Talk Morgan Forums Community The Malvern Arms Which Television.....................

Mum in law's 15 year old TV ceased to function a few months back and we went to the local electronics store to buy a new one. We looked at the various possibilities and I have to say that I prefered the Samsung (we have Samsung at home) but SIL's companion, supposedly a TV expert recommended LG. She decided on the LG to save a few €s. Mistake!!!

Naturally I was stuck with setting it up and trying to teach MIL to use the controller. I have to say that the interface of the LG is rubbish. Samsung is much more logical and far easier to use. In my opinion the picture of the Samsung was superior too.

In smaller TVs we have Telefunken mainly because the models we chose, for jnr. and the holiday house, have an inbuilt DVD player. I find the interface on those quite good too.

My recommendation for a TV of around 49" at the moment would definitely be Samsung. They have a good range of choices too.

Samsung 49" Smart TV

May as well go for whatever plummeted price 4k TV you feel comfortable with but if just a casual TV user and not a movie buff etc then don't get tied up with the 4k bit as there is next to no real 4k source material. If you really want to go that route you'll be chasing down a 4k uhd hdr set a bluray player that outputs in the same hdr, or an online source that you'll pay a subscription to sky/netflix/amazon etc, as for the sound side of things a soundbar is better than the TV sound but not a patch on a proper full thx or dolby atmos setup.

I would advise you to grab a few home AV magazines to get a handle on the jargon and lingo and let you have an idea about the size of the rabbit hole you could fall down if swayed by a sales person.

I myself am currently modernising my audio side of things, it can be a very expensive hobby and am considering one of the Oppo bluray decks over the commonly available Sony or Panasonic players to go with my latest Onkyo AVamp, as for the TV side of this gs I am considering a projector over the current TV.

As bilbo bagging said it can be a dangerous business stepping out of your door.

We recently changed the TV in the main room. My observations were as follows.

HD/UHD
Full HD is 1920x1080 and most content floating around today is in this as a maximum. UHD or 4K is literally 4x FullHD and 3840x2160 dots on the screen. There is a little stuff emerging for this format now (SkyQ, Netflix over broadband etc) but not a lot. Most of the 4K TV's will upscale FullHD free to view stuff perfectly.

I would buy 4K because the price of these has already gone flat and it is not worth buying into an older tech (FullHD) at this point. If it had a premium then I would say think twice but there is no longer a premium.

HDR?
HDR is an addition to 4K and is Full dynamic range. In essence this means the colours "pop" a bit more on the screen. You can generally see this in the brightness and colours so I would look for HDR. Most sets offer HDR now so anything that is not old/end of line should offer this.

LED/OLED
LED is the default and highly resistant to burn. OLED is a superior technology but unless you are really watching high grade (4K source) stuff then it is a ££ that I would need to consider carefully. I used to buy the premium stuff like the Plasmas but you need to work hard to justify it for general viewing. From your description I am guessing you will be pushed to see this. The OLED picture is smoother and more natural on the eye but it even the simple LED seems pretty impressive these days. I would recommend a side by side viewing just for safety.

SmartTV
This is worth going for if you have a decent broadband connection. The TV links to your Internet over WiFi or a simple Ethernet UTP cable. SmartTV leverages the Internet and you can get some great stuff free from Netflix, Youtube, All4, BBC iPlayer etc. You can pay for Internet access to Netflix and more are coming. If you Internet is below 2-3Mb then you will get medium grade content but not 4K. If you are using Wifi to link the TV to the Router check the signal quality if they are in different rooms/thick walls.

Storing programs.
Some of the TV's have USB sockets that you can plug in a 64Gb memory stick into and it can be used to save programs. This can be used to pause live TV in some cases. Check this works as I have had some poor sales engagements who said yes and it did not work. This can save you having one of the external digital storage boxes (Humax etc) if you only do it a little. In you do it a lot then you can add a Humax digital video recorder later for more capacity and channels. In Samsungs range there are four levels of 49" TV and as you go higher up the features get more extensive (possibly less needed) like this.

Sources. Oh where to start, yikes.
Assuming you are not going to go with Sky or Virgin.

Digital TV has a good few channels and just needs the TV licence and a good aerial, if you only had basic TV before you may see value in a new aerial. If you have a satellite dish on the house this can feed FreeviewHD (not sky) which can bring more channels.

