What do I need to look for in a new TV

Blf

Blf

Well-known member
Looking at 49 or 50 inch tv around £500 I know I need 4k . I need to be able to put my Virgin box into it (tivo).
Is there anything else I should be looking for . Bit of a technophobe and it's about 8 years since I bought a tv.
 
Just got a 55 in LG from currys , £529 . Superb . Don't go smaller , you will only want the bigger one in the future .
 
Size doesn't matter. it's really chavvy to get a big telly just because you can. Get one that fits, suits the room. That being said if you're wall mounting a flat screen they can be pretty big and still blend in to the room.

Simply Red makes a good call. I think I'm right in saying LG make most of the panels for other TVs I'd check them out.
 
SmallTown said:
Size doesn't matter. it's really chavvy to get a big telly just because you can. Get one that fits, suits the room. That being said if you're wall mounting a flat screen they can be pretty big and still blend in to the room.

Simply Red makes a good call. I think I'm right in saying LG make most of the panels for other TVs I'd check them out.
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Interesting point this about screen size. When I last got a new television, admittedly 9 years ago I went for a 37" as I didn't want it to dominate the room and I thought 42" was taking it too far!

All the television advice threads on here recently has got me looking at new sets just out of curiosity and boy do they go big. Seems like when I eventually replace my set I'm going to have limited choice, everything seems ridiculously huge and oversized these days! Maybe I'm just getting old!
 
lostinyorkshire said:
Size matters. Or Get a projector
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I have a 100 inch projector and screen in our spare room.. But you need to spend ££££££££ to get a quiet one. I paid £200 and have had to build a hush box toake it have bareable noise levels.

Living room we hae a 43inch philips with ambilights. Any bigger it would look stupid but the ambilights work a treat. I wouldn't bother with HDR unless you have a HDR source.
 
Make sure it's 625 line compatible if you want BBC2 in colour.

If you're not sure pop into Richer Sounds for some advice. Blokes in there are on the ball.
 
Humpty said:
what's the purpose of having ambilights on a tv?
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Don't they make it a but more of a warming feature when the TV is switched off? Like uplighter, adding to the ambience of the room?

I so wanted one of those Samsung Frame TVs that showed artwork when it was off but couldn't justify the expense for comparative lack of quality over a similarly priced OLED TV
 
Take what everyone else has said with a pinch of salt because buying a TV is more complicated than they make out.

Some bad news first, there are very few premium TVs under 55" so the couple of good ones are quite expensive. They just don't put the top tech into the smaller screens anymore. The only premium TVs at that size are the new 48" OLED from LG which is way out of budget of £500 or the Sony 49XG9005 and Samsung 49Q70R but they will all be over £500 but not as much as the OLED if you're willing to push. If you're interested in HDR (High Dynamic Range) then only these TVs are any good at it. If you're not interested in HDR then you have loads more options because most TVs are quite similar quality wise at SDR and you're paying more for smart TV features etc.

First thing you need to decide is what panel type you want. Do you watch from wide viewing angles or is it narrow? If wide you want an IPS panel, if narrow then VA provides better black levels but the quality degrades when you move off centre. Hisense are probably the best value VA the bigger brands you are only paying the premium for the name. IPS are mostly LG but it can be a bit of a lottery because they don't include that information in their specs.

Best advice would be to go to avforums and have a look there and ask the same question. They were very helpful when I was looking.
 
TheFair86 said:
Ambilights read the colour content around the edges and use LED’s to project the same colours into the wall behind them. It’s not for everyone but I like the effect. I don’t like Philips TVs so I use a hue sync box as I already had hue lights in the living room.


Skip to 3 minutes in
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Oh i see. That's cool.
 
The main reason for ambient light, which you can get single colour or the colour matching ambilight is that it reduces eye strain which allows you to see contrast on screen better. If you're in a dark room and the image jumps from white to black and back to white it takes your eyes a while to adjust. Ambilight allows your eyes to remain at a constant level. The colour matching ambilight also expands your view making it more immersive.
 
sadgit said:
I have a 100 inch projector and screen in our spare room.. But you need to spend ££££££££ to get a quiet one. I paid £200 and have had to build a hush box toake it have bareable noise levels.

Living room we hae a 43inch philips with ambilights. Any bigger it would look stupid but the ambilights work a treat. I wouldn't bother with HDR unless you have a HDR source.
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Like the sound of these 'hush boxes', any chance they could house a hyperactive 5 year old and a noisy 18 month old too?
 
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