Go with the LG. They make the panels themselfes which means better optimisation, even at these low price points.

I have an LG one, and although I know pretty much nothing about brands and tvs, all I can say is I had it for quite a while, works still extremely well, and don't have any criticism I can give about it myself.

Insignia and Element sound like supermarket brand ones that are probably best avoided.
Generally speaking LG and Samsung are good go-to LCD displays, and I think maybe Toshiba too but I'm not sure.

Simply knowing the brand of the TV, with a size and price isn't much to go on though, things like model numbers are what you should be really checking for as then you can actually look up reviews online.
It might be some of these TVs have really bad latency or black level/contact, or whatever.

It's kinda difficult to shop for a TV with good contrast too.
https://www.cnet.com/news/what-is-contrast-ratio/
https://www.cnet.com/news/contrast-.....r-lies-to-you/

Decided to comment here since the other journal our comment string is getting smooshed.

What things should I look for in TVs?

LED or LCD?
What is a "good" brightness ratio?
What is a good refresh rate?
Is there a MAJOR difference between 720p and 1080p? Keep in mind my standards may be different than yours and others. Some people actually require 4k. >_>
Like said before if I could get a TV with an RF port that would be a plus too.

LED is generally better, it means the backlighting is improved. It's pretty standard these days, anything else would be so much cheaper that it's likely the image quality isn't all that good.
It's difficult to say what a "good" contrast ratio actually is since there's no good way to really determine it. A manufacturer can claim something but it might not hold up.
You will want 60hz refresh rate bare minimum, that's what modern games systems run at. If you get something like 120hz or 144hz you won't be able to take advantage of it unless you hooked up a PC with high-end graphics anyway.

Yes there is a noticeable difference between 720p and 1080p, though it varies by display size. The main thing is PPI, pixels per inch, which is calculated from the resolution against the screen size. Higher DPI means a sharper image as the individual pixels are less recognisable.
E.g. A 1280x720 32 inch screen has 45.89 PPI, and a 1920x1080p 27 inch screen (like mine) has 68.84 PPI, which I consider ideal.
But a 1920x1080 60 inch screen would only have 36.72 PPI which is really low, which is why people actually want 4k for their especially large TVs.
Because 3840x2160 60 inch screens have 73.43 PPI, which is nice for a screen that large.
It also depends how far you sit from the display mind you. I sit just an arm's length away from my monitor so the screen size and PPI is good.

Alrighty, I will take all that into account.

I actually measured, from where it would be and where I would sit it's about 5 feet away.
What I am concerned about is that this particular TV:
https://www.lg.com/us/tvs/lg-22LJ4540-led-tv
I cannot find composite ports, the yellow/white AV ports, and that is concerning to me. That was something I didn't like when I was looking at the LG TV's in stores.

That's part of the reason why I'm almost willing to take an image quality hit with a 720p TV since the box specifically shows not only the composite ports but the RF port that I have mentioned many times. Since my cable box is currently using RF/coaxial cables the need for an RF port would be nice so I wouldn't have to buy AV cables, which the LG TV doesn't list. =P

That's a pretty normal viewing distance I think. Maybe you'll want a little bit larger than 22inch then?
I didn't notice that when looking at that particular LGTV, the lack of ports is definitely a problem since you'd hook up so many retro systems to it.
I guess that rules that one out then.

If you keep looking you might be able to find that sweetspot TV that features all the ports you need at the price you want, and is 720p or even better 1080p if you can find that too.

Looking at the size of 22inch it looks like it'll be like my current TV, same height just wider. As said in my other journal I was looking at other larger sizes after all.
Yeah, no matter what I WILL need AV ports on this new TV, that is EXTREMELY important. Even without RF ports I will need AV ports.

I have found many 720p TVs with all that I need though. =P That includes RF ports, AV ports and a good price and size.

I guess 22 inch might look too small to me, but otherwise if that's what you're used to it'd be fine.
But yeah I would absolutely need AV ports on any new TV I bought too. I'd also need DVI input, two or three HDMI, composite, component, I need a lot.

So maybe I'm just being too picky about this. :P

Well I was looking at another one, this one I saw at Best Buy:
https://www.bestbuy.com/site/toshib.....?skuId=6172626
I don't know what the difference between composite and component is. But it has COMPOSITE and NOT COMPONENT.

Yes, I really don't need a ton. =P

You know how composite has three cables, red, white, and yellow? Component has five cables, using the same white and red as composite, but also another red, green, and blue.
It offers a better video quality than composite, and you can get component video cables for the Wii. You don't particularly need it though.

As long as you can hook up your existing stuff, and also your Switch. :P
I'm still concerned that your older systems/cables might look bad on an HDTV though, it might magnify the artefacts.

Okay, so composite is the red/white/yellow cables, that's what I needed to know. =3

The specs say is has an RF port, a composite port and 2 HDMI ports. So since I will only have one console hooked up at a time, not counting the Switch, it may work out.
Well let me deal with that, if the game is still playable I can deal with some artifacting. For all you know it may be acceptable to me.

