Kinda OT: New TV for Football season?

I thought there are a lot of great points in this thread, so thought I'd sum up and add my own thoughts:

1. Size and resolution: I agree with the bigger is better philosophy to a point. Namely your budget, the size of the room and how far away you are sitting. The smaller your room or the farther you sit, the smaller the TV needs to be. The smaller your budget, the smaller the screen size. From an optical standpoint, getting a 50" 4K set is pointless for most people if they are sitting fairly far away. If you sit close to your set, or get a bigger screen, then 4K makes more sense and adds a bit of "future proofing".

2. Tech: Plasma is/was the best for motion (i.e. sports). They're gone. I was fortunate enough to buy a few a couple years ago (Panasonic ZT, VT and Samsung f8500) and am pleased with them but they are not without their own set of problems. Pretty much all "LCD" sets are now "LED" which really just means LCD sets with LED backlighting. The best of those sets will have variable backlighting to allow the blacks to be black (and not gray) and will avoid edge bleed. At 120 or 240 Hz, most motion will be acceptable. These sets are also less expensive. OLED sets provide amazing color gamut and contrast but are expensive and difficult to manufacture. They also tend to be 60 Hz so fast motion (i.e. sports) might not be so great (but the picture is so good you might not care). The new kid on the block is Quantum Dot technology which is positioned midway in cost between the LCD/LEDs and OLEDs. Early opinion is that Quantum Dot will probably win out for most purchases in the future over OLED due to cost differential and manufacturing difficulty of the latter. The only problem is the tech is new and not readily available yet.

3. Brand: Everyone has a favorite and everyone has had a problem with one. There's nothing like actually looking at the set you want to buy in person. Being a "Smart TV" isn't as essential with all the streaming stick options, but just make sure it has enough HDMI ports (and the latest versions of those ports) for your needs. The ports are probably the best way to future proof your device.

4. Content: At the end of the day, you should also ask yourself how much are you going to use the thing. If you're going to use it a lot then get a good one (i.e. expand your budget). If you watch an hour or two occasionally then save your money. Also consider your source: if you get HD only then a 4K set doesn't make a lot of sense (it'll upconvert but that's not the same). If you're going to get 4K Netflix and later 4K Blu-ray then get a 4K set. As most movies have been filmed in 4K or better then there's a lot of potential content out there but whether the industry makes 4K Blu-rays widely available (and what they will charge) is still unclear. Oh, and 8K is around the corner...

Good luck.

I have 4 Samsungs - 60, 50, 42, 36.  1-5 years old (60 oldest), all have been flawless, knock on plastic.  Marginal convenience having all the same manufacturer, menus etc.  Last couple I got the smart feature because it amounted to maybe 10% of the cost, less with the more expensive ones.

Thought I could get a steal on a lower end 70" Sony, but beware (and this applies to all TV's)  The larger the screen, the potential for more picture issues.  What is essentially a good picture on a 50" screeen may look like shit on a 70" screen.  Samsung has just as many issues as Sony when is comes to their screens over 65".   So what I discovered is that when you go bigger than 65" then you should also buy the high end model.  For me it was a 70" XBR series ... yes it has 4K.  Nearly every high end model will.  Do I notice it .... yeah its stunning - if I'm watching 4K views of oceans, flowers and birds (zzzzzzzzzzz ... )  -  uh NO THANKS.

It does fill the room nicely !!!   Go Blue!