SmartTV can bring all the Internet based channels and some more apps based stuff (Youtube)
TVPlus is a new one I would be looking to include in the new purchase. This is a forwards and backwards recording technology so you can perform "catchup" as well. https://www.whathifi.com/news/samsungs-tv-plus-4k-hdr-service-expanding-across-europe

Samsung and LG make most of the panels for companies these days. There are a lot of own brand or abused brand (people using an old brand to get leverage, Blaupunkt for example) and covering up cheap Chinese products. I would avoid these as the saving is not stunning.

The sound of most modern TV's is acceptable unless you play a lot of big soundtracked films and musical stuff. You will not get any real bass but for voice and general stuff it is okay. Adding a sound bar can be done later if needed.

You don't have to pay a lot to get

49" LED for general use
UHD/4K resolution
HDR as it is effectively free on new units
TVPlus and DTV
SmartTV if your broadband is good, All4 have lots of free content etc.

Samsung is the big name and solid in general. LG and Sony seem to be sitting in second place at the moment.

Richer Sounds
AO.com
eBuyer
Google Shopping link compares them all but at some point it is not worth saving a fiver compared to getting someone local who can answer a few questions.

A couple of random ones ?
https://ao.com/product/49uj630v-lg-tv-black-47366-108.aspx
https://www.richersounds.com/toshiba-49u6763.html
https://www.richersounds.com/lg-49uj630v.html
https://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/tv-and-hom...161612-pdt.html

The pricing is highly dynamic. Choose the TV you want and search in google to find out if someone has a special short term price (search for the exact model number and click the shopping link at the top) People like richer sounds also offer a price guarantee which I have seen work. Samsung are offering cashback on many TV's but you have to do all the mailing stuff to get this.

£350-400 should see you in a new model.
£?? Aerial improvement ?
£20 for a USB stick if you want to use this to store programs/pause.

Any help ?

Thanks for all this Alistair and the rest. Its all food for thought. I won't be rushing at it but will let you know how it pans out. Permission to go 49inch is a huge step forward!

I've just realised an advantage of living in an ancient old cottage. The small rooms mean that you can't get far enough away from a telly to make having a big one feasible. Small tellys are cheap!

Buy a brand name, buy one with style that pleases you. Buy one within your budget, the technology is constantly changing, so you will never have the latest. Don’t buy extended warranties.
90 % of all programs are Reality Tv, which bare no resemblance to reality. Enjoy.

To be honest we’re watching the TV less amd less and watching programmes more on our iPads. We’ll watch a film on the TV and get the benefit of the surround sound but to my mid a 9” iPad 10” away from your eyes is like watching a 65” TV stuck on the wall on the other side of the room and no fighting on which programmes to watch!

Two comments. First is that times and sources are changing. The feed to your TV in future is more likely to come from the www than the aerial or satellite so get a TV with good internet capabilities. Second is, as I have found out, modern surface mount electronics is effectively unrepairable so the life of the TV will be until it first breaks down. So dont go for the most expensive / upmarket one. Go Ford not Bentley

Alistair
Something I forgot to mention. With our Samsung TV you can use a memory stick and it is great for films or MP3 music you have downloaded on the computer and will work, if the stick is fast enough, for time shift or recording a program, but it is a bit borderline for recording. Time shift is very interesting, for those who have not tried it you can pause a program while you take a phone call or somesuch. I have added a USB hard disk to one of the USB ports and I use that to record programs and for timeshift. It works perfectly.

I must say that the next TV we will buy will be dramatically downsized. I will never spend more than 600€ on a TV.
The last one was purchased four years ago, an at that time 1.900€ Samsung with all the bells and whistles. Since two years, exactly when the warranty was over it shows a nasty stripe vertically at the left of the screen. Recently I read that the lifespan of modern flat screens is as short as it was never before.

I‘m a sound aficionado and happily my wife is also. I have spent the money in tube gear, a nice turntable and so on. The screens may become better over the years of development but I must not be the avantgarde buyer. Regarding the next purchase of a TV I will be happy with that what was expensive three years ago.

The 1.900€ investet in the Samsung TV 4 years ago means the value is gone. The money invested in my Oracle Delphi turntable or the Mcintosh tube gear means an invest which is value keeping.