[My list of the 2016 Black Friday TV specials will be coming soon. I will also be available by phone this year to answer any questions – free of charge.]

2015 Best Smart TV Deals and How To Pick The Right One

Looking at all the TV options can be confusing. If you have questions on which TV to pick, send me an email and I will help you narrow down your choices. I’m also available starting at 10am ET to talk to on the phone, free of charge, to answer your questions (917-523-4562).

[Updated: Nov. 24 – The two best TV deals so far are the Vizio 60″ 4K UHDTV: $799 (Model M60-C3) being sold by Dell. See here for the ad. Also the Samsung 60″ 4K UHDTV: $898 (Model UN60JU6400) with FREE soundbar, being sold by hh gregg. See here for the ad. Updated: Nov. 26 – these deals sold out in under a minute]

[Updated: Nov. 24 – For those asking the difference between Samsung’s UHD and SUHD sets, the S stands for “super”. It’s Samsung’s way of branding their sets that have a wider color gamut or spectrum. The SUHD models have a bigger range of colors also has a brighter backlight and produces deeper blacks. Although for many, not as dramatic as it sounds and might be hard to notice. Samsung has more details on SUHD here.]

[Updated: Nov. 23 – Stay away from any LG models under the UF7700 model number. Those under 7700 have a refresh rate of only 60Hz. Refresh rate does matter for 4K. Get one with 120Hz or 240Hz. Same with some of the Samsung models. For instance, the Samsung UN60JU6390FXZA is only 60Hz as well. Spend a bit more and get a Samsung or LG TV with higher refresh rate, and HDCP 2.2 support (see below)]

[Updated: Nov. 23 – If you are getting a 4K TV, make sure it supports HDCP 2.2 as they are more likely to be compatible with current and future 4K content. For those asking me the difference between Vizio’s E and M series TVs see this page for a break down.

If you have any questions on which TV to pick, or can’t decide, send me an email. I’ve already replied to dozens over 100 different people who have asked questions. And I’ll be online all day on Black Friday if you need more help.

If you’re in the market to upgrade your TV with 4K support or step up to a larger size, the black Friday deals taking place this year are too good to pass up. I’ve gone through all of the ads I have seen so far, and below is a list of all the TVs that will be on sale. LG has yet to announce their black friday specials and I’m especially interested to see what the discount will be on their OLED sets. (LG pricing is out on OLED TVs. Expensive. $3,000 for a 55″ set.) If you already have a nice TV set and can wait another year, I would as OLED sets will be even cheaper in 2016.

Note that many of these deals are “limited”, so we don’t know how much inventory will be available and some are only available in store, while others also offer them online. Those models I highlighted in red I personally use and recommend. These are all smart TVs listed. In addition to the sets listed below, Samsung also has discounts directly on their website.

