Samsung Q900R 55” 8K UltraHD Smart TVThis is the BEST TV I’ve bought in a while, I’m so glad I finally got the new Samsung Flagship, Samsung has yet to let me down which I can’t say for the other manufactures. As an important side note Samsung’s 2020 sets will be out in the next month so I almost waited to get the QT800 8K’s but they are not coming out in the 55” version so if you are looking at getting a 65” or larger you might want to pre-order that model as there will be some improvements and the price difference in minimal. This TV has tons of APP’s but you’ll have to dig to get them added to your Home menu bar. If you’re looking to cord cut this TV has enough apps to cover most of your needs and will integrate Fire Sticks, Roku’s, or whatever else you want to attach. Unlike my old Samsung 4K Flagship this TV has the same issues as the Sony and Visio has with streaming from my Plex in UHD but you do have plenty of downgrading selections between the audio and picture streams to get decent playback when streaming.The colors are fantastic with this set and the upscaling is superb, makes a big difference over the 4K TV’s especially with motion and high detail scenes. This TV outperforms all of my other high-end sets hands down at the same cost so this is a no brainer when looking for a high-end TV that isn’t going to suffer from Burn-in and highly lit areas. This set will perform better for gaming, movies, sports, and whatever you want to through at it, you can’t go wrong picking this set for your next purchase.Sony’s FlagshipI’m a big A/V guy and I have lots of gear, I’m also very demanding and critical of my gear. A couple of years ago I bought Sony’s Flagship the Z9F 65” which is not cheap. I’ve always been a huge Sony fan when it comes to TV’s starting when the old picture tube (CRT TV’s) started the Bravia series. The Z9 was a total let down for me, the colors were vivd/rich and the darks were pretty good but the motion is horrible. Streaming is also poor as UHD movies would have lots of issues when streaming a source over 50Mbps and downgrading the stream rate doesn’t always work well either. Another thing I don’t like and it’s a common complaint with Sony is its proprietary approach to device compatibility, namely sound bars and surround sound systems in my case. Sony ONLY works well with SONY devices, I’m sorry but that is a deal breaker for me as I have high-end gear (THAT IS NOT SONY) which I need to connect to.Visio’s FlagshipI have the Visio PX65, Visio’s Flagship and like the Sony it doesn’t stream well but is excellent for motion and has a very nice app GUI. What it fails in horribly is its gamut of colors. The colors are all off and have a phony presentation which is too bad because this set could be a serious contender at less than half the price of the other two.UNPACKINGBuying a new TV today has gotten better as to its packaging, no matter if you buy a Visio, Sony, or Samsung they are all boxed in the same fashion. You cut the banding around the box lift up on the box top and the TV will be exposed in its base. The remote and power cord (accessories) will be packed in the top foam of the box. The TV itself should be in a bag with two handle cutouts to lift it out of its base foam, it’s important not to pinch the screen with force as it may damage the TV so the bag with handles prevents this possible damage. The front of the TV should be protected with cardboard and/or foam which I leave on until I get it mounted or in place on its stand in order to protect the screen during install.POWER-ONMake sure you have all devices plugged in to your TV and powered on as most new Smart TV’s will recognize and automatically setup those devices to the TV. Expect to spend at least 20 minutes when setting the TV up after powering it up as there are many things you need to configure plus the TV will want to do update(s) on initial setup. Most TV’s today come with a Calibrated Picture setting I would suggest trying that over Vivid, Standard, Movie, Sports, and other modes first, you can always change Picture mode later as required or Calibrate the TV to your needs. It’s great that the manufactures now provide this mode so that you don’t have to go through the hassle and expense of calibrating your set, and now most calibrated settings are spot on, but not always.