Sorry, I can't advise you at all, but I want to chip in and say that it's ridiculous how complicated it can be nowadays, looking for a suitable television. It's especially hard for people who use older games consoles, as many LCD or later TVs either can't display the (low) resolutions used by consoles prior to the Playstation 2, or if the TV can display the console output, then often the picture looks bad in one way or another.

Manufacturers don't list things such as what older game hardware the TV can work with, and though they might list the resolutions the TV can (commonly) use, for some reason a games console might not work even if the TV can otherwise display the console's resolutions.

Nowadays, TVs have lots of features, including many that most people probably won't ever use, but little attention is paid to the small but still significant minority who want a TV that supports the SNES, NES, Megadrive, N64, Playstation, etc.

As a Nintendo 64 fanatic, the next time I buy a PC, I'm going to have to take the N64 into the shop, and try it on the TV(s) I;m looking at.

Maybe check out Sceptre. The first LCD monitor I ever bought was made by Sceptre. Lasted me a few years and I was really, really sad when it died because it was pretty much the best LCD available when I bought it.

$219.99 for a 1080p 50" dumb TV
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Sceptre-50-Class-F … V-FSR/631796609

$249.99 for a 2160p 50" dumb TV
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Sceptre-50-Class-4 … 15CV-U/44829924

$259.99 for a 2160p 55" dumb TV
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Sceptre-55-Class-4 … 50CV-U/46784939

@Kerr Avon -- I have a CRT TV dedicated to standard def consoles. I would never try and buy a new TV with 'features' or compatibility with older consoles -- if anything I would look into getting one of those framemeister or comparables... but for now I'll just keep using my Trinitron.

@Cyclone3d

Thanks for the suggestions -- the size, price and 'stupidity' of that 1080p is perfect, but I'm not familiar with the brand. Is it a lot to expect for a TV to last more than just a few years?

I have not yet had a problem simply not using "smart" features, but I would think composite input would be the harder thing to find on an affordable TV.

I think price also has a lot to do with survivability, things are definitely "built to a price" these days, and competition is hot and heavy.

That being said it still seems that 90% of the failures are capacitors in the power supply, which are relatively easy to fix. Two or three free craigslist TVs and a bag of caps should net you a working one. 😀

infiniteclouds wrote:

@Kerr Avon -- I have a CRT TV dedicated to standard def consoles. I would never try and buy a new TV with 'features' or compatibility with older consoles -- if anything I would look into getting one of those framemeister or comparables... but for now I'll just keep using my Trinitron.

@Cyclone3d

Thanks for the suggestions -- the size, price and 'stupidity' of that 1080p is perfect, but I'm not familiar with the brand. Is it a lot to expect for a TV to last more than just a few years?

My current TV is a Westinghouse 40" 1080p 120Hz dumb TV that was a Black Friday $200 special that I picked up about 4 years ago. Has never given me a single issue.

In any case, you should be able to get 5+ years out of an LCD TV depending on use. The brand doesn't matter so much as even the "higher end" brands have their duds as far as reliability goes.

The Sceptre TVs look like they get mostly really good reviews. One of them mentioned that they had had some for several years and they all still worked fine.

It really is more about the image quality which is what I really liked about the Sceptre LCD monitor I had. Pretty sure that monitor I had died around the 5 or 6 year mark. But I got it back when LCDs were a new-ish thing.