So my family want me to buy them a big screen hdtv but I dont

Do they watch sports, play video games, or watch TV/movies?
Where is it going to be mounted?

>>50524
Living room, mainly tv and movies.

>>50525
a 42" 1080p is what i have
60hz is plenty

>>50528
ill just get something with that then, thanks

>>50528
What this guy said. You really don't need, or even want, 120hz except for games or sports.
And 42" is a good size, but bigger is generally better if the area can handle it. Of course, you might run into trouble is your living room is tiny and you get some monster 72" TV, but if you have the money to afford one of those I would guess your living room won't be that small.

Do I need any special speakers or are the built in speakers good enough? What of these sound bars I keep seeing?

>>50532
Again, depends on your setup/preferences.
Just get the TV and try it out with the factory speakers for a while. If you want/need better audio, you can always get it later.

Also, smart TVs are a scam. You'll easily pay over $150 more than the regular version, when you can get the same functionality from a $30 Chromecast, Amazon Stick, or Roku.

Picked out a Vizio 40" 1080p for $298 120hz and has Netlix/Youtube/etc

Havent pulled the trigger yet but so far I like this. Would like a 50" for less than $400 but cant find any decent ones.

Whats the deal with 4k? Do cable companies offer 4k channels? I imagine everything would look like ass unless you have 4k movies you download.

Good info so far. 120hz is really only good if it's a 3d tv, which is still mostly a BS feature. 120hz or even 120 emulation will make most movies feel like a crappy tv show (the "soap opera effect" that ruined the high framerate hobbit in theaters). You may have to turn off the 120 emulation if people complain about movies looking fake. 4k is mostly bs too, although the high end tvs with other good features are all starting to carry it too, so eventually it may be unavoidable. Smart tv is getting good these days, but still not worth much more $. For a livingroom tv, 42 is pretty good, 50 if they have the space, 60 is overkill for most people. Whether you want a soundbar or even a multi speaker system is mostly going to depend on how good the tv speakers are, the same as it's always been. There are plenty of good tvs that sound better than crappy soundbars

Alright, so 4k is by and large bullshit, marketed by companies that are running out of new features to sell that sound marketable. Unless you have your nose to the screen, the difference is going to be largely unnoticeable, although the filesize sure as hell will be. 4k requires a whole new kind of bluray player, new disks etc. Tv companies are very slow on the uptake here because it squeezes the hell out of existing transmission methods. Most channels are already maxed out at 1080i. And in order for cable or netflix to stream it at all, even at internet murdering sizes, the have to compress it so much you might as well be watching it in regular hd. And for all this trouble you also end up with Tvs having ridiculous input lag up to 8 seconds, which can be murder for vidya or watching a program on multiple tvs. For a large pc monitor 1440 is nice, otherwise just stick with 1080 and save yourself the trouble. The next high end feature you really want is OLED, but the price on that hasn't come down enough yet

>>50554

Here ya go. 60 inch tv, $387. Yer welcome.

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Element-ELEFW605-60-1080p-120Hz-LED-HDTV/38661778?u1=5db36d94cc8911e58789c2499575b7cd0INT&oid=289955.1&wmlspartner=lw9MynSeamY&sourceid=13464394561238573751&affillinktype=10&veh=aff

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309KB, 414x499px

A lot of good info. Thanks all you guys.

>>50575
I was about to say that was a good deal but those TVs are atrocious looking and seem cheaply made

File: image.jpg (23KB, 300x250px) Image search: [Google]

23KB, 300x250px

>>50571
>And for all this trouble you also end up with Tvs having ridiculous input lag up to 8 seconds
(3840*2160*8*60*10*3)/8=14,929,920,000

Buffering 8 seconds of 4k video requires 14.9GB of RAM.

TV manufacturers are putting in 14.9GB of RAM just to rustle your jimmies.