We’re due for a new tv and with a pandemic winter approaching, we want to buy soon.
Right now we’re using a 45" (ish) tv w/ an Amazon fire stick.
My plan is to get a 4k Apple TV, 2 Home Pod minis (for stereo sound) and a 65" or so 4k tv. The tv is where I’m hung up. Does any one have any recommendations? Also do I need anything else audio-wise? I hear about soundbars a lot. I’m going for the Apple stuff b/c it sounds like it’ll all work together well and I have $400 in Apple Gift cards burning a hole in my (digital) pocket. Plus, we’re a mostly Apple house.
If you’re going to go for a 65" large format / 4k def monitor then don’t shortchange the sound. You’ll regret relying solely on Home Pods of any kind when you’re watching that big beautiful picture. Home Pods which do not fully substitute for a good 5.1 sound bar and subwoofer setup.
If you’re going to use HomePods for your TV audio setup, at least get big ones rather than the minis. They can do some computational audio stuff to try to simulate a wider soundstage. Though as @anon41602260 said, a real 5.1 system is going to sound even better. The other thing to keep in mind is that the HomePod setup is only going to work when you’re using the AppleTV. If you use the TV for anything else (a game console or cable box, for instance) you won’t be able to route audio through the HomePods.
I agree with the above posts, if you want great sound and don’t want to plan on fiddling with Bluetooth/Airplay syncing issues, go with a 5.1 set up. It’s an investment that will last you years to come and will be very reliable.
I am so glad I asked. I haven’t bought any of these things yet and sounds like I should not rely on HomePods for this as I would want it to work just with the regular tv.
So glad I asked. After recently setting up a new turntable and working out that speaker set-up I’ve realized I’ve know nearly zero about audio.
I’ve been replacing all my TVs with LGs with HomeKit support. There are some really good deals out there for quality LG TVs. If you have a Costco membership that would be your best bet. $529 for a 65 in with Airplay 2 and HomeKit support, which allows you to use your HomePod/Siri to turn it on and off.
How did you set yours up? I’m still using a 12 year old Yamaha receiver for my turntable but want to upgrade to a receiver with Airplay 2 at a minimum.
Dave Hamilton over on Mac Geek Gab has had good things to say about the LG CX-series OLED TVs. They come with Airplay2 and the Apple TV app (among others) built-in.
I have looked at the display model at a local Costco and am impressed with the image enough that it might be what replaces my current 4k SDR LCD set for an upgrade to support Dolby Vision and Atmos when paired with a Sonos Arc + Surrounds + Sub.
I have an LG and it’s great. I can’t offer much in the way of help other than from what I have read try to get hdmi 2.1 so it offers 120hz support for the future. It’s aimed at new consoles primarily but worth it as over time I expect will become standard. I went for the LG Nanocell with it so you don’t need to go oled if you don’t want to.
I also always buy a same brand sound bar when I get a TV, if I don’t have one already. You can set them up easily and if you are using an LG TV and Soundbar all you need is an audio optical cable and you’ll be able to control the volume of the sound bar and TV simultaneously, even if you are using an AppleTV and Apple Remote.
We just bought an LG 55" OLED TV. It has the Apple TV app built-in. We also use an Apple TV 4K with it, and use a pair of HomePods as the speakers with the Apple TV 4K. Haven’t bothered to setup the TV to connect to the HomePods, as the stock audio is fine for things we watch with the TV. When watching movies, we use the Apple TV 4K so that the HomePods are used, and it sounds good to me. You don’t hear things behind you, of course, but really 5.1 surround isn’t worth the setup pain to me. I’ve been down that road before.
As far as the TV, have a look at an OLED if they are in your price range. The picture is phenomenal. I’m glad we went with the smaller 55" OLED rather than a larger 65" LCD.
We have had receivers and the same set of 5.1 speakers since before soundbars existed (as far as I know), but we have to upgrade the receiver every time the TV resolution increases. So we just did another upgrade from everything 1080p to everything 4k - Sony TV, Denon receiver, Apple TV 4k. The new receiver was really easy to set up with our 5.1 speakers, and is also an airplay device so now we can airplay directly to it as well as to the Apple TV and to the TV itself.
Needed a new TV and went with the LG OLED. Best picture I’ve ever seen on a TV. It also has excellent off-axis capability. I can still see a good picture standing almost beside it. I was really scared mounting it to the wall as the screen is only ¼” thick. Lifting it up I thought I might break it in two.
A sound bar is really needed if you care about sound quality. For some spaces a full surround system isn’t needed, such as an office space, but makes a huge difference when watching movies. I’m also big on hiding wires. Took some work as there was no power or signal above the mantle.
For whatever it’s worth, I’ve been really happy with a 5.0 surround setup created with a Sonos Beam and a pair of Play:1’s. It was really easy to set up.
No subwoofer for me. I don’t need it, since the setup I have sounds great. Besides, the Sonos Sub is expensive, and I live in an apartment — the neighbors might not appreciate it.