• Samsung 40″ 1080p HDTV: $298 – Model Unknown (Reg. $378) (Walmart)
• Samsung 40″ 1080p HDTV: $697 – Model UN40J5200 (Reg. $999) (Target)
• Vizio 40″ 1080p TV: $60 off (Costco)
• Samsung 40″ 1080p HDTV: $320 – Model Unknown (Reg. $530) (Meijer)
• LG 43″ 4K UHDTV: $398 – Model 43UF6430 (Reg. $499) (hh greg)
• Sony 43″ 4K UHDTV: $698 – Model XBR43XB30C (Reg. $1,399) (hh greg)
• LG 49″ 4K UHDTV: $498 – Model 49UF6430 (Reg. $699) (hh greg)
• Sony 49″ 4K UHDTV: $798 – Model XBR49XB30C (Reg. $1,999) (hh greg)
• LG 49″ 4K UHDTV: $499 – Model Unknown (Reg. $999) (Target)
• Samsung 50″ 4K UHDTV: $799 – Model Unknown (Reg. $1,000) (BestBuy)
• Samsung 50″ 1080p TV: $499 – Model UN50J520D (Reg. $799) (BJ’s)
• Samsung 55″ 1080p HDTV: $580 – Model Unknown (Reg. $1,200) (Meijer)
• Hisense 55″ 4K UHDTV: $448 – Model Unknown (Reg. $700) (Walmart)
• LG 55″ 4K UHDTV: $699 – Model 55UF6430 (Reg. $899) (Dell)
• Samsung 55″ 4K UHDTV: $799 – Model UN55JU640D (Reg. $1,200) (BJ’s)
• Samsung 55″ 4K UHDTV: $979 – Model UN55JS700D (Reg. $1,500) (BJ’s)
• Samsung 55″ 4K UHDTV: $797 – Model UN55JU6400FXZA (Reg. $1,199) (Target)
• Samsung 55″ Curved 4K UHDTV: $1,298 – Model UN557500 (Reg. $1,999) (hh greg)
• Panasonic 55″ 4K UHDTV: $1,499 – Model Unknown (Reg. $3,499) (panasonic.com)
• Samsung 55″ 4K UHDTV: $1,000 – Model Unknown (Reg. $1,200) (Sears)
• Vizio 55″ 4K UHDTV: $689 – Model D55-C2 (Reg. $999) (BJ’s)
• Samsung 55″ 4K 3D UHDTV: $1,200 – Model Unknown (Reg. $3,999) (eBay)
• Samsung 55″ Curved 4K 3D UHDTV: $1,998 – Model UN55JS9000 (Reg. $3,999) (hh greg)
• Panasonic 60″ 4K UHDTV: $1,099 – Model Unknown (Reg. $1,899) (panasonic.com)
• Samsung 60″ 4K UHDTV: $799 – Model UN60JU6390FXZA (Reg. $1,299) (BestBuy)
• Samsung 60″ 1080p HDTV: $697 – Model UNG6J5200 (Reg. $999) (Target)
• Vizio 60″ 1080p TV: $729 – Model E60-C3 (Reg. $799) (BJ’s)
• Samsung 60″ 4K UHDTV: $1,399 – Model UN60JS8000FXZA (Reg. $1999) (BestBuy)
• Samsung 60″ 4K UHDTV: $899 – Model UN60JU6400 (Reg. $1699) (hh greg)
  
• Vizio 60″ 4K UHDTV: $799 – Model M60-C3 (Reg. $1099) (Dell)
• Samsung 65″ Curved 4K UHDTV: $1,478 – Model UN65JU6700 (Reg. $1,600) (Sam’s Club)
• Panasonic 65″ 4K UHDTV: $2,499 – Model 65CX85OU (Reg. $4,499) (panasonic.com)
• Samsung 65″ 4K UHDTV: $1,298 – Model UN65JU6400 (Reg. $2,099) (hh greg)
• Panasonic 65″ 4K UHDTV: $1,399 – Model Unknown (Reg. $2,199) (panasonic.com)
• Samsung 65″ Curved 4K UHDTV: $2,998 – Model UN65JS9000 (Reg. $4,999) (hh greg)
• Sony 65″ 4K UHDTV: $1,498 – Model XBR65X810C (Reg. $2,299) (hh greg)
• Vizio 65″ 4K UHDTV: $998 – Model  D65U-D2 (Reg. $1298) (Sam’s Club)
• LG 65″ 4K UHDTV: $998 – Model 65LF6450 (Reg. $1,299) (hh greg)
• Vizio 65″ 1080p TV: $879 – Model  E65-C3 (Reg. $999) (BJ’s)
• Samsung 65″ 4K UHDTV: $1,800 (Reg. $3,999) (eBay)
• Samsung 65″ 4K 3D UHDTV: $1,979 – Model UN65JS850DFXZA (Reg. $3,279) (Costco.com)
• Vizio 70″ 1080p TV: $898 (Reg. $1,198) (Walmart)
• Samsung 75″ 1080p TV: $1998 – Model UN75J6300 (Reg. $3,299) (hh greg)
• Samsung 75″ 4K UHDTV: $2,398 (Reg. $3,298) (Sam’s Club)
• Sony 75″ 4K UHDTV: $2,998 – Model XBR75X850C (Reg. $5,999) (hh greg)
• Panasonic 85″ 4K UHDTV: $8,499 – Model 85AX850U (Reg. $16,999) (panasonic.com)

Corey Smith, Senior Service Engineering Manager from the Xbox Live team kicked off the Streaming Media West show today with a keynote that detailed their approach to linear and live broadcast streaming. Corey gave out a lot of detailed numbers and shared charts that discussed Xbox Live’s VOD and live video workflow, encoding profiles, transmission setup, client deployments and other tidbits. You can see some of those details below and we’ll share Corey’s entire slide deck as soon as we have it.

