I have $500 in gift cards from BestBuy. I would like to replace an 8 year old tv in our study. What would be the best LED Smart tv brand for that kind of money? I can chip in a bit if need be but don't want to spend much more than that. Every review I have read has pros and cons for each brand. They guy at the store was trying to sell me a Hisense. Never heard of that brand. Thanks in advance.

Get the best Samsung, LG or Sony 1080p you can find for that money, should be very easy to do.

Hisense isn't terrible in that price range actually.

http://www.rtings.com/tv/reviews/hisense/h8c

Sell the GC for $450-$475 and go buy one from Costco for the extra warranty and better prices.

I got a 49" 2160p LG smart TV for $500 recently. It does the job.

Checking their online price now it seems like it has gone up $100

tamusc said:

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Hisense isn't terrible in that price range actually.

http://www.rtings.com/tv/reviews/hisense/h8c

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lolpoor brand alongside vizio

tamusc said:

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VonDownByTheRiver said:

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tamusc said:

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Hisense isn't terrible in that price range actually.

http://www.rtings.com/tv/reviews/hisense/h8c

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lolpoor brand alongside vizio

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Seriously? Vizio makes some of the best TVs on the market.

Hisense offers good value in this price range, like 4k HDR for the price of 1080p sets from others. I just pointed out that a highly regarded review site gave Hisense decent marks.

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4K is useless at 50".

You're better off getting an established, high quality brand 1080p.

And yes, it and Vizio are still lolpoor brands.

Na Zdrav 87 said:

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I have $500 in gift cards from BestBuy. I would like to replace an 8 year old tv in our study. What would be the best LED Smart tv brand for that kind of money? I can chip in a bit if need be but don't want to spend much more than that. Every review I have read has pros and cons for each brand. They guy at the store was trying to sell me a Hisense. Never heard of that brand. Thanks in advance.

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I was in the same boat as you last May. I decided to go with a 50' Samsung 1080p for about $550. I couldn't be happier. I've always been impressed the most with Samsung's picture quality. We were upgrading from an 8-year old 32' Samsung, so it was a quality upgrade from where we were.

With 4K, HDR, LED quality, and OLED technology still being worked out...I didn't want to drop $1k-$2k on an LED panel. I was happy getting a quality 1080p tv to last a few years until the newer tech becomes more standard and affordable.

Like others have said, Vizio has come up in the world and I would put them above Hisense. However, their mid/lower end models have less than stellar reviews on upconverting lower res content. This was important for me because we still have a lot of regular dvd's, and broadcast cable is still not in 1080p.

Samsung might still have a 1080p available, but they're going fast. They also have a base 4K (the 6300 I think) that's not much more than the 1080p I bought last year, that works with HDR...it came out over the summer.

4K is nice and all...I just don't see the use for it yet. Broadcast tv isn't even in pure HD yet, 4K content is still fairly scarce, ultra HD bluray players are still very expensive, and streaming quality 4K requires an even stronger internet connection. I just don't think the overall technology has caught up to it yet, so I didn't think it was worth the hefty investment. But that's just me.

Best of luck in your search!

I have shopped and purchased two LEDs in the past 30 days. The second purchase was unplanned; our 10 year old plasma died an untimely death. Both TVs were budget TVs and 1080p - a 49" LG SMART TV and a 55" Insignia (the Best Buy brand) for $279. The Insignia is paired with an Apple TV, giving it a smart capability. The young one plays Xbox on the larger set and he is happy with the picture quality and lag response.

Someday I will go upscale on a true home theater setup, but have to build that room first!

An option. I picked one up this past weekend for $225+tax. Price is currently $300, but it looks like it's on sale for $250 often.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/sharp-50-class-49-5-diag--led-1080p-smart-hdtv-roku-tv-black/4863102.p?loc=0&ref=8575135&acampID=b3875528de6211e6bfe8c6cc1faa8ca60INT

Thanks for all the replies!

I have a 50" 1080 P LG plasma that's about seven years old and a 55 inch LED 4K LG that is less than a-year-old.

55 inch clarity blows the 50 inch out of the water. It's not even close. Of course, I play a lot of high definition video games.

You can get a nice 4K TV in that size for that price range and quite easily.

I'm lolpoor, go to the store, see the clarity for yourself, and pick the one that is best for you and you were uses.

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4K isn't the only thing these manufacturers remove when they removed 4K, and those other things will make a huge difference at any reasonable distance.

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Can you clarify this, because I don't really understand it. I'm looking for a slightly smaller TV (40-48) to put up on my home office wall. I will be watching, broadcast wise, news, etc. but will also play things like presentations and some 4K video I create -- post editing view.

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And yes, it and Vizio are still lolpoor brands.

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I disagree. I would classify Vizio as a value brand. And a good one at that. Probably the best.

Insignia is an lolpoor brand.

The Samsung 1080P TV that looked fantastic 3 years ago at $1500 has technology in it that creates a brighter display, better color uniformity and better contrast. They didn't take that $1500 TV and reproduce it at $500, they cheapened up on components to meet that price point and the technology that made the $1500 TV look great, is now in the $1500 4K TV.


Samsung does not make flat panel 1080P TVs anymore, hardly anyone does and they're the budget line if they do, with budget quality. Sometimes purchasing that TV is appropriate, but blindly accepting that a 1080P Samsung is superior to a 4k Vizio, just because you have a 2006 mindset of what Vizio produces is just nonsense.



Use independent TV tester and calibrator assessments to make your purchase as much or more than what you see in the store, because those scenarios can be deceiving (the bright fluorescent light hides flaws that you will see when you get it in a darker scenario like your home). The testers view these TVs in a controlled consistent environment and use calibration tools to get them in their peak condition.

Double blue star for this.

That's why a site like rtings.com is so great. They give you non-biased, objective data as well as results pre and post calibration.

Best Buy is running LG 55" 4K TVs for $550, I believe. Purchased 2 last week.