Yeah, very commonly used for older systems, even on Wii U I think. :3
That's a thought, you could hook up the Wii U via HDMI on a new TV too.

There's no way I'd really know without seeing the TV myself, after all, but maybe this is just right for you.

And play the two games I actually like on the Wii U. XD

You know something neither of us thought of, if I get this TV and the RF port does produce terrible image quality, I can just get come new cables. =P

Super Mario 3D World, and maaaaybe Smash Bros? :P

I did mention that actually, that you could just get better cables for the cable box and the N64. :P

3D World is just good and I wasn't a fan of Smash 4. I have Guacamelee on the Wii U, and that is GREAT!~

You may have but there have been so many comments. o3o What I was meaning is that if the coaxial cables do not work with that TV I can THEN get new cables. But if they work then that will be fine as is.

I seem you recall you were more favorable of 3D World, particularly with Champion's Road. Guacamelee I look forward to playing sometime, but it's also a game that's not Wii U exclusive by any means.

Ah, fair enough, yeah if the cables don't work, you outright need new cables.

The last time I had played 3D World it was good but it wasn't as great as the first time. Champion's Road is still amazing however.
I know, I hope it comes to the Switch as I would buy it again.

Which is easy enough. =3

One of those games you might really enjoy the first time, but under scrutiny a second time around is merely good.
Hopefully yeah, Guacamelee I can see getting a Switch release, a lot of notable indie games get their Switch ports like Runbow, Axiom Verge, Shovel Knight, Stardew Valley, Hollow Knight. :3

Out of curiosity, was Hollow Knight a big factor in wanting a proper HDTV for the Switch?

Exactly.
Yep, I'd love a Switch port of Guacamelee.

Not entirely. It's the Switch as a whole as it IS a little annoying to ONLY be able to play on the small screen.

And so I did buy that Toshiba TV. For future reference coaxial and RF are indeed the same thing, my cable box hooked up to the TV no problem. =3
My Switch also works perfectly fine, I played for a few minutes on Mario Odyssey and things seemed fine to me.
I haven't tested the AV cabled consoles or the N64 yet, but the MAJOR things work like a charm. =3

Cool, sounds like you got the TV you needed in the end. :3

Oh yeah, now that you're using your Switch on a TV, go into the Switch video settings. Check the RGB range settings, you might be able to improve the colors.
Does the full image also fit on screen? Sometimes HDTVs have an aspect ratio setting that cuts off the edge of the screen for some reason.

Yep, and playing a few hours of Hollow Knight the response time is all on point the same it is in tabletop mode. =3
The big thing was still having my cable box hooked up, and it worked well too. =3

Okay, I will see about that the next time I play the Switch.
Not really sure. I mean, my previous CRT TV DEFINITELY cut off some of the image, so if there isn't a way to change it it can't be worse than it was on my old TV. XD

Are you playing it wired or wirelessly? I've found the wireless to be pretty on-point.
Did you try using that Buffalo SNES controller to see if it works?

Usually just fiddling with the aspect ratio or input settings will fix the overscan, if you have any.
You might even have to change the input type from "TV" to "Game" or "PC" to get a pixel-perfect image quality.

Wirelessly since I don't have any other controllers.
No I haven't. Not sure what game would support it.

Well I will see if any of those setting can be changed. In any case what I am looking at has been okay with me.

I doubt the Buffalo controller would work but it wouldn't hurt to try.
Oh, but if you have the Gamecube controller adapter for Wii U, you can already use that for the Switch when docked.
https://youtu.be/kZeMEVRvYlU
Although it doesn't have a ZL equivalent button.

So how's the TV looking now?

I'll try that some time.
I do not have one of those Camecube controller adapters.
Since wired controllers aren't as expensive as wireless I may try and see if there are good wired controllers out there. I want an octagonal hole for the control stick.

I haven't done much with the settings. And looking at how the Switch's image size is it looks like nothing is cropped off by the TV.

There are some official Hori Gamecube controller shaped USB controllers coming in October, they might be a Japanese only import though.
http://www.nintendolife.com/news/20.....intendo_switch
Something to keep an eye on.
That said, the Switch Pro Controller does support a wired mode if that's what you're looking for specifically.

That's good then, no overscan issues.

Oh hey, that looks really nice actually. =O And $30 for it is nice too. Better than $60+ for the wireless ones.

Yep. =3 I switched it down to 99% and then back to 100% and it looked like nothing was cropped.

It looks like they'll be available at the end of October, before Smash Bro launches.
https://www.play-asia.com/search/CL.....INTENDO+SWITCH
Might be able to get them off Amazon closer to launch, via Amazon marketplace, or maybe Amazon JP since apparently they're pretty good for imports too.

That's cool, I like it when you get a pixel-perfect display on TVs.
Too many default to doing an overscan and post-processing that makes things worse for gaming.

i use an element and ir really good for gaming and such it has good refresh rate and all that fun stuff, good speaker qualily