Some other highlights from Corey’s presentation included details about how the Xbox team starts working on live events 6-9 months out and that some of their events have done more than 2M simultaneous viewers. Corey also said that 4K is still “years out” and doesn’t warrant “going all in on 4k” yet. Was also interesting to hear that Xbox downloads have gone from 4GB in size to some Xbox One packaged downloads now being 95GB in size. Corey also says in the next year they will do away with Smooth Streaming and move all to MPEG-DASH for Xbox platform.

Xbox encodes their live stream up to 11Mbps. Doing a lot of MPEG-DASH. Repackaging to HSS, HLS as well. #smwest pic.twitter.com/uambi3Y9u8

— Dan Rayburn (@DanRayburn) November 17, 2015

Corey Smith from Xbox details live stream packaging and encoding profile optimizations for Xbox Live events #smwest pic.twitter.com/q5iPWmznX9 — Dan Rayburn (@DanRayburn) November 17, 2015

#Xbox shows interactive engagement numbers from one of their events. 50% of viewers clicked on ad overlay #smwest pic.twitter.com/d29ocF31KP

— Dan Rayburn (@DanRayburn) November 17, 2015

Xbox’s XLEi client is currently deployed on 4M Xbox One consoles and on 10M on Xbox 360 consoles. #smwest pic.twitter.com/aCltm3dUHa — Dan Rayburn (@DanRayburn) November 17, 2015

Xbox Live VOD platform workflow chart from Xbox keynote at #smwest show: pic.twitter.com/VufYtLRyPB

— Dan Rayburn (@DanRayburn) November 17, 2015

From 2014 to 2015 processing of VOD media for Xbox Live has increased 61%. Full slide deck available soon. #smwest pic.twitter.com/CrX5eNR9XG — Dan Rayburn (@DanRayburn) November 17, 2015

Slide showing all of Xbox Live partners in the video ecosystem. Watch the live stream here: https://t.co/KlZbZ9JDeo pic.twitter.com/CBLj16njID

— Dan Rayburn (@DanRayburn) November 17, 2015

This was the live transmission workflow for the launch of the Xbox One reveal event. #smwest pic.twitter.com/aXu9mewmLf — Dan Rayburn (@DanRayburn) November 17, 2015

For Xbox live events, Xbox likes no more than 400Mbps coming back to the origin. 99% offloaded to #CDN #smwest pic.twitter.com/FByd2UkcRp

— Dan Rayburn (@DanRayburn) November 17, 2015

At the Streaming Media West show, [taking place November 16-19 in Huntington Beach, CA] we have a session that will dive into architectures that are commonly used for distributing streams to all screens within an enterprise/EDU setting, plus discuss reaching remote and mobile workers. You’ll walk away with recommendations on achieving the best-possible quality and broadest audience reach, along with best practices and lessons learned. Join us for this information-packed session on building an internal streaming solution to fit your business needs. Confirmed speakers include:

• Moderator: Chris Knowlton, VP, Streaming Industry Evangelist, Wowza Media Systems
• Eric Hards, Manager, Visual Communications, Lockheed Martin Space Systems
• Kay Guerry, Information Technology, Webcast Facilitator, Raytheon
• Andy Howard, Founder, Managing Director, Howard & Associates
• Jonathan Schwartz, Digital Video Manager, USC Sol Price School of Public Policy

Register online using the code 15DR200 for a “Discovery Pass” and get free access to the keynotes, exhibit hall, discovery track sessions, and receptions at #smwest, or $200 off a full conference pass.

