Help a guy out? Renovating home theater system after 10 years and have a few questions.

gdhal,

    Technically, I believe you're correct that Samsung's QLED is the most recent technology.  IMO, however, OLED is the much more impressive technology.  The  latest 65" LG and 65" Sony (which uses an LG panel) 4K  with active HDR models clearly offer the superior picture quality.  
     Don't get me wrong,  I think your Samsung 65" QLED offers probably the best picture quality of any 4K  LED/LCD FALD hdtv on the market and Samsung's new QLED  technology could be the reason why.  But OLED panels, especially with the 4K and HDR improvements, are definitely superior.  Just view both and compare off axis picture qualities; the OLEDs pq will remain consistently unaltered as off axis viewing angle is increased while the QLED's pq will fade in brightness and resolution as off axis viewing angle is increased. 
      OLED also offers superior color, resolution and black levels since each of the multi-million pixels on a 65" OLED panel are controlled individually and emit their own light intensity and color while also being capable of being completely turned off for ideal black levels.  Samsung's QLED uses backlighting which is less precise although the FALD technology likely helps.

     For years, Value Electronics has been conducting an annual hdtv shootout in Scarsdale, NY which consists of a panel of professional video reviewers and calibrators comparing the top hdtvs and then voting on which is best.
     The OP's  60" Pioneer plasma, if it's a Pioneer Elite Kuro model, was considered by these experts to be the finest hdtv for years in the early years of this competition.
     In 2013, the 65" Panasonic VT60 plasma (with the hiring of many former Kuro engineers and in Panasonic's final year of plasma production) became the first hdtv to top the Kuros in the shootout..  This is my current tv that I've owned for the last 4 yrs.
     LG OLED hdtvs have won the top award at this competition each of the last 4 years (2014-2017).
    The only hdtvs I've seen in person that I would consider replacing my Panasonic plasma with are the LG and Sony OLEDs.
     gdhal, my intention is not to offend you but to give the OP the most complete and accurate information as possible so he can make an informed decision. Him believing that Samsung QLED technology  provides in-home pq that is similar or even within the same class as the pq that OLED  technology provides is just not accurate.
 
 Tim

As for a good cutoff point in past models, it really depends what you want the new receiver to be able to do. Your planned new TV is 4K & has HDR so you definitely want something with 4K upscaling/passthru & HDR capabilities.

You mentioned your boys love sounds flying overhead, but do you have or intend to add atmos speakers (in-ceiling or upfiring)? That will definitely improve those effects, but isn’t an option for everyone due to room and other limitations. If you want to add atmos, even if in the next few years, then you should get a receiver that is capable of it. If additional atmos speakers aren’t ever going to be added then don’t worry about having the ability to process atmos formats.

Streaming capabilities, multi-room audio, and the dozens of other features may or may not appeal to you, but those type of features can easily be added while video and audio processing are the real bread & butter things where you get what the receiver has and have more trouble working around or adding if it’s missing. Aside from getting 4K, HDR, & atmos (if desired), get the most power output you can afford.

As for if the speakers make sense, if you don’t like the sound then they might not be for you. I haven’t heard your speakers, but bigger towers tend to have more oomph than wall-mountable...that said, your room or your significant other might require in/on-wall speakers and nothing you can do about that.

     I really wish the OP would give some feedback on budget and goals since I know of a method he can build his own system using separates that will outperform any available A/V receivers as long as Atmos is not required.

     It's similar to mahler123's suggestion but with a twist.

     vasubandu, you still out there?
Tim

Technically, I believe you’re correct that Samsung’s QLED is the most recent technology. IMO, however, OLED is the much more impressive technology. The latest 65" LG and 65" Sony (which uses an LG panel) 4K with active HDR models clearly offer the superior picture quality.

Don’t get me wrong, I think your Samsung 65" QLED offers probably the best picture quality of any 4K LED/LCD FALD hdtv on the market and Samsung’s new QLED technology could be the reason why. But OLED panels, especially with the 4K and HDR improvements, are definitely superior. Just view both and compare off axis picture qualities; the OLEDs pq will remain consistently unaltered as off axis viewing angle is increased while the QLED’s pq will fade in brightness and resolution as off axis viewing angle is increased.

OLED also offers superior color, resolution and black levels since each of the multi-million pixels on a 65" OLED panel are controlled individually and emit their own light intensity and color while also being capable of being completely turned off for ideal black levels. Samsung’s QLED uses backlighting which is less precise although the FALD technology likely helps.....

