.

bmo88 · October 2015

julieanne912: If you have a Costco membership, they have a 65 inch Samsung 4k for $1,779.

http://www.costco.com/Samsung-65"-Class-(64.5"-Diag.)-4K-Ultra-HD-Smart-LED-LCD-TV-UN65JU650DFXZA.product.100172089.html

If you don't have a membership, might be worth getting one, lol.

Thought I would send you the link since my DH would love that TV and researched it to death, but it's not in our budget range.

Thanks for the note about the curve. We eat at an island and watch tv, so it would be a bummer if we couldn't see it.

brij2006 · October 2015

My H is a tech geek, so we have 2 TV's even though we don't have cable. We use Netflix and watch blueray movies.

We absolutely love our Samsung LED. Here's a link to a 50 inch from Target. It seems to be in the range you're looking at.

http://www.target.com/p/samsung-50-1080p-60hz-led-hdtv-black-un50eh5000fxza/-/A-14004263?ci_src=17588969&ci_sku=14004263&ref=tgt_adv_XSG10001&AFID=google_pla_df&CPNG=pla_electronics+shopping&adgroup=sc_electronics&LID=10pgs&KID=0a721cc5-fd41-4019-8746-91b10b457fc2&kpid=14004263&gclid=CjwKEAjw4s2wBRDSnr2jwZenlkgSJABvFcwQPDwluZApWcH_hvpOaW92_CTcSCkqQK_YB6OoO6h1zxoCu2fw_wcB

ETA link

UPDATED: For those who watch TV, what's your budget for a new TV?

Re: UPDATED: For those who watch TV, what's your budget for a new TV?

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