New Smart TV

[Jupiter01]

Hi Guys,

I am looking to buy a new TV for our extension and I have settled on a 65inch screen size given the dynamics of the room. Almost all are 4k and Smart TV's - good and simple.

We then have some which are £700 and some which go all the way up to 4k (in money this time!).

If I go in store, I am shown this TV versus that TV and look at that shadow or that detail you can see...

I know this is a very broad topic but how do people decide and has someone purchased something similar recently? I currently have a 50 inch LG 50PK350 and have never felt that this is inadequate and I suspect that most TV's will be an improved specification on this.

I would be grateful for any advice you can provide.

 

[Lucid]

In very broad terms you have three tiers of product.

Entry-level gets you big size and some 'must-have' features enough that the average budget-concious buyer feels like they've ticked all the boxes.

Diving under the skin we see the first signs of the made-to-cost design. The panel refresh rate (native rate, not the interpolated value) will be 50Hz. The backlighting will be the basic strip-across-the-bottom and not dimmable. The video processing will struggle with some things such as deinterlacing which means it won't be that special with say ordinary Freeview HD and Sky HD which are both 1080i. Entry level will be populated by once-recognised brands that have sold their badge rights and by the no-name brands. Hitachi, JVC, Finlux, Toshiba will rub shoulders with Polaroid, Techika, Bush, Alba. Much of it will come from the same few factories. There'll also be some price-fighter product from LG, Samsung and Panasonic, but I would generally shy away from these.

In the middle tier the performance generally improves quite a bit. You're likely to get better back-lighting technology including either whole panel dimming or even local dimming (the screen split in to sections which allows some parts to be darker while others are brighter). Depending on price you could be looking at a 50Hz panel but with far better video processing, or even a 100Hz panel.

The range of adjustments in the menus will be more comprehensive, and that means that more of the panel performance can be used. Speaking of the panel (in tandem with the backlight), it's often the case that they can produce a bigger usable contrast range (deeper black, brighter white).
The mid-tier market is where most of the Pansonic, Sony, Samsung and LG models sit. The mid-tier product price span is the biggest.

Top of the range is where you have OLED fighting it out with Samsung QLED. Despite the small names the two technologies are different.

OLED current holds the crown for highest contrast range, best black performance and probably the biggest colour range.

QLED isn't far behind in some aspects, and it's ahead in others. QLED represents the best that LED TV can do from Samsung. Since the backlight is independent of the imaging panel, QLED can produce very high brightness.

 

[JP_]

I bought an LG 55inch 4k TV a few years ago and happy with that. The bigger is probably about the same price now. I paid £999 I think, from Richer Sounds.
I was in Currys the other day and really liked some of the bigger TVs. I could easily have a 65 or 75 inch screen ... but need to finish rebuilding my house first!

https://www.richersounds.com/tv-pro...-ultra-hd-tvs.html?tv_screen_size_breaks=1371

Decide on a budget then look up reviews on the AV websites fr the model you are looking at. Hard to tell the difference on the shop sites. e.g. all LG:

LG 65UK6400PLF £900

LG 65UK6750PLD £1000

LG 65SK8100PLA £1300
https://www.whathifi.com/lg/65sk8100pla/overview


What's the difference?

 

[ericmark]

I have a number of TV's they all work A1 as far as I am concerned when using a set bottom box, be it satellite or Bluray the TV is nothing more than a monitor really.

However Freeview is a real problem, Panasonic works best, the EPG seems to work all the time, the much more expensive LG with built in hard drive is very poor, the Polaroid has actually changed, first time set up analogue channels 1 to 100 and freeview started at 101 and in a very odd order although you could change it, moved house then moved back did a reset and freeview asked which region England or Wales at set up and has all the right numbers, clearly at some point it must have loaded a software upgrade.

As to internet that has also changed, the bluray box did get loads, now just a few German channels, the satellite box did have weather, that has now gone, even connecting a hard drive to TV or other box, it seems hit and miss what files it will play and what it will not.

So now I have a cheap desk top PC under the TV, it plays all on the hard drive, it plays all on the internet, it records TV, it plays live TV, and I start to wonder why I want a TV at all, may as well just get a good monitor. As yet using USB plug in units to record TV, but it seems a good idea to get a card and dedicate a PC to do the multi media.

A vacuum cleaner smashed our large TV, handle fell smashing screen, we are going to move house so unless there is a really good deal do not intend to replace, the 43" TV from Tesco at £150 was a good deal, and if repeated we would go for it. However Black Friday deal two years ago. Was not repeated last year.

Monitors cost around the same as the TV's you seem to get TV tuner thrown in for free, however I have tried using TV as a monitor and they are not as good, so I am considering on the moving to new house getting a monitor and using a set bottom box to convert to TV. Buying a new PC or other set bottom box because things have changed is one thing, buy a new screen is something else.