Part of the reason I said up top to understand what you are using the TV for. To me there are potentially five basic usages

1. Watching Movies/'Serious' TV
2. Watching Sport
3. Watching News
4. Browsing other stuff
5. Playing games (eg Playstation)

Numbers 1,2 & 5 benefit from the biggest possible screen; and in particular movies need that cinema experience. 3 & 4 are really something where you might dip in and out and don't really care that much about the screen anyway.

As such, my calculation was even the 80inch type screens wouldn't cut it - you needed 120+ to give you the viewing angle to make it work, and even 80inch LCD screens were 'orribly expensive.

So the answer to be was a projector and some dark curtains - cheaper than the big LCD screen, and bigger. That was supplemented by a cheaper 42inch for browsing, news, etc.

About the only difference would be if you were more into the afternoon sport watching and didn't want to be holed up in the dark. But personally that wasn't a major player in my decision.

Give it a short while and the 4K projectors will start coming out at a sensible price, but in the meantime 1080p is enough.

Personally I reckon a discreet as possible low footprint large sized monitor 80 inches plus if need be, with different sized display choices is possibly the go.... Never seen one of those yet though. Wafer thin, easily mounted, light weight. Hardly noticeable until it's on etc. Projectors have the inherent problem of a light beam.


TV manufactures take note.

Edit, if they got it right, it could be like adding a window to your living room, with whatever scenery you wanted, especially now 4K plus images are here. In scenery mode, the image angles change as you move, total realism. Concept stuff..

Or scrap the tv and go out and kick a football around. Of course then you'd need all the kit, at least 9 mates, permission to play in a park, insurance as there are sure to be injuries and at least four jumpers (and this is Australia for crying out loud). Back to the tv idea. Far less complicated.

Yehp because you need something to chill out to after all that activity.... I'm just going with a very Big TV at this stage though.

Haven't kicked a ball in the last year.... Shame on me... might give it a go today.

6 months ago did a lot of research and ended up Samsung lcd (since the glorius days of Pioneer plasmas are over).

Couple of considerations.....
If you are likely to watch tv most, ensure you see some SD content playing. Some sd material on hd panels looks awful.

If 3d is important to you compare active and passive. You may have a preference.

Never seen a 'discreet' 80inch TV !!!

One of the main advantages of a projector is it can be discreetly sat on a shelf somewhere, and project onto a blank wall - so when it's not on, it's not overpowering the room as an LCD does (which off has to be a big black rectangle). As you say, you have to get the geometry right (not usually too difficult if you design the room with the projection, etc. in mind). My projector is on a shelf of an occasional table, firing across at a wall. Also Sony are working on short throw projectors that basically hide themselves as a low cabinet below the wall, eg.

So thought I should update this thread. To Mrs Beoz disgust I went ahead and went 65". We did agree on 55" inch max but like the advice on here, it can never be too big, and despite it looking a little ridiculous in our living room, its well worth it. So the moral here is, don't listen to the wife when it comes to TV size.

I bought a factory second. It has a scratch on the screen. When I went to the shop the guy showed me the scratch, it was tiny, and can only be seen, when looking very closely for it, when the TV is off. To be honest, I try to find it now and I can't even see it. $2700 was the price. Cheapest I could find it elsewhere was $3400.

http://www.buysmarte.com.au/samsung-ua65hu8500w-65-inch-165cm-ultra-hd-3d-smart-led-tv-factory-second-1-yr-warranty.html

So as for the TV itself. Had it now a couple of months and pretty happy with it. Certainly a well worthy upgrade. The Smart is good. Comes with Netflix, ABC, SBS, youtube apps, and a bunch of other stuff. During my research it seemed Samsung had the most comprehensive library. It hooks into my wifi so I can access all the media content from the NAS drive. All plays and decodes fine.

The remote is a bit space age. Has a little infrared pointer thing so you point at the things on screen. Bit tricky to type the on screen keyboard, but the remote does come with voice, so you just say what you want into the remote.