At the Streaming Media West show, [taking place November 16-19 in Huntington Beach, CA] you can attend a session entitled “Stream Stitching: Why the Buzz, Where it’s Working, and What Happens Next“. Stream Stitching and server side ad insertion is picking up steam as an approach that lets content owners beat ad blockers on the desktop and provide better ad delivery on the mobile web – among other benefits. However, the technology is still early in its adoption curve with a lot of innovation in the works to drive its deployment across more devices and use cases. In this session we’ll review the data to see where server side ad insertion and stitching have been helpful to publishers and broadcasters and explore how it is evolving to support analytics, interactivity, programmatic and other components of online video advertising. Confirmed speakers include:

• Moderator: Mike Green, VP, Marketing and Business Development, Brightcove
• Matt Smith, Chief Evangelist, Anvato
• Jarred Wilichinsky, VP, Ad Operations, CBSi
• Allen Dove, CTO, SpotX
• Sean Doherty, CEO, Wurl

Register online using the code 15DR200 for a “Discovery Pass” and get free access to the keynotes, exhibit hall, discovery track sessions, and receptions at #smwest, or $200 off a full conference pass.

At the Streaming Media West show, [taking place November 16-19 in Huntington Beach, CA] Matt White from CableLabs has organized a discussion around the Benefits Of Deploying Multicast-Assisted ABR Within An Operator Network. As operators transition to all-IP they are looking at opportunities to conserve access network bandwidth. Multicast-assisted ABR (M-ABR) is a low cost and easy to deploy solution that allows operators to see multicast gains on all in-home devices leveraging their TV Everywhere infrastructure. This panel will discuss how M-ABR can be deployed over any multicast-capable access network and effectively extends the operator’s CDN into the home by caching content on the gateway. Learn how multicast-assisted ABR allows operators to transition to all-IP, which enables it to be used in the short-term or as a long-term solution to bandwidth conservation on the access network. Confirmed speakers include:

• Moderator: Matt White, Principal Architect, IP Video Technologies, CableLabs
• David Grubb, CTO, Cloud Solutions, ARRIS
• Coby Young, Senior Director, Software Engineering, Comcast VIPER
• Raj Nair, VP, Technology, Ericsson
• Parissa Pandkhou, Director, Technology, Product Development, Verizon

Register online using the code 15DR200 for a “Discovery Pass” and get free access to the keynotes, exhibit hall, discovery track sessions, and receptions at #smwest, or $200 off a full conference pass.

At the Streaming Media West show, [taking place November 16-19 in Huntington Beach, CA] learn how to use OTT workflows to create live-to-VOD assets. Industry experts will share how they’ve been able to launch live-to-VOD services without a complete overhaul of infrastructure by applying software-defined video solutions to easily migrate from one type of scenario to another. Panelists describe how they use OTT workflows to create catch-up TV assets across existing broadband infrastructures. Among other tips, they share how they’ve employed JIT packaging for workflow simplification, cost reduction, and content production and how they’re combining embedded encryption and decryption with JIT DRM wrapping. Confirmed speakers include:

• Moderator: Aslam Khader, Chief Product Officer, Elemental Technologies
• Corey Smith, Senior Service Engineering Manager, Xbox Live
• Victor Borachuk, Owner, Director, Executive Producer, JupiterReturn
• David Adams, CFO, EverSport Media

Register online using the code 15DR200 for a “Discovery Pass” and get free access to the keynotes, exhibit hall, discovery track sessions, and receptions at #smwest, or $200 off a full conference pass.

At the Streaming Media West show, [taking place November 16-19 in Huntington Beach, CA] the OATC (Open Authentication Technology Committee) is hosting a session on “Friction Free TV Everywhere Authentication“. For TV Everywhere to reach adoption, the current authentication process needs be made as user friendly as possible, removing any obstacle standing between consumers and their content viewing experience,. In this strategic session, we look at the recommended best practices that the OATC (Open Authentication Technology Committee) has proposed to achieve such Friction Free authentication and discuss a set of guidelines that aims to create a seamless user experience in the first instance. Confirmed speakers include:

• Moderator: Vito Forlenza, Sr. Director, TV Everywhere Content & Product Strategy, Comcast Cable
• Horia Galatanu, Senior Product Manager, Adobe Systems
• Kimberly Hicks, Senior Director, User Platform Products, Viacom
• James Hutchins, Principal Product Manager Identity Management, Synacor
• Brian Brinkmann, Senior Technical Director, Platform Strategy and Architecture, Turner Broadcasting System

Register online using the code 15DR200 for a “Discovery Pass” and get free access to the keynotes, exhibit hall, discovery track sessions, and receptions at #smwest, or $200 off a full conference pass.