@noble100

I participate regularly in the AVS forum, have read tons of literature (before and after my purchase) and also have a rather pragmatic perspective here as well. Suffice it to say I’m well aware of the OLED pros/cons (and there are many), LCD/LED pros/cons (and there are many), and OLED vs LCD comparison pros/cons (and there are many).

That said I DISAGREE that OLED is clearly superior. I knew before hand about the off axis viewing angle and in my case this is a complete non-issue as I sit dead center (using both THX and SMPTE standards). Also, IMO the off axis viewing of LCD is better than it is typically purported to be.

By the way, OLED does NOT offer superior resolution. 4K is 4K. Also, OLED suffers (can and is more prone vs LCD) from burn-in and assumes all 8,294,400 pixels always work as intended, and they do not (necessarily).

Each technology has plus/minus.

OP can search on his/her own as there is an abundance of info available on each technology.

And I do agree with you that FALD definitely helps. It’s essentially technology if you wish to compare black level performance of OLED to an LCD. Without FALD, an LCD couldn’t perform as well.

gdhal,

     I really don't visit the AVS Forum too often (except to view their annual coverage of the hdtv shootout) so I'm not familiar with most of the discussions there.  But I have read numerous professional reviews on both OLED and QLED models, heard the comments from A/V store employees, friends and family members and many a/v store customers that are strangers to me who have all compared the Samsung QLED and LG/Sony OLED 4K HDR hdtvs in a store setting.  I've also watched the AVS coverage on approximately the last 8 Value Electronics yearly hdtv shootout videos on You Tube  and listened to the panelists (consisting of professional A/V reviewers and calibrators) discuss their rankings,test results and general comments. There's typically a Samsung hdtv in the competition; the initial shootouts had plasma contenders and more recent shootouts usually had a QLED model. 
     You've kind of caught me by surprise by your comments since, of all the feedback I've received from those listed in the paragraph above, you are literally the first person I've encountered that hasn't noticed a stark distinction between the pq of these 2 technologies and preferred the OLED sets.  The only pro comments I can recall hearing about the Samsung QLED hdtvs was that the off axis viewing angle wasn't as bad as expected and they cost less than the OLED hdtvs. These same individuals expressed many more pro comments about the OLED hdtvs, using various superlatives that  would generally translate as different forms of 'wow!".  The common cons I recall hearing were comments such as "it's too expensive" and "let's wait til the price comes down".
     My surprise stems from your response to this obvious contrast in pq between these hdtvs being so different from all these other individuals and my own reactions.  As if you're comparing a Lexus to a Chevy Malibu and claiming  the cars are so similar you're having a hard time deciding which car you like best and just ignoring the large quality and price differences. 
    Maintaining that the Samsung QLED and LG/Sony OLED 65" 4K HDR hdtvs are somewhat similar is plainly and simply a false equivalency.  You have the right to your own opinions but not to your own facts.       
     You may want to watch the 2016 and 17 Value Electronics HDTV shootouts  below to get a better understanding of the professionals viewpoints on these hdtvs and their underlying different technologies.that result in their pq differences.

     2016: www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLw0ypM4Zvo016: 
     2017: www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHdqjtuE03Y

      My main point to you in my recent posts is that you're misrepresenting the difference between QLED and OLED by minimizing the differences between them.  For example, these shootouts  entail about 100  A/V industry professionals rating each hdtv on a 1-10 point system (10 is best)in 9 important performance areas.  These scores are then averaged to determine the winner.  The LG OLED won this shootout for 2016 with the Samsung winning 2nd place.  However, the OLED outscored the QLED in each of the 9 categories, interestingly including the "High ambient light performance" category (performance in a bright room).  A Sony LED/LCD actually won this category with the OLED 2nd and the QLED 3rd.  
   Even given the above evidence that the LG/Sony OLEDs thoroughly outperform the Samsung QLED according to about 100 A/V experts, you continue to spread inaccurate information such as the difference is like splitting hairs and that the OLED hdtvs perform poorly in bright rooms.

     I have no vested interest or bias in which hdtv is proclaimed the best each year, other than staying current with the latest hdtv developments, since I don't own any of the shootout contenders in the past 2 yrs -I own a Panasonic 65" VT60 plasma that was an earlier winner of a shootout in 2013 or 2014.  You, OTOH, do have a vested interest and perhaps bias since you own one of the recent shootout contenders, the Samsung QLED.  I'll leave it up to the readers of this thread to determine if that's influencing your comments.
    As I stated previously, I believe your Samsung QLED is a very good hdtv that you seem very pleased with.  However, the OLED has been judged by A/V experts to perform better in at least 9 important areas.  Please don't pretend otherwise and continue to spread misinformation.

Thanks,
  Tim