Screen mirroring is great. No need for Chromecast. Works well to throw Stan at the telly from Samsung or Sony android phones. No Stan in the TV's app store.

Now for the bone of contention. UHD. Well I will say, some SD feeds are rubbish and some are good. Channel 9 is appalling, but then again channel 9 film stuff in lower res than the other channels. ABC news is on now and it looks really good. If we step it up a little to HD, it looks good and is certainly better than my old 1080p telly. I know the science behind it says a UHD telly will make no difference to HD, but there are so many sources that say you have to judge for yourself. I got JB Hifi to throw some HD Foxsports on a HD and UHD telly side by side and something about the picture in the UHD was so much better. Blueray looks great on it and I've streamed some 4k stuff from youtube and of course it looks amazing. So bit the bullet went for the future proof, considering the wife probably wouldn't let me upgrade again for another 5 or so years.

Oh and this is a 2014 model. There wasn't much evidence at the time to say it was worth waiting for the 2015 models, except and far greater dent in the wallet. Not sure if that was a bad move. Haven't researched the 2015 models.

Hope this helps and thanks for the advice on here. Size certainly matters.

You loose quality with mirroring*. Admittedly you probably didn't have a lot to play with originally, considering it's a very compressed signal, but screen mirroring is best avoided if at all possible - particularly if you are then trying to boost it to 65" UHD ...

Otherwise, congratulations on navigating the wifely rapids.





(* mirroring means you decode the signal, then re-encode it again, then decode it again. Like making a photocopy of a photocopy.)

Yeah she didn't know it was 65" she just kept moaning it was too big and we shouldn't have gone for 55".

The plan came unstuck when she pulled out the tape measure and did the analogue measure.

Ok maybe I do need the Chromecast. It comes with Stan. So it might avoid one of the decodes. Will check it out later. Must admit, res is fine on the mirroring if Stan is set to HD. If set to SD you notice the quality

You'd avoid a decode, and most importantly, the extra encode.

If you time it to one of the right sales you can get it for ~$30

And Google then do special offers, etc. that are then nominally worth more than the chromecast itself (3 months free music, free movie rentals, etc.) People were hoping for a chromecast 2 with 4K, but I/O has come and gone, and no announcement. Obviously you need an Android device for best compatibility as a remote, and if you have an AV amp them plugging it into that is the best bet.

BTW I can't remember where you live, but remember if it's Victoria you can get money back for buying such an energy efficient TV

I have a Chromecast already. I just haven't used it on the new telly. Its on the old telly in the spare room. To be honest I've not found much use for the Cromecast other than casting from the phone or PC. Any other things I should be checking out?

I'm in Sydney so doubt there's some money back scheme.

Well, first off you can obviously cast DLNA/Plex content (if you didn't already have a way). Youtube etc. is also much more practical than your usual remote control UI. With a smartDNS/VPN solution, you can use it for access to iPlayer, NowTV etc. without mucking about with the installed smartTV apps.

Then there's the Google Play offerings, and the freebies that come with it. The 90 day Google Play Music All Access freebie trial is well worth it - "OK Google, play me <some random song>" is great fun (though remember to cancel before they charge).

Oh, and there are a few games for it - nothing spectacular, but with the I/O update there will be more coming along.

I have to admit, I mainly use mine for streaming music. The chromecast plugged into the AV amp and controlled from the tablet means I can have music without a TV turned on, etc.

Another problem with electing a coalition government - green is a dirty word.

Cool cheers and I guess this has been done to death but how do you mess with the VPN/DNS stuff on a Chromecast?

Yes but we have jobs

Have to do it at the router, and need to block the built in Google DNS lookups as well - there are many instructions online for setting up smartDNS solutions online.

I was reading this thread .... and I don't understand most of it - I'm more of a techno****wit than I had realised. I can't even understand telly talk anymore